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iPhone Disappointments and More AT&T Disappointments !

Think the iPhone is really the greatest thing since sliced cheese? I have a story that will make you think again even if you have one of these gadgets as you probably do not know what you are missing.

Originally I bought my iPhone in Feb-08 to build web pages that were just for them. I was using a Motorola Razr V3C that I had used 3 years previous to this $500 purchase and two year contract and still use it as it still out features the iPhone.

Some of you may not know what you are missing as many that I talk to do not even understand or know of half the features of the phone so before I talk about the current 3Gs iPhone, lets just show my history of Me AT&T and Apple.

One of the first problems I had was that before buying the iPhone, I downloaded and read the user manual so I would be sure how to operate. Most of what the manual was telling me was not functional such as being able to re-organize my icons. A call to Apple led me to this just two weeks after I bought the phone… I needed to update the firmware in the phone. So I was told what to do but I could not yet do it as the firmware was not released yet. I did ask if they were in the habit of releasing a user manual a month before the update ??? no reply.

In using the phone the first most enjoyable features that I took for granted on my 3 year old V3C Razr was to assign no ring-tone to those pesty folks who always call with nothing to say. They can use voicemail. I also used this to not have interruptions from solicitation calls but most important, I could not assign “no ring-tone” to blocked calls. No can-do with iPhone.

At the same time I have a bunch of dates on the calendar in my Razr that are once a month but follow the order of once a month on the first Tues of the month or the 3rd Friday of the month. Can’t do this on a iPhone but my Razr had been doing it for me for years.

I could not forward a text message, attach a photo to a text message or most of the stuff that I could not only do with my 3 year old V3C Razr but even the cheapest of phones enjoyed. What a marvel of modern technology….. I’m not getting.

So with these two and several other complaints like being tethered the same only one computer to interact with it, (hard to take your computer with you when out of town most often just to interact with it) complaints to Apple and they seemed interested but in the successive 5 updates, the only one they cured was breaking the one computer tether.

The most important additional problem I had was my local carrier data speed was as terrible as I have seen. My data services were taking 3 to 4 times longer than they advertised. A call to Apple (since they hold exclusive contract to AT&T) and then to AT&T led me to…. oh… everyone knew the edge network would not work right…. so I asked that I am not looking for fabulous speed, just want it to work most of the time and no worse than half the rated speed.

AT&T suggested I get the NEW and revised iPhone 3G. Now wait a minute… I just bought this thing and in a month you tell me that if I want it to work as you said I need to buy a new one????? My next statement shocked the customer service rep as I told her (after much studying before) I have no 3G service in my area so how was that going to help me?

At this point, forget about the features I was missing, I just want service I was paying for.

My sister thinks my iPhone was pretty cool and bought the new 3G and as I already knew, no 3G service.

In the last few months the data service has been so bad, I rarely am able to search for let alone watch youtube videos, send a photo via email and if it does go through, it takes over 7 minutes.

I would suggest to any potential buyer while in their store and testing these phones to test the network speed and if you are going to test that speed, turn off the wi-fi that is built in to the phone as each of the offices has a wi-fi unit tied directly to the Internet and speed that way is great. Of course you will not get that when you walk out of the office and they do not tell you while testing that it is using local wi-fi Internet but you would soon learn that edge/3g speed is not nearly the same even if it works right. This is what led me to running down the street to find a open wi-fi connection when I had to rely on the phone data. The iPhone will automatically seek wi-fi network if funtion is on (is by default) and use it over Edge or 3G network as it is faster if available. I think this leaves you open to a future hack but time will tell on this.

Whats new…

First the 3.0 software – Finally, you can forward a text message. Something even the low tech phones have been able to do for years. New default app Sound recorder is ok but can not record within a phone call that would be handy when getting details spoken to fast for me to write down without forgetting something. Probably a legal issue in some states. Nothing added to the calendar to allow me to sched a alarm for first tues of month as I have done for years on my V3C. Still undelivered promise of MMS or picture insertion in text messages. Perhaps this fall?

