So you're saying I shouldn't be giving my toddler bottles filled with whiskey then?

But at least they had an iPhone funeral before the launch!! (wait, or was that for the Kin's launch?)

Am I the only one who notices that when a company B introduces a "Company A Product Killer!", its always Company B who loses out in the end?

I was an editor at the school newspaper when I was in highschool, so we were also required to read the NYTimes and our local city rag every day (delivered free to us at school). I too formed a high opinion of the NYTimes that has stayed with me, despite their errors over the past decade. I'll be sad to say that I'll be browsing it less frequently once they start charging, because $15/mo just seems a little steep to me.

Damnit! Evil plan is already foiled. I'm sure there will be services that pop up to handle that, though...

I personally think $15 is a little steep. I'd pay $5... I'm a daily reader of the NYTimes online, but news can come from many sources, not just the Times. I guess if I really want to read a story I'll just post it for myself in Facebook and follow the link...

Portland, Oregon has an iPhone (and maybe Android? Not sure.) app that lets you report things like pot holes, graffiti, etc. It's actually pretty slick. It''s called "PDX Reporter" or something like that.

You can take a picture and attach it to the report, pinpoint the location on a map screen, and write a comment in a comment box. Once you submit a report, you can track them through fulfillment. I've only reported potholes, but all the ones I've reported have been fixed within a week of reporting.

Yeah, I too like Apple, and I don't have a problem with their business practices in most cases. Hey, you make a super popular device, you deserve to profit from it, plain and simple.

But this move is adding nothing of value to the user, and simply inserting another middle-man to take a slice of someone's (in this case, Amazon) profit. I hope no one wonders why E-Book prices will most likely go up instead of down - more folks are getting into the game, which means more hands are reaching into the pot of money for a payout.

Same here. I turn on airplane mode, and keep it PUT AWAY, until instructed by the flight crew that it is OK to use electronics. I've used my iPhone to watch many movies and play games on flights, and never had a flight attendant ask me to turn it off. Likely they can't tell it apart from a iPod touch, or they just don't care since it really poses no risk.

Color me "not surprise". Engineers, much like artists, have a hard time knowing when something is done and want to "tweak and tweak" everything to death.

Solution? Rather than *finish* something, just remove the versions! It'll be in development for perpetuity - an engineer's dream come true.

I was wondering why I was so creeped out by every picture of her during the 2008 election. Those eye... wowzers. She looked like an android from a movie.

You're right, people DO confuse Fox's news and pundit commentary, but I feel that's how Fox likes it.

Also, Fox seems big on the whole "some people say..." line of introducing an idea that they want out there, but don't want to be directly blamed for introducing. "SOME PEOPLE SAY.... Obama is a socialist Muslim born in Kenya. But we'll let you decide!".

To be fair, I don't personally find the other channels much better and I don't watch any of them (I don't have extended cable). I just listen to NPR on the radio when I'm in the car, and read some newspapers online.

Interesting. Well, thanks for your take on it. It's always fun to ponder these sorts of questions.

And you're very right, it does depend on who you are talking to, like most anything.

Oh, and sorry to reply to myself, I forgot to add the obvious joke in my previous post:

Are you a cunning linguist? Or just a master debater?

Thanks folks, I'm here all night!

OK, my reply is going to be off topic, but your comment quoted above reminded me of an argument I had with some friends.

I had one friend who had started dating a mildly religious women who didn't like cussing, so he was working to cut cuss words out of his speech. He would sometimes use silly or weird words in their replacement, such as "ferk" in lieu of "fuck" if he accidentally hurt himself, for example.

My argument was that he was *still* cussing, despite the change in word. The new stand-in word retained the original meaning, use, and inflection and was understood by all as a replacement for the original word. Therefore, it was still cussing.

Many of my friends did not agree with my assertion.

As a linguist, I would be interested in your take.

The only people I see this of being a real use for, in any quantities making it worthwhile to pursue, is the military market, with researchers that operate in very remote areas being a smaller secondary market.

Who else is really going to be away from a traditional cellular network for long enough to need such a phone, outside of military and research folks? It just doesn't seem like a reasonable product for 99.9% of the population.