So, the idea was that i would extend my old plan, refresh it to a new 2-year plan, and get the G1 phone.

However, something went a little wrong during the plan refresh. I am only assume I lost my way on the T-Mobile site somehow, but my refresh turned into an entirely new purchase of a separate plan.

So, now I have 2  plans, with 2 different numbers.

I was faced with a choice:

– Reverse the purchase of the new plan, and send it all back, including the phone. Then we restart the renew process and you get a new phone again
– Let the old plan expire, go with the new one from now on. Old cant expire till June though, so costs me more. Loose benefits from being a T-Mobile customer for 6 years on the old plan.

I was a little annoyed at this, but I can understand the problem. The phone is a package deal with the plan. They could technically pull the elements of the plan apart and recombine, but that is so much work on their side, I can imagine them not doing offering this.

Also, I have grown so attached to the phone the last day or so, I really don’t want to send it back at this point. The extra money it costs me to hold on the old account for 3 months, it worth the effort and pain to me.

The old plan one doesn’t expire for another 3 months, so I cant transfer the number yet. That doesn’t bother me that much, its not bad to change your number once in a while. Many people have my number, some of which I would rather they not have it. So, a good time to refresh.

The consequences for me though, is that I have to make it known to the people that I do want to have my number, that it will soon change. My old number is already pointing to my new one, so both will work fine for the next three months. This post is the first of a series of communications i will have to bring out, to let people know about my number change.

I wont post my numbers on my blog here (though you can actually find it here if you look hard enough), I will mail and text everyone I think needs to know in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, here is a picture I took of a car outside the flat:

T-Mobile released the new G1 Google phone here in the Netherlands. Already had a long standing plan with T-Mobile, so ordering this thing and extending my plan was a no-brainer (now that I know I will be in the Netherlands for the forseeable future).

It was a bit of a toss up between the Iphone and the G1.  Most compelling features for me in opposition here where:

– Multi-touch screen (Iphone)
– Full physical pullout keyboard (G1)
– Developer community.

Now that last point is a tough one, very topical, as the Android marketplace has just opened to payed applications. There is a discussion around which model will be more succesfull: The closed, silo’d world of Apple, vs the open, open-source, unrestricted and unvetted world of Android Java development.

Gigaom has a good article on this.

In the meantime, I made my choice based on the full keyboard, and my hope and confidence that the open marketplace of Android will, in the long term, spawn more interesting applications, an a more diverse array of them, than Apple would ever tolerate on the Iphone. Yes, you CAN Jailbrake an Iphone, I know this.. but you run the constant risk of incompatibility due to Apple clamping down and bricking your phone. This will remain for the foreseeable future. On the flipside, T-Mobile has even gone on record to say that they don’t care that much for the small minority of geeks that hack the Android phones, and that the will try to avoid braking that secondary market. What a refreshing point of view.
It makes the choice of the G1 feel –good- to my geek sensibility.

Anyway, now to the meat.

The UNBOXING video, which @Alachia insists I should call a “haul” video… whatever.

http://www.facebook.com/v/57549561699

If you cannot see the video above, click here. (youtube) or here (facebook)

Next, I activate the phone and run though the initial stuff.

http://www.facebook.com/v/57536456699

If you cannot see the video above, click here (Facebook)

Now for the pics:

I have 2 credits to spend on my audible.com account.

Here is a copy-paste of my wishlist (ffs Audible, why cant I publish these like on Amazon!)

Help me choose which books i should do first, I cannot choose!

———————————–

True Enough

By Farhad Manjoo

Narrated by Ray Porter

Why has punditry overtaken news, with so many media outlets pushing partisan agendas instead of information? Comedian Stephen Colbert’s catchword "truthiness" has captured something essential about our age: that people are more comfortable with ideas that feel true, even if the evidence for those beliefs is thin.

• Audiobook
• 7 hours and 26 min.

True Enough (Unabridged)
Farhad Manjoo
Audiobook
$17.47
$12.23 or
1 Credit

A Brief History of Time

By Stephen Hawking

Narrated by Michael Jackson

This landmark book is for those of us who prefer words to equations; this is the story of the ultimate quest for knowledge, the ongoing search for the secrets at the heart of time and space. Its author, Stephen W. Hawking, is arguably the greatest mind since Einstein.

• Audiobook
• 5 hours and 46 min.

A Brief History of Time (Unabridged)
Stephen Hawking
Audiobook
$22.95
$16.07 or
1 Credit

The Universe in a Nutshell

By Stephen Hawking

Narrated by Simon Prebble

With characteristic exuberance, Stephen Hawking invites us to be fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through spacetime, as he seeks "to combine Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman’s idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe."

• Audiobook
• 3 hours and 29 min.

The Universe in a Nutshell (Unabridged)
Stephen Hawking
Audiobook
$17.95
$12.57 or
1 Credit

The Biology of Belief

By Bruce Lipton

Narrated by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D.

