For years, Rogers has allowed users of their cable internet service to check their usage. Even more recently, they gave alerts to people as they neared their usage cap and about to be charged more.

Well, tracking your wireless data has now become easier. Rogers added this functionality to their website this week. If you have a data plan, definitely check this service out because it could save you a lot of money.

Better instructions to navigate to this page can be found at Boy Genius Reports.

The blogs have been noticing the switch in Apple’s references to their latest smartphone. Instead of the “iPhone 3G S” they used during launch, the nomenclature has recently been changing to “iPhone 3GS”. It’s a small change, but somewhat significant. Why would Apple make a major change to the naming of a product after it’s launch? My theory is this: Google.

Search engines work by using search terms. And by using Google to search without a space is a much more specific search and brings up more accurate references to the proper phone. Search for “3G S” and the results will include references to both the old version and the new version. The fact that Apple’s site is slowly reverting to the search friendly term on their own website seems to indicate a recent change has happened regarding the branding.

The better thing to do would have been to create a new name entirely, dropping the 3G or adding a word to it. But we’re stuck with it now. Or at least until next July when iPhone 4.0 comes out.

I love focused blogs. My favorites are on the right hand column but they include Autoblog, Engadget, Gizmodo and Boy Genius Reports (mobile phones). My lastest favorite is DisplayBlog who have just moved over to their dedicated URL www.displayblog.com. If you’re interested in a new TV or new monitor, definitely check it out.

Skype launched today on the iPhone with great fanfare…at least it did south of the border. You cannot get the free Skype app from Canadian iTunes. A report on CBC cited patent restrictions, however you can get Skype on the PC in Canada as well as for Windows Mobile handsets.

There’s some rumors going around on the blogs about the details of the iPhone OS version 3.0 that will be announced on the 17th. Here’s what Boy Genius Reports lists:

• MMS
• Tethering via Bluetooth and USB

The new iPod Shuffle has launched and it’s a goes back to a design like the original. It features a text-to-speech option for hearing the artist and title of the song.

A lot of my friends have switched to Macs, mostly the notebooks. Given the smaller resources available on notebooks, it’s important to run software that efficient and doesn’t bog the computer down. When Mac owners want to run a Windows program they’ve had two commercial products available to them – Parallels and Fusion. MacTech did some pretty exhaustive tests and found out that Parallels is almost always faster.
Stick with Parallels.

I’m a big fan of LED-backlit displays. Not only they produce crisp, even-lit displays on both laptop displays and desktop monitors, but they take less power so they make laptop batteries last longer. Rob Galbraith compares four different laptop displays to determine how the LED-backlit screens have evolved over time.

At first glance, it seems that Palm is behind the eight ball when it comes to fighting it out with Apple regarding the new Palm Pre and it’s iPhone-like interface. Engadget has a great in-depth article that reveals that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Where Palm does seem to violate a specific patent that Apple has, the iPhone seems to infringe on several, not just one, patents that Palm holds.

The new version of iPhone firmware is out. Don’t upgrade if you are jailbroken and/or unlocked as this will probably lock you out until it’s cracked by the “iPhone Dev Team”. Use iTunes to get the latest update if you have a legit phone.