The soul of a new machine

When the Times-Gazette got word that AT&T would hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday to celebrate a new service announcement for Shelbyville, I knew it had to be one of two things: either the company was preparing to upgrade cell phone data service here to 3G, or it was going to roll out its U-verse television service in Shelbyville.

As we reported on Tuesday, it was the latter. Just how significant that will turn out to be depends on how much of Shelbyville AT&T ends up serving with U-verse. A company official wouldn't reveal to how much of the city they are now offering service (I've already checked my own location, just for the sake of curiosity, and it's not included yet).

But the second question is, are we ever going to get 3G? As more people buy smart phones, and as the iPad picks up steam and other tablet-style computers loom on the horizon, 3G is going to become more and more important, and AT&T still serves Bedford County with its slower EDGE data service. The company's new tiered cell phone data plans at least give us an opportunity not to pay for the data we aren't receiving, but I'd rather have the option of receiving it.

A new machine

My home desktop computer. 6 years old, was showing its age, and I took the chance during the recent sales tax holiday to order a new one before it collapsed on me unexpectedly. Last week was a tragic one for my family, and by the time my new computer arrived on Friday it was a pleasant distraction. There's something exciting about booting up a new, out-of-the-box computer for the first time and then getting it set up exactly the way you like it. And I finally made the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7, which I really like.

Moving to a new computer is also a good excuse to try out new software or new ways of doing things. I always have multiple browsers installed, because sometimes you'll find a web page which will work or look better in one than another, but when I moved to the new computer I decided that I would try Google Chrome as my default browser; I'd previously been a long-time Firefox user.

My web designer brother is resistant to Chrome on principle; he doesn't like Google's increasing power in the computing world and its response to certain privacy concerns, and is one of those concerned that the company has abandoned its old "Don't be evil" slogan. Perhaps I should be concerned, too, but Chrome is such an elegant, simple and fast browser it already has me hooked.

I'm already planning ahead with the new machine, thinking of buying some additional memory for it in a few months.

Micropayments

According to an Associated Press article this week, PayPal is trying to make it easier for customers to make "micropayments" for things like virtual items in a video game or buying access to a single article at a newspaper or magazine archive site.

By the end of the year, says AP, PayPal plans to roll out a product that would tally up such small purchases and then bill for them once they passed a certain minimum threshold -- such as $10. That would save merchants on the transaction fees they must pay for each small purchase. The system would also allow you to keep playing rather than have to interrupt your game to fill out payment information for that item you're buying.

--John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government. He is also the author of the self-published novel "Soapstone." His personal web site is lakeneuron.com.