In lieu of the recent debate over the health ramifications of BPA in consumer products, I had the perfect excuse to purchase the Kor One Hydration Vessel. I’m not quite sure where I first saw the Kor, but I instantly loved the unique design, BPA free materials and the fact that Kor donates 1% of their sales to a different water-related cause depending on which Kor you buy. I wanted a new bottle considering the age and condition of my Nalgene.

My initial hesitation to purchase this bottle lied in the one aspect people criticize first: the price. At $30 dollars, the Kor is basically just a pretentiously named, grossly overpriced water bottle. I’ve definitely taken some flack from friends over this. The cost of the Kor makes the (previously expensive but now relatively less so) Nalgene and Sigg bottles which serve the same function a fraction of the price, look like a steal. However, the same can be said about nearly everything we purchase; a cheap Timex watch tells time just as well as an expensive Rolex. The difference lies in the statement the Rolex makes for the wearer. The fact is, we pay a premium for things that provide value to us beyond that item’s intrinsic function (thanks largely to some tricky marketing).

For me, I found the Kor to be superior to other similar water bottles on an intrinsic functional level, as well as a more abstract philosophical level. The design of the Kor is much more appealing than any other water bottle I have seen. I get comments everyday on my Kor. It is also transparent so you can the contents (something the Sigg and Kleen Kanteen doesn’t allow) and has a hinged lid for one handed operation (sorry Nalgene). Kor donates to worthy causes, albeit given the price, Kor should probably donate much more than 1%. Kor also greatly reduces plastic bottle consumption; even though I always recycle my plastic bottles, reducing demand for them couldn’t hurt. I also find that I’m drinking much more water daily which, as an athlete, I definitely wasn’t drinking enough of before.

Ultimately, I am very satisfied with the Kor and it’s undeniably unique design. Even if you still think the Kor is ridiculous, I hope you consider doing something about the bottled water you consume. Packaging and transporting bottled water creates a huge carbon footprint people don’t normally think about. The amount of these recyclable (petroleum-based) bottles that end up in landfills is also staggering. Filtering your own water and carrying it in your own bottle is just one of the many small steps we can take to living more responsibly.

P.S. I got the green one from Koyono. Read more about Kor at http://blog.korwater.com/.

Koyono Slimmy Wallet

I’ve had mine for several months now and I love it. It really is a sleek looking wallet. Koyono also has some of the coolest accessories in their collection as well. Be sure to check them out.

The iPhone isn’t the only contender to be my most desired smartphone. While the Google G1 and the Android platform looked promising, it’s first iteration didn’t really live up to it’s full potential or hype in my opinion. The second generation Android phone doesn’t change much. With my general dislike of BlackBerry or Windows Mobile based devices, I was thrilled with what the Palm Pre has to offer. Reading about it really doesn’t do it justice; you need to watch the demo of the new WebOS to really get a sense of why it’s so cool and how Palm has positioned itself to be the most legitimate iPhone competitor.

This brings me back to my original point. The Pre is being released exclusively on Sprint. Sprint (like Verizon) uses CDMA technology, one of the main reasons for my general Verizon-bashing. Why is CDMA so bad, you ask? Gizmodo summed it up, saying:

Sprint and Verizon’s Secret Shame: CDMA

To the end user, CDMA and GSM don’t seem very different—Sprint, a CDMA carrier, offers the same services as AT&T, a GSM carrier—except when it comes to how they handle phones.

GSM phones are identified by the SIM card that they carry, which can be moved between phones at the user’s will. Not so with America’s other wireless standard. Effectively, a CDMA phone is like a GSM phone with the SIM card welded to its socket. Your CDMA phone is permanently locked to your carrier, and your mobile connection is permanently bound to your handset—unless your carrier is kind enough to authorize a transfer to another phone.

The presumably intentional effect is that there’s no market for 3rd party hardware in CDMA, which is fine for carriers, shitty for customers. Worst of all, there’s no good reason for this. CDMA SIM cards exist. They’re called R-UIM cards, but US carriers are in no rush to implement them.

Furthermore, CDMA severely limits my options for using my phone abroad. I realize that the cell phone companies would rather me use my plan and rack up ridiculous international charges instead of simply replacing my SIM card with one from a local provider but Verizon’s poor selection of phones (each with the same terrible UI) and their general Mac-unfriendliness don’t help their case either.

Ultimately, do any of these networks really offer such better service than the other that compels me to use one over the other. I’ve heard all the arguments for Verizon’s network being “better.” I’m much more skeptical of these claims. Even in upstate New York, I never had a problem with AT&T really. I think Verizon’s reputation of network availability is somewhat exaggerated and doesn’t come near to outweighing better pricing schemes, the flexibility of GSM, or my satisfaction with a phone I actually like. I think will only continue to see increasing parity in terms of quality of cell coverage from the major players (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon).

