I’ve been thinking a lot about cutting monthly costs and my Internet connection (via Comcast) is a prime target. Comcast is crazy expensive (not even including cable and phone) and they are pure evil to their existing customers. To be fair it seems like all communications companies (cell phone carriers, cable, internet, etc) piss off their existing customers in a never ending bid to entice new customers with much lower prices than I pay (but that’s a whole different rant).

Anyway, I recently came across this relatively extensive article at Computerworld which ranks the top 6 broadband ISPs (notice Comcast comes in dead last):

1. Verizon FiOS
2. Cox Communications
3. Time Warner
4. AT&T
5. Verizon DSL
6. Comcast

Unfortunately, not all of these services are available in my area, but I’ll definitely be looking into the ones that are since they are all basically better (and probably cheaper) than my current provider.

Regardless of whether or not the Simpsons Movie, coming out on July 27th, can live up to 18 years and 400 episodes of expectations, the website promoting the movie is great. So far, you can tour Springfield and play a couple of games, but the best part is creating your own Simpsons character. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live inside the world of The Simpsons? This tool lets you personify yourself as if you had been created by Matt Groening himself.

I took a shot at it (see left) and created the Simpsons character I am and the one I aspire to be. Can you guess which is which?

Working in the tech industry, I’ve been exposed to a few iPhones and I gotta admit that they are pretty damn sweet. Unfortunately, I recently got a Blackberry 8703e and can’t justify the $600 price tag… leaving me with a serious case of iPhone envy.

Browsing the web on an iPhone is just like browsing the web on your PC. Browsing the web on my Blackberry is like time-traveling back to 1994… all text and nothing I can actually use while mobile (no traffic, maps, etc).

Voice mail on the iPhone is just like checking email–you can see all the voice mails you’ve received and listen to them in any order you want. On the Blackberry, voice mail works just like any other phone–listen to them in the order they came in, no matter how much you want to avoid a particular person.

Navigating the iPhone is simple, intuitive and just plain awesome with its touchscreen capabilities. The Blackberry on the other hand took me 2 days to realize you could click the “click wheel” (maybe that one was just user error, but seriously, I couldn’t figure the damn thing out!).

There are some things that I like better about my Blackberry. The Verizon network is seemingly faster, but could be due to the fact that I’m browsing the 1994 Internet. Also, I don’t care what people say, the full keyboard is easier to use (when I’m not driving).

All-in-all, I’m ok with having a Blackberry for now. I know that next generation iPhones are going to blow away the current offerings and the Blackberry’s price of less than half the iPhone is obviously appealing, but I’d still sell my first born to get an iPhone (that would work on a provider other than AT&T).

I guess this show is a bit old, but I only recently discovered it. Pants Off Dance Off is an intellectually stimulating program featuring woman taking off their clothes while dancing. It’s on regular TV so they only drop down to their underwear, but it sure beats watching reruns of Seinfeld this summer. The show airs on Fuse and the 3rd season starts tomorrow night at 10.

What’s HBO’s latest marketing gimmick to make you not cancel after the Sopranos finale? An “alternative reality game” called HBOvoyeur.com. The relatively safe for work website lets you peer into the apartments of several city dwellers. A companion blog (www.thestorygetsdeeper.com), an preview on HBO OnDemand called The Watcher and several “Easter Egg” hints like real phone numbers embedded in the show try to increase the mystery.

What would make this really interesting would be if HBO was using the data from the website to determine which peeped on apartments were most watched online (obviously the ones with naked chicks) and tailored the actual show to meet online interest.