In anticipation of my iPhone 3G someday materialising (YOU HAVE 6 DAYS LEFT, FIDO... 6 DAYS UNTIL YOUR PROMISED DELIVERY DATE EXPIRES - THEN I SHALL RAIN HELL AND CHAOS ON YOUR PISSANT COMPANY) I decided to install iTunes on my laptop.

The good news - you can tell it not to coopt all files types and it seems to actually obey.

The bad news - if you want to do ANYTHING, like consolidate your library, you have to let it copy all the media files to its own copy of the library, and convert anything in a format of which it doesn't approve.

The worse news - when I clicked on 'get cover art' - because you know - coverflow is really kind of pointless without actual covers - oh side note to that - would it have been THAT difficult to respond to click/slides in the coverflow area rather than forcing me to use the slidebar? - I'm informed that I need to have an iTMS account.

Well, ok - I guess I will need one anyway to activate the iPhone when and if it ever showes up.

Apparently, I'd signed up for one before as my email is registered. No problem - I figure out my password and sure enough, it's me, but iTMS wants me to update my information. The missing information?

MY CREDIT CARD!

NO NO NO.. I do NOT leave my credit cards registered with companies. EVER.

Not with Amazon. Not with Pay Pal. NO ONE.

The potential for misuse or accidental discovery is just too great and they have no need for that information. When I want to purchase something, I will enter my credit information THEN and I expect them to discard that information as soon as they've processed my purchase.

Why? Well, it's simple. If any purchase comes from them after that purchase, I know they've cheated and there's no room for argument. Either they've kept and used my credit card info without my permission or someone's gotten access to my card info and is using it.

When something like iTMS (iTunes Music Store) has it and something gets run up against it, it becomees vastly harder for me to prove *I* didn't make the purchase.

I sincerely hope I don't need to use iTMS to activate my iPhone or this will be a problem.

WiMo phones don't need a special server to activate them. The Zune Store doesn't require registering a credit card. This sucks.

And no - there is no checkmark that lets you get out of it.

Here are the choices:



It may be possible to create an account with a credit card then remove the card - but that begs the point - why require it?

The thing I need to know is: do you need an iTMS account to activate your iPhone - if so, that's a dealbreaker.

I mean sheesh - Amazon and their obsession with 1-Click doesn't require a credit card be registered. Neither does Paypal. When I go grocery shopping, Safeway doesn't make me register a credit card with them - they're happy to let me pay any way I want to.

Oh... and so much for the much vaunted Apple service - I just tried calling 1-800-MY-Apple to ask someone and all I can get is recorded messages explaining how to do things - I can't get to a human to ask two simple questions:

1) Do you need an iTMS account to activate an iPhone?
2) If so, is there a way to open an iTMS account without registering a credit card to it?

UPDATE: Finally got through to a human at Apple.

1) Yes indeed - there are only two ways to open a new iTMS account: credit card or gift card.
2) You can delete the credit card AFTER creating the account. I pointed out that this is kind of unethical, but it does give a way out. One should opt-in not opt-out. It may even be illegal - I point you to the legal decision against Rogers when they opted people in on new premium channels after a preview period.
3) She didn't know if the iPhone in Canada requires iTMS since technically Rogers/Fido is supposed to preactivate them.

I pointed out that Apple's main competitor doesn't require this - she's taken it all down and is passing it up the chain. I expect it to taken <sarcasm>very seriously.</sarcasm>

UPDATE2: Ohhh and it gets better.

Well, I talked to the guys at Fido because well, it's Saturday and the phone hasn't shipped yet. I've had THREE people at Fido swear blind I'd get it by Aug 1 - which is important as that's when my data plan starts up. To get me the phone by Aug 1, it pretty much has to be shipped by UPS on Wednesday (one night for processing by UPS, one day for transport, one day to deliver). That means they have 4 days to get it out the door... except, since I'm at the top of the list (as everyone keeps telling me) they either haven't received any - or they've sent them to their stores - or they've sent them to other people.

