for scribbling margin notes, highlighting, syncing notes with PC/mac - and more, the Sony Daily Edition perfectly fits the bill. That device is the right size, feature list and perhaps the correct price point. Sony should be peddling that to the universities to finally gain some respectable foothold in the e-book industry.

that's probably because only the ones with problems after an upgrade speak up to air their grievances. the ones for which the upgrade went smoothly (i'm one of them, i upgraded with the beta in fact) are invisible because they don't have much to say. i'd give more weight to a percentage number of users who have had upgrade issues.

and i agree with you, GP ditching the distro entirely does sound like a knee-jerk reaction - although i realize the button placement issue did cause much heartburn in the community (i switch between linux and mac so that change was godsend for me).

but will the cloaks still work when shaped like small* spheres?

*small where you are almost looking radial from any direction

well made counterfeits by...the Android lobby? let's look at the benefits -

• They know everyone will automatically assume this is an Apple leak, further tainting the record of an already unpopular marketing dept
• They are creating a negative design impact (this ID looks postively non-Ivean). or worse - this is one of HTC's phone IDs and they are testing out public response (as if it were an Apple product)
• They are setting out a list of expectations for Apple (that Apple itself may not want to, for its own reasons)

Given the number of comments here that seem to take it as a given this is an Apple leak for publicity (one funny commenter went as far as to bid adieu to journalism), it looks like an idea that couldn't possibly fail. On the other hand, maybe Apple did it and timed it to kill the HTC Incredible buzz...

I am not a fanboi of Apple, just a fanboi of tech conspiracy theories. aren't we all?

i wish i could mod you up to 20, insightful. what you stated is something that sounds obvious now that you've said it - but people rarely see it that way. hindsight is usually shortsighted as well.

as to the purpose of patents - there's a subtlety that many are failing to grasp: you don't patent something just because you invented it; you patent it if you think someone else will use it. That is how you make money off patents. in this case, if you find a simple solution to a common problem that is affecting many, it is a no-brainer to patent it asap because if you know a time will come when others need it - and also not any less important, if you won't, someone else will (if Apple didn't, HTC would've). novelty of invention is inconsequential (and so is prior art if it is not legally filed/valid) - if it is an unused solution to a problem, then you file it. as someone else remarked in this thread, patent is not for protection anymore - it is a marketing weapon (but when you think about it, what is 'protection' if not a euphemism for market security?). It does not make Apple noble to do it, and as self-respecting engineers we have every right to revile Apple, but hey they had the sense to realize what they are patenting could potentially be used by others - this awareness is often understated but extremely critical in IP issues.

on a side note, wow - what unanimous animosity! didn't know Apple has already become the new Microsoft for the Slashdot crowd. IANAAF, but some objectivity please!!

May I point out that what TFS claims as a victory for India with its Chandrayaan-I discovering water on the moon, was actually done by an American instrument (M^3)? Sure India's got the goods and ambitions to compete in the space race, but to think US's space technology will be summarily superceded because Obama cancelled budget for the moon mission is naive and presumptuous. Besides - you really think technological progress is somehow superior to solving social problems? The post-industrial issues that US is facing today are issues that China and India will have to battle with tomorrow. For instance - the chasm that is developing between India's rich and poor today is a simmering recipe for civil unrest and instability that India has no clue how to deal with. Sending vyomanauts into space is not going to solve that.

Disclaimer: I'm an Indian.

Perhaps we may find alien intelligence that has been through what we are going through, and will be able to offer solutions on how to cope with our global problems, based on their experience?

When I think of alien intelligence, I am really thinking of the 'intelligence' part. Finding a race that is more intelligent than us is, in a way, like finding ourselves at a point in the future. We may be able to realize several notions that if left to ourselves would take us too much time, effort and irreconcilable damage due to our experimentations - like we are doing with our planet now. It is an inevitable trapping of knowledge that is largely heuristic.

Clearly, NASA likes Saturn...and Beyonce.

The blur is to mean that it blurs the lines between different social networks and brings them all under one hood. although in reverse it sounds like 'rule bottom', which is exactly where this phone's ending up.

I foresee this as being a step further to understanding the root of human evil.

It all depends on how well the AI captures evil behavior. Bringsjord does have some interesting points as to what constitutes an evil person:

• (a) their reasons for an evil action tend be incoherent, such as a mentally-ill psychopath or
• (b) they regard the harm caused as a good thing, such as religious fanatics.

Why do we need to understand human evil, you ask? the same reason we need to understand the cause of a disease - it helps in devising a treatment. For instance, if a set of questions elicits the same (or if scored, close enough) responses from a terrorist suspect as from E, that would be a very useful interrogating tactic.

are you saying Apple products are incapable of such stupidity? you sound like a fanboy to me...

really? i'd think that would be most fun, besides being a wonderful exercise in critical thinking. i'm not an advocate of 'creation science' but to see what their view of the zoological world is would be very interesting.

There's a GOD?