What are your expierences with any of the phones or networks? Is the coolness of the Pre worth going with Sprint’s CDMA? Anyways, I have six months to wait and see.

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

Facebook provides the means to do exactly what it describes. Furthermore, all the information displayed on Facebook is completely voluntary. You even have complete control over who gets to see what information by tweaking the privacy settings. Beyond this, however, the concept of social media isn’t fully understood by everyone it seems. To that, Common Craft has put together a nice video that helps explain it:

Main Page

What do you think of the new Facebook?

The line (pictured at roughly 2 PM) was essentially the same length as when the store opened at 8 AM (or so I’m told). While the phone also went on sale today at AT&T locations, the AT&T store at Somerset curiously lacked the love Apple was receiving. I suppose this is a testament to the buying experience in Apple’s shiny retail locations as opposed to that in an AT&T with commissioned salespeople.

Very few companies have been able to garner the kind of consumer enthusiasm that Apple has for their products. I mean seriously, Google “phone” and see what comes up. If you’re one of the naysayers about not just the iPhone but Apple in general, you clearly must not appreciate the level of innovation these iconic gadgets has brought upon us. It’s pretty evident what the iPod has done for the music industry, and I have no doubts that the iPhone will do the same for the mobile phone industry. So if you have any criticisms of the iPhone, throw ‘em at me. I dare you.

P.S. Don’t want to wait in line only to find out Apple’s out of stock? Check here first. It seems most AT&T stores have sold out.

The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, looks only to continue the trend of super heros scoring big at the box office. In an effort to hype the film further, the producers created a website for Gotham Cable News which features Dateline style news clips from the metropolis of Gotham. They’re fun to watch and help set the story for those who may not have seen Batman Begins. Though unrelated to the film, the one bit if disappointing news is that Gotham Cable News is a Comcast network; but a clever marketing ploy for Comcast nonetheless. For those of you who just can’t get enough of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, be sure to check out this Wired article about the making of the film. It’ll be interesting to see how the slated superhero films do once they’re released leading up to 2011′s Avengers film.

We’ll see if The Dark Knight can top my current superhero fav, Iron Man. What’re your favorite comic book to film adaptations?

To qualify for the program, all you need is to purchase a $5 Starbucks Card, or use an existing one to register with the rewards program. If you do so by July 14th, you’ll even receive a free drink! Once you have your card, can register for the rewards program online at http://www.starbucks.com/cardrewards/. If you haven’t heard about it already, the program offers a few really nice benefits such as:

• Free “tall” drink when you purchase one pound of whole coffee beans
• Free syrup, soy and half-and-half for your drink
• Free refils on brewed or iced coffees while in the store
• Free AT&T Wifi (my favorite perk)

Sounds pretty good, although the free internet isn’t without a catch. You are limited to 2 hours per day, and your two hours must be consecutive. So if you sign on in a Starbucks store in the morning, you won’t be able to later in the afternoon. While it’s certainly not quite as good as straight up free wi-fi (like Caribou Coffee offers), it certainly beats paid T-Mobile subscription before. One note however, if you do plan on making a purchase on your Starbucks Card, and getting all set up with the rewards program and surfin’ away right away on your next trip, be aware while you are able to access the Starbucks website in store and register for the rewards program, the AT&T account activation requires email verification. That’s tough to do when you don’t have full access to the internet, so plan accordingly. My advice is to maybe reload your Starbucks card (for the sake of having a recent transaction) and register for rewards at home.

But that’s the Starbucks way of drawing customers, and it’s working. What’re your favorite places to go?

Surely most of you know and probably already use Firefox as your browser by now (for those who don’t know what it is, seriously…get with the times). While Firefox is undoubtedly an excellent piece of software, it has it issues. As you may or may not know, Firefox 3 is due out soon and boasts a number of advantages over the current version; namely a fix in system memory usage. The new version also packs a few new features including a more intuitive address bar and a visual refresh to match whatever operating system you use. In light of of this awesome browser becoming awesome-er, the Mozilla Foundation (the folks behind Firefox) has its sights set on attaining a world record for the most downloaded software in one day. Make sure you get in on the Firefox Download Day; you’ll get to be part of a world record and get a kick ass browser out of it too! Click the cool banner for more details from Mozilla.

• http://twitter.com/help/lingo
• http://www.answers.com/topic/twitter-1?cat=technology
• http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=75