I’ll reserve my thoughts for after the image, but today I received this e-mail from AT&T (click on it to go to the iTunes store listing):

You might know that the Apple developer license outright forbids only recently has allowed iPhone developers to create turn-by-turn GPS applications, provided they bring their own maps.  It seemed like an odd quirk in an otherwise decent contract, like maybe Apple was worried they’d get sued for bad GPS directions or something.  Apple’s rejection policy is usually pretty decent – but there are a few times when something stinks.

For example, you couldn’t get Skype on the iPhone for a while.  Apple has also blocked the Google Voice application, claiming it duplicates functionality available on the iPhone.  My thought (well, and Leo Laportes and Mike Arrington’s and… ) – AT&T is worried about their racket on text messages – which they currently bleed you dry for each month and Google Voice gives away for free.

And now – we finally see that AT&T wants a piece of that GPS money – this turn-by-turn GPS application costs $9.99 a month to use.  This was the reason behind Apple’s mysterious “no turn-by-turn apps” policy.

Apple – it’s time you cut the cord.  I don’t want to play anymore.  I think it’s time that we start writing letters.  Or stop buying iPods or new computers or new software from Apple until they agree to break this unethical contract with AT&T.  We’ve clearly overloaded AT&T’s network, anyway – which likely would never have happened if Apple and AT&T hadn’t made this stupid contract in the first place.

The cost of the iPhone wouldn’t have to change – in fact, the competition would probably give Apple the traction they need to maintain their price points, with the added benefit to the consumer that carriers would compete to offer lower-cost iPhone plans.  The iPhone costs each user about $2,000 a year on AT&T – twice as much as a normal smart phone.  Can we finally agree that we’ve been bent over the table?

With 9 million iPhone users the US, we’ve got to have some say.

I will really miss the great people.

I will not miss the near constant, nagging anxiety of having just wrapped up a session of pair programming only to break something again, thinking: “Oh, holy hell, why the hell isn’t this working???  My ass is gonna get fired…”

While I enjoyed my time there, I found that I was often frustrated by the work (and myself)… the nature of their development process demanded results a LOT faster than I could port them out while 1) learning a new language/methodology and 2) struggling under the stress of having to be “billable”.  I couldn’t spend much time at work learning – I had to be producing something.

This works great if you have the ninja programming chops to back it up, but I don’t have ninja level programming skills yet – I have hot dog vendor programming skills.  You know, like Jack Black in Kung Fu Panda?  He was a noodle vendor before he became the kung-fu master.  With enough time, hot dog vendors can become ninjas, but in the mean time, they still get thrashed by ‘em (most often when they run out of hot dogs).

I tended to spin my wheels a lot.  I just couldn’t learn the things they wanted me to learn as quickly as they needed them and at the level of expertise they needed.  I feel like it was a personal failure, even though I know there’s not much I could have done differently.  It was a very frustrating, very humbling experience for me.

I’ve made it my personal goal to never show that level of ineptitude again.  In terms of programming, I think I chose the wrong career path… which is why I’m angling away from straight web development jobs in my job search.  I’m heading towards Marketing and Web Marketing in general.  It’s the thing that I live, breathe, and eat when I’m not at work – I have penchant for it.  Not only that, but out of all my classes, I enjoyed the Customer Relationship Management and other Marketing courses the best.  I might not be a ninja marketer yet, but at the very least I’m an apprentice in the dojo.

I’m confident I’ll be able to find a job by the end of the week.  That’s not to say I’m not scared shitless.  I am.  I just had an emergency open appendectomy – and the bills from that are not going away any time soon – not to mention rent, a car, and other pseudo-necessities when you want to avoid living in your parent’s basement… or on the street.

I’m trying not to think about that.  I know I’ve got a lot to offer any potential company… and I hope to bring some near-ninja skills to my next opportunity.

Speaking of which, if you know of any good opportunities in web marketing or web production, please do let me know.  Here are my resumes:

Click here to download my Web Developer resume in PDF format.

Click here to download my Web Marketing resume in PDF format.

The first is geared toward teens who need a Web 2.0 tool to tell their BFFs to F-Off.  Called “That’s Not Cool.com” it features little digital “calling out” cards you can send to your boyfriend/girlfriend/random stalker to tell them to back the hell off.  I’m not sure how much I like it (even though I’ve definitely had every excuse to use it on a few of my acquaintances…)

It seems a little too direct and too mean, leaving me to wonder what the retribution would be for sending one of those…

http://www.thatsnotcool.com/

The second is an article from PARADE magazine online about the length of time search engine sites retain your searches.  Watch out the next time you Google for porn – if it was less than 9 months ago, they still have the record of you doing so.  Worse than that, Microsoft who keeps the records for 12 months.  Yahoo seems to be your best bet if you’re searching for the best method to kill your neighbors: they only store the information for 90 days.  All of us can probably remember when AOL released those search engine searches – and they tracked users down specifically based on what they were querying for…

Hmm… creepy.

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/how-web-searches-can-destroy-your-privacy.html

When I worked for HP, a co-worker showed me how to gain access to the harddrive from the keyboard – a trick HP uses for most laptops.  There’s usually a key that slides over or a tab to switch.

I was also trying to find a low-cost external CD/DVD-ROM, but the cheapest one at Best Buy is $89… I suppose I could go buy one and take it back afterward.  I hate to do that, but don’t really see an easier way.

I’m going to work on installing VS 2008 after lunch today, I’ll have the ISO downloaded and copied to my jumpdrive (all 3.4 GB!!)

I also came to the conclusion that the Netbook, if it catches on for middle- and low-income households, will be the death of CD/DVDs.  With iTunes and the Amazon Music Store, the only reason to spend $30 on a movie or $20 on a CD is so you can have the plastic.

Since anyone can treat themselves to a specific tune, a cheaper iTunes flick or Netflix download without having to go to the store, battle crowds, wait in line, or worry about if the store will even have the movie or cd you’re looking for… I think we might be nearing the end of the CD/DVD era.  Portable external harddrives (and jump drives) have the capacity to hold almost everything you could want or need.  There’s not really a market for massive, unchangeable storage besides video games, home-movies and permanent backups.

Disney is already feeling the pull – they’ve started adding digital copies (codes for iTunes downloads) into their new DVDs.

On the other hand, ultra-affordable PCs include DVD/CD-RWs in them, but they are also cheaply produced and easy to break.

BluRay also faces this challenge – not only is BluRay ridiculously expensive, but it has a very cheap, readily available competitor in internet media.  And – the previous format, DVDs, are still good enough for the majority and half the price, most of the time.  The only real positive BluRay has over downloaded content is that it’s tangible, you can touch a DVD or CD… you can’t touch a download.

I’ve seen a BluRay movie side by side with an up-converted DVD and then with a high-def stream on identical TVs.  There’s hardly any difference.  I’d think most people would be okay sacrificing a little bit of quality to keep a ton of cash.

The only viable BluRay option I see is the PS3 – because then at least you get something good for your $399 (unfortunately, you still have to buy the movies to go with your player – and the peripherals for games!)

Technodamus has spoken!