Good point. It seems I didn't actually know what the definition of "price point" was!

I usually like xkcd but this one was really really stupid. The first panel presents a valid argument but I've never seen that before in my life and I've worked at both a grocery store and a clothing store. You are far more likely to see "Up to 50% off" and then have everything 10% off except for one item that no one would buy which is 50% off or "$19.99 and up" and have everything more expensive with a few things down at the $19.99 range.

The second panel is quite misleading as well. His argument, while true, is besides the point. Let's say you go to the store to buy a box of cereal and are deciding between two brands, which you both enjoy and cost the same. However, one has a coupon for a "free" movie ticket (with the purchase of a second ticket most likely). Let's also say that you occasionally enjoy going to the movies with your significant other/child/whatever. Now I have two options: 1) I could buy the box without the coupon and stick it to the company using the "mathematically annoying advertising" and buy two movie tickets later, or 2) I could buy the other box and get two movie tickets for the price of one later. While such offers may often be used to encourage the purchase of things you otherwise wouldn't buy, more often than not (in my experience) I do end up getting something for free out of the deal (ie. something that I otherwise would have spent money on).

The third panel tries to uses the word "save" with multiple meanings. While the phrase "the more you spend, the more you save" clearly implies that by spending more right now, you will receive a better price point per unit, the graph uses the word save as in "money not spent ever," which is kind of pointless. For example, I could buy 2 rolls of toilet paper for $4 or 24 rolls for $20. In this case (which is fairly realistic except for the exact numbers), I could resist the "spend more, save more" advertising and only get what I need right now, and then come back every week or two and repeat the process or I could simply buy the 24 rolls and put $28 in my savings account. It's not like toilet paper is going to go bad or out of style anytime soon...

But the ENTIRE POST was covered in such a thick layer of sarcasm that I had to go find my windshield scrapper so I could clean off the screen before reading it.

Really? I've never noticed... Can you name an episode for me that is particularly over the top? Ideally the GPS or iPhone episode. I want to go see how bad it is.

It does, however, work wonderfully for Walmart. At least for their express checkouts. They have up to 12 registers (usually only 4-6 are staffed when I go) and the single queue works great. There is an automated system which directs you to the next available cashier (it displays a number on a sign and also tells you to go to the checkout verbally after a ding).

Starcraft 2 came out this year and I think it was $60.

How does your congressman know what crap you dislike? Perhaps by setting up a system where everyone has a chance to voice their concerns? A system where everyone has a chance to vote on what to cut?

The ability of certain companies to conduct business is being destroyed.

It would be disruptive-picketing actually (according to Wikipedia). Regular old picketing still provides you with the choice of crossing the picket-line.

Because extortion is an acceptable business practice now, amiright?

Technically, you (the recipient) are authorizing Amazon (or whatever company) to act as your agent and accept purchases on your behalf. You would also authorize them to exchange that for you for an item of equivalent value (possibly the same item of different size, or whatever difference).

This in no way affects the contract between Aunt Milly and yourself as you have authorized Amazon to accept the gift for you.

Without being a lawyer or an expert in this matter, I am just going to go out there and say you are wrong.

In this case, they are both the AGENT of Aunt Milly AND you. They are, in effect, receiving the gift purchased by Aunt Milly on your behalf (without wasting the time and resources required to actually deliver it to you) and then exchanging it for something which YOU have specified. All they are doing is automating the receive-exchange process.

You should believe ALL of them. Everyone is giving you their own personal, and probably biased, opinion.

My first, and only, experience with the Kinect was in a Kinect store in Toronto (an entire store dedicated to this thing!). I have to say the whole process was pretty much hassle free. I just stood there while it registered my body (pretty much the equivalent of registering a controller on the ps3/wii/xbox) which took a few seconds. I did notice that you had to be standing a fair distance from the setup meaning this will more likely have to go in a family room as opposed to someones bedroom.

I didn't notice any lag really while playing the game (I played a racing game) which was pretty fun. I didn't try out any of the voice commands (didn't even know it coud do that) so I can't comment. One of the employees was managing the menus so I can't comment on that either.

One thing that I did notice was that the employee seemed extremely relaxed while playing and had excellent control whereas I was a lot more rigid in my movements and had a bit more difficulty. The human mind is an amazing feedback controller and should be able to adapt to most things you throw at it (input lag and whatnot). I liken the experience to the first time I played the wii.

Will this be useful for high-end competitive gaming? I highly doubt it. Will this be amazingly fun to have in the home? Hell yes.

I object to this. I fully enjoy the occasional ad in the theatres. Heck, I even pay to go watch the Cannes Lions any year that I can (basically an hour and a half of the best commercials from around the world). The biggest problem I have is that there is generally a very limited pool that they use at any given time so if I see several movies over the course of a week or two then I see the same ads all the time.

There is no reason for LaunchPad (which is just a glorified Applications folder) to exclude apps not downloaded through the app store. Why wouldn't it just pop up with EVERYTHING in your apps folder?