Just wondering...
Since we have been looking at the planets with telescopes coupled with spectrometers for a very long time, why has it taken so long to detect and verify a simple molecule like methane?

OK, in the infrared we must get past the atmosphere, but aren't there IR space-based spectrometers? Even simple spectrometers could not have missed the unique signature; from balloons even. Is the S/N so low? It seems Mars would have been an obvious target.

apparently not obvious to some, look at the top companies of the world that have set up digs at or near leading educational institutions. Creating work under the historical guise of "internships", often low paid and low risk, but also a way to identify, harvest ideas and unique and valuable skills, likely before the school or even the student realizes the (dollar) potential.

in the Selenite's ventilation shaft.

Had a first edition of the book years ago; lost it, wish I still had it.

Call your local authorities and ask them how much installing a simple on/off streetlight would cost per year, say, like if your local street corner needed one.

You will be shocked, figuratively. Probably good for the environment, but the cost of the lights, including the electricity, pales in comparison.

This is the old stereo store model; you remember, the one you could never afford to buy in? Or like Lisa Simpson moans she can never afford any of Apple's products?

This is all about control, increasing their margins, and creating a profitable, controllable secondary (and price fixing) layer.

Bringing up anything else (like service, whatever that is) is secondary, a smoke-screen. Spin any "service" to someone who makes his bread and butter, or lives and dies, by it. Not someone who lives mostly off the initial sale and who service is a secondary, necessary evil.

You say they make money on their accessories, but that is only because they now actually have to compete on price, but given the chance they will gouge us on price alone -as they have and as I have experienced- for many, many decades.

I say go ahead with the company store model; this simply marginalizes their brand even further, in a world with many up and coming brands; I will still buy wherever and wherever I can.

If Sony doesn't want to handle complaints, then create a good product, not many mediocre ones that break, are obtuse, or of often poor technical quality. Or, get out of the, obviously, profitable market.