Essentially, unless they get more early next week, there's no way they can meet the Aug 1 commitment.

It seems that Fido customer service people fall into exactly two groups: intelligent helpful people who put in the extra effort to help, and the book readers who really don't know, don't care and just follow the script. The first guy I got was in the latter category.

I ask if I can downgrade my order to an 8GB iPhone. No no.. they're out of them. Dude, you have tons of them. The Fido Store in Brentwood has lots. Ok, well, you can't downgrade. You have to wait for delivery and then refuse it.

Wait. I have to wait for the phone I WANT to arrive, then refuse delivery of it so I can get the phone I DON'T want but will take in order to speed up the delivery? HELLO? Did that sound as stupid to you when you said it as it did to me?

Well, I end the call, and then realise he didn't even answer the 'do you need an iTMS account to activate' question. I call back and this time I get one of the intelligent Fido people.

I explain the delivery problem. The data plan starting up problem. The downgrade problem. And he agrees this is stupid. He STILL insists I'll get it by Aug 1, but if I don't, call HIM back personally and he'll find a way out - possibly by downgrading the order to an 8GB iPhone.

Some good news, maybe - they say you don't need an Apple ID to activate the phone. That process is independent of an account. We'll see.

Man... why is dealing with anything related to Apple like selling your soul to the devil?

From Ballmer’s e-mail, discussing Microsoft’s priorities for fiscal 2009:

"In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we’re changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises. We’ll do the same with phones–providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences."

I'm not actually sure this is a good idea, or rather, I hope it doesn't become an obsession.

I would like Microsoft to work with hardware vendors more to build a reliable end to end solution. I've worked with PCs where the maker has taken the time to select hardware from vendors with a good reputation for driver quality, or built their own hardware and put the effort into making good drivers. It's a major improvement over the PC experience in general.

But there's only so much you can do there. Microsoft ALSO needs to look at their own offerings. Whether you like iLife and iWork or not, it has one huge advantage over the comparable apps delivered with Windows: they look similar, work similarily and interoperate well (mostly - there IS Garage Band which stick out like a sore thumb). Vista has made massive improvements in this area to the core app suite that ships with it - but there's still a long way to go.

I've detailed some of these problems in the past - most notably the lack of consistent UI behaviour in stock controls (like the dreaded TextBox). That's going to be hard to fix this late in the game, but starting by fixing it in their own apps is the first step. The thing is - reread that paragraph and you'll notice something: the commitment is to fix the 'hardware vendors', not to fix themselves.

Like all problems, the first step is to admit you have one. I don't hear that in Ballmer's message.

In the world:


visited 7 states (3.11%)
Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president

I have five more continents to get to...

And in the US:


visited 12 states (24%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

And in Canada

BC, Alberta, Saskatchwan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

*grins* Just in case you missed it - SPOILERS!!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE.

[Actually you may not want to read even IF you've seen the movie... :)]

( If you stare into the abyss for too long... the abyss stares back into you... )

Man, I wish someone would do a live action version of The Authority.

With the dad stuff and the cat stuff and the work stuff and life (or lack of) stuff... I decided that this weekend, I'm going to spend at least one day just for me, no questions asked, no prisoners taken.

So, I got up at 11am, showered and hauled myself into my car and headed for the border.. south... south to Seattle.

Got to the border, got through VERY quickly, and hurled down the I5 until I got to Everett where I stopped for gas. Once I gave my car some gas, I went to the nearby Taco Bell and did the same for myself. Ok... I have to make one comment - and I apologise up front if it offends anyone, but... wow - there are a LOT of Hispanic people in Seattle now. I'm not complaining or saying this is a bad thing - just that the last time I was down there - there just weren't so many Hispanic people.

Mind you, there were a lot of them in the Taco Bell and I'll leave it up to you to fill in the rest of that sentence as you see fit. I found is weirdly amusing - but I find a lot of things weirdly amusing. I ended with a crunchwrap (which I LOVE), some mexifries (not so much), a caramel apple "empanada" (entirely not at all) and a rather nice fruit drink with mango slush and straberry syrup and actual chunks of strawberries. At least I think they were - but the sign DID say no actual fruit juice used... so what were they?

