I like the idea in principle...but I don't see how they move past...and this just baffles me...the whole idea of me sending my emails through someone else's servers when...ugh...it makes my skin crawl.

Okay, my blood's up. Blackberry...it's on.

I don't even know where to start so I'll start with the Curve. I do believe that this product died a very swift death but that it made it out the door in the first place is beyond me. You had to *press down* on the screen to get it to register an input. WHATWHATWHAT? Who greenlighted that? Steve Jobs would have had an aneurysm had someone given that to him and told him it was their new iPhone prototype. Then he would have fired the entire chain of people who allowed that phone to progress beyond some engineer's failed try at solving a problem. They were trying to make the touchscreen feel like a keypad...and that is so wrong I don't even know where to begin. Let's put corners on the wheels of our cars so we can have speed bumps all the time...solved that speeding problem...next?

I'll just make a short snipe at RIM/whoever and the whole patent shennanigans. RIM is one of the biggest patent thieves going. The amount of money they've extorted from others sickens me. I could write a novel on this one.

One might call RIM brilliant in one way...getting shedloads of people to have their email forcibly routed to a third party before delivery. None of this is encrypted...so you're giving RIM access to your email account. I don't care what their "license agreement" says or doesn't say, I'll bet there's at least one douchebag at RIM that gets his jollies off by reading CEOs emails. Certainly, email is unsecure to begin with, but to just give them...nay, have them taken by a third party before delivery...WHAT THE FUCK?

ESPECIALLY WHAT THE FUCK when the company has consistently proven to the world that they suck at life. I honestly didn't even know that it was possible to build networks that large with massive built in single points of failure. They're raking in bazillions for RUNNING A FREAKING SERVER FARM and they still manage to fuck it up every year or two. What would you do if your power company failed in its core competency for three days...across an entire continent?

Wonderful, brilliant even. Wouldn't it be fantastic if you couldn't get gmail on your phone whenver RIM decided to have a service outage? Seriously...when was the last time any decent technology company had a three day outage? WTF? It's email...not rocket science.

I encourage everyone out there disillusioned with their employment to check out the world of industrial maintenance. I'm a veteran who has used my experience to work in IT (about 15 years) but about three years ago I ditched IT and went after robots that shoot fire. If you want to be a lump, it doesn't pay as well, but if you're good you can make a fortune on six months a year work. The first time I saw an industrial heat treat furnace open its maw I nearly screamed with joy.

I think most IT folk, especially the sysadmin types, would be shocked at how little most industrial maintenance techs know about computers. There's lots of old dudes that are about to retire, and they've got the skills of the old school...welding, machining, electricity. When I designed my first industrial system (just a simulation) I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was just like programming. If, then, else...but with switches and sensors and wires, not zeros and ones and keystrokes.

A lot of the younger guys coming in are vets, and quite a few of the older ones are as well. They're all geeks, though they wouldn't admit it. I basically hang out with several dozen makers/hackers every day....we just hack metal and electricity instead of code and microprocessors (though sometimes that too...).

Get out of your office and into the factory. The first time you watch a 260 Amp plasma jet spraying molten steel everywhere as it pierces a 1-1/2" thick plate of steel that weighs 60lbs a square foot...goosebumps. And when it breaks and *you* are the one to make it live again by enlisting your black magic? Glory.

Starving minds in Africa and India aren't going to give two whits about an educators union in California. Services such as MITs Open Courseware and Khan Academy will evolve and dominate the realm of higher education solely because it is not possible for a few thousand people to teach a marketplace that now measures in billions.

I've a Nook Color and considering its behavior after rooting, I have to think that B&N went out of their way to make their software jive well with rooting. I rooted mine as soon as I could and it's worked well but for a few app compatibility snags with random crap from the Android market....whaddyagonnado?

If Amazon has half a brain they'll play nice with rooting. I'm sure they'll lock down their own apps and cloud access, but why not let their apps run on someone else's Android build? They have to know that as soon as this thing has an easy root, plenty of folks will buy Kindle Fires so they can have a brilliant Android tablet for $200...and they'll still buy Amazon products, because it'll be easy as all get out....just like rooting the Nook Color...unless they're stupid, which doesn't fit their track record.

I used to do some computer work for law firms and one day I asked about copyright and the idea of a "limited time". He said to me, and I quote verbatim, and will never forget this, "Unlimited is a limit." Totally straight face, no bullshit. Dude didn't have a funnybone anyway.

I, for one, will welcome our computer overlords...because right now, the Law is whatever-they-want-it-to-be.

Uh...no. Money is not the only reason that robots are used in manufacturing. It's a big reason, but not the only. Robots work much faster than human beings. Robots are safer, they don't get injured, need workmans-comp insurance, etc. They don't form labor unions, they don't sue their employers...and above all, they are consistent. CONSISTENT. They can be relied upon. Not only to be at work, but to perform the same operations exactly the same way every time...the basis of quality.

