I'm beginning to miss the swimming posts.

Jesus Christ, don't play like that. Nobody misses swimming posts. At least this is hardware.

Come on now you weenies, just because you don't personally do a sport doesn't mean the mechanics can't be interesting. I don't pole vault either, but there's still cool stuff going on there.

"I've had to look deep into my heart and confront the fact that I'm just not a slider kind of guy."

What do you have against White Castle?

You may have already given this some thought, but if you have just run out your contract, you may also want to factor service/coverage into your decision. The coolest phone on earth will still be annoying if it keeps dropping calls.

Trust me, I've had to work with the bloody things, never buy a mobile phone created by a pc maker. They always suck.

But then I liked, the swimming posts.

Hmm, I had an iPaq HW6915 for a while, and as I recall it was damn good. (Anyway, my Grandad Bill always said that whenever they could afford it, his GEC Marconi lab bought HP equipment..)

And I was at a highly pompous conference this week where the new HP gadgets were very much in evidence; even more than the b/berries, but not as many as there were Nokia E61s. (PS, only the AT&T guys had iPhones, and not even all of them.)

I want a QWERTY on a slab

In the near future, nothing will say old fart like QWERTY on a slab.

I agree with Gonerill. The hidden keyboard is the most attractive thing about the new phones.

Next you're going to tell Ogged that he shouldn't wear the white belt and shoes.

I would like to touch ogged's white belt.

Is this the right thread for that?

10: I'm not a monster, Apo.

I forget, have you already ruled out the blackberry for some reason?

In the near future, nothing will say old fart like QWERTY on a slab.

I was explaining to someone last week that QWERTY on a slab signals stodgy. Kind of absurd, kind of true. I think I prefer the economy of motion associated with the visible keyboard (one fewer gesture!) and I also prefer that something that should last 2-3 years not have any moving parts.

have you already ruled out the blackberry for some reason?

Sadly, yes.

You won't even go try an iPhone, will you?

So sad.

I love the way Ogged moderates the pace with boring posts. He's a real master of that. If the blog became consistently interesting, who knows what would happen? Certainly a lot of hard feelings would inevitably ensue.

My much-loved RAZR v3xx abruptly gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon (in the middle of a gossip session with my mother, grar!) and when I went to the AT&T store today I failed my Will save.

I just activated my iPhone.

I've found the iphone's keyboard remarkably easy to use, and unlike my ancient blackberry where I'd press adjacent keys that happens very little on the iphone.

Come on, you guys. Slate told ogged that iPhones were for doofuses.

In other news, I don't want to be alone in my nightmares, so here's a picture of a scary monster.

That made me cry aloud, H-L.

Thanks a lot, H-L.

They're bastards in a tomato patch -- you wait for the tomatoes to ripen, and then just when you're ready to pick them, the crabs get them in the night.

I never saw one anything like that big, though -- is that a tiny little garbage can? Like, half scale, maybe?

Why scientists are heartless, part XXI:

It was doubted for a long time that the coconut crab could open coconuts, and in experiments, some have starved to death surrounded by coconuts.

(from HL's link)

23: They're a meter long and drown in water! Eek!

Looks delicious!

I must be familiar with a different species, or they just run smaller in Samoa. A meter long sounds crazy -- the ones I know were somewhere around a foot long.

I just activated my iPhone.

Hahaha! Keep us posted. But it's very hard to fight weakness of will; I mean, what are you going to fight it with?

I also prefer that something that should last 2-3 years not have any moving parts.

Like, oh, say, 26+ little buttons?

I'm hoping to get an iPhone for my 40th bday. Or maybe Xmas.

I'm hoping to get an iPhone for my 40th bday

Me too. By 2013 the technology should be pretty mature.

Whippersnapper.

So far so good!

I saw some in-the-flesh iphones yesterday. They looked pretty cool, but the friends of one of the iphone-owners were gigantic tools.

I have seen more iPhones than I can count here at my wealthy university. I still haven't touched one, because all of the people who own them are such unfriendly douches.

24--
letting those monsters starve to death doesn't seem heartless to me--it seems philanthropic.

jesus. walking, ten-legged proofs of god's non-existence.

Once I realized it was a crab and not a spider it was not quite as horrifying, and the fact that they steal tomatoes is almost endearing. But Wikipedia says they also steal shiny objects from tents. What if one got into your tent and mistook your head for a coconut? Crabs are not that bright. That is why one should never, ever camp.

one should never, ever camp

Having just finished washing the camping dishes (commandment from the goddamn hippie school we're sending PK to: don't bring paper plates! Assholes), I wholeheartedly agree.

The tent is still in the backyard waiting for me to have the energy to unwrap it and rinse all the goddamn dirt off.

Open it carefully, B.

True! But I rolled it up myself, and there were no humongous crabs. Might be a few spiders, though. If I'm lucky, possibly a black widow.

Listen, that I'm an unfriendly douche is no reason to hate my friends.

What if one got into your tent and mistook your head for a coconut?

IT appears that they can't just crack the coconuts, their procedure involves a lot of scraping.

I suppose keeping those crabs out of your tomato patch would require completely different measures from keeping deers out.

23: Consensus is that it's a small garbage can, and that a meter is way on the high side.

Just helped my friend unlock his iPhone so he can use it with T-Mobile. Worked like a charm, all GUI friendliness. He's now messing around with the third party IM client that just got released. He installed Doom, but hasn't quite gotten that to work yet. I'm sure it'll happen soon enough.

Having seen the IM client? Dang, I want one of them things now.

This canine citizen is doing his part to prepare for the crab junta. How many of us can say the same?

44: What app is this? I'm sure O.G. will be along shortly to say that was useless without picslinks.

44: I remember hearing in the early stages of the unlocked iPhone that you could only use the internet and such over WiFi. Is this still true?

46: "Apollo IM"

47: no.

48: So I can just add an unlimited data plan and it will work completely normally? Damn, this is attractive.

I believe so, yes. You might want to go on more than just my say-so, though. Try here, maybe?

Duh, I forgot that it only works with GSM carriers. By the time they make a 3G iPhone I'll be free from my contract, anyway.