The iPhone 3G S

Well to make you/me feel even worse, buying a piece of tech toy for $500 only to find a month later you can buy a better one for $200 less then to go just over a year to find a even better one for $100 less again makes you not want to buy anything except maybe a Google G1S phone where the platform or OS it rides on is universally open so anyone can write a app for it and distribute it anywhere on the web without being tied to a single computer or website to add that additional functionality.
But on the bright side the new iPhone 3G S is a marvel probably only created from the competition of the Goggle G1 and having downloaded the developers package for a check of the fundamentals, I would say much more should be possible in the near future when folks start writing the code for it. Most appealing to me was the ability to write code to interface hardware control through the phone. That is the ability to acquire data through the interface port and send data out through the same means you might effectively control just about anything you can imagine. Data ACK And Control is one of my specialties. I see that Nike has a package for it to help you work-out via plug-in shake sensor you place in your shoe/sock.

The new iPhone also sports a 3mp camera and video capture.` and finally caught up with voice features of the four year old Motorola V3C that I always used while driving.

For me, I can not warrant more funds to a device until my AT&T network is functioning as the phone will not do any better no matter how newer the version so its just a bunch more toys that I will regret I cant use. I am in process with tech support to help them verify fixes for the local network. Gee, if those others who had problems would have only called last year, or called at all, I may have enjoyed this a bit more along the way.

AT&T Has a long way to go to deliver the goods that their exclusive contract with Apple requires. I only wished the iPhone worked on CDMA networks and Alltel had not been gobbled up by Verizon. So it seems that AT&T has a monopoly on GSM networks and Verizon on CDMA networks and with these exclusive contracts, only the consumer can draw the short straw !

Gee… this kinda stuff was not legal a few years ago, what happened ?

In any case if you like to use features and the phone I would say be prepared to spend as much time servicing the phone as it will you ! Updating iTunes and the iPhone on a broadband connection that you must have if you buy one, takes enough time by itself. Apple seems to insist on using a weird menu system within their software that is very hard to understand outside of mp3’s and I never have got used to it. Its funny I can manage mp3’s but not video’s or pictures with the same ease. Your PC needs to have a twice the hard drive space for the media as it makes copies of all files converted in Apple’s format (aac & mov etc) that you do not see. I will not be buying the new 3G S until AT&T can make my 2g Edge work correctly as it would be pointless. And if you do not already have 3G service in your area, do not believe the promise that a sales rep (trying to make a sale) might give you that it is coming soon as I have listened to that one for a year and probably will not have it when my contract expires. They make their spiff when they sell it to you and you will be spending hours on the phone (not with sales rep) without conclusion when it does not happen. Something about gadgets that make folks forget about the fundamentals.

Enjoy!

Banks and Oil Market Contango Manipulation

The Banks are controlling the price of your oil/gas as they create the contango they benefit from!

This is a revisited issue as big media still has not got a grip on this yet. We will now make a case direct, to the point and to the people as it is not MOOT !

First we need to be sure you understand the terms we are using. It is a bunch to take in but worth it.

Oil Market Contango– A difference in the spot price and the futures price of oil that allows a company to buy spot oil and hold it to later deliver at the higher future price. And for a profit over what the spot price plus warehousing cost total. (more info and even more)

Department of Energy Inventory Report (DOE-EIA) Link to late May report Short Term Energy Outlook

Preface to Banks in the oil market:

Morgan Stanley Story-1 Story-2 – Citigroup Story-1

A story Summarizing The Super Contango of late Jan 2009 & Investors want to get in the action with the banks

So now if you have understood what I have just pointed out, the short would be that-

The banks are heavy investors in oil markets both directly and indirectly through companies they own and those that they have controlling interest such as Morgan Stanley having controlling interest in a tanker group and give loans to including owning and renting tanker company’s and storage facilities along with owning or having heavy stake in the insurer of the investments and tanker/storage.

Hey there is nothing normally wrong with taking advantage with the opportunity to make money in the futures market except when you can manipulated it. But should this really be a bank business, buying/trading oil futures and holding/delivering/insuring oil ? It seems to me that we busted a couple of brothers for doing this with the silver market in the early 80’s.

How?

The inventory that sits off shore in tankers is not only an insurance risk for pirate take-over but this oil is not part of the inventory reports that is a big determination of the future price of oil when it is traded in the futures market.

