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Domain: sprintpcs.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to sprintpcs.com.

Stories · 5

  1. Cell Phone Service as High Speed Internet Link?

    Ask · Communications · · posted by Cliff · from the cell-band-over-broadband dept. · 461 comments
    Gorm the DBA asks: "I live out in the boonies, where Cable is just another word for what the telegraph guy delivers and the nearest Central Office is over 27,000 feet away, so DSL is at best a (fat) Pipe Dream, and dialup speeds top out at 17,700baud on a good day. Currently we have satellite internet via DirecWay, but it's expensive ($60/month) and VPNlike applications are not supported, never mind gaming (high latency), which reduces it's utility dramatically. At the same time, I've been looking at getting a new cell phone. I see that Sprint, Cingular, and others all have cards that you can plug into your computer and use the cellular network to get data. The claim is 'wireless online surfing as fast as DSL'. I've confirmed I'm in the coverage areas, but is this really as good as they're making it sound? It's pricey ($79.99/month, plus the cost of the card), but it would be portable as well. Does anybody have experience with this sort of technology? Is it ready for prime time? Does it really work? Is it worth it? Is the internet access real, or a filtered 'You get what we want you to get' sort of thing?"

  2. Slashback: Wireless, Radio, Ralsky

    · posted by ryuzaki0 · from the driving-north-toward-snow dept. · 252 comments
    Slashback with more on GNU Radio; BeUnited's ongoing bid for Gobe Productive's source code; AOL, IM and the USPTO; the consequences one observer faced for watching spammer Alan Ralsky and more. Read on for the details.

    Don't Post While Sleepy: Hi, Chrisd here apologizing about that false post on Sony/Nintendo Playstation Trademark Settlement. Oops. Doh. No excuse. Mea Culpa. I'll be more careful next time.

    Is "Rubber stamping everything" a patentable business practice? Brian Dear writes "With all the news these days about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issuing a patent to AOL/ICQ/Mirabilis for Instant Messaging, I thought the Slashdot community would be interested in reading about TERM-talk on PLATO, which was announced on the PLATO network on this day in 1973. Here is the URL with a screen shot of the actual announcement."

    Turing, Marconi and Rosen: pick any two. squiggleslash writes "Salon is running an informative and sympathetic story about GNU radio. The article discusses how the project could end up pre-empting the Hollywood producers and other content cartel's attempts to destroy modifiable consumer hardware by creating a blatently legitimate space where programmable hardware is a requirement, as well as opening up radio to groups outside of the current cabals. Good stuff."

    We've mentioned quite a bit about GNU Radio before (see also Eric Blossom's interview questions and answers; this article delves into the fight that the GNU Radio folks are gearing up for over broadcast flags.

    Suiteness and light. To follow up on our mention of the effort to buy from Gobe (and release as Free software) the sourcecode of Gobe Productive, Simon Gauvin of beunited.org writes "beunited.org has been pledged over $10,000.00 by the public and corporate community for the release of Gobe Productive for BeOS. Linux users have also pledged, and we encourage more members of the Linux community to participate for the release of the Linux version. Call all your friends and send them over to beunited.org to help raise awareness!"

    Here's the relevant discussion thread if you'd like to learn more about this effort; I wish the site had a bar chart of some sort showing how much money was currently raised, and an obvious PayPal link or similar. Note that for now, beunited's first goal is to open the source for the BeOS version of Productive.

    Ralsky, Ralsky, Ralsky ... IsoRashi writes "Over at the Register they have this short article about a guy who took some photos of spammer Alan Ralsky's home. After taking the photographs, the man was chased by someone in a black jaguar and he began receiving threatening phone calls the next day. Here is a direct link to the site the photographer set up."

    Read your TOS carefully before you start downloading ... Sergeant Beavis writes "Nate Carlson was kind enough to create a HOWTO for connecting your Linux box to Sprint's Vision network via a Sanyo SCP-4900 phone. However Sanyo's store shows the cable to be out of stock. Now comes FutureDial to the rescue with both the USB cable and SnapDialer software for connecting to the Vision network with Windows instead of Linux. Oh, the cable only cost $19.99 at your local Radio Shack. Enjoy!"

    And let this be a lesson (of sorts) to you! gh0ul writes "Looks like Uzi Nissan (for those of you who don't recall owns nissan.com) has lost his fight with Nissan Motors to keep his nissan.com (last name by birthright/company) domain. The site now reads "In compliance with a ruling issued by the United States District Court in Los Angeles on November 14, 2002, in the lawsuit of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. v. Nissan Computer Corporation, this web site has been converted to non-commercial use." Are we ever going to have any protection against these kind of things?"

    The Eye was never there. You never saw it. It was not creepy. Finally, Rob writes "The creepy all-seeing eye logo from John Poindexter and the Total Information Awareness project is suddenly missing from the TIA web site. Old site ; Current site Perhaps TIA is seeking suggestions for a new logo?"

  3. Open Source Bug Tracking for Visual SourceSafe?

    Ask · Programming · · posted by Cliff · from the alternatives-for-the-bargining-table dept. · 11 comments
    rfsayre asks: "My employer has been looking into bug tracking options for use with Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, and while I don't have the authority or the resolve to encourage migration from the various MS tools that are in use, I would like to see an Open Source bug tracking system used, instead of Visual Intercept from Elsinore Technologies. Mainly I'm concerned that my employer will try to go as cheap as possible, and I think providing access to everyone from developers to QA interns could get expensive. Of course, what good is bug tracking if not everyone has access to it? So please, show me some Open Source alternatives that talk to SourceSafe, preferably with web based access."

  4. What WAP Phones Do You Use?

    Ask · Technology · · posted by Cliff · from the finding-the-best-value dept. · 21 comments
    Splunge asks: "I'm looking into buying a new mobile phone (in North America) with a good WAP browser, Internet access, and the general spiffy phone features. I'm assuming I'd want one with a fairly large screen (6 lines at least, maybe more) and also good battery life, etc. So far I've found the Nokia 7160/7190, the Mitsubishi T250/T255, or maybe the Sprint PCS NP1000. They look decent but I haven't seen them in person so I don't know. I'm also considering the new VisorPhone but wonder if a Visor for a phone would be too bulky. Any ideas on some good models and what to look for? Even a good Web site for cell phone reviews might help. I've found fairly little."

  5. PCS Phone + UP.Browser == Killer App?

    Ask · Technology · · posted by Cliff · from the oooh!-I-want-one dept. · 47 comments
    gkostolny asks: "So I've had a Sprint PCS phone for about a year, and I finally decided to upgrade. I ran across a new Samsung SCH-3500 for $119 at Fry's and jumped on it. After waiting very impatiently for a day and a half, the 'Wireless Web' capability was activated, and I've been going crazy with it. You can access pages written in HDML and WML on the phone, and the default menus include yahoo, mapquest and infospace. This afternoon, I was able to go into the Yellow Pages, punch in the name 'Computer Literacy' (a local bookseller) and my zip code, and it came back with the number. I selected 'call', and was connected and able to ask if they had a book on WAP in stock. My question is, has anyone else played with these phones much, and if so, what do you think? Is implementing sites and various online capabilities for them worthwhile? Will wireless be the next big wave? (And are there any good reference books on this stuff?)"