Caffeine is a well-known stimulant added as an ingredient to various carbonated soft drinks, but which drink contains the most, and how can consumers know? A study in the Journal of Food Science used high-performance liquid chromatography to analyze the caffeine contents of 56 national-brand and 75 private-label store brand carbonated beverages. Caffeine contents ranged from 4.9 mg/12 oz (IGA Cola) to 74 mg/12 oz (Vault Zero). Some of the more common national-brand carbonated beverages analyzed in this study were Coca-Cola (33.9 mg/12 oz), Diet Coke (46.3 mg/12 oz), Pepsi (38.9 mg/12 oz), Diet Pepsi (36.7 mg/12 oz), Dr Pepper (42.6 mg/12 oz), Diet Dr Pepper (44.1 mg/12 oz), Mountain Dew (54.8 mg/12 oz), and Diet Mountain Dew (55.2 mg/12 oz). The authors found that store-brand beverages generally contained less caffeine, and they also suggest that consumers would benefit from having the actual caffeine content labeled on the beverage.

Regardless of how users felt, though, survey results showed that those who owned a Blackberry were, in fact, more likely to work long hours than those who didn't. 19 percent of Blackberry-owning survey respondents reportedly worked more than 50 hours a week, compared to only 11 percent of the general population. A higher percentage of Blackberry owners also felt that they didn't have enough personal time in their lives — 53 percent, compared to the 40 percent average. [...] Director of Marketing Strategies Donna Hall spoke with Ars and expanded on why Blackberry owners may feel chained to work. "Many have been given a BlackBerry by their employers. The expectation on the part of the employer is that once they have it they will be accessible at all times. There are no more boundaries or times when they are unreachable, even on vacation," she told us.

The carriers are desperate to for payback on the expensive 3G systems they've been deploying in the last few years. To do that, they've far overpriced their 3G access. Sixty bucks a month is justified for some users, without doubt, but is far too expensive for mainstream users. And, for those who don't want a full data plan, the cellular operators are offering things like music and video for those willing to pay for it. Or, perhaps, overpay is a better word.

AT&T/Cingular actually has it right — they're using music (and music devices like iPhone) to attract new customers and not generate revenue in its own right. But Sprint's and Verizon's music efforts are flopping because they vastly misunderstand the attractiveness of downloading music over-the-air. Sure, it would be nice if it was easy and cheap, but most people will prefer to download tunes to their PC for a buck than to pay more than twice that amount to download a song to their phone.

The same misunderstanding of customer desires is obvious in the carriers' walled-garden approach to content. They not only want to lure people into their data plans by providing videos and other items, they want a hefty slice of the profits from those items. In fact, they're double-dipping, charging both the content provider and the end user. This same approach, which is so obviously more for the benefit of the cellular operators than their customers, is at work with mobile TV, which is yet another big reason it will fail.