Yes, we took the plunge and got our hands on our new 16GB iPhone 3G (white) this morning.

I had announced the launch of our new blog Top iPhone Resource with the release of 1st gen iPhone but I ended up not getting it at that time. Now, with us getting our own iPhone 3g, we are reviving our TopiPhoneResource.info blog back into life. My wife Shriya & I will be blogging all about iPhones over there.

Come see our iPhone 3G unboxing with a lot of pictures of the new iPhone 3G (white) and the story on how we got it at AT&T.

As a sign of showing our seriousness with this new iPhone blog, we have also acquired the dot com companion and will be setting it up to redirect to the dot com address this weekend.

As you have come to expect with ShanKri-la, you can be assured of quality and useful information at our iPhone blog as well. So, head on over for your iPhone fix!

Hello newcomer, did I say welcome to ShanKri-la yet? Before you move on, just wanted to thank you for visiting and we hope you come back and see us again!

After weeks of rumours and guesses sorrounding the release of Apple iPhone 3G on July 11, AT&T has finally revealed its pricing plan.

As you’d expect, I am not happy. And so aren’t a lot of people. Here’s the lowdown:

You can get an iPhone 3G 8gb for $199 or 16gb for $299 only for

• iPhone customers who purchased before July 11
• Customers activating a new line with AT&T
• Current AT&T customers who are eligible, at the time of purchase, for an upgrade discount

If you don’t qualify for an upgrade discount, like us, you’d pay $399 for 8gb and $499 for 16gb iPhone 3G.

The above prices are available only with a 2-year contract with AT&T.

Wait, there’s more. The real kicker is in AT&T’s pricing plan.

AT&T is increasing the price of the data plan from $20/month to $30/month for 3G network. And it doesn’t include the 200 SMS messages.

Check out the detailed price comparison tables in AppleInsider that accurately shows different options and how much more AT&T has hiked the price of various data plan options.

As you can see, getting a family plan? It’s gonna hurt some more. Now, see if you can get the same clear picture from AT&T’s pricing charts.

With my current plan not eligible for an upgrade discount until Mar 31 2009, a 16gb iPhone 3G will cost me $499 + $30×24 + $18 (activation fees) = $1237 + tax! If we decide to bite the bullet and get one, this will be our most expensive toy. And we don’t even have 3G coverage at where we live.

If I am so peeved about AT&T and it’s pricing, you might wonder why bother buying one? My wife and I did resist the temptation last time around. But, the talk of $199 & $299 again rekindled our interest.

Plus, take a look at this iPhone 3G guided tour! (video link)

Do you blame us for getting tempted to snag one on July 11th?

Apple’s ad says ‘Twice as fast, Half the Price’. I say half the price, my ass.

My wife and I had used Netflix for a longtime almost since its inception and were very happy with it. Living in Michigan, it was very nice to receive movies in the mail and have something new to watch while we stayed indoors on a snowy day.

When Blockbuster started their online service, the turn around time to our place wasn’t that great so we didn’t continue the free trial. But, later when they sweetened the deal by offering free in-store rentals while we waited for movies queued online to arrive, we jumped ship immediately.

Netflix - Watch Unlimited Movies Online

Until now. Netflix has won us over again by offering unlimited hours of online movie watching free with our 2 at-a-time subscription. If your Netflix subscription is 2 or more at-a-time level, then you can enjoy online movie watching in your computer from thousands of movies available.

The way we use it now is to catch up on TV shows we have been wanting to watch online, in our computer. My wife watches her Desperate Housewives episodes and I watch Heroes and we are both at peace.

One reason we are sticking to watching TV shows is because there are a lot of shows we had missed and that’s available on Netflix. Another is a combination of a lack of popular movies in the online library and personal preference.

Netflix Watch Now Movies on TV

I like watching movies on TV and not on my computer. I can live with watching tv shows on my laptop while I am working on my desktop computer. You might be the same way.

One thing you could do is to hook up your laptop, if you had one, to your TV via S-Video or any other hook up your tv/laptop will support to watch online movies in your TV.

Another option, is to get Roku, the only set-top device available in teh market that supports streaming Netflix’s Watch Now movies straight to your TV.

Roku Features

• Roku is priced at $99 and is definitely worth considering as the Netflix’s online offering gets bigger
• No need for lugging a computer/laptop
• Built-in wired and 802.1g wireless networking
• Firmware can be upgraded allowing new features, bug fixes, etc.
• Equipped with ethernet port and audio/video outputs: HDMI, component video, S-Video, and composite video port, digital optical audio and the standard red/white stereo analog outputs making it compatible with any kind of tv/home theater system you might have.
• Toggle switch to change aspect ratio so you can connect to old tvs as well as HDTVs.
• Gives a special key to link your online account with the box
• Setup Instant queue to see movies queued in your Netflix Player and this is separate from your DVD queue.

if you’d like a detailed review of the Roku Netflix player, CNET has a great in-depth article on video quality and technicalities.

I liked when I read that a couple of competitions to Roku are slated to release later this year which will mean better pricing for us consumers.

