Israeli Commandos Kill U.S. Citizen

Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American was shot and killed along with eight others when Israeli Commandos boarded a ship heading to the Gaza Strip. Furkan was shot four times in the head and once in the chest, all at close range according to a forensic report given to the Anatolian news agency. Furkan was born in the United States and moved with his family to Kayseri at the age of two, but still retained a U.S. passport. His body was returned to his family in Turkey today.

What the hell? Israel, the little niece of the Good ol’ U-S- of-A is shooting our citizens in the face? Israel’s response/excuse for the attack and deaths aboard the Mavi Marmara is that the passengers were attacking their soldiers. Have you seen what these people were using to attack? The small arms the passengers were wielding were nothing against fraking machine guns. Why shoot a 19 year old kid in the face? He could have easily been taken down with the butt of the rifle, but no, four bullets to the face was easier. Perhaps it was just to make a point to the world- Israel has no problem killing anyone at any age because the U.S. will never punish us for anything. I would never take a side in this absolutely pointless argument between the Palestine and Israel, they’ve both committed horrendous acts for whatever reasons they decide to believe, but come on, really? Really? Nobody is going to do anything about this?  At all?

You can read a more detailed article here, here and here.

(via Reddit)

ATT CEO Doesn’t Care to Hear Your Opinions

As I informed you yesterday, AT&T is going to change their Data Plans to a pay-per-byte format. Well a dissatisfied AT&T customer, Giorgio Galante, decided to get in touch with AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, via email. No Mr. Stephenson’s email address isn’t public, but if you can’t find it with Google, you probably don’t care much about the data price change anyway. Most would think that an email from an end user to the CEO of a company as large as AT&T would get lost in the clutter, but Mr. Galante did get through and even received a response. One of AT&T’s “executive response team” called and left him a voice mail thanking him for his feedback and then proceeded to inform him that any more attempts to contact the CEO will result in a Cease and Desist letter being sent to him.

Now what did Giorgio say in his email to trigger this response?

Just this:

Thanks for making the switch to a Sprint HTC Evo an even easier decision. I don’t think even Steve Jobs can spin 2GB for $25/month as a good thing for the consumer. I may not use 2GB/month today, but the point of these devices (iPad 3g, iPhone 4G, etc.) is that we’ll be able to do more and your network either can’t handle it, or you’re just trying to squeeze more money out of your customers. The $15/month 200MB plan is just a crappy anchor price that makes the $25 plan look like a better deal than it really is, given that the $30/”unlimited” plan goes away.

Please don’t have one of your $12/hour “Executive Relations” college students call me – I’ve found them to be generally poorly informed (Engadget.com readers know more than they do about AT&T) and they have little authority to do anything sensible.

This is simply a soon-to-be former customer feedback.

Regards,

Giorgio G.

Now that didn’t appear to be particularly nasty or even distasteful. Sarcastic, yeah, distasteful or threatening, definitely not.

In fact, he made some pretty good points. When I called AT&T yesterday to get some info on the story, I had to go through three representatives before I got a hold of anyone who even knew about the change, much less the rules AT&T made for those already contracted. Also, he’s dead on with the $15 a month for 200 MB plan being nothing but an anchor to push customers towards the $25 a month plan.

Now what are the AT&T customers to do? They don’t want or care to hear how their customers feel about the new rate changes. So much so that they will threaten to send C&D orders to anyone who attempts to contact someone at AT&T with the ability to make changes. Lets see how this plays out.

You can check out Giorgio’s full story here:
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

(via Geekosystem)

UPDATE:
Apparently there is more to the story. The email that I posted above was the second email sent to AT&T, below you can read the previous email sent by Giorgio Galante, (or at least what he’s willing to share), below.

I’ve been a customer since the iPhone 3G came out (2 years ago). My current eligibility date for a new phone is sometime in March of 2011. I’d consider sticking around if AT&T bumps up my eligibility date such that I can get an iPhone 4G on its launch day.

In general I’ve not been the happiest AT&T customer (ahem…tethering was promised to be available in early 2009 and finally AT&T is getting around to offering it as an option.) You’re bumping your ETFs to $325 for new contracts as of 6/1. Not only do I spend $80 a month with you on the iPhone, but I also throw another $30/month at you with my iPad 3G.

Android is now becoming a compelling option, and Sprint is rolling out their 4G network. I’ve contacted your customer service department and they’ve stated there’s nothing they can do to change my new phone eligibility date. Fair enough – customer service reps rarely have the authority to make the right business decision.

If you want to keep my $110/month flowing, bump up my eligibility date. Otherwise I will go to Sprint and no longer require any of your services (3G iPad included since the HTC Evo is a hotspot for up to 8 devices.)

Bump up his eligibility date? All of this is over a better price on the iPhone4G? I guess Giorgio doesn’t realize just how much money AT&T loses on iPhone sales.

You’re Singing it Wrong

Apparently this has been up for a year, but I just came across it for the first time. You’ve all seen the video giving the translation of what the Ewoks were saying in their victory over the Empire song, well now, you can sing along with them in the correct language. I give you, Ewok Karaoke.

