Flights and Dualities

Anonymous Email?

This post is also at my other site, Teaching High School. Since it is of concern to both of the weblogs, I thought it best to post it in each place.

How can I remain anonymous in posting comments on other weblogs? I find that I must submit my name to Yahoo! and Hotmail for accounts with them and that my name will appear with the email. For various reasons, I want to remain anonymous at each website. I've read too many other "about" pages stating they had to shut down parts of their weblogs or start over due to things they had written. I want to avoid that as much as possible. It's not that I want to be scathing, I just want to feel free to say what needs to be said, especially in my blog about my current school year. I'd be okay with my first name, but not with the addition of my last. I suppose I could lie, but I don't like that; best to just leave it out altogether.

Sony Ericsson: The Gadget of My Dreams FOUND!

So as I rambled about how much I'd like a gadget to do all sorts of things on Aug 11, 2003, I finally found it: Sony Ericsson P800.

There is an excellent review of it here: Sony Ericsson P800 Review - Introduction and even though it is 12 pages, it is very thorough.

The other thing that struck me was Symbian's thought in putting this together, which can be seen here. When I read that it struch me that they must have asked me what I wanted my cell phone/pda to do. Very smart people.

My wee problems with getting this device are as follows:
1. Which network will carry it and be my service provider? I'm a Verizon customer currently and have a year left on my contract. I've been their customer for at least five years and it'd be nice if they'd catch up with everyone else on the new tech (i.e., world-wide phone calling, better devices, camera phones).
2. A newer version seems to be rumored to come out soon. Consult further here. I don't think I'd like it if the little keypad didn't come off, as seems to be rumored. But I'd like the higher resolution.
3. Learning a new operating system. I've been using Palm OS for the last four years and would hope that this would not be too difficult. I've sunk plenty of cash into the machines I've had with extra software and I don't want to lose that. I have looked into some of those same apps for Symbian and some are actually already on the device.

I guess what I have to do is go to a place where the sales rep knows about the P800 and talk about my concerns.

Amazon Associates?

In theory, this seems like a good idea. A click from a book I like takes a viewer to Amazon, and if they buy it, I get some cash. I have also heard that if a viewer goes further and buys something else, even if it isn't the book clicked on orginially, I still get a percentage. So if someone happens to have clicked through from my site and buys a plasma tv, some money is mine.

So I guess I wonder: How many people actually buy from Amazon? And do they buy more than books? I have purchased books from Amazon, but nothing else. In fact, I often use it to "Look Inside" the books I may want to buy when I can't go to the local bookstore. (Or to decide if I want to peruse the book further when I get to the bookstore anyway.)

So what do you all do? Is your associate number in the code for the links you have for books and music?

Gadgets (Cont.)

So I've been thinking. I already have a cell phone and a Sony Clie. They both work well, do what I need them to do. Except for a few things.

I can't browse the web on either one, nor look at my email. I could get a new phone to do that. Or a new Palm OS machine to do that. Or something that does all of it (phoning capabilites, Palm, with web browser and email client).

I can't listen to any music on either one. I could get a new Palm to do that. Or an iPod.

I can't read any RSS feed on either one. I could get a new one of either to do so. Or even an iPod.

I could keep the current cell phone. It's fine. No problems. Or maybe just find something smaller. That'd be fine. The phone wouldn't have to do all the cool stuff.

I could, though, ditch the current Clie and get either a new Clie or a Palm or an iPod. But the iPod won't do the Palm stuff.

Too much to think about putting together when what I really should be doing is either cleaning my house or finding information on selling my house or getting work together for the upcoming school year.

Gadgets

Why are there so many choices for doing something so simple? Ok, I know it is the American way, but it is so overwhelming.

Here's what I want to be able to do, in one machine --- and it ought not be too big:
*use my cell phone service
*use Palm OS (and all the software I have there)
*listen to music
*connect easily to the Internet (via wi-fi, cell phone service, or whatnot)
*access my email account
*post in the blog
*get RSS feeds

I think that is all for now. Am I asking too much?