TELUS makes the triumvirate complete: Canada is no longer in the dark ages of mobile.

(Check out the exclusive-to-TELUS “Canada Red” version of the Nokia E71… Beauty, eh?)

So today TELUS Mobility has also joined the HSPA party with their own SIM card (and therefore unlocked handset) friendly network. Earlier this week Simon Sage snuck me into a special preview of the new toys — behind the velvet ropes I was surprised to see my pal Hilen Wong, who had let me have a play with the then-secret HTC Hero at a dinner party a few weeks ago. Sometime that same afternoon, no less than Howard Chui got Hilen to demo the Hero and the new LG Chocolate for him:

TELUS has also stepped up to the plate with a very reasonable $10 CAD SIM card — for a new customer with their own unlocked handset that’s an absolute steal when compared to the $40 that Rogers charges for the same thing. More importantly, Canada finally has a level playing field for competition, though one or two additional options certainly couldn’t hurt…

Posted via web from Andrew Currie on Posterous

A great day for Canada -- monopoly becomes duopoly as Bell goes 3G.

Yeah, it’s still the usual suspects — Bell Canada, Rogers and even (ugh) the iPhone — but at the very least Bell has finally broken the stranglehold that Rogers has had on GSM-based services in this country since they gobbled up Fido in 2004.

Staying true to the carrier spirit of rate obfuscation Bell has chosen to release different plans to different device platforms, because surfing the web on an iPhone is entirely different than doing the same thing on a Palm Pre — just like it is on Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux (not). Oh, and you’ll also be ponying up an additional $6.95 for the bullshit system access fee.

Still, as a whole the rates aren’t disastrously bad, and special offers are surely on the way as we get closer to the holiday season and Telus launches an HSPA network of their own. Personally I’m waiting for someone to step up and offer a contract term more reasonable than three years.

Any takers?

Posted via web from Andrew Currie on Posterous

Dutch DRM-breaker turns himself in to test the limits of fair use. This should be interesting...

“In my media center I have digital copies of my legally purchased DVD movies,” he writes in his confession. “Overall, I suppose I’ve made digital copies of approx. 100 films and 10 seasons of TV series,” he added.

via torrentfreak.com

It’s always heartening to see everyday folks like you and me stand up to big media.

Not to diminish Mr. Andersen’s bravery or anything, but he does at least have his country’s copyright law on his side… kinda. Read on for this sordid tale of Danish bureaucracy. Maybe it rings true for your government as well?

Posted via web from Andrew Currie on Posterous