10 PRINT “DATA TRANSFER” / 20 GOTO 10 / RUN

David Pogue on AT&T’S tree-killing format for iPhone bills:

But then — get this — I get SIX PAGES of listings of data tidbits that the iPhone has downloaded in the form of email and Web pages–KILOBYTE BY KILOBYTE! Every graphic on every Web page, every message sent or received–it’s all carefully listed by date and time. Not as anything helpful like NYTIMES.COM HOME PAGE or EMAIL — no, no. Instead, every single one of the hundreds of listings says the same thing: “Data Transfer” of type “Data” at rate code “MBRF,” along with how many kilobytes it was (usually 1K or 3K).

I just got mine, and it’s the same thing, except the “Data Transfer” listing weighs in at 45 pages.

★ Friday, 27 July 2007