Well, I grew up under US occupation. I get to say what I want when I want. I worship what I want when I want. I have enough security that I don't have to worry about being gun down in the street. I can go into a supermarket and buy just about anything I can think. I can make enough money to support my needs and even indulge in some excess material gain. At the end of the day, I even have time for a hobby or extra academic pursuit. Basically, I am free to be the person I want to be and enjoy doing that for a whole lot longer than any Afghani can. I didn't have a choice where I was born. I am sure lucky I was born here.

If I live in a utter shithole and the world's wealthiest and strongest nation decided dump a shitload of cash into my country because religious zealots who rule my life with fear and brutality wrongly figured that they could attack that country with impunity, I would do everything I could to advantage of that situation. I would take their money and build something, I would learn everything I could from them, and I would seriously question how things were done in the past. The way afghanis did it before brought about 30 years of war, poverty, and brutality and turn Afghanistan into an utter shithole. I would hope to make it better.

The only competition these guys do is seeing who can give their customers less. Forcing data plan, hiking early termination fees above the value of the phone, charging for text messaging, ring tones, and now limiting data plans. There is little difference between any of the wireless service providers in terms of what they provide. The cell phone lock in and multiyear contracts allow this to happen and stifle innovation. By getting a $600 smartphone for $200 with a multiyear contract, we lock ourselves to vendor and can't leave them when they cut service. Instead of developing the technology to meet the customer demand, they would rather trained their customers not to expect too much

The real problem is not that Americans pay twice for internet access. Americans are being forced to pay twice for internet access. Smartphone customers should not have to pay for a data plan just to own the phone. They shouldn't have to do it if their land based internet with wifi is sufficient. I suspect that smartphones will replace simple cell phones soon and more customers will be forced to buy the plans. Now, if people want both unlimited access at home and some access anywhere else, let them pay for it. I suspect that there is a significant market for telcos to provide a service and make a profit. Consumers should be able to choose how much internet they want for their devices. My concern is that this decision is made in a board room.

Forget about a guy fighting with his co-workers. These damn scanners can allow someone to judge the size of your genitals. That is ridiculous. I don't feel I should have to stand naked in front of someone just to board a plane. I am sorry but I prefer to take my chances with the terrorists.

or just look it up on wikipedia. He only needs to read the first sentence.

School Response. They acknowledge that the feature existed and was only to be used in case of theft.

One only has to look at Apples position in particular market to understand the contrasts in their developer policies. Apple's PC market penetration is very low. Apple cannot break 5% market share even after the Vista debacle. As a result, Apple ships the Developers tools free with every Mac, aids Windows installation with Bootcamp, and even takes an open source approach to the core of OS X. In contrast, Apple dominates the iPod market and is a strong contender in the iPhone market. Apples developer policy reflects that position. Apple forces developers through the iTunes and only Cocoa SDK . I also seriously doubt Apple is making any effort to put Android on the phone. This position is less developer friendly than the Mac. The powers that be at Apple must feel thar the developers need Apple more than Apple needs them. I believe this will hurt them in the long run. This policy is extremely short sighted given the rise of Android (think Windows in the 80's). iPhone OS may be better than Android now but Google is very flexible with their developers policy. Google will allow them to take Android devices a lot further than Apple will their developers go. Apple will lose out again just as they did with Windows.

Case in point, I am absolutely in love with the iPhone. I would have one right now and would would pay the full price except for one thing. I have to purchase AT&T data plan for $30/month for as long as I have the phone. I have no need for a data plan. I am around wifi most of the time and I would rarely need to use AT&T 3G. If I were so incline to use 3g, I would probably download a tv show off of hulu with Flash. AT&T network can't handle that and Apple won't let me have flash. Moreover, even if they did, it would run very slowly because Apple is not friendly with it developers. I believe Apple is pushing me to buy content from them and pay for a service I will never use. The forced data plan is the same with Android but at least Flash for Android is around the corner. In the race to my pocket, Google may edge out Apple. That is a shame, I do love my Macintosh and would have loved the iPhone. This is bigger than tinkering and I hope Steve Jobs wakes up.

Maybe free thinking is not uniform across the many aspects of life. For instance, I am a scientist. I am the most creative in my chosen field which is applied physics. I used Macintosh for 10 years and will not seriously consider anything else. I believe Linux to be unpolished and Windows to be buggy and bloated. That may or may not be true now but it was true when I used them last. I am not free thinking when it comes to my computers. Apples always work and require the least amount of maintenance over their life. From purchase to disposal, I spend little time worrying about my computer and more time being creative in my field. I personally like it that way.