Apple TV in near future, VoIP in Near Future, & Dry Loop

Apple Sells me, inadvertently, on Apple TV
Today Apple unveiled iTunes version 8, which supports HDTV downloads. Finally! Now I can watch Lost in HD, without having to wait for it on Blu-Ray. Which means, finally, I’ll be able to keep up with my favorite show, and be on the right season to boot.

I haven’t seen an episode of Lost since sometime last year. And that last season won’t even be available on disc until December – a short month or so before the new season begins.

I might have to opt for a faster internet connection, too!



Perhaps not so inadvertently?
This was probably their plan all along. Nice. Still though, not upset the least that I waited for it to culminate.



Vonage, VoIP, may be in my future
Since we’re talking about technology & internet, right? OK, so it seems like Vonage or some other VoIP service may be in our future.

Currently we’re spending about $40 a month on phone service. We don’t talk too much to anyone, though when we do it’s typically long distance (to family spread across the states). The way at&t has their tiers set up, it’s very possible (even potentially for us) to pay for the cheaper plan but end up paying more. Hold up: who the hell decided nights & weekends begins at 9pm? I live on the f*cking west coast, dammit. If I call Dad on the eastern seaboard, well that’s not quite talk time for him, now is it?

Well Vonage at least, has a plan that starts out at $15 a month. And the taxes ought to be less, so instead of ~$50 a month, we should spend about ~$20 a month. That’s $30 a month savings at least. Really considering it right now, except…



$10 more for a non-phone-line-equipped internet package?
At&t also sees fit to charge you an additional $10 for their “dry loop” DSL, which is basically DSL without a real phone line. Which means that realistically, the switch will end up saving us only $20 a month after adding on the additional DSL charge.

I have seen steps to take in order to get Dry Loop for the same price as regular (and shouldn’t they be offering it that way anyhow, regulators out there?), so I’m of course going to try that. But anyway, if I DO go VoIP, and I DO get a faster connection to support HDTV downloads… that’s a savings of roughly $10 a month, plus I have the hassle of everything going everywhere (phone bill to these guys, internet to these guys), though it’s all still very much intricately linked in nature.

We’re considering it. I leave it at that.