By CrunchGear, on 2009.10.20, 01:37.53 pm
 New AT&T customers can grab the BlackBerry Curve 8900 from Amazon for just a penny when signing up for a two-year contract. Existing customers can get it for just $50 with a contract renewal. The same phone is going for $150 directly at AT&T’s site.
By CrunchGear, on 2009.09.22, 07:12.00 am
 We’ll start this deal off with a gigantic asterisk. This deal does NOT work for a) existing AT&T customers looking to renew or b) anyone who wants an iPhone.
That being said, every other AT&T phone at Amazon is going for a penny today (and today only). That’s with a new, two-year contract. There’s no activation fee, either, which is nice, and you get free two-day shipping on everything.
Some nice handsets in there, too: BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve, Nokia E71x, HTC FUZE – even a couple 3G internet adapters.
Today Only — All AT&T Phones for a Penny with New 2-Year Service Plan [Amazon]
By CrunchGear, on 2009.09.10, 08:36.00 am
Dell’s got a handsome deal on an unlocked Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone at just $240 with free shipping. The offer is good for two days only, from today until Saturday the 12th at 5:59 AM Central Time.
It’s a GSM phone with a 640×360 touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, Symbian OS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and assisted GPS. The 5800 is built for music, too, with a 35-hour playback time (according to Nokia).
NOKIA 5800 XpressMusic Unlocked Smartphone [Dell.com]
By CrunchGear, on 2009.08.25, 12:40.42 pm
Please turn your attention to Rolling Stone, where an article about a blind, lonely phreaker is currently tearing up the charts. That is to say, it’s an article worth your time, and it’s certainly better than refreshing drudgereport.com for the thousandth time today.
The quick version, in case you can’t block off 15 minutes of your time to read the whole article, is that a blind kid named Matt was a great phreaker. He was handy with a telephone, able to recognize phone numbers by the tone alone, call up the phone company, impersonate a supervisor, and wreak havoc. He moonlighted as a swatter, someone who can call in a SWAT team to a person’s house in an act of revenge. (“You called me names? Have fun when the cops show up to your house, guns drawn, and drag your ass off to jail.) Lots of fun, in other words.
His progression was pretty predictable: the kid spent all day in his bedroom participating in telephone party lines; made friends, made enemies, swatted every now and then; helped take down someone for the FBI; got caught himself when he was over 18, and is now in prison in Dallas.
The lesson? Do all your phreaking before you turn 18.
By CrunchGear, on 2009.07.11, 01:30.47 pm
Oh Brando, cashing in on Michael Jackson’s untimely death? You’re better than that, Brando.
At any rate, the Thriller Skull Phone is an old-timey standard phone in the shape of a skull with blue LEDs for eyes that light up when the phone rings.
Other features include that it’s tone/pulse switchable. And that’s about it.
The phone costs $25 and is perfect for people who like skulls or Michael Jackson fans who are willing to make the enormous leap that’s required to tie this product in with the King of Pop.
Thriller Skull Phone [Brando]
By CrunchGear, on 2009.06.28, 11:18.06 am
More proof (see: the Perfect Pushup and the Snuggie.) that having a quirky, on-all-the-time commercial is a step in the right direction toward Big Success. MagicJack (commercial here) is selling something at the rate of 9,000 to 10,000 units per day, making its parent company, YMax Communications, some $100 million this year alone. But, in this age of Skype, who’s buying this thing?
Two points for you if you guessed “older people.” The company’s average customer age is 50, and and live in retirement-friendly places like California or Florida.
MagicJack, if you have no idea what I’m on about, is a device that plugs into your computer’s USB port that in turn lets you make and receive phone calls through your Internet connection. The reason why it’s so popular, I guess, is that you get the first year of service for free, and after that it’s only $20 per year. That low price is especially appealing to people on fixed income, or for people whose regular phone bills are too high.
One side note: you do need to keep your computer on all the time for something like the MagicJack to work, so all that savings you’re getting by freeing yourself from the phone company may go straight toward powering your computer.
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