This could NEVER have happened when I was a kid

When you live through history, it's difficult to detect the changes. Sometimes (often) if you are progressive in your views, it feels like change is simply not happening. Well, this ad (which unfortunately was banned in the USA) nonetheless tells me that we are moving in the right direction. I was reminded earlier today that I was 15 when the UK finally repealed the sexual offenses acts that made being gay punishable by imprisonment. We'd all like to get there faster, but we are moving in the right direction.

(Sigh... It seems this YouTube clip has been marked as 'adult content' by some idiot... you may have to sign in at YouTube to view the clip).

I think I'm a convert...

I had been playing with the idea of a webified phone for a long time, but it was only as I drew near to the end of my course that I realized it would actually be useful for something. Keeping track of appointments with clients, scheduling with the massage clinic, and keeping my other appointments organized is impossible without a calendar of some sort. Even so, my "all it does it make calls" phone had served me well, so I was reluctant to take the plunge and get a web service plan.

Another delay was finding we were locked in to a very expensive T-Mobile contract. I had thought the contract was up, but it turned out a change we made on our phone plan 'reset the clock' and I'm stuck with that until 2012 (unless by some miracle, their merger with AT&T gives me some grounds to terminate early - highly unlikely I know).

Since I'm stuck paying for a service I don't want - or pay a $200 penalty - I looked around for a way to get a web phone without a contract. I can manage quite well for a lot of the time with just WiFi service. That didn't seem likely either, until I stumbled on the LG Optimus V, which is intended for the Virgin Mobile network. The phone is crippled, in the sense that it has no SIM card - it's a 'pay as you go' phone; so you can't take it with you from service to service. However, the phone is inexpensive compared to those linked to service plans - $150, and it's yours for life.

I've been using the phone for a month or two now, and I have to say I'm hooked. The calendar sync with Google Calendar is a life-saver. And I've discovered the Android Apps market. I wouldn't ever think of buying an app - don't see the point really. But there is a huge range of free software. I now have an Internet radio app (through which I can listen to BBC radio!), a compass in case I get lost :-), Angry Birds (apparently required on every handset), the IMDB app, a barcode scanner and an app from Amazon that looks up things with bar codes (invaluable for comparison shopping in big box stores), Skype - for internet calling (remember, I don't have a service plan!), voice recorders, note recorders, and a bunch of other stuff. Most importantly though for my business - Square It, which allows me (via a free dongle that plugs in the phone) to run credit cards! The phone came pre-loaded with GPS software so that whether walking or driving (if I have the cell phone service enabled) I'd never be lost.

Last week I discovered another major advantage to having the service plan; the phone can act as a wireless hotspot, so both Bill and I could use it when travelling to connect our laptops to the internet.

Now I've done very well using the phone on 'free' wifi connections - there are surprisingly few stores or other locations that don't have some kind of open wifi around; but as I start to ramp up my practice, it's finally time to buy the Virgin Mobile $25 a month 'all you can eat' plan. Unlimited data, web, email... and 300 minutes of airtime. If I run out of phone minutes, I can always switch to Skype! So some time this week, I think I'll be signing up.