I wrote this article back in June and never posted it because it looked like everyone was going to tiered data, but today Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, said that the up-and-coming LTE network could support charging for data depending on the speed that the user chooses. So, I’ll post this because it is a bit relevant to the current mobile data situation.

When what we call the internet first began it wasn’t anything like what we have today. There are plenty of people out who will read this and know exactly what I am talking about and there are some who haven’t known anything but the current state of the internet. Things have changed over the years, including the way that we pay for our internet service. From what I’ve seen there have been three major points in the internet billing cycle and you can see the same exact points when you look at mobile web data.

1. Pay as you go
Anyone who remembers the internet before Cable and DSL remembers well the squeal of a modem and the rigors of the call not going through or the other end being busy. We didn’t have an always on connection and if you didn’t know how to turn the volume down on the modem everyone in the house with you knew you were connecting to the internet. Back then your internet usage was printed on your phone bill and you were billed accordingly.

Of course when someone figured out that we could use our cell phones to connect to internet sites (although very media light) the cell phone companies were quick to start charging for the data usage, on a pay as you go plan.

2. You’ve got INTERNET!
Our next step on the trip down memory lane stops where Cable and DSL internet began, dial-up internet was still pretty big and a lot of companies still billed you per kb but there was a change somewhere and people began to pay upfront for their data.

This is where we are now in the mobile data wars, every month you pay $30 and you get the internet, the fastest available and it’s always there; that is, as long as you have a signal. The only choice you have to make is whether you need enterprise support.

3. Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, XX-Large, SUPER Duper Mega Large
Now we buy our internet by how fast we want to download the finale of LOST and how high of quality we want to see the animals on our farms on Facebook. It’s like a veritable Baskin Robins of speeds, ranging from 2Mb to 100+Mb download speeds and it is always getting faster. No more can you just buy the internet, no, now you have to choose which is right for your needs.

As far as mobile data is concerned, this is the next step. Consumers are already mad that they have to pay $30 per month and they don’t get the speed they need or they don’t even use what they consider to be $30 worth of data. Then there are people who use more than their fair share of data (it is unlimited, after all) and still only pay the $30. The only indication we have of “speed” is how many “G” it is, the current is 3G and 4G is on the way.

According to Jaunted.com, select airports in Texas are “experimenting with checking in passengers via QR code, or those curious black-and-white nouveau barcodes.” [via Jaunted]

Edit: You can read about I-nigma Reader, a free QR Code reader for Windows Mobile, here.

So, you’ve been using S2U2 to unlock your Windows Mobile phone, just like the iPhone, and now you’ve seen the Android’s Pattern Unlocker and want that. You are lucky that there are people out there just like you and who want to make their phones just like another.

ThrottleLock is ThrottleLauncher.com’s answer to your desires, just download their FREE app and install the CAB and you’ll be in business! The ThrottleLock Config app lets you add/remove rows and columns to your pattern and also has a few more little treats. The creator also has left ThrottleLock completely open for skins and you can download and share skins in their forums.

Over on XDA Developers someone has taken a bootable copy of Linux and made it run Android, that’s right, Google Android, on Windows Mobile phones. It’s a simple hack to run and easy to install. Get all the files and follow the instructions on this site and you should be in business.

Remember this will be a bit buggy and you won’t be able to get to all your applications or your contacts (found this out through my own discovery). On my HTC Touch the right directional button opened up context menus, the left directional button went back to the previous screen, and the camera button brought up the onscreen keyboard. I sent and received an SMS with no problem but when I told an incoming call to go to voicemail the vibrate in my phone stuck and I had to take the battery out to restart it.

The distro runs in RAM so you don’t have to worry about it running all the time, all you have to do to quit it is to perform a soft reset and you will be back to WM. But any time you are ready to show off your Android phone, just run the Haret boot loader and in a few minutes you will be ready to wow.