As a general rule, the propensity of non-bicyclists to give biking a try is inversely proportional to the average velocity of the bikers they see on the street. If you live in a city where women in wedge heels are steering their old steel bikes around their daily errand route, there’s really nothing intimidating or scary about the prospect of getting on a bike yourself. If it’s all hipsters on fixies, by contrast, that just makes biking feel all the more alien and stupid.

”

— Reuters blogger Felix Salmon reflects on the Slow Bike movement

Bay Area Derailleurs - SF Bike Music Fest 2010

Operation Chokehold: tomorrow at 3pm EDT »

iPhone service in NYC (and San Fran) sucks. This is not news.

The latest news is, AT&T might want to implement a new pricing scheme to punish the heaviest data users. Apparently, according to the WSJ, 3% of smart phone users account for 40% of the network traffic (read: 3% of people use their iPhone the way it was intended to be used, despite the 3G network in NYC and San Fran being pitiful…low speeds and an average of 30% dropped calls.)

So of course AT&T has decided, instead of shoring up their infrastructure to ramp up to allowing 100% of smartphone users to have a good user experience, they are instead going to set a price structure that will encourage iPhone users to switch over to the Droid on Verizon.

From betanews.com:

What a strange 10 days it has been for AT&T. How did it comes to this? On December 7, AT&T released the “Mark the Spot” app that lets iPhone users notify the carrier about service problems. The next day, Network World recapped a Root Wireless study that revealed AT&T consistently has the fastest 3G service of any major U.S. carrier. OK, if data’s so fast, why can’t telephony be more reliable? A day later, AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega started talking about imposing data caps on wireless users, which would be one way to address service problems. Say what? Cap the same people who are required to purchase a data plan with their smartphone?

Needless to say, some people are unhappy about it. (Cue the whining.)

Funniest part? AT&T attempting simultaneous nonchalance while shiatting their pants about the network crawling. One moment they are feigning indifference, pointing out that the Facebook page for the digital flash mob only has 3400 members; the next, they are crying about this constituting a DoS and screaming about legal action.

So, um, if AT&T’s network is so critical to its 80 million users and stuff, how come only 3400 people using their iPhones as they are intended to be used is able to degrade the service of said network to a dangerous level??

BTW… participating in Operation Chokehold will not affect 911 emergency services, even if the whole AT&T network crashes. 911 calls, made from AT&T phones, would be rerouted automatically through another carrier in accordance with Federal law.