The case against the Amercan Telegraph and Telephone Company

First and foremost. I realize that that corporate name isn't valid any
longer due to your breakup under antitrust law. You're the same basic
company that you were then so in my eyes so the name fits you. Now to
the charges.

AT&T has repeatedly ignored the desires of it's customers. For proof
of this I'd cite the MMS debacle. The iPhone lauched in 2007 and
iPhone customers couldn't send MMS messages for more than 2 years
after. And the biggest example of this is phone tethering. The ability
to use your phone as a modem for a computer to access the Internet.
This magical feature has been available for international customers
since the launch of OS 3.0 last summer. Yet the largest market for
iPhones, the Untied States remains without this because the network
supposedly can't handle the bandwith usage. But those lucky enough to
have an iPad can surf to their hearts content and iPhone users can
likewise spend as much time as the battery will allow for the small
price of $30/month. But to use this as a modem would destroy the
network. Mabey AT&T is having financial difficulty and can't invest
into the network as a result? But according to http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/snapshots/2756.html
they're not hurting for money. So despite making more than
$10Billion in profit, they simply can't let iPhone users in on the
whole tethering thing. Nearly a year later.

Secondly, AT&T realizes the network sucks, they just don't care.
Case in point the AT&T microcell from Cisco. (See http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/24/att-3g-microcell/
) It's a wonderful little device that plugs in to your Ethernet to
provide you a perfect reception in your house. People in citys that
have bad service, namely San Francisco, and New York would really
benifit from this but AT&T in their infinite wisdom has decided that
this magical technology must come at a price. And the cost of a cell
phone that actually works? About $150. Take a moment and reflect
what's just happened. AT&T knows your service sucks, but unless you
pay them, you're out of luck. That's not telecommunication, that's
extortion.

Finally, and most damning is the new Early Termination Fee. ( See http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=17951
) AT&T announced that they were raising the ETF for their line of
smartphones. Notably among these are the iPhone. Early Termination
Fees for those who may not know are fees that post paid cell phones
charge to recoup the subsidy they use to sell new phones. Most phones
today are sold below cost to entice customers to sign long term
contracts and over the course of the contract the phone company makes
that subsidy back. And that's ok. I certainly don't want to pay full
price for a new phone so this practice makes sense. But the ETF shoud
amortize over the course of the contract. And until recently, it did.
But now AT&T has more than doubled the ETF for new phones and they're
not amortizing it properly. So when you've fulfilled 23 months of a 24
month contract, AT&T can still charge you more than what should be
left. And it's this thinly veiled blackmail that is the worst part of
AT&T. Sure they'll sell you a great phone but if you ever want to
cancel, it'll cost you. A lot. So it's for these reasons: AT&T's
refusal to allow the same features the rest of the world already uses,
the fact they know that the network sucks and don't care, and the fact
they want to make leaving such a costly process no one does it, that I
suggest this: Buy a new iPhone. Heck, wait outside the store for one.
But buy it off contract at an Apple store. After all, you can make
calls, and send text messages much cheaper on another phone. Also
you'll be saving on the $30/month they charge for the privilege of
accessing their horrible network. And use your new iPhone on wifi.
You'll be amazed that all your Internet dependent apps work
wonderfully. Show AT&T that they can chain this phone to a bad
network, but they can't chain it's users. Hey AT&T, CAN YOU HEAR ME
NOW? G'nite.

My conversation with Jason Calacanis

I have had a few experiences in my life that have changed me forever.
Most are less than positive so I won't mention them here but today I
had a conversation I'll remember for the rest of my life. Today
started like any other. Trying to make sales at my job. At noon I get
a call on my cell phone from a number I've never seen before. Normally
I don't answer my phone when I don't know the number but I choose to
answer. It's Tyler from this week in startups! They're considering
using my question in today's Ask Jason episode! A half hour later I
get a call from a producer saying I'll be the first question of the
show so be ready. I have seen that Jason doesn't particularly care for
cell phones so I ask to call in rather than risking being berated in
front of the entire Internet. They agree and so I call in 5 minutes
before the show starts. The producer says since I'm first, I'll just
have to wait a few minutes. Thus begins the wait. I hadn't planned on
Jason going on a 20 minute soliloquy before my segment. So I listen to
the elevator music. After a while, I am on. I ask my question and
recieve my answer and frankly it's something I hadn't expected. I was
looking for a resource or a entrepreneurial funding program I hadn't
known about but he took a different approach. He recommended that I
leverage my potential customers to fund my business. I'd never
expected that at all. After the call my mind is racing, "How to I do
this?" It's still racing. This call lasted only about 5 minutes but
it's impact will change my life forever. Thank you very much Jason.
Have a fantastic week. Though I don't think that's too much of a
problem for you. As for me, I'm goin' up! :) $$ G'nite.

