bopuc's dashboard

ogourment replied on July 21, 2008 19:05 to the question "Will Fido be offering a better iPhone deal than it's parent company, Rogers?" in Fido:

3 years minimum is definitely a long term, but the "new" data plan of 30$/month for 6 Gb is not bad at all...

Alex replied on July 07, 2008 22:07 to the discussion "Can Rogers get away with gauging it's iPhone customers?" in Rogers:

Apparently Apple is giving Rogers some heat for hiking up the plan prices but even if they lower their $75/m plan (for 150 min.) to $60/m. It will still be too freaking expensive because you'll only get 150 minutes of talk time.

I wish they would open up the "special" rate plans. I know† that Rogers has special rate plans(open to certain individuals) for as low as $15/m for 200 minutes (add an unlimited data plan for $20 and you got a decent deal).

There is a whole movement of Rogers clients talking against the price hikes over at:

http://ruinediphone.com/

A comment on the discussion "iPhone 3G rate plans in Canada..." in Rogers:

Yeah most companies only require a 18 month contract max. Rogers requires 36 months. If you cut your contract short you get slammed with a $400 penalty. – Alex, on June 27, 2008 21:35

mackinaw replied on June 27, 2008 20:46 to the discussion "Can Rogers get away with gauging it's iPhone customers?" in Rogers:

screw you rogers.

bopuc replied on June 27, 2008 20:45 to the discussion "Can Rogers get away with gauging it's iPhone customers?" in Rogers:

Hi James
I didn't ask "how" but indeed, Rogers is a monopoly in Canada.

Also, in my anger I misspelled "gouge". I meant gouge, not gauge. ;)

James Walker replied on June 27, 2008 19:37 to the discussion "Can Rogers get away with gauging it's iPhone customers?" in Rogers:

How? Easy... they are the *only* GSM provider in Canada.

Here's a wikipedia link for ya:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

bopuc started a conversation in Rogers on June 27, 2008 19:25:

Can Rogers get away with gauging it's iPhone customers?

Rogers' announced price plans for the iPhone are the most expensive and carry the longest mandatory contract length *in the world* and do not include unlimited data. This is outrageous.

How can they justify charging canadians more than anyone else?
How can they justify offering a device of which 99% of functionality requires data transfer a 400meg/mth cap?
How can they continue to ignore the wireless markets around the world that are exploding because of reduced data costs?

Has no one at ROgers ever heard of "economies of scale"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economie...

-----

So, what can we do? Can we organizer ourselves? Start a petition? Make our voices heard?

andersb started following the discussion "We need to make sure Fido doesn't follow Rogers!" in Fido.

bopuc replied on June 27, 2008 19:19 to the discussion "iPhone 3G rate plans in Canada..." in Rogers:

Roger's announced rate plans are the MOST EXPENSIVE and carry the LONGEST REQUIRED CONTRACT of ANY of the carriers in the 70 countries Apple is launching the iPhone in around the world.

It is utterly outrageous.

bopuc started a conversation in Fido on June 27, 2008 19:15:

We need to make sure Fido doesn't follow Rogers!

Rogers today announced it's price plans for the upcoming iPhone. The price plans are the HIGHEST and require the LONGEST MANDATORY CONTRACT of any of the 70 countries the iPhone is launching.
Not to mention Rogers will not offer unlimited data in these packages, which is mind boggling as data is is what makes 99% of the iPhone's features usable. (voice call and SMS. everything else is data.)

Let's make sure they at least hear from us, their clients!

bopuc asked a question in Fido on June 27, 2008 19:13:

Will Fido be offering a better iPhone deal than it's parent company, Rogers?

Rogers today announced it's price plans for the upcoming iPhone. The price plans are the HIGHEST and require the LONGEST MANDATORY CONTRACT of any of the 70 countries the iPhone is launching.
Not to mention Rogers will not offer unlimited data in these packages, which is mind boggling as data is is what makes 99% of the iPhone's features usable. (voice call and SMS. everything else is data.)

So, Fido. What is your plan? Will you follow in your parent's insulting footsteps?

bopuc replied on June 12, 2008 01:44 to the question "Dopplr Weather Wordpress Widget" in Dopplr:

Hi Scooter,
There's a much longer answer to this but basically it boils down to one thing: there is no freely accessible service that provides reliable, global weather information--be it current, forecast or historical--that we can hook into in a way that would be satisfactory as a "product offering". At least there wasn't the last time we checked...

The problem gets worse when you figure that every weather data provider uses a different, often in-house, identification scheme for places, none of which correspond point-for-point with geographical place identifiers.

I did find one or two that offer Lat/Long based searching, but their APIs are closed/commercial, if they exist at all.

Thanks for the inquiry. Believe me, we would *love* to see it too, and the sooner the better. The more folks ask for it, the closer we might get.

best,
B.

tecmac replied on May 31, 2008 21:25 to the problem "B-S250U USB SATA 2.5" HDD Enclosure is not quite bus powered as you'd expect" in macally:

i got the same problem here... i guess we could sue or somethin? this is fake publicity 4 sure

tecmac started following the problem "B-S250U USB SATA 2.5" HDD Enclosure is not quite bus powered as you'd expect" in macally.

Girlwitha1trackmind replied on March 21, 2008 02:51 to the idea "Synching Dopplr with local weather forecasts" in Dopplr:

Hi Celia and Bopuc,

Thanks both for your replies. I understand where you are coming from. I didn't realise the difficulties in obtaining localised weather information and can appreciate that creates an expensive challenge.

Here's hoping that (something like) wunderground.com will soon incorporate an open API and an integrated system that can supply others with detailed weather info: it would make Dopplr, a product that is already fabulous, amazing.

bopuc replied on March 21, 2008 00:27 to the idea "Synching Dopplr with local weather forecasts" in Dopplr:

hi 1track,

the quick and dirty technical problem is that there is no single/reliable way of identifying a city or place, and no single/reliable source, on a global scale, for requesting that weather information from.

wunderground.com don't have an open API, and don't supply a way to query weather information based on, for example longitude and latitude. There are other services that do but they are quite expensive, and for good reason: weather information costs a lot of money to acquire and store, and thus has great value!

As Celia said, we like it, and we do want it ourselves, but the time isn't right for us to pursue it yet. Soon, I hope!

bopuc replied on March 03, 2008 22:23 to the idea "Trip descriptions shown on a user's main page of trips?" in Dopplr:

Hi Matt,
yeah definitely this is something we've discussed and been keeping in the backs of our minds trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

Right now we have private notes, and notes that act, as you rightly noted, as comments on a trip. Obviously, we have yet to find the perfect mix, but feedback like yours definitely helps us look in the right direction. :D

mike started following the problem "B-S250U USB SATA 2.5" HDD Enclosure is not quite bus powered as you'd expect" in macally.

bopuc reported a problem in macally on October 23, 2007 19:19:

B-S250U USB SATA 2.5" HDD Enclosure is not quite bus powered as you'd expect

The product is sold as being "bus powered" meaning, usually, pluging in the USB is enough to power the drive.

After popping ina Western Digital 250Gig Scorpio 2.5" drive, I discovered the enclosure required me to plugin both the USB data cable AND a USB power cable... thus using up *two* USB ports (be it on my MacBookPro or on a hub).

This is documented in ome place, in step 9 of the Quick Setup Instructions but it offers no explanation as to why this might be required (indeed it is worded so as to lead one to believe it is not always the case... so what does it depend on?)

After two emails to tech Support, still no answers.