nessahead.com

Ever since moving to the Central Coast I have been jonesing for KPCC. I became hooked on this Southern California public radio station a little over a year ago. It had been my constant companion while driving around town or puttering around the house. In Los Osos, I was still able to get my fix at home by listening over the internet but had to settle for KCBX while running errands in the car. KCBX does play some of the programs I enjoyed on KPCC but also plays a lot of jazz and classical music. Not very satisfying when you’re craving some “FM with IQ.”

Then I got my Sprint Treo 755p with its awesome EVDO wireless network. (CNET says that EVDO averages 300Kbps to 600Kbps while EDGE, GPRS and GSM average 90Kbps, 35Kbps and 9.6Kbps.) While I’ve been enjoying the high-speed Gmail and Google Maps access, it didn’t occur to me to stream media until I signed up for Big Brother 9 updates. The Treo comes with a cool little media player that launches when you click on a streaming link. Even then, I only played occassional videos.

A couple days ago it occurred to me to try playing internet radio on my phone instead of vainly searching out public radio stations with my car radio on the long, long drive to Los Angeles. The clouds opened up, the sun shined, angels sang. I had my beloved KPCC at last. And it works wherever there’s cell service! My lonely drives to and from Los Angeles and Los Osos are lonely no longer.

If only Free FM offered a stream URL instead of forcing you to use their Flash-based player … I’m still working on a way to get around that.

Sign up for Sprint’s SERO plan. SERO stands for Sprint Employee Referral Offer. Their basic plans:

• $30/mo. for 500 anytime minutes
• $49.99/mo. for 1250 anytime minutes
• $99.99/mo. for 2500 anytime minutes
• Nights and Weekends starting at 7pm ($10/mo. extra if you want to start at 6pm)
• Unlimited mobile to mobile
• Unlimited text messages free if you sign up by 2/16 (regularly $10/mo.)
• Unlimited data

That’s right. The service that T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon charge an arm and a leg for is FREE with Sprint SERO. I got a new Treo 755p and I’ve got all the web browsing, email and Google Maps I can handle with 500 anytime minutes for $30/mo. It’s insanity.

To sign up, go to http://sprint.com/sero and enter savings@sprintemi.com as the employee email address. It’s only valid for a new line of service and you can port your old phone number over if you want to keep it.

(Also, Sprint’s coverage is far better than T-Mobile’s in my area. YMMV, however. But give it a try. You have 14 days to return the phone and cancel the whole deal.)

Rick bought me a Motorola Bluetooth headset from eBay a while back (great deals there, btw, you should check it out) but I lost the directions and can’t figure out how to re-pair it with my new (to me) Treo 650. So, I’m currently lusting after the Palm Wireless Headset for Treo. It’s received good reviews every place I’ve checked and isn’t too expensive. The best feature is that it uses the Treo charger - one less thing to carry around with you wherever you go.