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SAN ANTONIO – Looking back, Craig Ehlo wishes the Cleveland Cavaliers could've deployed those long arms of Larry Nance to defend the inbounds pass. Maybe that would've made the angle tougher for Michael Jordan to catch the ball. In the heartbreaking history of the Cavaliers, the most unforgettable moment has been re-run a thousand times on television, but a million in this old guard's mind.

The good: The Samsung LN-T3253H HDTV produces relatively deep blacks with fine shadow detail; accurate color; slick styling; scads of picture controls; superb connectivity with one PC and three HDMI inputs.

The bad: Expensive compared to bargain models, but definitely cheaper than Sony and Panasonic; grayscale tends toward blue in darker areas.

The bottom line: Great style, oodles of features, and a solid picture combine to make the Samsung LN-T3253H one of the best LCD TVs available at its size.

We were bitten by the LCD HDTV bug last month and we decided to get the Samsung LN-T3253H HDTV after weighing in its price, features, design over other LCD brands.

For an LCD, the Samsung LN-T3253H delivered fairly even uniformity across the screen. In terms of standard-definition performance, the Samsung turned in a decent performance when displaying most of the images and test patterns from the HQV DVD. It smoothed out the jagged edges of moving diagonal lines very well, including the difficult stripes in a waving American flag.

We also hooked up the Samsung's VGA input and tested it as a computer monitor. At 1,360x768 resolution, the image looked crisp with text down to a 10-point font, and according to DisplayMate the Samsung resolved every line of that resolution. The set is also equipped with a Home Theater PC mode that dimmed the image a bit and helped improve the picture to our eyes. Of course you can get the best results by adjusting the TV's standard picture controls, but the HTPC mode does provide a quick option.

The Samsung LCD is the best bang for the back and we are completely satisfied with our choice.

I have been fed up with my long-distance provider for months now. I did a lot of research to look for a reliable company. Believe me I spent many days looking at all the companies. One day I came across a review on OneSuite. I was intrigued but wasn’t convinced until I went to their website, Onesuite.com. I decided to bite the bullet and tried it since there was no startup fee, etc. I have been pleased for three weeks. No problems and I can call my friends in Asia and in Europe for little cost. Serious cheap rates. I had one problem regarding connection but hung up and tried again and the problem was gone. Putting more money on my card is convenient, easy and fast. I can do everything over the Internet.

I also bought calling cards in the past and there is always about 12 numbers that are meaningless and that, in a pinch, if you don’t have your card, you can’t call. With OneSuite, I just saved the 800 number into my cell phone and registered my mobile number as a ZipDial so I don't need to type in my PIN when making calls. I’ve used it in the states to call Germany, and vice versa when traveling.

I believe my search for a cheap long distance phone provider is over. The only thing that would make me switch now is if someone gives me a free card with plenty of minutes.

Scott Speed has driven quite a few laps around the Sakhir circuit, home of the Bahrain Grand Prix. He raced on the track when he was in the GP2 series in 2005. He competed in the 2006 Bahrain race in his Toro Rosso. He tested the new Toro Rosso Formula One car at the track before this season started and he put in two full days of practice and qualifying for the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix. But Speed’s race this year lasted less than a lap when he was eliminated in an accident.

On the opening day of practice on Friday, Speed completed 56 laps and clocked the 20th fastest time

“The car definitely feels more competitive than it did when I drove it here in the preseason test,” said Speed, “but that’s only to be expected. More importantly, the car feels more competitive than it did last week in Malaysia. That’s great news, as we did not really expect that. Now we will have to see if that stays true for the rest of the weekend. We have made a lot of changes to the car setup since last weekend. We are chipping away and learning more and more about the car, so this has been a useful day.”

In practice on Saturday, Speed turned 12 laps. He ended up 19th in qualifying in the afternoon.

“This afternoon was the first time today I ran the ‘option’ tyre,” he said, referring to the softer of the two Bridgestone compounds the drivers could use in Bahrain, “and it felt quite a bit different. In general, it felt as though the car was more unstable under braking. The car balance was much better than yesterday because the gap to Tonio (Liuzzi) has closed and I am running a similar pace to him, while yesterday he was quite a bit quicker than me. So we have managed to get the balance right, but for whatever reason I was not happy with the rear of the car. This was not what I had expected.”

Speed’s team mate, Tonio Liuzzi, qualified one slot ahead of him. All in all, Speed and his engineers were a bit mystified as to just why the Toro Rosso wasn’t handling properly.

“We are struggling this weekend,” Speed said. “We thought we’d be a lot better, and we are not.”

As for the race on Sunday, Speed said: “We will probably go for an aggressive strategy, and I will hope to pass some cars on the first lap.”

Unfortunately for Speed, he only made it as far as Turn Four on the first lap as he got caught in an accident involving several cars, including Adrian Sutil’s Spyker and Jenson Button’s Honda.

“Suddenly the cars in front stopped," Sutil said, “and I couldn’t avoid them and lost the front wing.”

Sutil, who ran into Speed, was able to get back to the pits for repairs, but Speed’s car stalled and he was done for the day. Button thought he had hit Speed’s car and immediately apologised to Speed. But Sutil’s car was the only one to hit Speed.

“I got a good start,” Button said, “and made up at least three places. Then at Turn Two, Taku (Sato) ran wide, tried to squeeze me, and I had nowhere to go so I had to go on the dirt on the inside. Then in Turn Three, I had Coulthard and someone else fighting around me. Coulthard went wide, then cut back sharp, and again I had nowhere to go. We touched, and that spun me round. Then the anti-stall didn’t cut in. I stalled, and that was the end of my race.”

None of the drivers involved in the accident was hurt. Unfortunately for Toro Rosso, Liuzzi didn’t make it to the finish, either.

“A disappointing Sunday afternoon with neither of our cars finishing,” team principal Franz Tost said. “First came Scott’s crash, and then Tonio had to retire with hydraulic problems. At least now we have a few weeks ahead of us before the next race, so we can use that time to sort out our problems and be better prepared for the race in Barcelona.”

The next Grand Prix will be held on May 13 in Spain.

Felipe Massa won his first grand prix this season (3 career wins over all) by driving a solid race yesterday afternoon in Bahrain. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen settle for third as he was bottled up with Fernando Alonso at the start of the race. Kimi lost his 3rd place position at the first corner (same thing happen at Sepang) to Fernando and that sealed his fate for the day.

The Driver's Championship are in a 3-way tie at 22 points all between Kimi, Fernando and Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari (39 points) inched their way to Constructor Championship by lessening the gap to 5 points vs the Mclaren (44 points)


Next stop is Spain. The Spanish Grand prix is the home grand prix of Alonso which he won last year while he was still driving a Renault. Massa on the other hand holds the fastest lap last year on his 2006 Ferrari and for thelast 9 races, the winning driver comes from either a Mclaren or a Ferrari.

Spanish GP should be a head to head between Ferrari and Mclaren and its a toss between Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso and Lewis which anyone of them is capable of winning it.