Pollywogs!

I am so far behind in writing the shit I want to write here that it isn’t even funny anymore, it is borderline ridiculous…

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So I still haven’t written Pearl Jam 2008, Part IV.  But we went and saw Eddie Vedder in NYC on August 4th.  So I can’t tell you about that until I’ve told you about Pearl Jam in Madison Square Garden in July…

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I got this Aroma hot water kettle recently.  Efficency bugs me, you know?  I want to be more efficent.  So we have tea every morning, I love Lipton Orange & Spice flavored black tea.  Kell drinks tea instead of coffee these days too.  So, we had to fire up the stove and let it work on a kettle of water for a long damn time every morning to get the water to make our tea, and most of the heat ends up pouring out and around the kettle, and a lot is lost as steam as the water starts to boil.  So this little Aroma kettle is just freaking awesome, it heats the water in all of about two minutes, has automatic shutoff once the temp is reached, shuts off if there isn’t enough water in the kettle, has this cool base where the electricity stays behind and you can pour it with no cords, and it uses vastly less electricity.

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I got an iPhone today off of eBay (it came in today).  Spent some time fooling around with it, had to downgrade it from 2G 2.0 to 1.1.4 (PITA) and then unlock and jailbreak it (easy as pie).  Basically used this guide to downgrade, but it didn’t quite work as described.  I installed iTunes 7.7, then uninstalled, rebooted, and installed iTunes 7.5, then tried over and over to ‘Restore’ the iPhone, with zero success and a lot of disturbing error messages.  Finally I found a file called iPhone1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw online which seemed to do the trick (by shift-clicking on Restore and choosing this file directly), I got a “good” error of 1015 at the end of the upgrade process, and after a little more screwing around was able to run ZiPhone 3.0 (which effortlessly unlocked, jailbroke and activated the iPhone in one simple step).  So now I’m looking at it, holding it, stroking its soft and delicate screen oh so gently…mmm…I need to go grab a box of tissues!

I mentioned this in passing here, figured I ought to follow up properly…

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For the following, you will need:

Phones (various costs, corded, wireless, whatever)
1 unlocked Linksys PAP2-NA for each separate (like -5799 vs -8179) phone line you’d like connected to a phone (about $40 each on eBay).
1 Gizmo account for each separate phone line you’d like connected to a phone (a CallIn number is $35 per year per phone line, unlimited incoming calls).
Gizmo software (free, install on each computer you’d like to use as a phone).
CallOut Minutes ($0.019 per minute nationwide, complete list here: http://gizmo5.com/pc/network/callout-credit/).

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First, you need the PAP2 and a Gizmo account.  If each person wants their own phone line, I suggest separate Gizmo accounts, one for each of person.  They are free to set up, download the software, and use like an Instant Messenger.  Then you add 1) a Gizmo CallIn number and 2) Gizmo CallOut minutes to that account.  You then configure the PAP2 to work with each Gizmo account, and presto-insto you have cheap phone that you can take anywhere with you.  If you travel, just throw the PAP2 with a little corded phone in your briefcase and you have the same number anywhere you go that has an Ethernet connection.  Same if you move, always the same number, always the same rate.

You also get free voicemail, where your messages you don’t get are emailed to you. Then, you can listen and save them forever at your lesiure (I suggest GMail due to its large storage size and anywhere availability).

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The cost:

$35 per phone line per year
$0.019 per minute.

So lets do a sample month.  Say you’re currently paying $70 for one phone line per month, with unlimited nationwide long distance, local services, voicemail, taxes, service charges, blah blah blah.  $35/12 = $2.91 per month for unlimited incoming calls.

That leaves $67.09 left over for talk time per line, or 3,531 minutes of free talking each month at $0.019 per minute.  58 hours a month.  2.45 days of being constantly on the phone per month.

And, since CallOut minutes roll over (and are controlled by you) you know exactly how much your phone bill will be.  If you don’t want it over $20 a month, just make sure you only add $20 a month to the account.  If you use less, those minutes roll over to the next month, and you pocket the difference between $67.09 and what you actually used!

Now all we need is a big company like Vonage to make this a simple plug-n-play affair for grandma, and goodbye landlines…