Off to Frys.

Ok.. everytime I go to Frys I say 'shopping therapy is not about buying - it's about shopping' and I always say 'I've bought everything I need... there's nothing left'... and yet somwhow I always come back with $300 worth of stuff. :)

This time was no exception:

Two Belkin neoprene pocket drive cases and to my surprise, they have little side pouches for a USB cable.
A Belkin neoprene sleeve for my laptop.
A new Belkin slim backpack for.. well everything.
A CF to IDE drive emulator - you stick a compact flash card into this board and it pretends it's a hard drive.
A new eSATA/IDE/mini-IDE diagnostic connector (pocket sized with no attached USB cable)
A VGA to DVI cable so I can connect my laptop to my big monitor
Some velcro Ripties.
A new TV Tuner stick that does ATSC/NTSC/Clear QAM and FM Radio. Technically, I have sticks that do all this (except Clear QAM) - but this does them ALL in one and even includes a nice, compact remote.

While wandering around the Frys, I got an SMS from wolfylee. :) I also saw one of those laser projection keyboards... $130... ALMOST got one - but in truth, I'd almost never use it.

Then had a bowl of soup in the Frys cafeteria - broccoli and cheese in a bread bowl and I think it may have had chicken stock in it as my guts started acting up right after that.

I rang up the purchases and headed out to Southcenter Mall to see if I could find a Clearwire outlet. I'm thinking of getting one of their PCMCIA Expedience modems and trying to get Rogers to let me use it on their Portable Internet network (which is also Expedience based).

Unfortunately, Southcenter Mall recently (like yesterday) opened an AMC megaplex cinema which they've deemed an 'event'. In order to do this, they've essentially made it impossible to get into the mall... I knew Americans took their movies seriously - but man... :) I did see a sign that said "<- Restaurants on the Lupine Walk" so I *had* to try and find that - but alas, the sheer size and bad planning and layout of the mall thwarted me. Still, I got a lot of walking in and that helped work of some of the nausea from the soup.

So further south to the Best Buy and there's a Clearwire booth and they're selling the modem card... $230. Hmmmm... it says $230 without a plan... which is what I want... So I ask the Clearwire rep and he keeps flipping between yes and no. I tell him I already have a main modem (which is true - the Portable Internet one I have for Rogers is exactly the same as the one Clearwire sells). He recommends buying it on a plan, then calling their customer service number and having the two accounts merged. Well, that's no good. Then he starts trying to look up my account and I hightail it out of there. :) DRAT... had it in my hands. Soooo close.

And that's the end of the shopping trip. Almost.. I head north and when I get to Mount Vernon, I pull into town because I want to pick up a box of Fruity Pebbles. We have them in Canada - just not in BC (as far as I can tell) and I love them. They have such a strong flavour and nice colours. I pop into a Cost Cutter and... well remember the comment about there being so many more Hispanic people than before? Well, the Cost Cutter is filled with Mexican food! And half the signs are in Spanish. This is like way cool! There's all sorts of foods I've never seen before.

I pick up a pack of prefried tortillas, two bottles of sangria soda (OMG - why does no one sell this here??? What an insanely great idea!), a bottle of Talking Rain "spearmint mojito" water and the Fruity Pebbles. When I get to the checkout - there's just one open and a huge line. I wait and wait and they finally open a second line, and she takes the next person in the one line - who has a HUGE cart filled with stuff, even though most of the people behind him had one or two items. So, I put the stuff down on an empty checkout and leave.

Over to the Haggens about a kilometer away and they had all the stuff and a few other neat things. Bought them quickly then up to Blaine to top up the gas tank and on to the Canadian border. Bit of a lineup, but I get through quickly enough and to my surprise, when I tell the customs agent I have around $340 in stuff - he just asks what it is, I tell him, he asks if it's personal use, I say yep and he waves me through without charging the sales tax!