PS, here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnen8xfOzdQ

May 7 was a historic day

Today started uneventful enough, calling leads. Then I recieved my
paycheck. And for the first time ever, I didn't want to gorge myself
on buffets. You see, since I've lived on my own, roughly 8 years I've
always loved to enjoy good quality food. In fact a few years ago, I
looked at my financial situation and in 2008 I spent the better part
of $10,000 on food. Think about that figure. My mom raised 3 boys on
less. And that includes rent, phone, cable, utilities, everything. And
until recently, I've always been able to justify it "Well, I had a
good/bad week at work so I 'deserve' a decent meal." The problem is
that food is a unique part of the human condition. Once your full,
it's only a matter of time until you become hungry again. And once
you're done with food, McDonalds or fine cuisine it all ends up the
same. So I turned $10,000 into crap. That's a truly sickening thought.
What could you do with an extra $10,000? I would be running my
website, and/or building apps. And I wouldn't have shot my credit
score. In the last three weeks or so, I've been forced to adjust my
eating habits quite drastically. Now I'm on a basic diet of
carbohydrates, in the form of ramen soup and protien in the form of
turkey hotdogs. I'm consuming MUCH more salt than I should and as a
result, I've switched from ramen to plain rice recently. But this diet
provides me all of the nutrition I need for the day. It's not ideal
but it's cheap. I can eat for a week on less than $20. And that's key.
Now for the second part of my day. I left the office this evening with
one goal in mind. I was going to go everywhere I could to get approved
for a MacBook on credit. I went to two stores in addition to the Apple
store I'd already been to, and applied for credit. One told me they'd
need more time to review the application, which innthe credit markets
we find today means no. The other flat out rejected me. So Capitol 1's
greed has foiled my plans yet again. As an aside, FUCK YOU CAPITAL 1!
I HOPE EVERYONE AT YOUR COMPANY GETS BRAIN CANCER!!! So back to what
happened, I've now been rejected for credit to purchase what my
business needs on three seperate occasions. Normally I'd be on my way
to the liquor store to deaden my rejection (and full disclosure I did
get a 12 pack but oh well) after a major trip to a local restaurant.
Instead I went to the closest Wal-Mart and I picked up enough
groceries to last me two weeks. And beer. For the first time since
early '06 I have no desire to go to restaurants. I want to start a
business. And my personal comfort is the first thing I will sacrifice
to achieve that goal. Also, I've been putting it off for several weeks
but it's time to cut all the unnecessary crap from my life. Profit
isn't a major concern in this. I am liquidating everything I don't
need. I need the cash, and I need the feedback. So look out. There
might be a few deals on eBay soon. I've been stalling because this the
the omega plan. The one I'd execute when all other plans had fallen
short. I've tried everything I can think of and this is the last, best
option I have to launch my business. Finally, tempered by chronic
rejection I am ready to begin. I have nothing to lose. I have no fear
anymore. I know excatly what I have to do. And I'm ready for war. One
way or the other, I'm goin' up! :) $$ G'nite.

On to phase one

For the past month I've been working at a job I don't like. In fact
it's not much of a stretch to say I can't stand my job. So why do I go
in day after day? A while back I realized I couldn't continue to live
on what I had in the bank and excluding a miracle, I'd need to get a
job to pay my bills. (See http://bit.ly/d0Q7g6 for more) On Monday, I
will give my apartment manager a check and in return, I will be able
to stay in my apartment one more month. For the first time I had
thought fourth dimensionally(knowing what would happen in the future
and planning accordingly) and had my plan come to fruition. Phase 0 is
complete. I have a reasonably stable job, I can pay my bills, and I
can concentrate my spare time on what's next. So what's next? As I'm
sure you're aware, my idea to lease Apple technology to create an app
fell through. So at this point I face a question. What is the most
inexpensive way I can fund a business for myself? I'd asked this of an
entrepreneur I know and she said that if I can't supply something
required to get to the next step, find someone who can. And that's a
solid idea except for one minor issue. I've learned a few things
during my time in sales. One of the biggest is that you should always
negotiate from a postion of strength. And for the moment, I can't do
that. Any deal I'd make would place me solidly on the short end. So
for now, I'm going it alone. But how? Well, the site will cost me
about $8,000 to launch. That hasn't changed. And excluding a huge
gambling win, that's probably not a viable option for now. Another
option is to launch the app business. Of course the computer I'd
wanted originally is much more affordable at about $2,000 but is now
out of my price range. There is another computer in the Macintosh line
I could use. The Mac Mini is a very affordable option for me. I could
get one for less than a 64GB iPad. But there's a problem with the Mac
Mini. It's small. It's cute even. But it doesn't include anything
except a converter for a monitor. And the more I think about the idea,
the less appealing it seems. Especially when you consider that the
monitor, keyboard and mouse can quickly add up if purchased
separately. So I'm going to spend a bit more and go back to my
original plan. A fully loaded MacBook costs $999. I can probably get
one for less if I look for a used one but frankly, this project
requires me to think a bit more long term. Used MacBooks aren't
covered under warantee and won't get me any credit with Apple's
business plan. So in total my business will cost me $1,178.92 to
launch. The cost of a new MacBook, taxes, and iPhone SDK 4. But how?
That's a blowout week at work but in order to get it, we'd need to be
completly caught up with our bills. So at it's core work pays the
bills. That's it. So I need to come up with a way to make $1,178.92 as
soon as possible. But how? I have a tool I can use. eBay. I found out
today that eBay is a Fortune 500 company. So clearly people are making
a tremendous amount of money on the site and I'm next. So here's
what's going to happen: First I'm selling everything I don't need.
This will allow me to build up the necessary feedback to sell more
lucrative items. I know what you're thinking. And yes, I've been
saying that for some time but the reason why is I like my stuff. I
don't want to sell it. It's a heavy cost. But I pay it gladly. After
all, when I'm making a great income, I can buy more stuff. After this,
I'm going to start going around buying and selling whatever I can.
Once I get to about $1,200 it's on. Until then, thank you for your
time. I'm goin' up! :) $$