All the movies I have are either recorded from TV or ripped from a DVD that then sits unused in the case. This way my kids can have their movies at home both on the big tv via ps3 or on the computer screen via vlc. I can also copy them to my ipoh touch or my psp so they can watch in the car on long trips.

Why anyone would prefer DVDs is beyond me just like getting a discman in the era of the mp3 player makes no sense to me.

Now if only the media lobby would allow scientific atlanta to enable a feature to copy from my PVR to my computer I would be all set.

I know absolutely nothing of Ireland politics but it seems to me that it is the same everywhere. Invent a good story for the media to focus on and then you can let the real problems slide.

I have only seen a single news source doing stats on this and it pointed to the fact that the problem seems to discriminate by age even after accounting for age repartition among toyota owners.

It seems to me that seeing a simple review of accidents blamed on this correlated with age/country could easily disprove the whole thing unless it's a real problem. My gut tells me that somehow the problem would happen mostly to older people as 2 persons already demonstrated but also that it seems to happen mostly in the USA where the media is milking this story.

Or any other closed source company that makes a software you need/want?

I mean would you get a better charge by carrying the phone in your hand than on your belt because it moves more? Maybe even on your shoes but then picking up a call is not much fun.

They are expensive but the hierarchy is clear and they are not THAT expensive if you compare them to other PCs with exactly the same specs.

They are so good at it that each model is just a few $$$ more than the one you are looking at so that you tell yourself... mmm for just a little more money I could get that. After a few minutes you end up wanting the top of the line when the entry level would do what you need it to do :)

There are all kinds of things that CAN do something but won't just to try to extract more money out of view. This is a clear failure of free markets since nobody is stepping in to fill the gap with something that does it.

It just makes sense to get your bandwidth from the phone since this is the device you always have with you. I can understand a 3G tablet for someone who does not have a phone but expecting people to pay service on both the phone and the tablet is ridiculous.

My Nokia E71 with joikuspot allows me to turn the phone into a wifi access point. It eats at the battery but when plugged into the car it means I have wifi in the car to be used on other smartphones, laptops, tablets, gamepads, etc. Tethering by bluetooth is better but was less reliable and not all devices can do it.

I would not bother me as much if they would at least make some kind of special deal where you pay for the bandwidth once and get to receive it on all your phones/devices independently. In Canada right now you CAN tether the iphone but bandwidth is not unlimited; I think this is the way to do it.

Making it easy for developers is not the key. Attracting the developers on key strategic apps is it. The number of apps in your store does not matter if you don't have the 5-10 apps that the user wants/needs.

I think that both Apple and Android have an app store that covers the needs of most users but the Apple store is still the most attractive right now. I have not browsed both extensively so at this point it's just the word to mouth about what I can or cannot do with the phone that would sell me on the iPhone.

I'm Canadian and was traveling from Canada to Costa-Rica with a stop at a US airport without an international zone. I had to do the whole US customs thing and they took both my picture and fingerprints. Which means that now the US govt has my fingerprints while the Canadian govt does not. We were never warned that this would happen and most people won't cancel a vacation just to prevent the US from fingerprinting them.

I can see very few needs that can be solved by the iPad best.

Assuming you are going for all Apple products:
You want to listen to music. Get an ipod
music + games + emails/browsing on wifi. Get an ipod touch
phone + all the above: Get an iphone

Actual work: get a laptop + some phone that tethers when no wifi is available

So the ipad would be great if somehow you want something to browse lightly on or email without typing too much and you don't need/own a laptop. Otherwise any laptop is light enough to bring anywhere you would bring an iPad.

One place I see the iPad shining is as a car device. cheap, big screen, tons of apps and 3g. You could get as many apps as you can possibly use in a month and still be cheaper than car's integrated nav units. Add a little device and you have the backup camera too.
Maybe also as some kind of work terminal when a phone is too small and a netbook too big. Not that there is much of a difference and the keyboard is a big +

I have to disagree on the software quality. My dream computer is a Dell running OS X. I love the Dell keyboard and they are definitely cheaper for similar features. The thing is that I use both windows and OS X on a daily basis and I just prefer OS X both in comfort of use and speed.

If I have to choose I'll take the apple keyboard and more expensive hardware to get OS X. My several years old mac mini with core 1 duo 1.66mhz beats my dell laptop with core 2 duo 1.99 by a wide margin in everything; including getting my microsoft exchange emails. Hell my ipod beat my windows laptop for quickly getting exchange emails.

Which is a good example of the media not doing what they should. If they can be said to be against then it's a sure thing that they are not objective.

for the record: I am against the idea of spy cameras for everything except actual secret service type espionage

I would hope spy cameras would not be used by any sane parents.