I buzz home and except for hitting the rim of an exposed sewer pipe (Dear Burnaby public works - black sewer pipe on black asphalt at night in your appallingly poorly lit streets when you're doing roadwork is kind of rough on cars - try spraying a bit of reflective paint on it, could ya?) it all goes well and that's the end of the trip.

All logged on my new logger GPS too. :)

I want my mobile internet!!!!

But I can't have that because my current phone is EDGE-only and they say I'm not allowed to use an EDGE-only phone with the 6GB/$30/mo plan.

So, I can't gets me my mobile internet until my iPhone shows up!

*grrrr*

Maybe I should have gone with the Blackjack or the Q9 after all. I think I'll go down to Seattle tomorrow and see if I can find me a cheap unlocked 3G WiMo phone. :)

*frumps*

I wonder if I can crash the UPS tracking site by going there every ten seconds and checking my reference number to see if it's shipped yet? :)

Is it ready?
Is it ready?
...

:)

http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/

WAIT... before you go spastic on me. Take a few mins to read it.

Now, stop and think about what's UNDER the comments because there's some excellent stuff in there, like his comments on why giving out the source code is actually a BAD idea from a development perspective.

The short version goes like this:

The whole point of object oriented design is to encapsulate a collection of related methods and properties and make them obscure. The reason for the obscurity is to prevent implementation assumptions from percolating up into the user of the object's mindset.

The correct way to make an object that's going to be used by other people is to *first* write the contract, then implement against the contract, then use the contract to ensure that all modes defined by the contract work correctly.

A contract is an agreement about what an object will do. It's an agreement between the writer and the user that the functionality and exposed interface will behave in a predictable way and that that way won't arbitrarily change. It also defines the limits of use and any use outside of those limits are 'out of bounds'. It may work, but you can't rely on it.

I might define the following:

int Add(int a, int b);

as my method with the following documentation:

For all valid signed integers, Add will return the mathematical sum of those two numbers. If the sum exceeds the capacity of an int, it will pin to the maximum or minimum (if negative) value.

That's a contract. It defines the format of the call. It defines the allowed input. It defines the expected output. It defines the exception case and what to expect in that case. Notice, it doesn't say *anything* about how this is implement. That means you can't make any assumptions about that... unless you can see the source code. Then you can.

Here's an example... what if I add -0 to something? -0 is an odd artifact of signed binary numbers...

011 = 3
010 = 2
001 = 1
000 = 0
111 = -1 (111 + 001 = 000)
110 = -2 (110 + 010 = 000)
101 = -3 (101 + 011 = 000)
100.... ?

Usually -0 is just ignored. But you could call the function like this

int a = Add(0x0001, 0x8000);

If you could look inside the method and see how it works, you MIGHT notice you can get a useful side effect from it (you could consider it to be -4, for example). Except, it would break if the implementor changed the code. That's the whole idea. -0 isn't described, so don't use it. You don't know what it will do.

Not having the source code and ONLY having the contract makes this work better. It also means when something breaks - you can take it to the programmer and show exactly how it breaks (module testing - what a concept... to test a module, you kind of have to know what the expected inputs and behaviours are... :)

Anywho, I think it's an entertaining read. :)

The Watchmen trailer comes out tonight at midnight!

I never thought this would EVER get released! The filming has been done for months - it was filmed here in Vancouver and they struck the sets a while ago. I guess the SFX has taken a LONG time to do.

Here's a frame from the movie:



Wow - that's amazingly close to Dr. Manhattan...



...right down to the nudity (well as much as we can see) - which I'm sure will result in some interesting comments from the censors...

For more info:

http://io9.com/5026402/watch-how-faithful-watchmen-will-be

See the trailer tomorrow:

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22942

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464987

Nora Cara was flabbergasted.

She was about to order her usual morning coffee and muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts when she saw the new calorie labels. The chocolate chip muffin she had her eye on was 630 calories.

“I was blown away,” said Cara, a 27-year-old homemaker from Forest Hills in New York City. “I’m not a no-carb type of person, and I usually don’t even think about it. But you pick up a little muffin with your coffee, and it has 630 calories in it? That’s a bit extreme!”