(via: Rob Tyler)

Piracy Legal in Isreal?

The Israeli Army is running a blockade on the Gaza Strip and commandeering supplies intended for Palestinian refugees from any ship attempting to pass through International Waters to the “closed” area. This has been going on for a while, but only recently received media attention here in the States.

Glen Greenwald:

Israel is now not only detaining the victims of its aggression, but also threatening to prosecute and imprison them. Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said yesterday: “All those who lifted a hand against a soldier will be punished to the full extent of the law.” So when Israel seizes ships in international waters and kills anyone who resists (and others standing near them), that is an act of noble, plucky self-defense. But those who fail to submit completely to this lawless and barbarous act of aggression are the Real Criminals who will be prosecuted and imprisoned “to the fullest extent of the law.” In other words, not only is Israel — which seized ships in international waters and killed civilians — the Real Victim, but the Real Criminals are those on the ship. But doesn’t the victim of a crime usually want media coverage of what the criminal did? How odd for the victim in this case to take such extreme steps to ensure that the world cannot hear from the witnesses.

And Another Tablet Enters The US Market

Today at D8, Dell announced that they will be offering their new portable tablet computer/gadgety-thingy, the Dell Streak – unlocked, via their website in July. If you haven’t heard of this devise at all, Engadget did a review a few months back, here. It’s running Android and seems a bit easier to manage than the iPad or iPed, but still priced at around $500.

(via Reddit)

Who want’s a Lego Printer? I Do I Do

I played with Legos every day when i was a kid. I never got one of those pre-designed kits though. No sir, no directions for me, I used pure creativity, well, that and pictured of what i was attempting to make. Well it seems as though this guy over at B3ta never quite grew out of Legos, (Do any of us? My parent’s just threw them out when they thought I was too old for them), and built himself a printer. Its quite impressive. It’s bricks, a motor or two and a felt tip fraking pen. Ingenious! Not only is it an awesome display piece, it uses the cheapest ink you can get. He’s got it hooked up to a mac, but I won’t take points off for that …this time.

I’m making one for the Linux box.

(via PC Pro)

A Pause for Dog Humor

It has nothing to do with Tech what-so-ever, but I found it humorous and have decided to share it with you. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the worlds foremost canine hip-hop artist, the beat boxing dog.

Knock-Off iPad – I’ll buy that for $150

At Steve Jobs’ last keynote speech, he introduced us to the Apple iPad. It was sleek, mobile, and considerably more than I wanted to pay for a giant iPhone. No longer do I have to worry about buying a big screen iPhone as China Grabber is now selling the iPed here. The iPed is a knock-off product made in Shenzhen, China at the Foxconn plant, which just so happens to be the same place that manufactures the iPhone.

Personally, I’d prefer this to the iPhone as it comes with Android OS installed which keeps Jobs and his cronies from locking out features I’m sure to like. Also, I’m cheap, and being a cheapskate, $150.00 is perfect for this hardware. Check out the video below so see how it works, it’s in Japanese, so good luck understanding the dialogue.

AT&T Restructures Wireless Data Plans

That’s right folks, the honchos at AT&T have decided that offering Unlimited Data packages are not profitable enough, and have decided to implement pay-per-byte data plans. Gizmodo reported back in March that this sin against geeks was coming, we just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.  Below is a chart showing the classic plans vs. the new, and from the looks of it, anyone who wants to tether their phone or iPad to another device is going to get ripped off, big time.

After speaking with an AT&T representative, we’ve found that the pay-per-byte data plans will  apply only to new contracts. Meaning, if you currently have an unlimited data plan, you’re fine as long as  you keep renewing the contract indefinitely. I guess all the people who thought they would wait to buy an iPad won’t be getting the $30 a month unlimited data plan that was pushed so hard at launch.

The Rep. also stated that they will begin offering the new packages on June 7th. Do you think it coincidence that they change the data plans the same day of Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote? Will we be hearing of a launch date for the iPhone 4G? Perhaps this whole data restructure is AT&T is preparing to cash-in with another influx of iPhone customers playing with every web service they can find an app for.

Although AT&T is the first Wireless provider to switch to this new formula, you can be sure that the others will be following suit shortly.

(edit) We just got a hold of this graphic, thought we’d share:

Colbert Ruptures Hamstring – Stewart Shot by Richter

I know, I know. I haven’t been updating, and thus we definitely weren’t the ones to inform you, but unless you’ve been living somewhere with no Cable, Internet or Broadcast T.V. (north Korea?), you know that Conan O’Brien lost his tonight show gig to the Big Giant Chin. Well since that gruesome affair ended, Conan has been traveling the country performing his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour throughout the States. Last night, the Basic Cable Boys, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert stopped by Conan’s NYU show to condemn O’Brien for leaving N.Y. in the first place. A dance-off ensues which ends with Stewart being shot 9-10 times by Andy Richter.

(via Reddit)