So when you read these reports, keep in mind it is easy to think there will not be enough oil for delivery 3 months from now when you are not looking at all of it. If you do a deeper google you will find that currently there are no tankers to rent. They are all being used but not all for delivery, but for storage. Only Iran has tankers available, but they will not rent them. No More Storage.

So it is a self perpetuating ever increasing price unless there is a sudden shock of the system as happened in the fall of 2008 which I contend is what got the banks in so much trouble in the first place. I truly believe they could have handled the bad loans if not for the collapse of the oil market and all the oil they had sitting on tankers docked off some other shore. They are just blaming it on the latter. If you will notice the only banks that are in really deep dodo are the ones that play the oil markets in the first place and the insurance co’s that insure the investments again most likely owned or controlled by the same banks.

Even an idiot would know that when the price of oil was over $100 a barrel, it was going to be a horror story for the world economy. However these are not immediate cause/effect. It normally takes about 5-7 months to feel the effect of today’s jolt in energy prices as measured by the total economy. They call it trickle down economics !

The masters of the Legal Magic Idea…

If you remember a company called “ENRON”, they had hired some pretty crafty folks that were about to do this for them, as they had the know-how to shape the books to do this legal and all. Problem is they went belly-up before they got the chance and these smart folks became the most valuable on Wall Street as Enron Collapsed and the banks were the high bidders for their talents.

So what can be done before the banks become the next Enron or are they already?

First, I do not like the idea of a bank playing in the futures market with companies that they own/control. I do not like the idea that they own anything other than the assets of loans. I do not like the idea that they loan the other companies they own the money to do the deed. They are a bank not an investment brokerage conglomerate. Break‘M–Up. More important now is that they are doing this with the aid of Federal Bail-Out Tax-Dollars.

Second, Reform/Re-Structure the energy inventory reporting system as other investment company’s may do the same even if the banks were out of the market. After all these crafty folks Enron had discovered will be looking for work again. Investors/You/We need to know what oil is sitting off shore waiting for a pirate to hijack and who insures it and who owns the insurance company. We will get accurate future/spot pricing when inventory reports are accurate.

Third, if all this is just to legal to do anything, then lets change that !

Tell someone ! Spread the word, your congressman is not interested yet. Only if his/her chances of re-election are interrupted will he/she start to give back the PAC money they receive from the banks and their subsidiaries and sing a new tune.

Most likely we will not get any action until oil surpasses $120 barrel mark again and this is likely to happen without the aid of a thriving economy and will most likely insure we never achieve it. If I consider the previous rise rate and the current price I would say that it will only take 17 to 22 months for oil to be over $100 a barrel again barring any geo-political disasters.

I got a inside word that Electric Demand is down 20% from a starving economy mostly as industrial use has declined and how much less oil are we using? About 18% Less Than when oil was $25 a barrel. If you watch the price charts, it just keeps inching up in the futures market and then to the spot market which is not normal except within the last 4 or so years as it has been going on. Overdrive of oil futures after a hoard and hold of undelivered spot oil continues to perpetuate on itself without end until it hits a measurable devastation on the economy, and then no doubt the futures market, and a collapse of the entire system as other investors get in on the action cutting the spread for the banks.

Will the banks tumble again if there is a sudden shock to the economy that most likely will once again be caused by the high price of oil? Will taxpayer funds be used to prop them up again? Keep your eyes on the demand side of oil for the early indicator of the next bankrupt banks and economy but I would say the same time you are figuring it out will be the day major investors will be getting out.

Sorry all you oil company haters, yes they too were/are bidding on their own futures but it is the banks working the deed here.

I can’t help but get a vision from the movie “Mad Max – Return To Thunderdome” and Master Blaster controlling the energy along with everything else because of it.

Please remember, you did hear it here first !

Predatory Lenders – Bank Of America (BAC) #1

I thought Loan Sharking was illegal? But not if you make enough at it to lobby congress. Every time they talk of reform, the consumer gets the shaft and the game goes on even deeper than before.

Take some time to google up predatory lenders and you will read some real stories from real folks many you might assume are low income folks but think again. These are everyday hard working, middle income Americans who you probably would not hear from unless it be the Internet and the time to look at what they are saying.