New Yorkers have been in the throes of sticker shock since this spring when the Big Apple became the first city in the country to implement a law forcing chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food in the same size and font as the price.

I can't help thinking if this was universal, it would help a lot. Also if the calorie listings on the back of products reflected some real world portions - not to mention if it were prominently displayed on the most visible part of the container in a font and size normal humans can read.

http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2008/07/hypenotized-by-apple.html

When I was at Apple, one the competitive team's central goals was to goad Microsoft and Intel into targeting us in public. We used all sorts of tactics to irritate them. We printed bumper stickers that read "Honk if your Pentium has bugs." We hounded them in online discussions. We did press and analyst tours demonstrating all sorts of annoying flaws we'd found in Windows.

The whole idea was to get them so pissed off that they would lash out at us in public. Because we knew that when a market leader attacks a challenger, it just makes the challenger more credible.

So what is Microsoft doing? It's attacking the challenger.

It's kind of weird reading the tech blog now. I'll read an article about Jailbreaking the iPhone or some new app that makes me roll my eyes because it's been available on WiMo for a long time (or just makes me wonder why the blogger thought it was worth of an entire post) - and now a new secondary bump happens: wait - you're getting an iPhone... you could actually try that.

It's like being hungry AND not wanting to eat anything at the same time. :)

http://www.koco.com/news/16860079/detail.html

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.

Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event's organizers was unable to attend.

The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event.

Put in an order today for a 16GB Black iPhone. It'll be delivered around the first of August.

In the end, the final deciding factors were:

$110 Fido Dollar credit + $50 3 year plan credit took the $350 price down to $190.

The 3 year dataplan is $30/mo for 6GB/mo, which is roughly around what Rogers want for the portable internet WiMAX solution ($50/mo for 10GB/mo). More importantly, the cancellation fee is just $100, so if I really don't use it or like it, it's not horrible to cancel. Apparently, I get to keep the iPhone either way.

I was thinking of going with the Samsung Blackjack II, which only costs $50 - but then I'd not use up my FidoDollars and not really have another chance to use them before they'd expire. Also, I can buy an unlocked Blackjack II anytime for around $150 but there's no easy way to buy an unlocked iPhone for that price. Or I could spend more later and get a full WiMo phone like the Touch, as long as it has HSDPA/3G, which means I'm not tied to Fido's meagre smartphone choices.

They claim you can't use the 3G plan with EDGE phones, I'm betting that's not true. We'll see when the iPhone shows up and my data plan is activated.

Only downside, my voice plan - 200 anytime minutes for $20 with unlimited weekend and evenings for $10 - no longer exists, so I had to go with 100 anytime minutes + unlimited evening and weekends + unlimited incoming for $30. Same price, but I give up some of my anytime minutes for unlimited incoming.

On the other hand, I'll be able to IM and email anywhere anytime, which makes up for it.

[BTW, notice my previous post was 'next to last post on the iPhone'... see. see.. :)]

Well, turns out that the 6GB/$30/mo plan that Rogers dropped on everyone two days ago is also for Fido (yay) - BUT - it's not actually an iPhone specific plan - it works with any 3G smartphone. I checked and you can use it with EDGE phones too - so my Wizard works with it.

Still, if I get that plan - and sign up for my current voice plan for three years - I may as well get the iPhone too since I can switch between the two phones.

Unfortunately, most of the iPhones in Van are the 8GB model and since it's not expandable, I'd rather get the 16GB one, so I'll wait for now.

I do have to comment on one thing though - unlike in the US - all Rogers and Fido outlets were carrying them - but so were most affiliate outlets like Wireless Wave. That means the iPhone was pretty much everywhere in the city from 10am on - which makes 'lineups' kind of unlikely since there's no specific store to line up at.

So what Rogers did is to single out their main store on Broadway and Arbutus and opened it at 8am - and provided breakfast to everyone in line, and advertised this on their site. So, if you wanted to be one of the first ones in Van to get one - well, there's only one place to go. This created a newsworthy line up.

