Category Archives: Interesting

Interesting

iPhone 4 on T-Mobile USA

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I’ve been running an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.0.0 and 4.0.1 on the T-Mobile USA network for about 2.5 weeks now so thought I’d give an update:

Here are the steps so far:
1. Had to cut down my mini-sim to micro-sim size. That was not difficult. If there is interest, I’ll post the pictures from the process. Took about 20-25 minutes to get it to the correct dimensions, primarily shaving off the last little slivers to make it fit snuggly.
2. Had to get it from Europe (UK) so it was factory unlocked. Not difficult, but not subsidized. However, if you think you spend $70-100 more per month on the plan (about $154 from AT&T to get a plan close to what I have with T-Mobile) it does not take long to make up the difference. And you end up with an unlocked phone so you can use it anywhere.
3. Works nicely except only on EDGE, not 3G – presumably due to the frequency differences. In theory, it should be relatively easy for Apple to open up the new frequency (e.g. no additional antenna/chip needed etc, just tuning to another frequency like a regular radio). Hopefully the chips support it, if Apple wanted to support T-Mobile and it didn’t violate their exclusivity with AT&T.
4. No visual voicemail. Not a big deal so far for me.
5. T-Mobile on iPhone 3GS (on 3.x and 4.0.0) was having trouble receiving MMS, but sending okay (e.g. Google “the media content was not included due to a picture resolution or message size restriction”). Not sure if iPhone 4 running 4.01 is still doing it.
6. Since it uses EDGE and not 3G, I can’t using internet/mail etc while on the phone. Not a big deal for me.
7. Gets equivalent or better reception in the areas (Florida only so far) I use it with iPhone 3GS’s on AT&T – e.g. same areas, bars etc. (EDGE vs 3G of course).
8. iPhone 4 has performed equal or better in reception and dropped calls in the 2.5 weeks I’ve been running it on T-Mobile US as compared to previously with iPhone 3GS.

All in all, it (and 3GS and 3G) have worked great on T-Mobile USA with the exception of 3G vs EDGE so far.

Interesting

Ron Paul on Withholding taxes

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Worth repeating:

Rep. Paul Introduces Legislation to Abolish Withholding Taxes
“There are a lot of questions that people can raise about how the tax system in this country is structured, how the tax code is structured, but that’s why we have a democracy. We have a Congress and everybody has the right to go talk to their congressman or senator about what they like and don’t like about the tax code.”  IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti, commenting on small business owners challenging withholding tax rules, CBS 60 Minutes II, Tuesday April 3

Congressman Ron Paul agrees with the Commissioner- taxpayers do have a right to present their grievances to Congress. Paul also believes it is time for Congress to Continue reading Ron Paul on Withholding taxes →

Interesting

iPhone 3.0 T-Mobile internet settings and T-Mobile mms settings

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As with iPhone 2.x settings, the T-Mobile internet settings are in General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network.  For Cellular Data:

APN: wap.voicestream.com

Username or Password are blank.

If wap.voicestream.com does not work, you can try internet2.voicestream.com

The following settings seem to work for MMS messages with T-Mobile USA (I’ve been testing them for more than a week) and they are listed below the Cellular Data settings under MMS:

MMSC: 216.155.174.84/servlets/mms
Proxy: 216.155.165.50:8080
MMS-APN: wap.voicestream.com
User: empty
Pass: empty

You may have to restart the phone for the MMS settings to take effect.  You will see a little camera icon below the text field in the “Messages” application.

Have any more tips?

Next up, tethering your computer via your iPhone on T-Mobile.  😉

It looks like you can do it with the instructions here for not just T-Mobile USA, but other carriers:

http://richardlai.xanga.com/704930537/enable-tethering-on-iphone-30—too-easy-worldwide-carriers/

Interesting

The World’s Smallest Frog

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A U.S. penny is 19 mm across. Various websites claim the Southern Hemisphere’s smallest frog is about 9.8 millimeters, Brazilian Gold Frog (Brachycephalus didactylus). This frog beats the Brazilian Gold Frog by about 5 mm – this frog is only approximately 5 mm.   The (previously????) smallest frogs of the Northern Hemisphere is the Cuban Eleutherodactylus iberia, which can be two-tenths of a millimeter smaller, and Eleutherodactylus limbatus, of which fully mature adults as small as 8.5 mm have been found.

