I saw an interesting article over at Apple Insider that said that some of the movie studios were considering an iTunes release for all of the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies this year. Honestly, I really like this idea.  It’s the best I’ve heard in a while.  Here’s why.

I love things like Netflix.  Being able to get the movies I like anywhere I want is really cool. I can sit in the family room with my family and they can watch whatever they want on the big screen TV (except when my Steelers play football!!).  I can grab my iPad, my MacBook (or any other Netflix compatible computing device), plug in a set of headphones and watch MY stuff whenever I want.  I’m still "with" the fam, even though we’re watching different programming. 

Is iTunes the digital media answer?

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Getting ready for work today, I’m very amused by this comic found on p. 6 of the January 24, 2011 edition of ComputerWorld.  Talking with some co-workers, many are ready to jump ship from AT&T.  Verizon, which has an excellent network should be ready for the influx of traffic.   Learning from all of AT&T’s mistakes should and deploying later should help for a very successful launch.    Verizon launches its iPhone on February 10 with preorders for existing Verizon customers starting on February 3.  But if you are planning to make that switch so you can get a rate of $30 a month for unlimited data, you better do it soon as according to NetworkWorld:

Verizon’s McAdam said that the $30 unlimited data plan for the iPhone 4 would be a temporary offer, and that the company would, like its rival AT&T, shift to a more granular tiered pricing model soon.

"This is part of the play by Verizon to get customers to move to the iPhone quickly, and to give AT&T customers a reason to jump ship," Gold said. "It’s not a bad move."

Many believe that Verizon will raise the price of the unlimited data plan to $120 a month.  Current Verizon rates are $15/month for 150MB and $30 for unlimited data with voice plans of $40 for 450 minutes and $69.99 for unlimited minutes.  Couple an iPhone with a service like Line2 for $10 a month or some other VoIP alternative and TextFree for unlimited texts and you have a potential winner – (Line2 I have not tried with a cellular network only my local WiFi but the results are mixed).  So for a potential $80 a month with a VoIP solution or $100 a month for unlimited data and voice (and with TextFree add unlimited texts)!  This deal seems perfect for the IT professional especially with the mobile hotspot where you can get internet linked out (hopefully without further charges from Verizon for tethering but extremely unlikely as they charge for Droid tethering at an extreme rate) to a machine when a client location doesn’t have internet yet.

I’m seriously considering getting an iPhone.  Right now I’m relying on my iPod Touch for everything such as banking deposits, VoIP, credit card processing, texting, Google Maps (load maps first and then leave WiFi area),  contacts, and scheduling.  With Verizon’s deal, I may just be enticed enough to switch carriers and go with an actual iPhone rather than my iPod Touch 4g.

Some news just totally cracks me up.  I just read on NetworkWorld up how a 60 year old lady attempted to smuggle 44 iPhones into Israel by hiding them in her stockings!  Are people just that crazy?  Of all places to pull off such a stunt – with Israeli security…that’s a no no.  She tried carrying a all 44 iPhones on her person.  Granted it could be extremely lucrative with market prices of $800 and $1387 for 16Gb and 32GB models respectively, but is an iPhone really WORTH THAT MUCH EFFORT?  There are so many different phones to choose from.  It doesn’t HAVE TO be an iPhone.  And if you can’t get an iPhone, would you go to the black market to get one?

I saw this cool article over at Computerworld by Sharon Gaudin on Google’s parting gift to Eric Schmidt – $100M in stock and options, vested over four years.

Wow!  That’s one heck of a thank you card. I’d definitely say, "you’re welcome!"

The article goes on to state that the management change is likely due to an agreement that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had with Schmidt – You run the company while we gain business experience, then one of us will take over. Larry Page obviously thinks that now is the time.

What to the changes at Google mean..?

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What crazy volume….10 billions downloads from the Apple App store with Neon Play’s Paper Glider application. 

Neon Play CEO Oli Christie received a telephone message from Apple saying, "Mr Christie. This is Apple in Cupertino. We have some good news to share with you…"

"We’ve been eagerly discussing the 10 billion app countdown in our game studio, so when I got a call from Apple Cupertino saying they had some "good news", I thought they might tell us they were featuring one of our apps on the App Store," said Oli Christie, CEO of Neon Play.

"So when they said that Neon Play’s Paper Glider was the 10 billionth app, I was completely and utterly dumbstruck. It’s a great piece of news for the whole Neon Play team. Paper Glider was already the number one app in the UK, so this is a double piece of great news for our studio."

Paper Glider is a free to download iPhone app. The aim of the game is simple – you need to flick a paper plane with your finger to try and get it out of the office window while avoiding ceiling fans. Once you’re out of the window you need to fly the plane as far as you can by using your limited amount of wind boosts.

The game has received over 2.5 million downloads to date and is currently no. 1 in the UK free apps and no. 2 in the US charts.

Congrats to Apple for 10 billion app downloads as well as Neon Play for making a wonderful app that got the 10 billion download award.