This will be interesting to see what Apple's official response is. You can bet every other hardware vendor is watching this move, as well as the EPEAT people. If the public doesn't change their buying in response to Apple's move, then all the other vendors may decide that EPEAT certification isn't necessary for them to sell products. And EPEAT may have to change (relax/sell out/update) their rules in order to get Apple to return to the program if they feel that Apple will be the company that makes them irrelevant.

Well patents could be useful if the patent filers hadn't figured out how to game the system. They've basically used verbiage and obfuscation to paper up the claims and make it harder for the examiners to figure out what's going on. Part of this is to broaden the scope of the patent so there are fewer ways to work around them, but it also broadens the applicability to industries and products the filers never thought about.

However this means that the patent officers are always overworked and underpaid, and the broad scope of knowledge they must possess is ever expanding. I guess you'd have to ask a patent officer how they could revise and reform the system but it is truly becoming a system of little worth to the public at this point.

I'm a Canadian so I'm not sure how true this is, but I think Europeans tend to look at disdain at Microsoft as a corporation. The were convicted as abusing their monopoly in the EU and in the US, but election of GWB gave them a free pass in the US penalty phase.

Having Nokia effectively surrender their crown jewels to Microsoft by a former Microsoft exec doesn't exactly do any favours to image of Nokia as a strong and vibrant company. Perception is more than half the battle to marketing, and marketing is a huge component to smart phones (very few people actually NEED one).

That's just from outside the fishbowl looking in. Also telegraphing your moves before you have a plan in place is such a dumb idea. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, Nokia should have milked all their 'legacy' technologies dry while working on the 'next great thing (whether it was with Microsoft or not).' Instead they drove a heart through their products publicly and called it a day.

It may not be rocket science, but Apple is quite aggressive in using commercial miniaturization and materials that the computer and consumer electronic space isn't used to pushing. That is innovation in itself, especially when you consider the volume of production they can achieve with it.

Otherwise many other companies would be doing what they're doing right now, but it looks like Apple is consistently the one at the forefront of consumer electronic hardware right now.

You might have a hard time getting a visa, given the anti-foreigner sentiment right now. The Chinese government has been inciting this anti-west mentality since the Bo and Chen fiascos have come to light. Also CCTV's Yang Rui's rant has inflamed public opinions as well as the recent sexual assault of a Chinese woman by a UK man caught on video and another train incident has meant things are quite tense right now.

I just came back from China on a vacation last month but the visa application was way more stringent than before. I had to give them proof of my Canadian citizenship and also send them a resume (wtf!). They obviously thought I was going to try and find a job there against a tourist visa, so definitely something's up.

As to your problem about finding a specific job, without language skill the OP is right, it's labour for you, and there are already (too) many backs in China that can do that. Learn the language first.

Anybody with a brain could have told them this. Depressed people go out less than people who don't suffer from depression. Staying at home = boredom unless you find things to do like download files, play on line games, email, chat etc.

It's their way of coping. Once someone isn't depressed they go out more, which means less of the things like downloading files, playing online games etc.

I like how you say that Macs can't do 'real work,' like the work you're doing is somehow better than someone who has picked up a Mac.

The task(s) should always define the tool needed. If it's a Mac that's needed to run the software to do the task so be it.

Delta updates are sent via Apple Software Update which, in theory, is customized to patch a specific system model (Mac Pro or iMac or MacBook Air etc.). This means they can vary in size.

However, I've found that delta updates can be more problematic and not patch everything that needs to be updated, which can lead to odd crashes and other funky behaviour.

In my experience, I skip the software updates for delta releases and download the combo updater which has the kitchen sink mentality of updating.

Link here (1.4GB) for standard install 10.7.4:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1524

1.5GB for Mac OS X Server 10.7.4:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1529

Costco is very economical and they do a great job. As far as I know, they use Epson 7800s and 7880s in their printing centers and Noritsu/Fujitsu as well.

All modern commercial/industrial inkjets are pigment based, but lower end consumer printers can still be found with dye based inks. Pigment based inks are more finicky but have a much longer permanence associated with it.

As far as print longevity goes the best place to look is the Wilhelm Institute.
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/

They are an independent (tiny) institute that looks at the claims of the manufacturers and put them to the test. Most of the tests are on-going, since the claims of the printer manufacturers are measured in decades and centuries now, and accelerated testing can only simulate so much.

The current champion of longevity is the HP Designjet Z3200 series, but they have a smaller gamut (vibrant range) than the Canon Lucia EX and Epson (forget their current generation of ink name) pigmented inks. The Z3200 clear coating isn't as durable as the Canon's range so many people have chosen the Canon iPF series printers as the best compromise of durability and image quality as of late. Epson is still the big dog in the photographic print industry but Canon is making waves as well. HP has been fairly silent on updates for a couple of years so they might be ceding this portion of the market to Canon/Epson/Noritsu.

Most likely a missile defense shield requires the anti missile tech to be placed locally. I don't think that the U.S. wants to park a brand new multi-billion dollar technology right in the Kremlin's backyard, where it will conveniently go missing.

If you read the article it does give the circumstances of the ruling. I would be inclined to agree with you on principle, but from the article:

Economist and intellectual property expert James Love said, "The Bayer price of Rs 34,11,898 per year ($69,000) is more than 41 times the projected average per capita income for India in 2012, shattering any measure of affordability. Bayer tried to justify its high price by making claims of high R&D costs, but refused to provide any details of its actual outlays on the research for Sorafenib, a cancer drug that was partly subsidized by the US Orphan Drug tax credit, and jointly developed with Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Bayer has made billions from Sorafenib, and made little effort to sell the product in India where its price is far beyond the means of all but a few persons."

This is in direct contravention to the WTO TRIPS agreement:

Under Section 84, a compulsory licence to manufacture a drug can be issued after three years of the grant of patent on the product, which is not available at an affordable price. Under the World Trade Organisation TRIPS Agreement, compulsory licences are legally-recognized means to overcome barriers in accessing affordable medicines. This is the first time in the history of the Indian Patents Act, 1970, that the provision under Section 84 has been invoked.

What is the public good? Is it in the public's interest to imprison people who want to smoke weed? 18 year-olds who are sexually attracted to 17 year-olds? I don't think people are arguing that no government is better than any government, but when you turn the screws too hard against people/group/race/religion and try to restrict their rights, they need/will find a way to push back.

When you see the number of African Americans who have contact with the penal system you have to wonder if the American people count black men as being part of 'the public.'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

Apparently the Saudis put out the warrant and the Malaysian authorities detained at the airport and are shipping him back. Apparently the Malaysians are really amenable to the foreign governments about extraditing and returning people, so even if this guy faces the death penalty the Malaysians just don't want to get in the middle of things.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you are going to flee to another country, try some place like Canada or Sweden first.