Funny... in part two of the Steve Burke interview on Sept 13, 2006, Steve Burke says "We have no plans to charge for an HD tier."

Just two weeks ago, in my last Comcast bill, it said they would start charging $5.95 for the HD channels. I live in the Pittsburgh market.

I was actually hoping that it would have DVD playback so I could minimze the number of appliances I have in my entertainment center... but you can't beat the price. These guys are going for a simplicity model, compared to the PS3, and I think it is going to work.

Now hopefully they won't remove ESPN2HD RIGHT after the World Cup. For the superbowl this year, they gave us NFLHD (and thank goodness, cos I go to see the beloved Steelers analyzed to death in all of HD glory), but Comcast removed THE DAY after the superbowl. Hopefully, they will bring it back in time for when the season starts. NFL - to us Americans, thats real football (since you english brought it up - who cares how often it touches your foot? if thats the arguement why "football" is better than "american football" i think you need to hone your debating skills. its still boring as heck, and the only reason to watch the world cup is because of the fun fans and the world stage, not the product on the field. and of course, now, because it will be in hd).

I am soooo glad Boring Kat was not voted as the winner. She is the most boring person on earth, and put right next to Taylor truly showed it off. She talks a lot but never says anything! To paraphrase EVERY conversation Ryan Seacrest has had with her:

Seacrest: "So why did you choose that song [Black Horse and the Cherry Tree]?"

Boring Kat: "Well, you know, I just wanted to *smile*... I don't know. I just did! *smile* *giggle* *wave hand*"

The good thing is Boring Kat will do well because of her voice and looks, if she would just stop booming it all the time. The marketing people at the record companies can "market up" some personality for her.

Taylor will live off of his personality and will be a likeable for much longer to come. He'll be able to do Joe Cocker type songs, and I am sure they will have him cover "In the ghetto", that elvis song that he did again with Toni Braxton (just please without Toni! Her voice was aweful... but daaaamn, she was smokin). If Chris couldnt win, Taylor was my second choice. Good job, Taylor.

gourou
www.crankcasting.com

Fios rocks. We have this in Pittsburgh and it completely outruns comcast cable, and its cheaper. Verizon - you did something right for once. Now teach your Wireless service to be as innovative (yes, I am a verizon wireless subscriber too).

gourou
www.crankcasting.com

I just got back from a visit to china last Friday and heard they were censoring the last 10-15 mins there. If they were showing people hanging their unmentionables in fancy apartment buildings, MI 3 is a documentary. Every, and I mean EVERY, apartment building had drawers hanging on clothes line.

gourou
www.crankcasting.com

#44 - Ted: A ton of people on my network (not Verizon, but my social network) now use Skype. This is people around the world - India, China, UK. I can use soonr.com to get directly to them without any fees other than airtime when I am on the road. A LOT cheaper when I am not at my PC.

#10 - People keep complaining about lack of wifi built into the Q... it has a mini-SD slot. From what I understand, the Q will support wifi through a mini-SD wifi card. Though not built in, it is a quick and easy sol'n to this problem. Would be great to connect to my home and work network via wifi to get easy access to my files.

In any case, I'll be using skype and soonr.com to do a lot of calling through my Q when I get it with unlimited data and EVDO worst case. I was considering the Treo 700w or p before the Q was coming out. But from everything I am hearing from people who have gotten a pre-release version of the Q, it'll rock. Its got a be a ton better than my Treo 600 which used to rock... 18 months ago.

#34 - That's exactly what I am going to try to do: 2 year renewal to get the $199 price, and then use my NE2 $100 credit. I'll let you know in about 2 weeks if it works. Anyone else tried this in the past with other verizon fones?

PS (no, not a callout to Princess Sophie) - I love the fact they call the bottom of the Q the "Jay Leno Chin." Perfect.