In the United States, wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless control which devices and what pieces of software can access their networks. It's a strange business model if you think about it - a lot like having your Internet Service Provider telling you what kind of computer or notebook you can buy and what software you can load on it. It also leads to stuff like this: The terms in AT&T’s exclusive US contract to provide connections for Apple’s iPhone give the telecommunications giant the power to veto online store applications that use AT&T to launch cheap calls through the...

As mentioned below, phones get little respect in the gadget world. But even in the era of the iPhone, the plain old home phone still has its uses. Take Panasonic's Link-to-Cell cordless (Model KX-TH1212). The biggest benefit of the Link-to-Cell isn't necessarily the product itself (although it's good) but what it allows you to do: ditch your landline service. If you've been dying to kick Ma Bell to the curb, the Link-to-Cell can help. It's a cordless phone system with built-in Bluetooth in the base station. You can pair your cellular phone and send and receive calls over your wireless network...

In case you were wondering, yes there is an app for that:

Looking for a great Father's Day gadget gifts? Of course you are. Check out my review of the D-Link video surveillance kit - great for the paranoid pops out there. Or maybe the intriguing new Olympus E-P1 digital camera? Jamie Sorcher has a pretty good run down on some more Father's Day gadget gifts on Cold Pizza: Happy hunting. And happy Father's Day!

One of the most confusing aspects of technology and fatherhood are the questions -  what technologies when, and how much is too much? On this front, the New York Times has a sobering report: Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers like AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier. The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is...

First of all, I hate the guy that feels that he has to wear his little bluetooth earpiece everywhere he goes. As if he's going to get a  call any minute, and he has to be ready.  There's something about seeing a guy with that little blue light snapped to his ear that just bugs me. OK, now that I got that out of the way, I have to tell you that I've been headset perplexed.  Those little ear pieces just don't do it for me.  They fall off...I can't hear them that well. I struggle to have it sit the...