The research on this is pretty conclusive. It’s common knowledge now: humans suck at multitasking. We can’t do it. Ever try to send an email while talking or listening on the phone? While you’re writing that gem of an email, you’re ignoring the conversation. Instead of doing one thing well, you end up doing two things half-assed.

Communication is now seamlessly accessible. Traveling by plane was the one time you could be sure to ignore everything, including the Internet. Now even that security hold has been breached. There are so many communication technologies, they’ve become more burden than benefit, but if any one thing should receive the lion’s share of blame, it’s email.

Several tricksters have devised methods of quelling this beastly problem. Back in 2004, Lawrence Lessig, the well-known Internet attorney, declared email bankruptcy, emptied his inbox and sent a mass email asking those with important unanswered emails to resend. Tim Ferriss of The 4-Hour Work Week suggests an automated response letting people know you only check your email once a day. You could read for hours on 43Folders.com about Inbox Zero software and other techniques for managing the communication overlord…oops…I mean overload.

Mobile phones have only contributed to attention-stealing options and now they’re “smart.” Instead of merely phones, they’re now Internet communicators, portable music players, and oh yeah, if you need to make a call they can do that, too. Best (or worst) of all, they’ll allow your email to follow you. Everywhere you go.

The truth is email suffers from an identity crisis because it’s more snail-mail than instant communication. Email delivery speed creates an illusion where the sender expects a message immediately sent will be immediately read.

In the end, whether you go extremist or not, here’s the most often cited tip: turn-off the recurring, automatic “Get Mail” feature! Resist the urge to manually retrieve your email more than once or twice a day. And make sure that important people know the surest way to reach you is by phone.

If more focus is what you want in life, when in doubt, go lo-fi. Close your email program, turn off all IM-style chats, ignore text messages, Twitters, Facebook updates, and prepare for quiet. When you’d like to dip your attention back into the chaos, it will be there, waiting patiently for your return.

The first day of Apple’s WWDC has been a momentous occasion for many Apple enthusiasts (read: rabid fanboi). There is a newness in the air, the night before is a mixture of anticipation and wonder, will we get any work done between 10am and noon tomorrow? Will there be a new X released? What is the limit on my credit card right now? The question is hopefully yes to all of these questions, and the man in the horn-rimmed glasses and turtle neck will make us believe that it’s going to be great!

Keynote day, never really disappoints us, especially during WWDC, even absent Steve, and definitely for the past few years since the birth of the revolutionary iPhone. Last year definitely didn’t disappoint, new phones, faster network speeds, an app store that has proved to be a shimmering example of Apple “getting it mostly right”. Oh, and subsidized phone prices. This year brings us the third incarnation of the phone, third version of the OS software, and a host of new features:

• Speed: CPU and Network (HSPDA 7.2Mbps support)
• Battery life improved
• Camera 3MP, Autofocus, and video recording (30fps)
• Voice Control
• Compass (integrates with Google Maps)
• Accessories support
• Many more software improvements...

To the haters among us, those who will remind folks that X phone had that feature in 2002, and welcome to the year X … they’ll probably pan this device as well. The number of folks who have gravitated to this phone and the iPod touch are proof enough that there’s something here, 40 million can’t be too wrong. The listed features above, and the many upgrades available in 3.0 are pretty compelling for an upgrade.

So should you buy it? Yes. It looks like a solid phone, and they are taking pre-orders at Apple right now, where you can check your eligibility for the special pricing with AT&T. Wait, wait, you might be saying, I bought my phone only a year ago, and these contracts are … 2 years long … uhm, huh? Isn’t there a fanboi number I can put into a form where you can see, that I’ve been plowing money into a new phone every year now. If you kept your original iPhone and didn’t upgrade, chances are you can be blessed with the subsidized pricing of $199 for the 16GB 3GS, or $299 for the 32GB 3GS. This of course also applies, for you folks who haven’t crossed over to easy street, and donned your persona with the coolest gadget this decade.

So what gives, is AT&T going to screw us out of the precious!? The pricing given for eligible customers during the keynote: $99 for the 8GB 3G, $199 for the 16GB 3GS, and $299 for the 32GB 3GS. Awesome. If you’re eligible

For those of us who bought last year, the answer isn’t so clear, and the pricing is somewhere between a $200 premium to a $400 premium on top of the “eligible customer price”. Yes, $299 8GB 3G, $399 16GB 3GS, and $499 32GB 3GS, if you’re lucky. And if you aren’t, $499 8GB 3G, $599 16GB 3GS, $699 32GB 3GS. AT&T in a statement today said that the subsidized prices would probably be available after 18 months into your 2-year contract. At these prices, unless you’re willing to unlock the phone and try your luck on eBay (phones seem to be going for ~$800), it’s not worth the upgrade right now.

Many have cried out pangs of hatred for AT&T, and while I share in the enthusiasm for the latest and greatest, most of the arguments are of the “but it’s not fair” variety. And the detractors pull together cold data, about the carrier and how phones are subsidized from their true cost and they need to make their money back, and it will all sound like a perfect little formula. While I’m pretty sure we’ll see a lot of news updates from the AT&T and Apple camps over the course of the next couple days, I think the move to only offer the phone at a premium to 3G customers is wrongheaded. AT&T stands to gain a lot of good will by re-offering the subsidized price, and assuring that June 19th will be a windfall of device purchases and new 2-year agreements on the books.

Alas, we don’t really know anything yet, and if the pricing remains the same … at least the lines next Friday will be shorter. For me, it looks like it will be an Apple Christmas.

Well, something in the cosmos seemed to change the situation from yesterday to today. After blogging and sending some emails, I decided to call back AppleCare and plead my case again. I spoke with an awesome product specialist Sara, and after listening to what happened, called down to “the same store” and ensured that when I arrived they would process and give me a new phone.

A little bit of persistence seems to pay off in big dividends. Continually searching out for what happened, and how the matter could be resolved, it seems to have resolved itself nicely.

Thank you again to Apple for custom service that definitely went above and beyond, even if there was a hiccup before the beyond.