Sony actually developed a CCD for their digital cameras that added turquoise as a fourth colour. I think they called it RGBC (C for cyan). However, they've only been used in one or two cameras to date.

I imagine, though, any colour that is somewhat orthogonal to the basic RGB coordinates is going to be able to expand the colour gamut quite a bit.

In other words, to make a la carte episode viewing at a reasonable price (50 cents or so), TV producers would have to:

1) Put greater emphasis on good writing and make sure every episode was worth watching.
2) Hire actors and actresses based on talent rather than fame, to save money on salaries.
3) Rely less on special effects and pyrotechnics.

I can't see a down side.

A standard American brick is 203 × 102 × 57 mm, or 1,180 cubic cm. Wolfram Alpha tells me that a the density of a standard brick 1.8 g/cm3, so it would weigh about 2.12 kg. An iPad, on the other hand, weights 0.68 kg, which is less than one-third of a brick.

I know you put in "Mormons" for a laugh, but you could put in Gorn to perfect the Star Trek analogy.

It's hard to do, but perhaps not as hard as you make out.

You can't really compare an interstellar exploration or colony ship to a planetary probe. Probes have little or no propulsion, relying mostly on the initial boost, directional thrusters, gravitational slingshots, and time to get where they're going. Plus, you can't speed them up too much, because you need to achieve a sensible orbit when you reach your destination instead of just hurtling past it.

Instead of thinking in terms of speed, think in terms of acceleration. If you just apply constant acceleration -- even weak acceleration using means that are feasible today --for a long period of time, you can achieve fantastic speeds. If you hit relativistic speeds, time dilation will reduce the length of the trip even further (for the spacecraft occupants, but not for earth).

Really, all we need are efficient, high-specific-impulse rockets and a crapload of fuel, enough for a long sustained acceleration burn and then some deceleration at the end. (I suppose you could use gravity assist to slow down at the other end too.) I haven't done the math, but I suspect you could reach Alpha Centauri within 20 years using technologies that are already on the drawing board. Maybe even ion engines could get it done.

'And the company kaput. Killed by "phantom pirates".'

Actually, once the sales get bad enough the howling about pirates gets loud enough, Congress or Parliament passes laws levying a tax on hard disks and DVDs to give to those companies. See the music industry for details.

I think that policy is a holdover from 5-10 years ago, when you could expect about 25% of all LCDs to have at least one stuck sub-pixel. It just wasn't feasible for most companies back then to accept returns for displays with only one or two stuck pixels.

Web apps designed in HTML5 can indeed work when you're offline. However, you're definitely right about being at the mercy of the website.

That sounds dangerously close to "sexing your kin", which is, I believe, illegal in nearly every state except Alabama.

If Apple only has a small share (what, 10%?) of the market and faces numerous strong competitors, how on earth can they be monopolistic or damage the marketplace? All they can do is hurt themselves.

I think that when people try associating Apple with a monopoly, they're really just looking for an excuse to project their own ideas of what Apple should be or should do. Why don't you go start your own company if their business strategy bothers you so much?

"Parents have a great responsibility to their children, but as we all know, many irresponsible and incapable people have children."

Those same irresponsible and incapable parents are the ones who vote in the same schmucks every year who trash the education system and make sure the lowest common denominator (the kids of the irresponsible and incapable parents) pass without learning anything. See: No Child Left Behind

"If it was anything other than Flash, and anyone other than Apple I'm sure more people would be outraged."

So everyone's outraged at Sony and Nintendo for their locked-down PS3, PSP, and Wii development platforms? Everyone's enraged at Microsoft for their locked-down Xbox platform and completely off-limits Zune platform?

People are only enraged at Apple because Apple is fun to hate with its newfound popularity and success.

Spending trillions of dollars killing brown people gives your politicians bigger hard-ons.

DWI doesn't mean drinking and driving.

Is that a joke? Most people in the US are in prison for victimless (political) crimes like inhaling smoke.