So I asked around to friends who never say much about the stuff that gets under their skin and was very surprised to find that almost every one of them have a bad story about more than one credit card company and at least half of them with Bank Of America.Maybe that is because they are the largest? And perhaps that is because they have bought many smaller company’s in resent years?

This surprised me very much as I thought I was one of a few. I had always thought of them as a reputable company but as I see, they have diminished their name as one of those “gotcha” type companies you wish you never got involved with in the first place. They have become the poster child for reform but will we get any this time around ? Oh, I’m sure we will see congressional leaders “speak well” for the taxpayers but the bottom line is these companies are major funds for their campaigns so who do you really think things are worded for regardless of how good the speech is.

In knowing that the taxpayer has a large investment in the company, it seems as our money is being used against ourselves. The tactics seem to revolve around a ill guided system of credit rating that lenders can have some control of when they want it to be in their favor. Those of you who never run a balance will find yourselves with lower credit availability than you are worth. Those who do run a balance, will find yourself with higher than should be limits and high interest rates.

The first trick is to get you to run a balance. This is done with a promise of low rates or other promotional ideas, either for a short or extended period. Some so good that you might think yourself a fool to go to the bank for the same money. After all you must need it for something to use it in the first place.

When they feel that you have no chance of paying the balance off in the near term if a sudden change of terms were applied, they begin to work on just that. Using various methods to be sure. One method is to lower credit ceiling so that you owe more than 50% of your available credit line. That makes your credit score go down and classifies you as higher risk and will cause your rate to go up.

Because I do get a free credit report from each of the credit reporting agencies spread out once every four months, I keep track of just who is looking. I had one credit card co check every month before selling account to new bank (makes lenders think you may be seeking additional credit) this spiked my credit score lower and ran my rate up. Well I paid it off and canceled the card. What did that do for me? Canceling the card actually lowered my credit score once again because it lowered my available credit while debt remain the same and caused my interest rates with all other creditors went up this time.

It simply is a no win situation. Had I not been watching my report for fraud (identity theft) I would not realize what or why it was happening. Any attempt to make your situation better actually makes it worse. Go Figure?

While I understand the need to prop-up the banks without really nationalizing them (although appearances are strong), just at the root of the matter is lending practices itself. This is what got the banks in need of bail-out in the first place. Well it is still going on but with the aid of your money. So many folks are paying for it at both ends!

Well I hate to sound like Dick Cheney but I can only wish Bank Of America failure. Unless the government can establish some guidelines for credit ranking, this practice will continue because it can. Please lets not do a reform again, I don’t think the public can afford giving the credit card companies a new round of what they want. Seeing a release of rate caps disappear came from one of the last few reforms. No matter what they want to do they will change your terms that allows them to do what they could not do in the original that you may have spent the time to read but can not understand the details of the amendment/change.

Someone needs to act on the public behalf and if not the federal government, then the states need to take up the issue but I don’t think any of them have the guts to do so. Or could it be that on one of those reforms, the states have lost the right to regulate them? Yes I believe in free markets but gee whiz, I believe in creating rules for those who will not behave. That’s is why murder is illegal. If they continue, I think loan sharking should also be legal because why should these companies be the only ones to make money at it. I’d like a shot at it !

The only thing the current laws provide for is to keep the little guy out of the action while protecting corporate loan sharks and now they are doing it with your money.

See the updates link at bottom of this post.

New legislation a hoax , BOA – One mans typical story

Almost Extinct – Repubicans Have Two Elephants In The Room

Well it looks like the new spokespersons for the Republican Party are going to be Rush Limbaugh and former VP Dick Cheney. After the ridiculous holding each others hand as they pat each others back and not having anything of substance to say even on Rush’s show where it is not news but entertainment and can tell any lie they might want to. The great message here…. “I want Obama To Fail”. Gee, what patriots we have here as if any US President would fail, so goes our nation (ie George Bush jr).

I think this has more to do with those on the left who have steered Obama to break on a statement he make while running for office that was ” it does not serve any purpose to spend our time looking back”, he wanted to move past the issue of possible criminal activity by Cheney/Bush and the legal advisers who steered us into a war, breaking moral/legal standards of treatment of POW’s.

