Tablets PCs have been around for a long time, indeed. However, tablet devices as a distinct platform -- and not as just another PC but with a touchscreen instead of a mouse & keyboard -- have not.

And if there's anything that Microsoft as a company should be angry about, that's it. Bill Gates stood there ten years ago and told us that tablet PCs were the future of computing, that a significant portion of PCs sold would be tablets within a few years, and Microsoft failed to make it happen. They failed to make tablet computing sufficiently different from a laptop PC experience, and consumers didn't give tablet PCs a second look.

Now Apple has succeeded in a major way at what Microsoft completely failed at, and boy, that must be embarrassing.

Cryptochrome should totally be the name of a band that does Industrial covers of Paul Simon songs.

That's funny, because every Windows Mobile phone I've ever used has had me on the verge of throwing it against a wall more times than is acceptable for any gadget that isn't still in beta testing. I've had them mysteriously lose settings, crash repeatedly, and lock up -- sometimes right in the middle of a phone call.

There may be WinMo phones that "spec wise pound the iphone to dust", but impressive hardware is nothing if the software on top of it drives users into fits of rage. There may be a lot of things that a WinMo phone can do that my iPhone can't, but one of them happens to be "piss me off on a daily basis." And I'm just fine with that.

This does get talked about, actually. The Gadgeteer ran an article two days ago (making that one day before this article or its source material) that brings up this exact issue.

I'll agree with the largely cyclical nature of Apple's setup, but there is -- and always must be -- an entry point. I did not buy my first iPod because Apple is cool. I bought my first iPod because it was a hard drive-based portable media player, and nobody else was doing that. It was everything I wanted in a PMP at the time.

While it's true that many people may want what Apple produces because Apple is cool, something had to happen to make Apple cool. And making something you already do easier or more fun is the fastest and most direct route to coolness.

AT&T has no room to complain. They signed up for this when they demanded to be the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the US. All of us bandwidth-slurping iPhone users have no choice but to crowd AT&T's network, because we aren't allowed to be anywhere else. If the iPhone was available with other carriers, you'd no doubt see the load shared, as iPhone users would be allowed to choose their carrier based on something in addition to device availability. I'm sure AT&T saw iPhone exclusivity as a huge cash cow, and it's dismaying (though not necessarily surprising) if they didn't consider what it would take to support the first mobile phone that actually has a decent web browser.

If you're the only restaurant in town that serves french fries, you might want to invest in some ketchup.

It sounds like this is not simply a lawsuit over the trademark of a sound, but more specifically, the use of a specific sound for a specific purpose.

In this case, they are not attempting to trademark the sound of a duck quacking, but the use of a duck quack as a noise made by tourists on an amphibious vehicle tour. That's it. You can make a duck quack sound in your own home, in your car, or in your local Starbucks, but you can't make it if you're on somebody else's amphibious vehicle tour.

To address an earlier comment, this is less like Disney trademarking the sound of farts in general, and more like Microsoft trademarking the fart sound as the sound made by a computer operating system upon start-up.

So, you're suggesting that we supplement with more bacon?

I'd really love to know how they plan on distinguishing video games, DVDs, and junk food that makes one fat from those that don't.

Wii Fit, for example, is a video game that, presuming you actually use it, requires some measure of physical activity. It's not running a marathon by any stretch, but some activity is certainly healthier than none.

And DVDs... shouldn't exercise DVDs be excluded from this tax? And if so, what counts as exercise? Pilates? Yoga? Meditation?

Finally, junk food. One can walk into GNC, Dick's Sporting Goods, or REI and pick up "energy" bars that are designed to replenish energy in active individuals. Many of these contain more calories than a Snickers bar. Should we tax those, too? A kid can get just as fat chomping on those as he can on regular candy bars.

I hate using these words but... it's a slippery slope.

Most of us are outraged about this, but few of us can do anything about it. If you live in North Carolina, I urge you to contact your state congresspeople and let them know just how you, as a voter, feel about this.

The bills in question are NC Senate bill 1004 and NC House bill 1242. You can find contact information for your state congresspeople here:

http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm

And remember, even if you're a NC resident who doesn't live in Wilson, this is a *state-level* issue, and your opinion counts. Not only that, but if these bills pass, it means no cheap internet for you, either. Be heard now, while it matters.

He has a point. After a few rounds of capture the flag in my favorite First-Person Knifer, I sometimes just want to go outside and stab some hobos.

Precisely. Until I read this article, I had no idea that T:TSCC and Dollhouse air on Friday night, despite the fact that I watch both shows regularly. My TiVo does the magic of recording the shows when they're on, and I just watch them when I see them in the Now Playing list. In all seriousness, they could air at 2:30 AM on Tuesday, and it wouldn't change a thing for me.

This scenario is not exactly uncommon in general, especially in markets with sufficiently low barriers to entry. Look at software in general. There are TONS of applications and games for sale out there, most of the authors of which still maintain a day job out of financial necessity.

The fact is, it's just really easy to become a software developer, regardless of your platform of choice. It's difficult, however, to make a living doing it unless you a) write something so unique and interesting that it spreads by word-of-mouth, b) write something good and market it well, or c) work for a big company that has already accomplished a or b.

There's nothing special about the app store in this regard. It's just another platform where the major players will make a killing selling good-to-mediocre products, and the little guys will never make more than a few bucks unless they happen to produce something extraordinary.

There also isn't a proven shortage of apostrophes, but that doesn't mean that you have to go around wasting them like that.

Well, he does like to talk about the advantages that DRM provides to consumers. Same difference.