The Fido store in the mall by my place was all set up for a line up, but there weren't that many people there. To make sure that they were sold out, most of the affiliates only got a couple units, and not surprisingly, the 16GB units were gone pretty quickly. There are plenty of 8GBs around if you want one.

I'm sure that in a week or so we'll have lots of them and I'll grab one then. I have until the end of August and it's not like I'm actually that hyped about getting the iPhone itself. :)

Mind you - maybe I should get a Samsung Blackjack.. since it's 3G... :)

Oh... One other little surprise...

If your voice plan is under $30/mo - you pay $250 for the 8GB iPhone and $399 for the 16GB one.

Didn't Unca Stevie say it won't be over $199 for the 8GB or %299 for the 16GB?

Update: Wait, it gets better. The "breakfast" Rogers promised the people who lined up at their flagship stores this morning?

A granola bar!

Delight in the irony.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/11/iphone-first-day.html

I'm on the SciAm and New Scientist RSS feeds in LJ... and this just popped up:

User: new_scientist
Date: 2008-07-09 10:20
Subject: Cleaner skies explain surprise rate of warming
Security: Public

http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?i=277388134ff0354c258f532ab60f8b08

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926634.800-cleaner-skies-explain-surprise-rate-of-warming.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

A decrease in air pollution may account for half of the warming experienced in Europe over the last 30 years

Now... let's review: because pollution is going DOWN - warming is going UP - and that MAY account for as much as 1/2 of the warming experienced by Europe. BUT.. since air isn't sort of contained in zones, this means that European air + The Rest of the World's air still resulted in less pollution - which means there's LESS pollution now than there was... and it's CAUSING global warming... by not being there?

Sooo....

Around now, the average layperson is going 'WTF?'

torrle Today! Of course, you got the best present a person can get - you're with yer bear, so I'll just give ya a hug. :)

foxgrrl Jul 10th Many wishes and I hope your hassles disappear soon - that would be a good present.

tugrik Jul 14th May the new business venture be nothing but successful.

spikerotty Jul 16th I would hope you find nirvana, but since nirvana kind of scares me - I hope you find YOUR nirvana. :)

grisser Jul 22nd Bears. BEARS. Oh.. and racoons and bunnies. :)

http://micro.newswire.ca/release.cgi?rkey=1607093105&view=5804-0&Start=0

Calling all iPhone 3G fans!
Select Rogers Plus stores to open early coast-to-coast on July 11
Launch promotions to include limited time 6GB data offer

TORONTO, July 9 /CNW/ - In anticipation of iPhone 3G launch on July 11, Rogers Wireless today announced plans to open the doors of select Rogers Plus retail stores across Canada in advance of regular hours. Starting at 8:00 am July 11, Canadians will be able to purchase the new iPhone 3G at special launch day events to be held at six Rogers Plus stores across the country. Be among the first in Canada to get the next generation iPhone 3G and have the choice of a 6GB data plan through a limited time promotional price offer.

"As Canada's leading wireless carrier, Rogers is excited to bring iPhone 3G to Canadians even sooner, allowing our customers to be amongst the first in the world to experience this amazing mobile innovation," says John Boynton, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless. "To celebrate its launch on Canada's fastest wireless network, we're rolling out the red carpet with special events at six Rogers Plus stores and a limited time price promotional data offer from coast-to-coast."

iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast(*) as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK.

Rogers Launch Promotions
------------------------

The following Rogers Plus stores in these cities will open their doors at 8:00 a.m. (all times local) on Friday, July 11 for advance purchases of the Apple iPhone 3G:

Toronto: 112-10 Dundas Street East
Montreal: 1015 rue St. Catherine Ouest
Ottawa: 690 Bank Street
Halifax: Unit 265, 7001 Mumford Road
Calgary: 5244 Falsbridge Gate, NE
Vancouver: 2097 West Broadway

Customers attending launch day events at these Rogers Plus stores will be treated to a free early bird breakfast and have a chance to win Rogers Wireless prizes.