Well I for one wish Obama would hold to his statement but the far left can smell blood on this and think it may be the icing on the cake to finish the party off for a decade. Well I do think the time would be better spent on issues going forward.

Spending, Education, National Energy Policy, Health Care are all areas the Republicans have no moral authority on so why do the democrats need to make such a fuss or are they playing the republican game now they have control of the stern? If they continue acting like the Republicans they may find themselves just as extinct… where the hell is Ross Peroit anyway? I’m sure we can find someone like him. I would say to the Dem’s “Make a mark on the issues and you shall remain in control”.

If I were a Republican, I would think their time would be best spent coming up with a better plan than the Democrats have put-up. In the mean time, I would just say to them Put-Up or Shut-Up, I want to move forward.

Yes, the Republicans have spilt the milk and do not want the Democrats to even clean it up and it is starting to smell.

So must all of us sit in their soils? By engaging in arguments of yesterday, that is just what we are doing. If Cheney and Limbaugh are the new poster boys, the Democrats have nothing to fear. I do not hear any alternative plans just “everything Obama wants is wrong” as a message is not going to cut it with the public forever.

Both Party’s Please Move On, The folks in the middle would still like to think you work for us not just against each other.

The “BIG BROTHER” Conspiracy Theories are MOOT !

For many years if not many decades we have herd the shouting of fears of people that the government watching over everything you do. I have ignored them for the most part as anything that has ever resembled them were quick to be stopped by folks that fear “BIG BROTHER”.

The Government will never act in this way because of public scrutiny every time it has even resembled it. They do not have to act this way any more for it to come true as you will see.

A few years ago an idea came to me that actually made sense that supported this big brother theory that I had never given merit. For the last 15 years I have been watching security of data and personal information. I do not like the security measures that the corporate world seems to have about its sharing with affiliate companies and the like. Nor the unknown security lapses that happen with and without any one’s knowledge.

You see the government does not now need to pass new laws to track your every move, the corporate world and the new age of data has made this possible without government involvement. So when they want the data they just sapena it or steal it or force it to be handed over in the name of investigation.

Should I worry…. Probably not just yet. As history has taught us that information is a good thing and it depends on how it is used. In saying this I do have somthing in mind that would be the first clear sign we are doomed from the information age we created. I am reminded of Watergate. When I think about this in todays world and using information about a political opponent that would not normally be obtainable. This was my biggest concern when we passed the “Patriot Act” in 2001. Without proper oversight, how are we to know that the information will not be used by those in power to stay in power. There is a lot of political motivation there!

But beyond thinking too much, I still wonder just how all this information is to be gathered and used by the highest bidder for it in the corporate world that I am not aware of. Yes as usual, even I who watch this stuff close do not find out until I see it with my own eyes. Yes it has already gotten past the selling of email addresses, and those who may have spent high amounts of money with company x. I just do not want to see a panic when the royal shit hits the fan and a major incident happens and folks finally realise just what their info is worth and how much it is being bartered around.

So no ! I do not want to twitter and TWEET the whole world what the whole world really is not asking

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW ?

Politics and Words That Screw You !

Well this is not your fathers 7 dirty words. In fact I would say they are not dirty at all. Well… it depends on how you use them. This is just one of my lessons on liars and their words and how the political folks have learned how to use them well.

OK, one to get started with a warm-up that I’m sure that you will understand as it may not be political at all… well again it depends.

A “RECEPTIONIST” is a person that sees you are received, Right…

Wrong… A Receptionist is there to see to it that you are not received by the person you are trying to see. Go figure !

This is a way of not telling the truth and make it sound like the truth. Now for all the smudge words you hear the most during an election or when important legislation is on the floor. Its kinda like the weatherman or fortune teller using vague words so he or she is always right or at least 50% of the time.

