Donnerstag, 27. Februar 2003

Give Russell a new job: Here is my plea to you the Telco-People out there: Give Russell Beatie a job! Ok, he may not want (yet) another job - but I don't care. Rapidly becoming the Source for mobile news - our man on the mobiles - deserves more. Look at the service he is providing - without being payed to do so (at least I think that's the case). Now just imagine what this could be - if he were payed to write! This could be the chance you've been waiting for, dear Telco-People, to get UMTS off the ground (remember those debts you have...yeah) - get Russell to do a write-up. Get him to make a guest-appearance on the next Vodafone-Live commercials....use his name in your advertisements ("The new P742 - as seen on the Russell Beatie Weblog")...fly him to the next 3GSM and treat him to some cocktails. So run - don't walk - to your email programs and make him an offer he can't refuse. Thanks.

That's (nearly) it: Although not much of a football (soccer) fan - I spent most of my childhood in a region of Germany that only has one football club - 1 FC Kaiserslautern. Now that part of Germany (the part of Rheinland-Pfalz that is just referred to as "die Pfalz" has really nothing going for it. No real industry to speak of, the wine area of Rhine and Mosel are on the very perimeter, just countryside mainly with a few scattered larger towns. It was the area of Germany where most of the US armed forces were stationed - but now only a couple of bases still remain. Unemployment is high as many people worked for the US forces (including my parents back in the 70's and 80's.). After most of the Americans left - well the whole area pretty much collapsed and new industry and jobs have been slow to move in. Sad. Anyway - the football club had a very strong following and many people used their Saturday outing to the match to get over other problems. People would make long journeys into Kaiserslautern to see their team play and in that part of Germany you were either for the "1 FCK" or you remained quiet. Very quiet. Until this season the team played well and was always amongst the best teams in the nation. Suddenly however (obviously this was longer in coming) they are a) bankrupt and b) last in the table. They are currently trying to find enough money to continue playing this season and if they are relegated to the second division then that will definitely be it. Gone. Dead. Not just a football-club full of tradition and home to some of the best German football players - but also another knell for a whole region.

You'll have to wait: Looks like the new 17-inch Powerbooks will not hit the streets until April at least. Although I am currently still favoring the 12-inch or a rumored 15-inch it will at least give me more time to save my pennies.

Mobile payment inside: Frank adds some additional insight to yesterday's news from the mobile payment scene. I for one certainly hope something takes off as I used to love using paybox.