As reported by slashdot Verizon CEO Dick Lynch has said that ‘We’re going to have to consider pricing structures that allow us to sell packages of bytes, and at the end of the day the concept of a flat-rate infinitely expandable service is unachievable’

This kind of thinking is unacceptable, so I wrote them a letter and I’ll share it with you.

If you feel strongly about this, let Verizon know how you’ll spend your future dollars as well.

Hello. This is a letter for corporate. I recently read about your CEO’s comments on metered internet access. Please inform him that I am a Verizon FIOS fan, but I cannot currently use your product because I live in Vancouver, WA, I did use your product while living in Oregon and I champion your product to all of my friends in other cities/states. However, if he keeps this diatribe up about metered bandwidth and how it is “inevitable,” I will have to inform my friends that their dollars are helping to ruin the internet and that they might want to consider a different product.

Unlimited bandwidth is a necessity for the internet market. If you start metering the internet, you will need all new OS features, for every TCP/IP device that exists. If someone wants to rent a movie from Amazon, for example, they’ll have to be informed that it will cost them another $5 from Verizon to download that content! Or lord knows what other nightmares this will cause.

This is a silly idea and your CEO needs to be smarter and find a better way to make Verizon profitable. If there is a very small % of people using a lot of the bandwidth, then the company can put reduced bandwidth for those that go over some large cap, but you cannot and should not put metered pricing tiers in place; It’ll never work. The network wants to be free and it’ll find a way around your limitations, ultimately hurting your company.

And remember, we consumers know that you sell not just internet access, but also cellular service, television and phone service. We can avoid those products as well.

Sincerely,

Steve

There has been many rumors about a new Apple TV for some time now. Now we’re hearing about iMac and Mac Mini shortages, suggesting refreshes for those products are coming soon.

So what is in store for the Apple TV? Always a hobby at Apple, the Apple TV is basically a stripped down Mac Mini with HDMI out. The Apple TV has a simple interface and is designed to play Apple DRMed content which is either purchased directly from Apple on the Apple TV, or synced from a computer running iTunes.

What you can’t do with Apple TV is run other software. Well, not easily at least. There are usb stick hacks to install other software on the Apple TV, but it is spotty at best, slow and just plain not Apple-like.

Unless Apple does something significantly cool with the Apple TV, my Apple TV might be replaced by a Mac Mini. Let’s look at what has become available since the Apple TV shipped several years ago:

1. Mini’s now have HDMI output (via Mini DisplayPort output)
2. Mini’s have 5 USB ports
3. Mini’s have FW 800 for expansion
4. Mini’s can play web based content (Hulu, FOX, etc)
5. Mini’s can play all of your iTunes content
6. You can Screen Share from a laptop to the mini to control it
7. Mini’s can run Snow Leopard

Oh that last one is interesting. Why?

1. Snow Leopard supports wake on demand. You can have your Mini go to sleep and be woken up
2. iTunes 9 now supports auto syncing so your mini can automatically pull purchases from another Mac.

So what is missing?

1. HD! iTunes doesn’t rent HD, only via the Apple TV.
2. Well the mini does have front row, which is similar to the Apple TV UI, but you can’t rent/buy content via that UI
3. No iPhone Apple remote support, but there may be another app that gives keyboard input to your mac via the iPhone
4. IR remote support? But do we even care with the other options available, as stated above?
5. Cost. The mini is much more expensive.

All signs point to replacing the Apple TV with a more mini-like Apple TV. Right now, Apple is holding the HD card for the Apple TV alone, but once they get their heads out of their collective behinds and let computer users rent HD, the Mini will make a much more flexible home theater device.

And when you want to upgrade your Mini, your old Mini can go to someone who can use a Mac, unlike an Apple TV.

AT&T may be pleased with their MMS launch, but unless MMS stands for Missing Messaging Service, I can’t say I am pleased.

I have yet to successfully send a video or photo to my brother, and he gets endless red exclamation marks in L.A.

AT&T just says to “keep trying.”

I’d hate to see what a launch that AT&T was not pleased with would look like.

Available via Software Update or download

Fixes a Finder crash, includes the latest Flash and various other bugs. This is a relatively small update, weighing in at 71mb.

If you have Netflix and have not seen the documentary “Welcome to Macintosh,” you can watch it on you Mac, TiVo or XBOX 360 now for no additional cost with the Netflix Watch Instantly feature.

The version of Flash included in Mac OS X 10.6 is not the latest version and includes a vulnerability, according to Adobe.

Get the current Flash player here

Fujitsu has posted a compatibility chart for Mac OS X 10.6.

Unfortunately, OCR is not working atm, but there appears to be a fix coming.

Thanks to Matt for this link to MacOS X Hints about a tip to easily change your sound input preferences in 10.6.

Simply hold down option while clicking the sound (speaker) icon in the menu bar!

I have my MacBook Pro set up to require a password when I try to wake my laptop, or use it after the screensaver has come on.

This morning I went to use the machine and it was not asleep, I could tell from the status of the light, and the screen was lit, but there was no screensaver, and no security dialog asking me to log in. No manner of keyboard tapping, pressing ESC, etc helped.

I logged in remotely over SSH and killed the screensaver process, but that didn’t help either.

I then unplugged the mouse from the laptop and suddenly the machine came alive, asking me to log in.