A while ago, I posted that Qwest intends on selling Verizon Wireless service instead of operating as an mobile virtual network operator of Sprint. As of yesterday, you can migrate your “Qwest Wireless” service to Verizon–complete with a “get out of contract free” provision.

Really, though, you’re not getting out of a contract entirely. You’ll just be signing a new 2 year agreement with Verizon Wireless, particularly if you want any discounts buying a new handset–which you will need to do. Eventually, you’ll get combined billing and a bundle discount similar to what you get with Qwest Wireless, but today, that’s not entirely the case.

It also sounds like two cool features of the current Qwest Wireless service will be gone: free calls between your landline and home phone as well as “one number” service (one number for both landline and mobile). The push-to-talk service will be gone, but that doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.

Of course, this is a non-starter for me, personally: I don’t live in Qwest’s service area and I don’t want wireless service from Verizon Wireless–at least until they drop CDMA and go with a worldwide standard like GSM.

Ted Wallingford did a “smackdown” comparison between the Apple iPhone 3G and the Nokia Nseries devices. His assessment, while the Nokia Nseries has more functionality, the iPhone gets the nod “for those who want a frustration-free, minimal-hack cell phone experience.”

While regular readers know I have a dog in this hunt, and I’ll admit I haven’t spent a lot of time looking the Apple iPhone (i.e. the competition), here’s what I’ve been able to piece together based on my limited use of the device and what research I’ve been able to do.

The Apple iPhone is a media consumption device. Clearly the interface lends itself to easily consuming media, be it music, videos, photos, or web pages. However, as a media generation device, it is not so great. The camera is bad, typing on the iPhone screen has been described as hard by some, and certain classes are third-party apps are simply not available because Apple hasn’t (or won’t) approve them.

The Nokia Nseries are also media consumption devices. They can sync with Windows Media–complete with DRM. They support downloading podcasts direct from the phone using Nokia Podcasting, and some models even support the FM radio. The interface is not as refined as the iPhone, but the basic functionality is there and, in some cases, surpasses the iPhone. Nokia’s Music Store–available in only a few countries–allows purchasing of tracks over the air from the handset.

Unlike the iPhone, though, but many of the Nokia Nseries devices–particularly the newer ones–are media generation devices. The Nokia N95 and N82 can take videos in 640×480 and pictures in 5 megapixel glory. For me, that’s good enough to replace my dedicated video camera and still camera for “everyday” stuff.

I tend to agree with Alec Saunders on Squawkbox, who discussed this topic ad-nauseum on yesterday’s Squawkbox. He said that comparing these two devices was a bit like comparing a hammer and a screwdriver. They are different tools that do different things. Bravo.

Meanwhile, the problem that all of these devices have is quite simple: battery life. (Yes, Sheryl, I noticed the comment you made on yesterday’s Squawkbox). When you bring 3G into the equation, it seems like they both fall flat. Perhaps that’s why the Blackberry has better battery life at the moment–there isn’t a 3G version available (at least in North America)! Wonder how they will compare with 3G.

I am periodically asked to review VoIP services. One of the more recent ones is Denmark based Vopium. They provide a piece of software that will dynamically redirect calls through their gateways, thus giving you a cheaper rate. Very similar to what Truphone Anywhere does when WiFi and 3G aren’t available.

They also do SMS as well–at least the sending part. Based on the theory that inbound SMS is free–not in North America anyway–SMS can be sent over IP at a substantial cost savings.

I’m trying to find the value here beyond making things cheaper–stealing minutes (and SMS) from the incumbent carriers. Everyone’s doing that. At least TruPhone is making it possible to make calls in places you may not normally thanks to their VoIP over WiFi support. These guys? You still gotta have a GSM signal or access to a landline

Seems that my bloakes in the UK with compatible Nokia handsets can get their hands on FIFA08 for free. Head on over to www.n-gage.com/fifa08 to watch some amusing videos of people so engrossed in their game that they’ll do anything to stay in it as well as download the game with the license. (Note this offer is limited to the first 120,000 people and expires at the end of August)

This promo reminds me of something I learned first-hand playing with Download! with a UK SIM last year. They get so much better content, and in the US, we don’t get anything near this cool. It’s gotten better since last year, but not by much. What’s it going to take to get some better Download! conetnt for a brother on the wrong side of the pond?

cellphones.ca is reporting that Skyfire supports Microsoft Silverlight, which, for all you Olympics fans, means you can watch streaming video of the Olympics on your mobile phone! And yes, I was actually watching the .01 second victory by Michael Phelps on my mobile phone, as pictured.

While it did play as well as could be expected, the browser did not complete playing the video–it unceremoniously crashed after a few minutes. Screen rotation along with slightly tighter zooming would make the video much easier to watch.

I also ran into some “activation” niggles as well, since I recently swapped SIMs in my Nokia N95 8GB. I had to “reactivate” the phone and was reminded that I could only have one device at a time using Skyfire. Why, exactly?

Anyway, clearly the browser has some promise if it can play Silverlight.

I have admittedly been a late comer to last.fm, but lately, I’ve found myself using it more than I ever thought I would. I’m not sure if it’s the new interface or that I finally figured out what value it might bring to my music-listening experience.

