I, as a fan of all technology, am very excited to see the news that major phone companies plan to combine and make apps usable on multiple phone networks. Having one "app" store available on multiple carriers can be a huge success in today's phone industry.

Right now I am in the process of shopping for a new phone, a smart phone. I have been shopping around for a month and keep seeing hints about the next "super smart phone" to be released by a big name company such as the Google Nexus One, or the new Windows Series 7 Operating System, for phones yet to be announced. With the knowledge that "apps" for one phone can be used on another, it makes shopping much easier. Having nice features along with a robust "app" store is a huge selling point to me.

I believe the "apps" available across multiple carriers are a great collaboration of resources. It is great to see big companies group together to improve their overall service. I have always wanted an iPhone because of Apple's amazing "app" store, but I didn't want to fork over the money to change my Verizon family plan (which is much cheaper). If more "apps" could be created to be used with multiple phones, I would never run into that issue again. Thank you, Mobile World Congress, for the bright future to come.

The article Feb. 23 "Duquesne Light Renovating Downtown Substation" seems like a harmless piece of information -- unless you live in Sewickley. In my opinion, what Duquesne Light did to our town is a sin, under the guise of an "upgrade."

We now have high-voltage lines running through a park and ugly 195-foot towers turning our neighborhood into an area looking like an abandoned steel mill. I hope the people that will be affected by the Downtown upgrade are aware of what to expect.

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