Show me a "new idea" in software and I'll show you some no-account who claims he "thought of it first" but didn't have the motivation or skills, either to implement it right, or to successfully bring it to market.

Sure there are occasional examples of some freeware widget being copied and made into part of the OS, but more often than that, they just buy the relevant IP from the guy who created it. However if you think Apple is the only company to ever reimplement a "good idea" independently, without the blessing of some "inventor of the idea," then you're delusional and just have an axe to grind with Apple on some holy-war grounds.

Let me guess, you think Apple "stole" the desktop metaphor, mouse, etc. from Xerox PARC... but Microsoft was just using an obvious evolutionary idea when they suddenly developed Windows after examining the Mac prototypes they were given.

Apple (and Jobs) are no saints. But they've been on both sides of those battles, and are no worse than any other tech firm when it comes to originality. There are just not that many whole-cloth brand new ideas in our industry! The best things are refinements of other things. Think about it--Apple didn't invent MP3 players, and Microsoft didn't invent CP/M. In both cases, the concept of something crappy was taken, improved upon, and released as something less crappy (iPod, and MS-DOS).

Schwab Bank refunds all ATM fees. Liquor stores, McDonald's, other banks. It comes back automagically at the end of the month. I still can't figure out what mechanism they use to figure out what part of the withdrawal is the fee, but it works great. In effect, I have access to like a zillion free ATMs, whereas even customers of the biggest banks only have that bank's ATM fleet. I can use them *all* for free, plus the random non-bank ATMs.

For deposits, you mail checks in.

I also keep a B of A account which, when opened online under a certain promotion, has no recurring fee or direct deposit requirements. I use this B of A account whenever I need to deposit cash, or get a check into the bank more quickly. Then I can use the Schwab online tool to ACH the money into my Schwab account.

I doubt Apple look too closely for prior art and are more interested in counting the filthy

Oh, so today we're mad at Apple for dastardly approving apps that they should have rejected on the grounds of software look-and-feel... because that totally holds up in court, not to mention it's totally Apple's job to ensure that every app has no resemblance to any other software ever published. Got it!

I'm glad you posted, because I think I missed that memo and was still cursing those Apple jerks for rejecting too many apps, because "All Apps Deserve To Be Approved" and "Apple Is Oppressing People With Their Walled Garden."

Oh, let me guess, 9/11 was an inside job too!
And Obama's birth certificate is FAKE!

Did I miss any? I actually hadn't ever heard that new conspiracy theory before. Thanks, I'll add it to the collection.

When Kdawson isn't posting stuff he stands behind people and throws stuff at them until they mess up. Everything that is wrong with slashdot can be traced back to him.

Hahaha. Welcome to religion. You're thinking ethics, not morality. Some ethical schools of thought ask if harm was caused in order to judge whether an act was ethical.

Morality is a term for an artificial set of arbitrary rules, some of which, under some cultures, align with harm (example: punching a bystander in the face = immoral and causes harm), but many of which are 100% arbitrary. Example: harassing gay people = moral to Westboro Baptist Church, but causes harm. Example: masturbating = immoral to many nuts (including some Christians and other religions), but obviously harmless.

Your states are weird (i mean the Parent and GP). In California, school zones are "25 When Children Are Present." My traffic school I recently did taught me that means anytime you can see a kid from the road, even in the middle of the night.

I think it's a sensible law because it doesn't make you slow down when no kids are present.

55 and 65 speed limits, on the other hand... stupid. especially since you never get a ticket for going 5-10 over. They should start ticketing us for doing 66 in a 65. Laws would change REAL FAST. Instead, we depend on the lax enforcement to not be bankrupted by fines, however technically we're ALL criminals, because you can't drive under the speed limit on any freeway. Except during traffic jams.

I think about 2 in 3 people will claim to be 1 of the 40. The 1/3 that know they aren't, and the 1/40 that actually are, will survive. The other... um... 79/120... are a danger to themselves and others.

Originally to be granted a patent in the US a working model had to be submitted to the patent office, so no a concept wasn't patentable. Only specific implementations were.

Falcon

There are areas in my city where you have two choices when attempting to travel from one east-west street to a prallel east-west street a half mile north: either (a) drive a mile in either direction in heavy traffic with lights at every other block to reach the nearest "big" north-south street, or (b) take one of the two dozen minor streets in between that have all become clogged with stop signs and speed bumps. It's done nothing but made traffic worse, all because these people don't want anyone driving over 20mph on the two-lane, dotted yellow down the middle road that's near their house.

Ah, so you think that the EU has the right to dictate Canadian law?

Okay, after talking to my only English friend, I've decided to concede your point and admit you into Europe. Congratulations.

So if an ancient, no-longer-existing land bridge is enough, is North America a part of Asia too then?

To be fair, if Palin's personal email account was "hacked," (as in "guessed because of being an easy password") i think it was the fault of her own naive password habits and therefore reason to laugh at her.

Obama's Twitter, on the other hand, is obviously not actually used by him. Hate to break it to you, but the POTUS does not tweet. Some staffer, probably some young intern, is in charge of posting the official tweets from the press office each day. We should be laughing at that guy right now. If it had been something the President did himself then yes we should be laughing at him and I would be the first to have a chuckle. It's good to laugh. //I hate Palin and wish a moose would eat her.

England hasn't been part of Europe for 10,000-20,000 years. It's no more a part of Europe than Madagascar is a part of Africa just because of proximity, or Guadeloupe a part of Europe just because it is ruled by a European country.

Note: Membership in the EU also does not imply being part of Europe. Europe is a continent. Well, half a continent.

Hilariously, this same question came up recently in a thread I was involved in.