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After 3′s X-Series plans hit the market a few weeks ago, it was only a matter of time before other phone companies soiled themselves scrambled to offer some competitive data pricing.
So Virgin Mobile has popped up with a $10 / 1GB data deal. It doesn’t have all those extras like X-Series, but this is cheaper and if you have the handset to do the job, this will do very nicely for most users who aren’t chasing the Skype and the IM features. (Everything else on X-Series is pretty available on standard data, or, like Orb, isn’t quite delivering a killer experience just yet.)
So thanks Virgin, and kudos again, 3, for kicking the industry out of their disgusting data price schemes — before this, Virgin were charging sorry, the worst on the market was charging more like $22,000 / 1GB. That kind of pricing is really asking your customers to eat shit and like it. Now we’re just awaiting Telstra and Optus (who do Virgin’s back-end) to stop treating customers like dirt on the data front.
The clock is ticking… any bets on how long they make us wait? -Seamus Byrne
UPDATE: Worth noting the excess use rate is STILL $15,000 per GB! I’ve sent a query to Virgin asking for a comment on having such an excess rate attached to this otherwise very good data plan.
UPDATE 2: Virgin told us:
We believe that our customers are responsible individuals that will be aware of what data they are downloading and won’t go silly, if they do we have the following in place.Customers receive an SMS when they reach 75% to 90% of their credit limit, encouraging them to call us. If they ignore these SMS messages, their ability to incur further charges is put on hold (so they can still receive, but not make calls, essentially). So customers can never exceed their credit limits, so will never get a by now almost mythical $15,000 bill…
Virgin Mobile launches $10 for 1GB plans [APC Mag]
I love the future. It’s always so exciting, and it loves to bite you in the butt when you suggest you know what’s coming next. Take this list of predictions from 1900, looking at what may come to pass in the hundred years ahead… a lovely list of hits and misses.
Here’s a taste:
Prediction #7: There will be air-ships, but they will not successfully compete with surface cars and water vessels for passenger or freight traffic.
Prediction #26: Strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great great grandchildren for their Christmas dinners a hundred years hence.
Where will we be in 2100?-Seamus Byrne
The $12 Robocup is guaranteed to “take eating a boiled egg to another dimension.” Please hold on a sec. With a pitch like that I need to buy the Robocup ASAP.
Done. FACT: Hard-boiled eggs are boring. They don’t taste that great either, but that’s a far smaller problem. And the Robocup is the perfect solution for spicing up your bland breakfast life.
You place the egg into the Robocup. Once anthropomorphized properly, the egg miniature spaceman prisoner can be eaten with a spoon he provides for you. Upon digestion, you capture the power of spacemen everywhere—a phenomenon remarkably similar to eating a boiled egg in this dimension—but way better (with some salt). – Mark Wilson
Product Page [via nerdapproved]
Welcome to a spanking new week — and the first to bring you some local Giz goodness.
Every morning we’ll be getting up in the dark to bring you the Gizmodo feed from the USA, followed by the Breakfast Wrap: our take on the best bits and the parts where we’ll be following up to get you the local spin. Like the typical “yes, but when is that coming to Australia?”
You get the idea. Here’s the best of the past few days:
Could Dell have a tablet on the way?Give it enough time and I’m sure this rumour will turn out to be true.
The Magic 8-Ball… naked… at last…For people who like spoiling Christmas for small children.
Want a taste of the next Windows Media Center before everyone else?It isn’t exactly the Halo 3 beta we’re talking about, but a better MC is a happy MC!
Sony Ericsson W970 revealed.Because everyone likes a sneaky peek.
VIA makes small motherboards even smidgier.4″ x 3″. Yeah, that’s small.
Force your own bad taste in ringtones onto others.New tech for making someone else’s phone ring with a tone of your choosing — I don’t see it reaching the market. Once people realise you could send short voice messages through this signal, without having to pay a call cost? It’ll either be buried, or be priced out of existence.
Audio bitrate show ponies get their dues.160k outta be enough for anyone.
Hot off the news of Dell‘s smartphone, jkOnTheRun (good site, horrible name in print) is reporting a tip that Dell will release aTablet PC in Fall 2007.
And if rumors are your thing, they have plenty of details.
Is it just me or do Microsoft ads lack a certain pop? Where’s the snark? Apple’s campaign boasting the grating Justin Long glibly goading John Hodgman into manic depression over his boring 9-to-5 life as a PC might be wearing thin, but generally speaking they put out ads that seek to entertain or, at the very least, provoke a reaction other than a yawn.
Windows ad guys: Take jabs at Apple’s market share. Subtly gloat that it doesn’t matter what you think, you’ll probably be using Windows. I don’t care. Surely you can come up with better than “Wow.” – Matt Buchanan
[via TechEBlog]
The Cushion Control is a design by Didier Nicholas, urging man to ditch the efficiency of handheld control for panty pillow fights. And who can argue with logic like that?
The control is necessarily basic, with each cushion assigned one function (such as volume, power and channel). Details like how the remotes will actually work are glossed over (though I don’t see an IR port housed in the stitching). But we love the idea nonetheless, if only so we can annoy our significant others with even more remotes filling our living room. That is, until we pick up the bus-sized universal edition. – Mark Wilson
Design Page [via sci fi tech]
Contrary to Popgadget’s headline, the Choc-U-Lator does not make math delicious. It is, however, the most sadistic stocking stuffer ever. Imagine a child unwrapping what looks to be a chocolate bar only to find a calculator that looks like chocolate. They’d be scarred for life, which is totally hilarious.
The Choc-U-Lator does have the “sweet smell” of chocolate, according to the Japanese product page. But aside from the looks and the smell, there’s nothing chocolate about it. To top it off, it only performs extremely basic functions.
So let’s recap: Not real chocolate. Not exactly an upgrade for a TI-89. Verdict: not worth $4. You’re better off buying a real candy bar and stealing a cheap-o calculator from the bank. – Matt Buchanan
Product Page [via Pop Gadget]
Some DJs bust out the old school and some DJs bust out the really old school. The Baby Grand Master is for the really really old school.
Packing some serious hardware—Dual Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD Players, Edirol V-4 Video Mixer, 3 Marshal LCD Monitors, 5 subwoofers, 3 tweeters, 1100 Watt Power Amplifier and an Allen and Heath Xone 92 Audio Mixer—the company still claims “there’s not an ounce of excess”.
The Baby Grand Masters are for sale, but the amount is disclosed by inquiry only. In other words, it might just make you baroque.
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– Mark Wilson
Product Page [via therawfeed]
Unlike the spherical chewy core of a Tootsie pop, the center of the magic eight ball is just a tube filled with water, blue dye, and a 20-sided die. My entire grounding in reality has been destroyed. I would turn to the 8-ball for guidance in these dark times, but now I know I would simply be subject to the whims of icosahedron floating in some blue water. All is lost. – Matt Buchanan
Secrets of the Magic 8-Ball Revealed [Hanttula via Boing Boing]