Since the publication of The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton has received widespread acclaim as one of the most accessible and knowledgeable voices of "new biology". The science is called epigenetics – a revolutionary field that shows us how the energy of consciousness is as important in shaping life on earth as DNA and chemistry.

• Audiobook
• 3 hours and 21 min.

The Biology of Belief
Bruce Lipton
Audiobook
$17.47
$12.23 or
1 Credit

The Ancestor’s Tale

By Richard Dawkins

Narrated by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward

The Ancestor’s Tale is a pilgrimage back through time – a journey on which we meet up with fellow pilgrims as we and they converge on our common ancestors. Chimpanzees join us at about six million years in the past, gorillas at seven million years, orangutans at 14 million years, as we stride on together, a growing band. The journey provides the setting for a collection of some 40 tales.

• Audiobook
• 8 hours and 54 min.

The Ancestor’s Tale
Richard Dawkins
Audiobook
$18.42
$12.89 or
1 Credit

On the Origin of Species

By Charles Darwin

Narrated by Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and a life-long committed Darwinist, abridges and reads this special audio version of Charles Darwin’s famous book. A literally world-changing book, Darwin put forward the anti-religious and scientific idea that humans in fact evolved over millions of generations from animals, starting with fish, all the way up through the ranks to apes, then to our current form.

• Audiobook
• 5 hours and 53 min.

On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin
Audiobook
$20.63
$14.44 or
1 Credit

Eldest

By Christopher Paolini

Narrated by Gerard Doyle

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesmera, land of the elves, for further training in the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. Soon he is on the journey of a lifetime, his eyes open to awe-inspiring new places and people, his days filled with fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and nothing is what it seems.

• Audiobook
• 23 hours and 35 min.

Eldest (Unabridged)
Christopher Paolini
Audiobook
$38.50
$26.95 or
2 Credits

Blade Runner

By Philip Dick

Narrated by Scott Brick

It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there lurked several rogue androids. Deckard’s assignment: find them and then…"retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn’t want to be found!

• Audiobook
• 9 hours and 12 min.

Blade Runner (Unabridged)
Philip Dick
Audiobook
$24.47
$17.13 or
1 Credit

A Scanner Darkly

By Philip Dick

Narrated by Paul Giamatti

Bob Arctor is a dealer of the lethally addictive drug Substance D. Fred is the police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, Fred takes on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D, which Arctor takes in massive doses, gradually splits the user’s brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesn’t realize he is narcing on himself.

• Audiobook
• 9 hours and 15 min.

A Scanner Darkly (Unabridged)
Philip Dick
Audiobook
$24.47
$17.13 or
1 Credit

2001

By Arthur C. Clarke

Narrated by Dick Hill

It has been 40 years since the publication of this classic science-fiction novel that changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man adventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.

• Audiobook
• 6 hours and 42 min.

2001 (Unabridged)
Arthur C. Clarke
Audiobook
$10.49
$7.34 or
1 Credit

War of the Worlds

By H. Wells

Narrated by Blair Mellow

It is an INVASION! H. G. Wells’ classic story of Martians invading an unsuspecting and unprepared world continues to thrill and terrify listeners around the world. Following strange explosions on the surface of Mars, metallic cylinders crash in the English countryside – objects that carry hideous aliens possessed of deadly weapons and a rabid hunger for human flesh. No army can stop these monstrous hordes, no weapons can harm them – a terrified humanity watches helpless as cities are reduced to cinders and ash. There is no hope…here is no future…our world is lost – unlessa?S

• Audiobook
• 6 hours and 3 min.

War of the Worlds (Unabridged)
H. Wells
Audiobook
$14.95
$10.47 or
1 Credit

Snow Crash

By Neal Stephenson

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility – in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.

• Audiobook
• 6 hours

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
Audiobook
$17.49
$12.24 or
1 Credit

Ender’s Game: 20th Anniversary Edition

By Orson Card

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, and more

The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Enter Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the result of decades of genetic experimentation.

• Audiobook
• 11 hours and 8 min.

Ender’s Game: 20th Anniversary Edition (Unabridged)
Orson Card
Audiobook
$27.95
$19.57 or
1 Credit

Snow Crash

By Neal Stephenson

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility – in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.

• Audiobook
• 18 hours

Snow Crash (Unabridged)
Neal Stephenson
Audiobook
$34.99
$24.49 or
1 Credit

Freakonomics: Revised Edition

By Steven, Stephen Levitt, Dubner

Narrated by Stephen J. Dubner

Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life, from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing, and whose conclusions turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Thus the new field of study contained in this audiobook: Freakonomics. Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives: how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

• Audiobook
• 6 hours and 55 min.

Freakonomics: Revised Edition (Unabridged)
Steven, Stephen Levitt, Dubner
Audiobook
$24.47
$17.13 or
1 Cred