One of the worst parts about the iPhone is the fact that you cannot send or receive MMS messages.  I had the same problem with my Treo as I did not pay for the MMS package, but with the iPhone it is particularly annoying because the phone is so advanced and every other media aspect of it works so damn well.

When you receive an MMS it has a note from ATT and a link to www.viewmymessage.com.  This link either ends in a /1 or a /2.  I don't even know what the /1 or /2 is for, but my guess it is a lazy form of load balancing on the part of ATT.

ATT should be really ashamed of viewmymessage.com.  It tarnishes the ATT logo which is on top of the page.  The site is an incredible pain is the ass to use.  I have never even been able to get it to work in any browser other than IE.  The system takes forever to load and probably 80% of the time gives me quirky browser errors.

Tonight when trying to view a message I saw the following 400 error in IE:

I kept trying again and again.  Finally I checked in Firefox to see what it would show.  Invalid path /2en/en/2en/en/jp...

If Apple is never going to support MMS then ATT needs to at least fix their website:

1. Make viewmymessage.com compatible with Firefox and Safari
2. When receiving an MMS on an iPhone, make the link seamless so Safari can view the message easily
3. Fix viewmymessage.com so if you type the horrendous MSG ID incorrectly it at least includes it for you on the error page so you don't have to go back to your phone and look

My cell phone bill is quite outrageous.  It includes fees for the voice plans itself, for unlimited 3G data and then for unlimited texts.  Until recently I didn't have the unlimited texts option, but I was constantly going over the number of allowed messages on the $5/mo plan from ATT.  It seems as though I am paying more for text messages than I was several years ago...  even though the cellular networks can now transfer many more bits than previously.

Fortunately, Senator Herb Kohl from Wisconsin feels my pain.  He is starting an inquiry into the rising cost of SMS messages and seeking to determine if the consolidation in the wireless industry is one reason for the increase in costs.  "This conduct is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace," stated the former president of Kohl's department stores.

I am all for free markets, but the telecommunication industry always deserves closer inspection by the public.

From my perspective the Mozilla Foundation has done a terrific job developing Firefox and more importantly distributing and marketing the product. The latest version of Firefox is a very shiny software product and has been remarkably stable on the few computers I've installed it on. 

I haven't yet installed it on my main work computer; however, and tonight I was prompted to install the upgrade--not just an upgrade for Firefox 2, but upgrading to the completely overhauled Firefox 3.

Autoupdate notification mechanisms really are wonderful creatures for increasing the penetration of new versions of software. It is a damn shame that Microsoft didn't or couldn't manage to increase the market share of IE7 by harassing IE6 users until they upgraded.

One of the best things that Adobe has done is build in easy upgrade paths for its Flash software so that the vast majority of users are using the latest version of the software.

I took a day off from the grind to kill two birds with one stone.  1) Go visit my relatives in Muskogee, Oklahoma  2) Support a friend whose indie movie was being shown at a small film festival in the Muskogee

I never would have thought that Muskogee was the type of town that would host a film festival, but all in all it was a pretty good experience.  We watched portions of four movies while we were there.  They ranged from Viking epics, to vampire chick flicks to riveting Houston hitmen films.

This was my first film festival and I am very pleased I went.  I'd definitely go to more festivals in the future--even if they would be smaller ones such as Bare Bones.  Although the production values in all the movies were not terrific, in many other ways (storyline, originality, overall intelligence) the movies were years ahead of the typical Hollywood fare.  I do watch IFC from time to time, and whereas IFC is sometimes too weighty for my tastes, these indie films were much broader as they ran the gamut from horror to thrillers.

My congratulations go to Crystal for her role as producer and actress in the movie and to Jason Konopisos (the director and title character) for making such an enjoyable flick about a little energy company from Houston.

I ended up ranked #7976 on the ESPN tournament standings after Kansas beat Memphis in tonight's championship game.  What a game!  Kansas scored at the buzzer to take the game into over time.  Kansas plays fast and furious but their last two games have definitely been close ones.

My bracket in this year's tournament was named HeuristicallyProgrammed in honour of my favorite artificial intelligence, HAL 9000.

Unfortunately, now that basketball is over it's time to change my focus to the company fitness challenge--which is much harder to win at.  I'm going to start training for that any day now ;)