Effective July 11, and as a limited time promotional offer for customers who activate by August 31 on a three year contract, a data-only offering of 6GB of data for $30 per month is being made available that can be added to any in-market voice plan. For example, with 6GB of data, iPhone 3G users can visit 35,952 web pages, or send and receive 157,286 emails, or watch 6,292 minutes of YouTube videos each and every month.

(xx)

New Canadian iPhone 3G customers will also have the choice to select from Rogers Wireless' existing voice and smartphone data plans and/or additional features to best suit their needs, or from Rogers Wireless' value bundled plans specifically for iPhone 3G. Existing Rogers Wireless customers can keep
their current voice service plan and select a separate data plan to meet their needs or choose from other plans after checking their individual upgrade eligibility.

Starting July 11, iPhone 3G will be available at participating locations across Canada, including select Rogers Plus, Rogers Video, and Rogers Wireless retail locations and at the following specially selected authorized Rogers Wireless dealers: WirelessWave, TBooth and Wireless etc. iPhone 3G can also be
purchased online at www.rogers.com and through Rogers' customer service at 1-888-764-3771. For a complete store listing, visit http://your.rogers.com/mq/mqlocator.asp. Due to anticipated high demand, there is a maximum purchase of two iPhone 3G per customer.

(*) Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds may vary due to a variety of factors.
(xx) Based on live trials of iPhone 3G on Rogers HSPA network, July 2008

Not unlimited - and not a permanent plan - but clearly Rogers is starting to worry about Friday rolling around and no one showing up.

But, assuming Fido follows suit, and assuming I can get the 'promotional' plan when my contract expires in September, it puts the iPhone back on my 'hmmmm' list. :)

I've been to Surcouf and the shops around it, and of course to Fnac.

The little shops aren't bad, but I'm wondering if there are other shops.

Also, good comic shops. I've been to Action! and the big store around the Notre Dame.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/06/apple_allegedly_sanctioning_rogers_for_iphone_rates.html

Apple allegedly sanctioning Rogers for iPhone rates

By Aidan Malley

Published: 05:55 PM EST
After raising the ire of its customers with what are believed to be overly expensive iPhone 3G plans, Canadian provider Rogers Wireless is allegedly being punished by Apple with fewer shipments.

Blogger Daniel Smith claims multiple sources, including a senior Rogers representative, claim that Apple has diverted a significant amount of its initial iPhone 3G Canadian deliveries to Europe in retribution for the carrier's steep rate plans, which at similar prices offer a third fewer minutes and limited data compared to AT&T.

Stores may be getting just 10 to 20 iPhones each and are being told to "exercise caution" not to promise ample stock on launch day, according to the rumors.

At the same time, Rogers is also claimed to be promptly firing the part-time staff that had been hired to handle an expected deluge of customers at some stores.

With the story breaking on the weekend, neither Apple nor Rogers officials have commented on the allegations. However, the provider in recent days has faced a steadily mounting backlash against its planned rates with approximately 42,000 would-be iPhone buyers signing a highly-publicized petition for lower rates that they plan to deliver to Rogers in person.

Rogers itself has already made an about-face regarding some of its plans. A statement issued to the press clarified that customers will now be able to pick and choose from separate voice and data plans as well as to order extras such as caller ID a la carte rather than as part of mandatory $15 and $20 value packs.

A separate statement from Rogers has also alluded to "tweaking" data plan sizes, although it stops short of offering the unlimited data demanded by some of the company's critics.

While readers should take caution in accepting the rumor at face value, at least one other carrier has been forced to loosen its Internet access restrictions after facing similar criticism: TeliaSonera has been pushed into extending its Swedish iPhone plans with an unlimited data option after previously giving even its highest-end iPhone plan just 1GB of data per month.

I hope the Fido rep (Fido is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers and will also be carrying the iPhone) is reading the news. It's not what you offer - it's what the market demands that counts. :)

Thanks to kurst for the link.

PLEASE stop naming ALL of your downloadable installers "setup.exe".

Thanks.