Hurry Up and Wait!

Don't you just love rushing to the airport to arrive well in advance of your scheduled flight only to find out while checking in that your departure is delayed two hours? That's my situation as I sit here at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas typing this entry. The red eye flight scheduled to leave at 10:25 PM will not leave until, at least, 12:40 AM.

Oh, Good Morning!

An Apple a year...

Apple does it again. First, the company introduced the iPhone and priced it at $600.  A year later, it released the more powerful iPhone 3G model and reduced the price to $199 for an 8GB version and $299 for a 16GB version.  Now, a year after that, it's introducing an upgraded iPhone 3Gs with new features, including video capabilities, at the same prices, but with more (16GB/32GB) capacity! Plus, the iPhone 3G, which I bought less than a year ago, will now sell for $99!

This really comes as no surprise.  Technology companies have been doing this for years.  They put out the hot, new, must-have gadget with an introductory price that makes it affordable only to those with an abundance of disposable income, then within a year they release a better version at a lower price and either discontinue the original model or they slash the price making its resale value next to nothing and, in this case, the cell phone companies make it even more expensive to upgrade if you haven't completed your mandatory two year contract commitment on the original purchase.

Why do we allow them to get away with this?  If you ask me, it would make more sense for the $99 version to be the first version released with all subsequent upgrades adding features which would then justify price increases.

Oh, Good Evening!