“Eliminate A Tax” – These are always popular things to say when running for election. Keep in mind if you eliminate “Tax A” you must replace funds that the tax created with “Tax B”. And in some of the most popular ones I have been hearing is to eliminate “Property Taxes” in favor of “Sales Taxes”. Sounds good right ? Well do also keep in mind that Corporate America does not pay sales tax, You do! Corporate America would normally be paying property tax so who is getting a break here and who is paying more. What happens to shore-up your state government when the economy is soft. I suspect they would just increase the sales tax when sales are down and you need it most. You have no say in the matter. A penalty for those that spend does not seem the best way to stimulate a failing economy. Taxes are not calculated in cost of living increases.

New Laws For Illegal Aliens – With all the talk about them, we have laws that would allow them to become legal if they would choose to go that route. It is not like they have to go to “GITMO” and take a torture test. So if they are illegal, why are they still here if we know they are here? Anyone speaking of making new laws dealing with these is simply making laws that would make them legal instead of illegal and can then say they reduced illegal aliens (by making them legal). The laws are there, options are there to become legal, just a lack of enforcement and political will mostly caused by commercial interest that do not want to pay much for work. This is really a national security issue.

Tax Rebate – A temporary hand over of your money that you should spend it on things you would not normally spend it on, thinking it is free money that will soon be at a tax in your future most likely when the person giving it is out of office.

The Stockholders Own The Company… – If this were true then when the company files bankruptcy, common stock shareholders would be paid before preferred share stockholders. And if you do your homework, most preferred holders are company insiders. You need to be someone special to be a preferred holder of stock. Bottom line is insiders make money while you get the shaft.

“The Crime Rate Is Down”… – We fail to mention that do to the lack of funding, we are unable to catch those criminals. You could say much about any government oversight duty such as the FDA and others as we have so underfunded these agency to the point where now it is inevitable that problems can only go up and our ability to cope with the problems going down. It looks good on someones political record who allowed the cuts and bad for the guy who has to now refund these agency’s and deal with the cost of the problems created just to keep its citizens safe as they were before the budget slashing. Folks never read past the headline. No Spending cuts come without cost.

“He/She Voted Against“… – I see this used every election cycle. Most bills that make their way through the legislature are very complex multi-issue legal documents. They sometimes are crafted this way as a means of bargaining with fellow senators/representatives as I vote for your amendment to this if you vote for mine so they are packaged together. One bill can contain hundreds of funding and laws. To say one senator/representative voted against it most likely is a lie. More likely there was something else in there that was going to hurt his or her on district or state even if they would have voted for the individual issue if it stood alone. This only gives ammo to a challenger in an election. You only need to ask yourself if that person was speaking out about that issue they are charged with voting against.

Lobbyist – A method of allowing group citizens concerned in common interest to speak to Congress to legislate on their behalf. Well now it is done by corporate America but still done on a premise of speaking on your behalf. Lets site some examples of some you would commonly know and then ones you do not.

NRA (National Rifle Association) You should know this one and they are no secret lobbyist whether you agree with them or not, they take a stand in a interest of folks of a common interest and lobby public officials to act on those interest.

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) You know this one and it is no secret.

Now the trick is to have/form a group that says it stands for something in your interest but often the reality is they are paid for by folks who’s interest may be completely opposite. Why would banks and insurance company’s spend millions of dollars to pass laws that are to benefit you the consumer ? ’cause they don’t really lobby in your interest, only theirs and fund the groups that are speaking in your behalf.

Well rather than site a individual group, there are so many. Have a look for yourself at opensecrets.org and you shall see just why Ross Perot was speaking out about this many years ago when the money was less than half of what it is today. I just wish when someone says they speak on my behalf, they would let me know ’cause most likely, I do not agree with what they are saying.

“What’s good for GM is good for me and this county”…. – Well if you say so, but it kinda looks like they have been driving down the same road wouldn’t you say. I would liken that America drive GM than GM drive America. Better to say that America to build good roads for GM to drive on and watch over it so it obeys the rules of the road. Folks could work for GM at $1 and hour and that would be good for GM. So if you believe this, just tell the company you work for you want to help them out and cut your wages in half or give up your retirement/health care benefits to keep America strong. When GM finds a way to become profitable for its common shareholders instead of the management, we will all do better. The lack of good tax policy has made it more profitable to invest overseas than in the USA. So now we must compete with assembly lines we created in other markets. And we did all of this in the name of what is good for GM.

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