The thing that makes Windows Phone a no-go for me is that they failed to duplicate what is (arguably) the biggest coup that Apple pulled off with the iPhone: taking the carrier out of the picture for updates. If I buy an iPhone, I can be reasonably sure that I'm going to *reliably* get 2-3 years of updates, fixes, and new functionality.

With Windows Phone (and Android, for that matter), I have no idea if my phone will ever get an update...it all depends on the whim of your carrier.

While a little overlooked (and dated, to be fair) now, The Martian Chronicles were one of the first sci-fi works I read as a kid and were a big part of making me a fan of the genre. Like all of his works, they were simultaneously beautiful and sad.

Farewell, good sir; you put humanity under the microscope with your writing and, whether we liked what we saw or not, we needed to see it.

Not to answer for the original poster, but for me personally, I like having a centrally-stored list of feeds and a reader UI that I can access from any web browser. My favorite news reader app for iOS also happens to only support Google Reader as a feed source.

I agree with your point, but the 1982 movie (assuming that's the one you are referring to) probably shouldn't be called "the original".

Despite the (relatively) recent proliferation of tech news blogs, I've continued to read Slashdot over the years because I could be sure that what I was getting was really "stuff that matters". Thanks so much for all of your hard work in making it happen and keeping it going, Rob!

I hear that even the Azgoths of Kria carry iPhones.

...in the meantime, Apple is rolling in giant piles of cash earned from this "fad".

My problem with Microsoft is that they insist on programming everything in-house and lock you in to in-house networks and in-house apps. I prefer a rich ecosystem like the iPhone and Android where people can make their own apps and have them integrate into your social networking life.

Um, Windows Phone 7 supports user-developed apps and has an app store.

I share your feelings about Windows Mobile, but my understanding is that Windows Phone 7 is an entirely new code base and has nothing in common with WinMo.

Thankfully, they aren't. They are accepting VB.NET, which has about as much in common with VB6 as Java has with JavaScript.

Chrome added extensions a couple of releases ago. Now granted, in the Chromiverse, a major release seemingly drops every month, but still. :)

Steve Gibson, is that you? :)

Here is a video of the presentation at Microsoft's MIX 2008 conference where the Microsoft Office 2007 lead explains the research that went into the creation of the concept of the ribbon as well as the process of designing it. It's actually a pretty fascinating watch if you are interested in user interface design.

It has no mention of a resurrection.

C'mon. Why is it that people who are otherwise intelligent, rational thinkers suddenly turn that part of their brains off when it is time to attack Christianity?

Jesus' resurrection is also recounted in the gospels of Matthew (28:1-10) and Luke (24:1-35), passages which are present in the Codex.

I'm sorry, but it seems ludicrous to me that Google would consider the URL (see Tim Berners-Lee's thoughts on what URLs should and should not contain) when ranking pages. Is there any proof or documentation that this assertion is true?