Author: scrooks

I’m Jilting AT&T For Verizon

iPad

I bought the first iPad the day it came out, but I never moved up to an iPad 2. Now that the iPad has been updated yet again, the time has come for me to upgrade. Outside of work, it’s the computing device that gets far more use than any other. (Well, maybe outside of my iPhone.)

On my first iPad I did not get 3G, I just went with wifi. Generally this wasn’t a problem, but there were occasionally times when I was out and wanted to connect to a data network. Eventually my iPhone gained the ability to act as a hotspot (how gracious of AT&T), so I turned that on as an experiment. I did end up using it occasionally, but there was a barrier to entry (even though slight) to getting things hooked up, so I didn’t use it too often. There was one trip I took out of town where it did get heavy use. Recently I turned off hotspot on my iPhone to save $20 a month, and made the decision that my next iPad would have cell data built in.

Now that iPad is here. I went to order it yesterday and found this chart detailing the available data plans:

Initial Data Costs

This iPad now has the ability to act as a hotspot, but there was no information about costs or availability on these networks which worried me a little. We’re about to go on a little family vacation, and it would be handy if I could use my iPad as a tether point for the rest of the family. I couldn’t find any information at that time about it, so I based my choice on the fact that AT&T offered a $15 option. When I do want to use cell data on my iPad I don’t think I’ll use much, so the cheapest option will probably nearly always work. Although 250MB is really not that much, so I was a little worried about it. Still, it was the best choice available, half the price of the next option up of $30. I sent in my order.

I should point out that I don’t really care about 4G. I’m not going to be streaming movies over a cellular network. I will simply be connecting for email, twitter, blog posting, etc. I know from past experience with my phone that you can do a lot of things like this without running up the data total too fast. Many people seem to think that having 4G will mean a huge increase in the data that’s used, but I don’t see a data speed increase really having any effect on the data amount consumed for the way I use an iPad.

Now today I still had a little buzz in the back of my head that I maybe made a mistake going with AT&T. Indeed, today I checked and the little chart had been updated:

Revised Data Costs

Well, now. That’s different. Apparently Verizon will offer a 1GB option for $20. Sold! That’s got a lot more comfort room than AT&T’s 250MB option for only $5 more.

But wait, it gets better. Today we have more news about tethering. Apparently AT&T is waffling on offering it. Verizon however, says that you can tether at will using their standard data plans. That’s perfect.

Since Apple is still surprisingly showing no delays on ship dates, I canceled my previous order and placed a new one for an iPad that runs on Verizon. It was very easy and now I feel much better about my choice. In addition to the things I discussed above, there’s also the benefit that most likely anywhere I might be will be covered by either AT&T on my iPhone or Verizon on my iPad. I’ll never have to be without Twitter again!

The reality is that I may very rarely enable cell data on my iPad. I’m not really sure. I’ve tried to imagine how my usage might change, but it’s just not clear at this point. Maybe I’ll use it twice a year, maybe I’ll end up paying for it each month. Whatever the case, at least there’s no contract and I can always choose a relatively low-cost connection if that’s all I need.

Pinterest? No interest.

Pinterest

Alexandra Chang writes about Pinterest in Opinion: Should you care about Pinterest?.

Pinterest is a new site where you look at stuff people want or have and post pictures of stuff you want or have. I’m pretty sure that sums it up. Pinterest is rapidly growing and is one of the hottest websites around right now.

Alexandra wrote this paragraph about it:

“A lot of what gets pinned on Pinterest is aspirational—what could be, what I’m going to have, where I’m going to go,” said Gartner senior research analyst Jenny Sussin. What sets Pinterest apart from other social networks is that it isn’t about sharing what’s happening to you right now, it’s about sharing and collecting what you like and what you want and what inspires you.

I’ve looked at Pinterest a couple of times and it totally bored me. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy—Alexandra says 82% of the users are women.

Or maybe it’s because I’m too old. Here’s a comment I wrote and posted on Alexandra’s article:

Sounds to me like Pinterest is for the Me Generation that wants to create a narcissistic catalog of all the things our consumer-society tells them they need, and then share it with their ersatz friends for validation.

Pass.

I’m Having A Lot Of Trouble Coming Up With Any Sympathy

What economic problems?

A tale of woe by Max Abelson: Bonus Drop Means Trading Aspen for Coupons

Some choice quotes:

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

And…

Scheiner said he spends about $500 a month to park one of his two Audis in a garage and at least $7,500 a year each for memberships at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester and a gun club in upstate New York. A labradoodle named Zelda and a rescued bichon frise, Duke, cost $17,000 a year, including food, health care, boarding and a daily dog-walker who charges $17 each per outing, he said.

(I think our stupid cat may cost something like $17,000 a year. It seems like it anyway.) And…

“These people never dreamed they’d be making $500,000 a year,” he said, “and dreamed even less that they’d be broke.”

Poor, poor guys.

What’s That Thing She’s Sitting On?

Push Bike
I got a few questions about the bike that my daughter is riding in this picture. It’s generally called a “push bike” or a “balance bike”. The concept behind it is explained pretty well in an article by Josefine Köhn-Haskins, Push Bikes and Balance Bikes for Children. And there’s other good information by Bonnie Rochman in Bye-Bye, Training Wheels. Hello, Balance Bikes.

Josefine explains the general idea:

Starting a child on a balance bike makes it easy for him to learn riding a pedal bike. Most kids will be ready by the age of five or even four.

We’ll see how it goes. Neil has started learning using training wheels and it’s taking him a while. But we might have started him a year too early also. I took his training wheels off last Saturday.

Josefine also mentions this:

Children can start using a balance bike as early as age two. But do not expect them to sit on the bike and just race off.

Um, no. We have a little daredevil girl.

These bikes can really speed up, especially downhill. And most youngsters discover the fun of rolling downhill with their feet up pretty fast.

For Gillian that took all of 2 minutes. She fell off her push bike several times, which is not the usual course of action for these things. But she always got back on. To go back to the top of the hill again.

sigh