I haven’t started using the social aspects of last.fm yet, but it been useful simply as a way of capturing what I listen to and suggesting other stuff I might like. Last.fm, through scrobbler applications on various platforms, including the Mac and Nokia S60 applications, are able to send to last.fm the music you listen to so it can suggest other things you might like later on.

The last.fm application on the Mac as well as the mobbler application on S60 both provide a sort of “streaming radio station” of sorts. I can set it on auto-pilot on an artist, song, or based on past listens, and get a half-way decent radio station out of the deal. Unlike, say, Pandora, I have a bit more control over what ends up in the station.

Apparently, I’m not the only one discovering last.fm as they are reporting higher usage numbers. Quoting the press release they sent:

According to the latest comScore Media Metrix report (July 2008, U.S. Data), Last.fm has experienced a 20% increase in unique visitors and a 36% increase in total minutes in the United States. Additionally, Last.fm saw a dramatic 208% year-over-year increase in total minutes spent on the site and a 62% increase in unique visitors, corresponding to a 90% increase in visitor engagement.

Whatever the reason for the increased usage, I’m sure CBS (owner of last.fm) is quite happy to see one of their media properties get more popular. Heck, I even see Nokia sponsoring some sort of Summer Festival Filter that lets you filter your music tastes against a number of upcoming music festivals to tell you who you should go see. Interesting, to say the least.

I hope that they add more “full” tracks to their library. That’s about the only thing that’s kind of a bummer on their service. They have a lot of tracks that you can play on-demand, some that don’t exist in their service, and others you get a 30 second sample of.

I suppose that’s what I like about last.fm though–more control over what I can listen to and lots of information about the song–or artist–that I am listening to. What about you?

Not too long ago, my work machine started showing these error messages. I called our service desk and asked about them, they told me I should probably consider backing things up, but I could ignore the errors.

Yeah, right. I got out my copy of Spinrite. When I went to run Spinrite against my drive, I was presented with a RED screen with a warning about my drive being in imminent danger of failuer according to the SMART subsystem. The recomendation was to back up any data I could before running Spinrite as the process could push the drive over the edge.

Of course, I immediately rebooted back into Vista and started backing things up. During the process, I kept getting these error messages, but as far as I know, I got all the data off the drive before an imminent failure occured. Whew!

Those “drive failures” may explain why I had periodic BSODs under Windows XP on this same machine. It also demonstrates a useful feature in Vista. Good thing I didn’t ignore the warning.

Jajah and Intel, which partnered up in May of last year, recently announced the first fruit of their collaboration together: now Intel makes it possible for a phone call to wake up a computer so it can be received!

The technology is called Remote Wake Technology (RWT). It can be used to wake a computer from “energy-efficient” sleep mode in order to receive a VoIP call. It is demonstrated in the video to the left.

Jajah will be the first provider to actually support this technology, making it possible for anyone who deploys Jajah’s telephony infrastructure to utilize this feature for their application or service.

To be perfectly honest, this does not excite me. While I do make a certain number of calls to my PC, it is not the center of my communications universe–my mobile phone is. This is true for millions of others just like me, particularly in places where there are very few desktop computers.

Where this could be interesting is with embedded appliances and SMB PBX units. It would allow these units to be much more energy efficient as they could “sleep” while not in use to pass traffic.

Got this amusing email from the folks behind openatownrisk.com:

I am writing from Nokia HQ with news: we have defeated corporate censorship! The most insane video ever produced is now online. If you visit www.openatownrisk.com you can view the clip, but only if you’re worthy enough to break the code.

Thanks to continued pressure in the name of all that is right and honest, all accusations of “intent to publish content driving people insane” have been dropped by The Supreme Court. Consumer rights and freedom of choice have proved victorious; the prerogative to unhinge your mind has been restored.

This victory has been no easy win however. We have engaged the bureaucrats in battle and refused to bow to their pressure to ensure that you have the right to view this clip. Thank you for all your support, it was your hearts and desires that we took into the theatre of war.

Now that the video is available, we trust that you will treat it with the respect and caution such footage demands. Symptoms relating to insanity have been witnessed even in those who have set eyes on nothing more than the original celluloid. You have been warned.

Click here and start your journey to insanity…
http://www.openatownrisk.com

Did whoever sent out this email realize I already broke the seals and watched the video you should not see? Of course, it was a mass mailing, likely executed without weeding out those who might have solved it. Either way, if you haven’t done it yet, open at your own risk, and maybe win a T-shirt if you’re one of the first to do it.

They don’t call it Free World Dialup for a reason–it’s no longer free! Jeff Pulver sent out an email this week informing subscribers to FWD (formerly Free World Dialup) that now access to FWD is going to cost you–$30 a year, to be exact. Existing members will be able to keep their accounts by paying $30. Those that don’t pay up will be removed at the end of August.

FWD has always been about creating new, more open ways to communicate. While a lot of communication happens peer-to-peer, there needs to be some infrastructure in the middle to ensure that communication happens. That infrastructure costs money to provide. It’s nice to see the FWD folks putting a value on that, though I wonder what the membership is going to be like.

With actual coming in, perhaps FWD can accomplish it’s goals of creating new opportunities and modes of communication. I certainly hope so.