Attention all cell phone owners: Important news
Attention all cell phone owners
(well, GSM phone owners, any way..)
Important news: Unlocking Your Cell Phone Is Now Illegal
“As of Saturday, it is illegal for you to unlock your phone without permission from your wireless carrier.” Read more..
Now, understand, I am not really into all things cellular, but my understanding is: if you ever want to (re)sell your smart phone, or switch it to a different provider’s service, or travel without “roaming charges”, you want an “unlocked” phone. So you may want to call your current provider and request the unlock code before Saturday.
(I also understand, but may very well be wrong, that “unlock”-ing is different than “jailbreak”-ing or “root”-ing. [I’ve never cared to hack a phone.])
And you may want to sign the White House Petition and (try to) get the new law changed, as well (the link is at the bottom of the [referenced] article).
They keep trying…
Um.. One problem: I have not ever Facebooked.
Today’s quote: “Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” ~ Cynthia Nelms
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Hey Paul,
All I can say..The government really needs to get a real job..or a grip.. Maybe both.
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delenn13,
And all I am willing to say.. is I ‘signed’ the petition.
(I don’t want to start myself on a rant..)
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Now it is time for some free games..
From Whiterabbit(my game mentor)”Dejobaan, that developer whose released titles like AaAAaaaAAAaaa@ A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Monster Love you, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome, Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby and The Wonderful End of the World now have a new game in production called Drunken Robot Pornography.”
Here is some screen shots..Do you want a free Beta key for Dejobaans latest game? « Giveaway of the Day Forums
It’s Steam..so take it for what it is worth. I don’t buy games from steam. I get free ones plus the ones I get in bundles..But I don’t buy them for the steam codes.
You have to join Dejobaan’s fan club to get the BETA steam code…
Sign up and we will send Steam keys of Alphas, Betas and the ocassional awesome deals They do too. I got a free game sent to me earlier.
Then…2 puzzle and action games in one EXE-Neverball and Neverputt-
Some screen shots..Neverball
“Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course before time runs out. Neverball is part puzzle game, part action game, and entirely a test of skill.
Also found here is Neverputt, a hot-seat multiplayer miniature golf game, built on the physics and graphics engine of Neverball.
Neverball and Neverputt are both known to run under Linux, Win2K/XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OSX. Hardware accelerated OpenGL is required. A 500MHz processor is recommended.
The current version includes 141 Neverball levels and 134 Neverputt holes.”
Neverball – Download
Give this a few minutes and you will be amazed…..Sounded like real thunder.
Perpetuum Jazzile – Africa
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delenn13,
Even though I am always dubious of “beta”s (won’t touch ’em, myself), I do thank you for bringing those to our attention.
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Unlocking Your Cell Phone:
Hear that ringing Cell Phone?
It’s the future calling!
The question is whether Canada will pick up before phone owners are hit with the “Illegality” of unlocking their cell phones?
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Gaia,
I am absolutely (and utterly) clueless as to Canadian (cellular) service providers’ policies on ‘locked’ SIM cards/phones (nor whether the lawmakers there are as beholden to “special interest” activity as our lawmakers seem to be) and so decline to say anything other than that I hope “consumer rights” take precedence over greed/monopoly everywhere.
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It seems they are working on it ..as we speak..and..they are asking for feedback …(GASP!)…from the public.
“Wireless providers would face limits on early termination fees and must unlock phones under “reasonable terms” under new draft guidelines released Monday by Canada’s telecommunications regulator.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is asking the public for feedback on its draft “wireless code” via an online discussion that will remain open until 5 p.m. Feb. 15, the last day of a public hearing in Gatineau, Que., on the code. The hearing begins on Feb. 11.”
Wireless fee, contract guidelines proposed by CRTC – Canada – CBC News
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delenn13,
Thank you.
I truly hope Canadians will participate. (The squeaky wheel gets the grease.) (And.. 4,100 responses is not much of a squeak.)
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Re: Wireless fee…Guidelines…proposed by CRTC…thanks for this, I don’t know (how I missed it.)
Disappointed…(inducing a rant) that Ontario is lagging behind (political reasons) ..now to be one of the squeaky wheels.
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Gaia,
As I said above, I do not know how things are in Canada’s Telco arrangements.. But here, I have often wondered how they get away with it — “overages”, early termination fees that are unreal, “roaming”, false advertising, hidden fees, lock ins, throttling, PII selling/tracking, etc., etc., and people just .. take it.
(But then, I’ve always “joked”: the real genius was not Einstein, but Bell. Anyone who could figure a way to make money off the human need to flap their yap is one smart cookie.)
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