This column is hilarious. First, the Washington Post’s business columnist reveals that he’s never bought a smartphone. Then he holds out the WIRELESS PHONE SERVICE INDUSTRY—a highly regulated field dominated by a handful of companies rapidly consolidating into a duopoly—as a bastion of competition in the free market! This is especially funny because the industry [...]

Posted in Media, Tech

I don’t mean to be glib, but why am I supposed to be concerned by the increase in gas prices? McCain wants to get rid of the federal tax on gas for the summer, to keep the price down—does he not understand how economics works? All that does is shift the cost from gas buyers [...]

Posted in Economics and Advertising, Politics/Law

First of all, I was also wrong about subsidies. The way Apple got the pricing so low on the new iPhones is by joining the rest of the mobile phone-making world and allowing cell phone service providers to tie phone subsidies to new contracts. To get AT&T to do this, Apple had to give up [...]

Posted in Tech

Well, I wasn’t quite right, but you’ve got to admit, I was pretty close. I just thought the $299 model would be the new economy size, when it remains the flagship. And I’ve got to say, when you combine the hardware upgrades with the software upgrades—including Exchange compatibility and Mobile Me—it’s a pretty damn compelling [...]

Posted in Economics and Advertising, Tech

This is what I think the characteristics of the new iPhone will be (Apple is announcing new stuff tomorrow afternoon):3G, GPS, two colors, thicker, same or better battery life, 16 or 32gb.

It will be $299 and $399 ($100 less than the current price), and AT&T will not be offering subsidies with long term contracts.There you [...]

Posted in Tech

FundRace is kind of amazing and kind of disturbing:Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence? Whether that new guy you’re seeing is actually a Republican or just dresses like one?FundRace makes it easy to search by name or address to see which presidential candidates your friends, family, co-workers, and [...]

Posted in Internet Hi-Jinx, Politics/Law

I just read a really good piece in Slate: Is This Tantrum on the Record? The ground rules for writing about your kids. Emily Bazelon describes her qualms about writing about her son:
What are the ground rules for writing about your kids, especially on the Internet, with its freewheeling meanness and permanent archive? Will my [...]

Posted in Life, Media, Tech, Writing

I am planning a trip to each of the cities named in this post’s title between July 31 and August 10. I’m still hammering out the details, so if you live in one of them, or will just happen to be in one of them over that span,1 let me know.

1 Between my friends’ going [...]

Posted in Etc