So, we are all set with maximizing our watching movies online part. How do we know if we are using our DVD subscription effectively?

FeedFlix

FeedFlix is a free service that analyzes your Netflix usage based on information available freely from your Netflix RSS feeds. They don’t ask for your Netflix login or password. Here are a few things FeedFlix can show you about your Netflix subscription:

• A graphical analysis of your rental activity - stats like the average number of days you keep a dvd, avg dvd returns every week, avg dvd returns by month, etc.
• Feedflix guesses your subscription and calculates the average cost of a movie for you based on your rental behavior. Could help decide if just renting from the store is cheaper for you.
• Shows the movies in queue and movies that are recommended to you.
• You get a url you can share with your friends or family to let them know what you are watching. Here is ours: http://feedflix.com/wml-1339358
• Feedflix uses this aggeragate data to show other statistics like Most Awaited Titles, Popular Movies at Home, Most Rented Titles, etc that could help you decide to arrange your queue.
• There are also other interesting stats like Most shipped days, Most popular plan, Average rental period, Avergae queue size, etc. I was surprised to see that only 1% of people actually return movies within 0-2 days of receiving it. Glad to see I am not alone.

FeedFlix is probably not something you’d use everyday but every once in a while it’ll be good to check these stats that’ll help you learn a bit more about your usage and maybe fine tune it to get the most bang for your buck.

WIth this information in hand, you can enjoy watching movies or your favorite tv shows on TV or your computer that’s best suited for your personal style and preference.

Update: 6/24

Lifehacker has posted on how to use your XBox 360 as a streaming Netflix Player

Do you use Netflix in any other way that gets you more for what you pay for? Share with us in the comments.

Previously called CraigsNumber, Numbr offers free, disposable phone numbers that will automatically forward calls to your mobile or landline number.

Quick facts about this service

• Auto-expiring and callers don’t see your home or mobile number
• Service is free but is in Beta
• If you are not from one of the major cities, you may not get one in your area code
• Allocated numbers and unique and will not be reused.
• The default expiry date is one month but you can extend it indefinitely
• Set call options like screening calls between set time period, blocking calls from blocked caller ids, blocking calls from suspected telemarketers.
• You can get your incoming call history emailed to you.
• You can also get a FREE numbr by calling (415) 234 5678
• You can see the various options you can set in this screenshot.

A few reasons why this number could be useful to you

• Use it when you put a flyer out to sell something
• Use it in Craigslist
• Use it in eBay
• Use it in your blog or website

I grabbed one even though I have a GrandCentral number. This could come in handy when you really don’t feel like sharing your phone number with someone. Are you getting one?

I had this written to be posted on Friday but as my luck would have it I spent Friday night at an emergency room with a sprained ankle (from volleyball) that was swollen like I had couple of baseballs in there. Luckily, I didn’t break anything. Thanks to my friends, the 6 hours we spent there wasn’t all that bad.

I got this cool LED Faucet Light at ThinkGeek.com with a gift certificate I won in a T-shirt slogan contest. That’s right not a wet t-shirt contest but a t-shirt slogan contest. My winning slogan: RSS Feeds. I’m Hungry! If you have seen someone wearing this, now you know the brilliant person behind it. Heh.

LED Faucet Lights

Now let’s talk about the LED Faucet light. It has a temperature sensor and the LEDs turn blue if the water is cold and red if the water is hot. Unlike other product pictures, these LEDs are really bight and you clearly tell the colors even in bright day light. We have made a few of our guests jump at night, when we made them turn the faucet on in total darkness.

It’s very functional in kitchens and bathrooms. Plus, as the description at ThinkGeek says it looks like a futuristic alien mouthwash! They come with universal adapters & spare batteries.

This is not a sponsored post. So if you buy it, you just end up with the keenest faucet on the block.

Cool MP3 & CD Player

I came across this cool innovative design for a device that plays both MP3 & CDs at The Unprotected Blog!

Whoever said innovation is slowing down?

I just came across this Windows Live maps mashup that lets you find sex offenders in your neighborhood on a map. Vision 20/20 is a free web based service that uses the publicly available data of 650,000 sex offenders in the US and displays it in a map of your area.

You just enter your address and Vision 20/20 displays a map of your area and the sex offenders as push pins. If you click on the pin, it opens up a window with name, address, DOB and a mug shot of the offender.

I was like wow when I looked at the area surrounding us but there weren’t anybody in a 5 mile radius if that’s any comfort! What does your neighborhood look like?

I think this is a great tool for everyone. Residents could be aware of their neighbors. And new home buyers could foresee what kind of neighborhood they are moving into.

[via TechCrunch]

Google Maps Mashups are a joy to use. You can now find out your ex’s location just by typing in the first 6 digits of the 10 digit phone number in the US/Canada.

NPA-NXX Geolocator shows you the location in Google Maps as soon as you type in the 6 digits. It could not locate my cell phone number which is probably quite normal but it accurately found my town.

There are other ways to find this information but who could resist looking at a Google Map mashup?