If you can't recognize the design and functionality of Apple products and services, I guess you have to fall back on the "marketing" theory, i.e., "People who buy Apple are stupid rubes that have been hypnotized."

As I just got done explaining here, I've found my MacBook and iPhone to be superior-quality products.

They're not "magical", as Steve Jobs likes to say. And they're not without limitations (many maddeningly imposed by Apple). But they're still very well-designed and useful.

I am fully capable of separating hype from reality. Apple's DRM policies mean that I won't buy iTunes music and I won't buy an iPad. But there's still a lot more to Apple than marketing.

I own an iPhone and a MacBook. My primary home computer is a Windows PC, as is my work computer; I'm no Apple fanboy, and find myself cursing iTunes about 1x/month. I never buy iTunes music because I despise DRM.

But the success of Apple products is not just about "physical attractiveness". My aluminum MacBook is the best-constructed, most durable laptop I have ever owned, used, or even handled. My iPhone (1st gen) is also extremely well put together, and iOS is very well thought out from a functional perspective. The hardware/software integration is world-class. Add to that the "ecosystems" that Apple creates for its products (iTunes Music Store, iPhone/iPad App Store), and you have a whole line of products and services created with a unified vision and crafted according to high standards.

They don't all work flawlessly all the time, and there are many restrictions imposed by Apple that I find maddening. But there is simply no other company that has envisioned and executed such a level of integration and design quality (and by design I'm including all of the stuff referenced above, not just the physical appearance of products).

Two scientists at Yale University have built the laser's first doppelganger: the anti-laser.

I do not think this word means what you think it means.

So what you're saying is:

1) If NASA builds something, they'll waste money.

2) If the private sector does it, they'll overcharge.

3) If they're not overcharging, they're probably cutting corners.

So... what's your solution?

Seriously. That's a disc, not a wire.

And sadly you just hit the nail on the head with what is wrong with today's mobile devices: that too many like Jobs look at them as fashion accessories instead of actually useful devices.

Really? Have you ever used an iPhone? It's one of the most useful phones ever made. It was certainly head and shoulders ahead of any other smartphone when it came out in terms of functionality; other companies have been playing catch-up since Jobs redefined the entire product category.

I'm not saying iPhones are without flaws, but to say that they're designed merely as "fashion accessories" is totally wrong.

I'm a lefty, but can mouse ambidextrously. I've ended up using my left hand to mouse at work, and right at home, so that I don't overstrain one or the other. I have no trouble at all switching back and forth.

Like: Pass a law that says, "you want to be in the Health Insurance Game (i.e. Wellpoint, Cigna, Humana, Aetna, United Health, etc), you are REQUIRED to accept pre-existing conditions, and offer insurance to individuals."

That's exactly what the Democrats did, earlier this year.

Of course, they don't get much credit or thank for it (and being the cowards they are, they didn't really campaign on it).

Also, for some perverse reason, they set it up so that this provision doesn't kick in for a few years... which gives their enemies plenty of time to 1) keep telling lies about what's in the law, and 2) attempt to repeal it before it takes effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_motion

SpryGuy is not an MS troll. I agree with him. I'm an iPhone user, but WP7 looks slick, and if they can add cut-and-paste and some other features, establish a good ecosystem (app store + simple, easy-to-use software interface for my computer), and prove themselves in the field over the next year or so, I may consider switching.

I'd very much like something between the locked-down iPhone (my loathing for iTunes is white-hot) and the evident anarchy of Android.

I understand that the wide-open, some-tweaking-may-be-required Android is exactly the kind of thing that hits the sweet spot of many Linux users/Slashdot readers. Fine, but that's not my cup of tea.

If your browser is set to clear cookies every time it closes, then you have to turn it off again every time you start using Google in a new browser session.

I turned it off as soon as I figured out how.

I don't want results before I even finish formulating my search request. It's distracting and confusing: a burst of visual noise while I'm trying to focus on what I'm typing in the search box (which I may decide to change as I'm typing it).

Why do I want to read results of a search that doesn't even represent my complete inquiry?

Language quibble: "Sparse" and "clean" in this context basically mean the same thing. So saying "sparse, BUT clean" is like saying "dry, BUT arid" or "loud, BUT noisy".

This was an interesting experiment! I've enjoyed looking at Mars rover anaglyphs, and I think it makes sense to visualize interstellar phenomena in 3D as well. I'm a big fan of anaglyphs, because they are easy to transmit and reproduce, even if the color reproduction is poor.

A problem I see with this clip is that there's much inconsistency as objects pass on to or off of the edges of the screen. When something passes off the edge, it disappears for 1 eye first, then the other eye. This is very distracting.

An Iranian stereoscopic photographer has come up with a "floating window" technique that can eliminate some of these distracting effects. More info is available here:

http://www.3diran3d.ir/Floating-Window/

Ballmer seems incapable of directing his company to do anything innovative. It's like he only sees a product category as valid when it's already been defined by someone else.

Apple defined a new category of tablet device with the iPad. Now Ballmer has MS chasing after it madly. But meanwhile, he's killed innovative new products like Courier. Apparently what he wants is to create something that's essentially a clone of whatever Apple's come up with, rather than a genuinely new kind of product.

This has been the Microsoft curse for decades, going back to the creation of Windows as a Macintosh knockoff. Yes, I know Apple didn't invent the GUI concepts used in Macintosh -- but they were the first to successfully make them into a commercial product. And MS wasn't interested until they saw that Apple was doing it.