Well, actually... it is a problem of both. With my WebOS tablet (and Android GB and now, ICS Cyanogen install on same tablet), the native email client is always running in the background, and making a ding when a new email comes in. Same with my iPhone. For the phone, same goes for the native text messaging application. (I would imagine an iPod to be similar.)

Granted, I could turn off the data connection on both, or remove the configuration totally for the email client. This may not be an option in the future, though (similar to Orwell's 1984 vidscreens, which don't come with an off switch... just turning volume down.) Obviously powering the phone/tablet off defeats the purpose of using it to view an eBook.

As to IM, I use a third party app that has unified IM, and can at a touch logoff all IM networks.

The ultimate answer lies in the type of society we are in... need to learn that just because a device CAN have interrupt requests, and can have multitasking, does not mean you HAVE to acknowledge incoming items or go use these multitasking functions... its a matter of focusing on the singular task at hand.

The problem with this kind of statement is that it is an overall generalisation that can be applied to ANY industry, and will never have a set definite cutoff date. You can say the same thing about buying a computer... why buy now when you could buy a cheaper more efficient one in 3 years... and that statement holds just as true in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010.

In 1995, you may as well just live without a 486 or Pentium computer until the more efficient Pentium II comes along in 1997, but wait, there's a more efficient Pentium III, but wait, more efficient Pentium IV, but wait, Core, but wait, Core II Duo, but wait, Core i3, i5, i7, but wait, next step in development... if you kept putting off a purchase like that, you'd never get the item.

The same goes with solar panels. Is it a huge leap in logic to consider that the panels of today are cheaper and more efficient than those of 5 years ago, or those of 5 years before that? I could probably guarantee that whatever units are available during today's administration are cheaper and more efficient than those installed during the Carter administration, and the ones in 2015 will be better still, and in 2020, even better still.

At some point, the balance of efficiency gains versus cost saving versus life of the item has to be weighed.

Another possible way is to find some way to spread your purchases over time while still staying compatible through the whole system. Say you need 10 panels to power your house completely over 20 years lifetime per panel, plus backend equipment with 20 year lifetime. Purchase one panel every 2 years, and at year 20, replace the first panel and the backend as its lifetime is up and efficiency is waning, and continuously upgrade every 2 years ad infinitum as your equipment dies. True, you will not get the full benefit of power savings immediately, but you WILL reap the benefit of having a system that is utilizing the newest and more efficient tech over the years as opposed to a static system that is altogether 20 years outdated. The efficiency will average out, assuming all items are swappable and compatible with one another... true, it will probably be about as efficient as a complete system slightly older than the average age, but at the 20 year mark, an 11 or 12 year old averaged system is probably more efficient than a 20 year old complete system, and is cheaper to upgrade a single panel to keep that average than flat out replacing the 20 year old system.

And what corporations will do is the same as companies have been doing for a very long time: find the loophole, exploit it. In this case, they will create a child company or something that is not them that is worth less than that cap so they don't have to pay, or define themselves as not being a corporation.

Or, use creative accounting to massage their books so that their market value is not X amount, but so that all their assets still add up the same.

I had the same thought... didn't Tabula Rasa (another NCSoft game) go through these same measures a short time before they closed up shop? Server mergers, more moves to bring people in... free periods of time... collapsing down to only a handful of servers, then close.

It's sad that we lose portions of the gaming world, some storylines that have the potential of being interesting, when online gaming servers close. I know TR had the initial potential of being interesting from the intro vid... yes, gameplay was a little poor, but the storyline had some potential. I think though this is possibly the start of the end, whether long (a few years) or short (maybe half year) of Aion.

Seeing it active in the beta doesn't exactly mean that the carrier will include support in the final version. For a short time in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta (a week or two), Tethering was active, even though ATT had not officially acknowledged support.

We all know tethering is available in the final OS 3.x code for all carriers in the world, and that ATT has refused to activate iPhone users to tether, while other phones on ATT can tether fine. Tethering for ATT users can be activated in the OS via jailbreak (as well as wireless tethering with utilities such as MyWi), indicating that a special contract agreement with ATT is not required, just flipping certain switches in the iPhone OS and updating the carrier files.

Well, actually, yes, they will ban Cracker Jack, as well as most of the sugar cereals out there.

'This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.'

This gives them all the ammo to ban stores in Santa Clara County from carrying ANY kind of sugar cereal, or any food that has an additional non-food component inside the box that is not normally part of the normal sale of said food. In addition, it gives other counties (anywhere in the US), and possibly the state, a precedent to refer to when expanding this law to cover their jurisdiction.

I agree. This provider sounds very fishy, if they are intentionally breaking into your hardware without your permission. Get another provider, post haste, that has a privacy clause in their contract guaranteeing that they will not do such a thing without your explicit permission, and that if they do something outside the contract such as breaking into your box without your permission, there's a rather steep monetary fee to pay on their part as a breach of contract lawsuit is in order.

"Put together by the lowest bidder"
-Steve Buscemi, Rockhound, Armageddon

Read the title of the parent's post... he's suggesting to hypothetically sell the patent, and the hypothetical buyer.

From the article:

"This one-year contract includes two, one-year options, which, if awarded, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to about $42 million, BBN stated. "

Good+Evil = Goovil?

Why have Billions when you can have..... MILLIONS?