Alas, it seems this frog beats those by half.  I’ll post some more pictures and video eventually, but it is here in Florida in the United States and is much smaller.  A record?  I don’t know.  (Found by Lexi Riley, Maddie Johnston and me).

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachycephalus_didactylus)

Domains, Interesting

YP.com sold

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YP.com was acquired by AT&T for about $3.85 Million in cash according to BusinessWire.com.  AT&T got a real deal here.  First, yp.com will be of value for mobile searches, will give SEO benefits to YellowPages.com, and most of all eliminate a competitor.

Matt Panella of Domain News comments that Alexa rankings of 70,000 implies for traffic figures of 1,000 to 3,000 visits per day.  Alexa is notoriously wrong on statistics due to self-selection bias, limited browser reach etc (for some discussions see: http://spottedwalrus.com/articles/79/the-alexa-issue-a-problem-a-solution/, http://paulstamatiou.com/2007/03/07/why-you-should-completely-ignore-alexa-stats,  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/23/152243 ).  

While I do not have access to YP.com’s traffic statistics, a traffic rank of 120,000 can get more than 100,000 searches per day and multiple times that in page views.  That is a fact.  No doubt Matt is using what information he has available, but considering it is Alexa, take it with a pound of salt. 

For example, Halloween.com had an Alexa ranking of around 52000 in October 2008. Traffic logs show many orders of magnitude over the “implied” traffic of 5000 visitors. Let me repeat that traffic implied by Alexa is off by many orders of magnitude. Another site with a traffic rank of in the 120,000 range gets 2 to 3 orders of magnitude more traffic per day than Alexa reports.  Remember two orders of magnitude means 100 times what is shown.  

So what is the point?  The point is that basing a domain price on Alexa statistics is a bad idea because the data is just not that good.  Alexa may be good for comparisons between like sites with similar demographics, but not absolute numbers.  If you are selling a domain based on Alexa traffic estimates you are probably getting taken to the cleaners.  If you are buying based on Alexa traffic statistics, you may be getting a good deal.

Likewise, anyone selling a domain name solely off of current traffic statistics is missing the boat.  When I sold Movie.com (or Miami.com or Casino.com or Gamble.com or Honeymoon.com or Flying.com or Racing.com or hotel.com or reservations.com or reservation.com etc.), I didn’t sell it based on traffic, that would have been the height of stupidity.  Domains – particularly one word, easily brandable domains – are priced based on what can be done with the name.  It would be like selling a vacant lot at the corner of a busy intersection based on the number of people who come to it instead of basing the price on the the potential traffic.  A lot on the ocean in Palm Beach (even with the current real estate mess) is a lot more valuable than a lot at the corner of Tomahawk Rd and Route 187 in McNary Arizona.  Nothing against McNary but the demands is higher for the ocean.  Domains are the same.  News.com is certainly more valuable than a domain like “this-is-the-current-california-news-site-number-1-for-news.ad”.  It is easier to remember, easier to type etc so consequently more brandable.  

Let’s be clear, under no circumstances should anyone sell a short, brandable domain name based solely on current traffic without considering the uses to which it could be put.

AT&T is all about market-share and traffic growth and yp.com will add to that.  In short, AT&T got a deal on yp.com.  Yes, current market conditions may have impacted the sale price, but it will pay off for AT&T in the mobile space and SEO.

Look at YellowPages.com (see http://christianriley.com/2004/11/yellowpagescom-price/).  Some people thought they were over-paying, but in retrospect, it appears they got a good deal. 

(see  http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090114005473&newsLang=en)

Interesting

GoDaddy Reconcile status for a domain?

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After seeing a domain on GoDaddy show its status as “reconcile” (e.g. Status: Reconcile  (Refresh Page)). I had to find out what it means. Well, it appeared for me while transferring a domain into the account after it was in a pending account change status. It appears that this is an internal status until it switches over to “active.” In my case after less than 10 minutes it had changed to “active.”