Due to the extended conversation in the shoutbox, I though I'd give you guys some basic info on wireless phones and the technology they use. For the purposes of this discussion, I will cover national carriers only. If someone wants information on a regional or international carrier, I'll provide you with whatever I have.

We'll start with a technology near and dear to my heart. It's called CDMA which is an acronym for Code Division Multiple Access. It is a method of stacking calls on a cell tower wherein each call is assigned a specific and unique code. In so doing, the tower can handle somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 calls per megahertz. It was developed exclusively by Qualcomm in a lovely building that is next door to my office.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS, ranked second and third respectively in terms of market share, are the two national carriers that employ CDMA currently. Most of their networks are CDMAOne, or 2G services with slower QNC data speeds. Verizon has rolled out a 2.5G network with EV-DO (Evolution, Data Only), sometimes referred to as 1X, that boasts theoretical data speeds of 300 to 500kbps.

In terms of coverage, Verizon's network is currently the largest in the United States. Their plans, however, are somewhat more expensive than other carriers. This is due to the money they spend on their network making it one of the best in the nation. Sprint, on the other hand, ain't too shabby either. Their network is good, but not as good as Verizon. In many areas where Verizon has a strong foothold, such as the northeast and here in Southern California, Sprint's network is a tad shoddy because they have no incentive to upgrade.

And now, we move to a second post for GSM.

GSM, you ignorant slut. Not really, but I don't care for it much. GSM is an acronym for Global System for Mobile Communication. GSM works off of the older TDMA systems in using timestamps to stack calls on the tower. GSM can stack seven to ten calls per megahertz versus upwards of 30 for CDMA.

GSM is used almost exclusively in Europe making it more of the, "world standard" than CDMA. Many carriers sell, "World Phones" that are tri-band and capable of using the networks here in the States and in Europe. Data speeds on GSM are significantly slower than CDMA, and while new technologies are being developed to bring up the transfer rates, it will never really catch up with CDMA, much less overtake it.

For coverage we look to the number one wireless phone carrier in the United States, Cingular. Cingular recently acquired AT&T, and as their new marketing campaign is screaming, they now have the largest network. What they aren't telling you is that most of AT&T's network is TDMA and does not support GSM. AT&T was starting upgrades but never finished. Their coverage is very, very good. For coverage, their only competition is Verizon. However, CDMA penetrates (lol) buildings much better than GSM.

T-mobile is also a player. Instead of having a zomg huge network, they offer fantastic values in phones and service plans. T-mobile is great if you're in a metropolitan area and never leave.

Just incase anyone is wondering, all of the carriers have coverage maps on their respective websites. Additionally, tons more information about both CDMA and GSM are available from our friends and Google. Feel free to post questions in the shoutbox or in comments and I'll do what I can to answer them. And now I'm going to bed. Mmm. Bed.

I have added decency filters on neodux now. "Naughty words" are now changed into pointless and silly phrases.

Also added, for admins with access level of 100 or more only, a shoutbox editor to better keep a handle on shoutbox entries. If someone screws up the shoutbox, it's usually a missing or a quotes on a URL. Now, you can go to the shout management to add/edit the shouts.

Finally, a better version of the url vbCode has been added. Thanks to Valt over at Xulphlux for the improved regex. Syntax for urls is still the same, but you can now use
[ url sitename.here] text [/ url]
(remove the space before url and you're set!)

I picked up a copy of the Gabriel + Dresdent - Bloom CD today. Its a great album.

I've always been a fan of every remix this duo puts out. I especially like their spacey, progressive remix of Groove Armada - Superstylin'. Definately one of my favorite remixes of an already good song. Last September or so, they released a mix CD. On the CD are some of their newest remixes as well as unreleased single tracks they produced. Very good stuff, and you can definately tell it's them, it has all the markings of G+D style.
If you want some great chillin music, get it. If you want some great driving music, get it. If you want some slamming beats, get it. It's all on there.

"Grendel, WTF? I told you about this months ago..."

Yeah, well, I didnt get around to trying it out until today. Usually, between classes I go to the computer labs to check email and websites. This morning while in the lab, I realized that Firefox was not installed. I didnt want to have to install it, since the systems get wiped clean every night or so. Then I remembered Portable Firefox, a version of the popular Firefox browser optimized for running from USB thumb drives. So, I reached in my backpack, pulled out my thumbdrive, put Firefox on it and it's great!

Portable Firefox is in no way crippled or lacking features - it even plays nice with all your favorite plugins!

So far I have Adblock, All-In-One Gestures, Tabbrowser Preferences and SuperDragAndGo - what plugins are your favorites?