Wireless: Now that they will be officially available this evening, albeit likely hard to find, Apple's iPhone brings the reality of a two-year contract replete with beefy monthly payments. Tom Yager does the math in this Ahead of the Curve post. "What's the absolute minimum cost of iPhone? Add it all up and it comes out to $2,034.75." That number does not include taxes, fees and surcharges which -- as anyone with a telephone can tell you -- account for a healthy portion of one's monthly bill. "That's the cost of a $499 iPhone, a two-year AT&T contract at $59.99 per month and a $36 activation fee." Related: AT&T details iPhone service plans.

Notes from the field: The RIAA is squirming ever deeper into the muck, so writes Robert X. Cringely, referring to the group's nasty suit against a disabled Oregon woman, in which it threatened to bring her 10-year old daughter in for a deposition and even called her school pretending to be a family member. Why grandma, what big attorneys you have. "Incidentally, there is no truth to the rumor Dick Cheney plans to assume control of the RIAA after his current job runs out. But it wouldn't surprise me a bit," Cringe writes.

Green IT: Carbon neutral. Carbon free. These ostensibly noble notions are gaining purchase among tech vendors, true, but Ted Samson asks "is that really the best strategy a company can adopt to reduce its environmental impact?" Since he's raising the issue, you can guess the answer is not some quick and easy "yes". Samson writes, "companies would be better served focusing on boosting efficiency and energy conservation." Virtualization is one approach. Others include power-capping tools, telecommuting programs, solar panels, and PC-power management software. The healthy carbon diet. "If you have an ideal [carbon] weight in mind, the healthiest route is to invest time and money in a sensible diet and exercise regimen."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on June 29, 2007 04:35 AM