We are on the verge of a new industrial (like) revolution. The production derived by each human being on the planet is about to multiply greatly...even if most of those humans are not directly involved. Lawyers cost too much because they place artificial barriers to entry to their field. Law is become a club, that without membership, a citizen cannot defend themselves. That's about to change.

This revolution will place an enormous strain on our current capitalistic economic system. Production will become "free" (ish). Costs will plummet, prices will plummet, wages will plummet, profits will disappear. What's to motivate people when they don't need a shitload of money to live like a king? Agricultural technology has developed in the United States to a point where a single human, perhaps aided by maintenance contractors or the like, can farm 2500 acres of land. Tractors can drive themselves...and they do this not because farmers are lazy, but to increase their yields because the computer is more efficient. The technology does make *some* stuff cheaper, but it makes other things just flat out *better*. I've seen a dairy barn that's completely automated, from milking to shit shoveling.

And speaking of farmers...yes, there are large "collective" farms, owned and worked by corporations, but many farms are still owned by individual families and are effectively "small businesses". They are on the bleeding edge of technology because they have to be. This mass production technology is no longer the sole domain of the rich. You'd be quite surprised what you can manufacture out of your garage and sell on the internet. No, you're probably not going to be making bulldozers...but you might be able to knock out wiring harnesses, or machined parts or circuit boards or any number of different things.

Wal-mart does not sell everything...not even close. There's tons of room for specialty products, especially as the public becomes more accustomed to waiting a day or two for delivery. Services like Fedex/7-11's drop of boxes will help this increase even more....and you're still not getting anything from China in less than a week...not without paying through the nose. Chinese workers may be getting paid nothing, but the fuel to ship across the Pacific isn't getting any cheaper.

I doubt the economy will hit a wall with this, but there is going to be MAJOR change in the next two decades.

You could make one? Like the other poster said, expensive piece of plastic with a usb cord poking through it. Docking station...I'm just not seeing it here. How about a photo stand and an extra usb charger? You could put a magazine rack on the side of your computer and cut a hole in the bottom of it?

I have the B&N Nook Color. I have to say, it's brilliant. I've had it for 8 months now and my level of reading has increased significantly. I always thought I'd be a paper guy forever, and until recently, I owned hundreds of books, and over the years I've bought thousands. I received my NC as a gift and was given the leather cover/protector-thingy with it. I found this significantly added to the tactile experience...it made it much more like holding a book than a tablet. Also the 7" size is perfect...any larger and it would be cumbersome to hold in one hand, like a folded over paperback...I read when I'm doing other things...cooking, etc.

The processor is a bit slow, but if you look at it for usage...one is (mostly) apt to use a tablet for one of two things...gaming or reading. Angry Birds is probably a shedload better on an ipad or Galaxy 10", but it's usable on my NC. I've watched the Al Jazeera live feed app on it and it works pretty well. I've rooted it, installed Kindle for a couple of books. But for reading, especially with one hand, the 7" screen is the way to go.

I've also spent more on books in 8 months than the tablet cost. The e-ink idea is cute, but I can read in the dark...and often use the white on black text with the brightness turned all the way down. IMHO, eye strain is a myth....just turn the brightness down. I turn it all the way up for bright sunlight and that works great too. I don't charge it more than every 3 or 4 days....and I use it every day.

Okay, enough blah-blah-blah about the Nook Color. What I mean to say is that an Android tablet makes a fantastic reader, especially at 7" with some sort of cover to give it the tactile feel of a book.

They lost two of 'em? Without a trace? ...

Bullshit.

I don't think I've been quite so floored by a piece of tech in a decade...this is almost as good as discovering the web for the first time in 1998 as a "the future is now" kind of moment. I don't care about the interface (yet). I don't care about functionality...I don't even care that it just crashed my phone. I just saw this /. article about five minutes ago, immediately ran to my incredible and then to my nook (rooted)...wasn't available on the nook market for some reason...haven't bothered to investigate yet as I got sucked right into the last Top Gear episode I was watching.

Quality was surprisingly good, no hiccups in the five minutes I watched before it crashed. Much higher quality than the CBS/Sprint Survivor app that lets you watch the shows. Anyway, the point being that this is super pimp and I'm excited as hell about it.

I work at a CNC company in Peoria, Illinois called Probotix. I'd be most pleased if you would all check out the good work we do towards this kind of kit. I'll let you make your own decision and not do any more astroturfing.

(pardon an earlier, similar reply I did not mean to make as AC)

"The purpose of schools should be to teach students to live in a democratic society, and that means teaching critical thinking..."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!