delightfully tacky, yet unrefined. nokia's "lifeblog" promises to document your mobile life. nokia recently announced a new product that will be available with some of its upcoming handsets: the lifeblog. no less than an automatic diary, lifeblog-enabled nokia phones will systematically record your pictures and text messages and synchronize them with your pc when you're back home. the result: a digital diary you will look back years after thinking "oh, that's what i was doing at that time". lifeblog should be available by the end of the year but the bad news is nokia will charge for the pc software that goes with the phone, unlike other software like the free nokia pc suite.

-cellphones at about.com-



wow. a phone that blogs for you? that combines two of my technological passions (the other being flush toilets). wait, where will i fit in? have i just been cut out as the middle man? am i no longer the missing link between a life and a phone and a life and a blog? man. i feel empty. am i just a person pretending i have a blog pretending i have a life? am i just a blog dreaming of free night time minutes? what? i feel lost. if you were to query the free world about three things associated with jon you might get "cell phone, blog, (insert something meaningful)." if they start mashing everything together i might disappear altogether.



stop the cheering. it's not nice.



but the time of the lifeblog has not yet arrived so i can still pretend to be master of my universe. however, my beloved cell phone is dying. it has served me well. weathered the storm through many hours of pointless conversation, saved me from surefire social death, acted as a conversation piece in times of distress, given me no insight into my minute usage (thus leading to outrageous phone bills), it has done everything i've asked of it and more. it has been dropped once or twice and the proud warrior now sports a crack along one side. well actually, the crack is just on the casing but what is a phone with no casing?



in fact, that's the entire reason i have stuck by nokia's side. customizable casings. i could care less about reception, battery life, phone dimensions, special features, ease of use. i just want to know what kind of pretty accessories i can dress my cellphone up with. currently (and for the last three years) i have a blue and white case with hawaiian flowers. some have deemed it ugly and "gay." i have used it as a touchstone to my californian roots. people laugh, i call for backup. and then i try to ignore them as i check voicemail. yeah, i got you punks. i can find solace in automated female voices. don't ever make fun of my phone again.



but every spring must have its winter and every summer must have its autumn, and every march its december and sometimes the snow comes down in june and sometimes the sun goes round the moon and sometimes it's all a big surprise. this song should really be a performance piece don't you think? it's so poetically....poetical. anyway, my phone is dying and nobody else has left over batteries from their old phones to support it. i've been extending my phone's life (and saving some bucks) by asking people for their old nokia batteries. that type of charity from friends could only last so long. i was so naive. uncaring bastards. you made my phone die. anyway, i can't speak on my phone for longer than five minutes before it starts to beep low battery and i have to say "look, i gotta go, my battery is dying." surprisingly, this is a useful feature but there are actually times i'd like to be on the phone for longer than five minutes. so, instead of buying yet another battery (now on ebay for five dollars, direct from hong kong), i will buy a new phone. or actually buy a new phone then send in the rebate, making a cool one cent in profit. rebates are great, unless you forget to send them in. which i think, is the point of a rebate as opposed to a straight up discount.



i almost went with a non-nokia phone. the prices and designs of other phones were so attractive. cobalt blue almost got me. but then i thought "what if tomorrow i don't want cobalt blue? i can't change it!" not that i've ever changed my nokia faceplate more than once or twice, but the point is, i could if i wanted to. freedom of choice doesn't mean you have to use it. you are free to own a gun, you don't have to shoot. confucius say.



i was tempted to shell out big bucks (anything more than fifty dollars is big bucks) for a hiptop messaging one but then it occured to me, "who would i message with my hiptop?" especially since soon they can just read about my phone's exploits via the internet? so i scrapped that plan. this is so sad, i can't even remember or find a picture of my old phone to show you, is it outdated even on the internet? but here (click on "blue urban") is the cover i want to buy for my new nokia 3595. actually, just kidding. although i like the orange but not the glow in the dark. my tastes have evolved, three years ago a glow in the dark phone was all i wanted. now i just want something that looks ugly. or i guess i could continue with the hawaiian flower theme. but now that i'm actually in california, that's kind of pointless. i feel like camouflage is in, with war going on and all. or is that just tacky?



it's stuff like this that makes me toss and turn at night. you too right?



my soon to be retired phone has been with me since august of 2000. that's a long time in cell phone years. the company that i got the phone and service from was crushed beneath the rubble of the world trade center. i lost my security deposit. i'm still bitter about that. but i guess i can't be too bitter right? after all, i'm sure the loss of their business was probably greater than my miniscule monetary loss. big picture, gotta keep that in mind.