Wow sorry that's incorrect. Look into Monsanto Puss-Milk, rBGH (and/or why Canada rejected it outright for Canadian cows) and what happened when whistle-blowers in the US tried to bring findings forward into public view, etc.

"encourage people to become actually violent and start punching people in real life ?" No I definitely did NOT mean that. Otherwise all great points in your reply.

I think eSports are a joke when they're just a video game version of a real sport; however, I believe there is legitimacy in the case of a game that cannot be played in real life (such as Rocket League). I do agree with the Olympic committee that video games that promote violence (while I love them) don't really belong under the "eSports" moniker. Therefore games such as Rocket League uniquely qualify to usher in exciting global competition much like the Olympics. (I'm not commenting on whether I feel RL should be in the actual Olympics - that's a separate conversation IMHO.)

I agree with the sentiments in many other posts that the market is geared towards "ohh shiny" types. I want a 16:9 or 16:10 widescreen MATTE screen, thanks. That's why I have yet to replace my 2011 Macbook Pro. I don't need the glossy, protective layer as I don't want kids so don't need it baby-proofed.

I'm sick of companies trying to use pointless metrics to determine what consumers want... they only made giant phones in the last few years and then use that "data" as justification for only making those because those are "all that sold." It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it's full of shit. (It's all bullshit folks, and it's bad for ya. -Carlin)

Also, regarding applications, I like tabs - but that's besides the point. I think I'm missing the point of this article.

That sony sports a 4.6 inch screen! I don't want anything bigger than 3.5 - 4 inches... and reading a lot of other comments here I suspect I'm not alone. Adding "compact" to the name doesn't make it so.

I'd agree, but besides one guy I know who wants to watch TV shows on the bus, EVERYONE else I know is complaining right now that there are no reasonably-sized phones available. Tablets are successful because they're tablets, not because they're big - and I would venture that MOST people don't want or need giant phones.

"Phones come in booths now? Great! Now I don't have to carry around this stupid cell phone!" --Hermes Conrad

...as they used to be. I just want a smaller screen than 4.3 inches! If I have to live with lesser specs, too bad but FINE, I WILL.... JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T SUCK TO CARRY AROUND. 3.5" - 4" for a phone screen is plenty. I already have a tablet.

It's not like that at all. In your example people are able to simply not take the tape - this was forced into your library and the only way to hide it (not even delete it) is to hide ALL your previous purchases. Sucks if you delete content to make space sometimes and want to add it again later - this album will always be there in that list of stuff you bought (now a combined list of stuff you bought and stuff apple forced on you).

A lot of what I read above seems to be "so what" but what happens when it's more targeted, and more rampant? You'll start changing your minds and start to value having a little control over your media, your device, your life. You'll miss your short list of 5 albums you bought when you have to wade through 40 albums of crap Apple decided should show up in the list. At very least just make it a new/different list!! We used to get TV free but had to sit through commercials - that was fair. Now you pay $40/month for cable and still have to watch commercials? Greed and desire for control are changing things more rapidly than before, and it seems silly to me that they're taking control away from consumers; if we can't even vote with our dollar any longer I suspect piracy will skyrocket on a scale so far unseen. If I owed stock in Apple I'd be outraged that company money went toward this rather than R&D for how to not suck.

I disagree. The option is to auto-download purchased content, not "everything", but in any case those of us who Don't want it and didn't purchase it have it marked as purchased now! Previously we were allowed to choose what we bought, (and price or lack-thereof doesn't change what I'm talking about here). For the record I never enabled that stupid option, but I'm still pissed. See my post above about Control. The issue isn't U2 or iTunes or bandwidth, it's about control.

There's nothing stopping you from browsing, and there are now tons of sites and databases and forums etc to help you find similar or related music, including one built into iTunes (ping I think? did my best to disable & hide it because "F-OFF and stop watching my usage preferences for your marketing").

The issue here boils down to one simple thing: Control. People want control of their (very expensive) mobile - or any - device, and Apple wants control of how you use it and what you have access to when you use it. That's obvious with just about every aspect of iOS (yes I have an iPhone). Apps, settings, etc it's all their way or no way. I can't uninstall the Stocks app. Why? You can't tell me there's code in it needed by iOS, and if there was, why not move it to a required shared object / DLL type file and let.me.delete.Stocks. Now there are Facebook settings in the iOS general settings - WHY?! I deleted my facebook account and don't even have the app installed!

Control. I don't even hate U2, but this whole debacle pisses me off to no end. It may not have auto-downloaded, but I can't get it off my list unless I also remove all the other content that I (should not have!) bought on iTunes and CHOSE not to have on the iPhone this month. I went back to buying CD's and ripping them - you know why? Control. I can control the quality, whether I see them in the list, which cover artwork to embed, everything.

There's simply no intuitive, nice way of taking control away from a user without someone getting upset, and I don't see how anyone is surprised by that.

I love my Asus RT-AC66U with Merlin's custom firmware. I use openVPN with it (and Tunnelblick etc on my clients). That being said, if you want the best, pfSense is where it's at. You just need any cheap motherboard and a total of 2 network connections (usually that's one on-board and one add-in card, and they're cheap). I'd use a mobo that had on-board video so you have less generating heat in the case (and also less to buy and supply power to).

they will do anything they can to keep there actions hidden from the public.

Wouldn't we all with that much cash on the line? No one wants their empires taking in any less than the previous day...

...and anyone recorded should be allowed to have access to the footage, so that cops can't hide away any of their own wrong-doing with some claim that footage getting out would jepardize an invenstigation.