ClickToFlash works fine. Or were you talking about MobileSafari? Why would you want a flashblock plugin for a browser that doesn't have a flash player?

It sounds like you didn't know this when you bought it, despite the fact that it's always been that way, and it's never been a secret to anyone. Caveat emptor.

Since we're doing the whole opinions-as-facts thing: xkcd and Penny Arcade are funny because I find them funny.

It's neat that a lot of people seem to agree, but my opinion of their humor doesn't require it.

Jobs' argument is poorly stated. But I do see a difference here:

One is devices that all view the same open web. Apple pisses you off for not letting your run your browser of choice on the iPhone? You can buy any other phone and get to exactly the same content. This approach puts the power in the market, and it's what Jobs appears to be, advocating, in a half-assed, self interested way, of course. And if I want to buy a locked down phone? That's my business, not yours.

The other is devices that view a web where the good bits are all controlled by Adobe. Now suppose Adobe pisses you off for not including some feature, or performing poorly on your device of choice. Your option here is basically to conform to Adobe's wishes or do without the content they lock up.

Basically, I'm okay with Apple doing what they want as long as I have the option of not buying or using their products (disclaimer: I currently own an iPhone. They haven't crossed my personal line yet). I don't really have that option with Adobe, although it's getting a lot better lately.

I'm not entirely sure what happens to the borrowed shares owed when stock is shorted, but my guess is that people who've shorted Palm's stock and still owe outstanding shares stand to lose a lot if the stock becomes delisted. I imagine many people were shorting Palm, and perhaps they were willing to pay more than the HP buyout price to make sure they get the stock back to their creditors while they still can.

There is some indication that the iPad has sold more than a million units already. Now, it's a sexy new gadget that could turn out to be a flash in the pan. But if competitors bet that it is, and lose, they could stand to 1.) lose a ton of money and 2.) hand Apple a virtual monopoly. Nobody but Apple wants that.

Your post is insightful, but this bothers me a bit:

Forgive me for singling you out, but why would competition from HP necessitate that RIM be "taken down"? Isn't it more likely that it would spur RIM to improve the blackberry line? And wouldn't that be better than replacing one virtual monopoly with another? There seems to be this pervasive idea among geeks that there is one superior technology, and therefore all others must die. The last thing I want is a monoculture, no matter who owns it.

How are smartphones not already ultra-portable computers? And if they're not, why would adding only a projector change that?

A merger would generally only be prevented under anti-trust if it would create a monopoly. As HP and Palm are both relatively minor players in the market, that's not an issue here.

And about that worst case scenario I was reluctant to think about.

The problem I have is how they establish whether someone is a non-citizen. They will wind up asking actual citizens to verify their citizenship status in the course of complying with this law, because if they aren't sure someone is a citizen, they have to ask. Further, while an Arizona driver's license is proof of (at least) legal residency status (at the time the license was issued), the same can't be said for many other states, notably New Mexico. Ironically, legal residents are in a much better position that citizens are to establish to a random cop that they are legally permitted to be here.

So suppose I'm an American Citizen with a valid New Mexico driver's license driving through Arizona. I don't have my birth certificate or passport on me, because I have no reason to believe I should require either of those documents to travel between US states. Suppose further that my tail-light is burnt out, but I don't know about it, and I get pulled over. During the course of this lawful interaction, for whatever reason, the officer suspects that I am an illegal alien, and asks to verify my citizenship status. I show him my New Mexico ID

From here, there are two possibilities. First, he accepts my ID as valid proof of my legal residency, even though it is no such thing. Honestly, I believe that this will happen in most cases like this, even though nothing has been demonstrated to the officer. The other possibility is that the officer correctly recognizes that I don't have valid proof of my citizenship or legal residency, and takes me to the lock-up pending investigation. At best, assuming the officers involved are cooperative and non-hostile, it could take several hours for the county clerk's office/hospital where I was born to get the needed documents so I can be released. I don't want to think about the worst case scenario.

Now suppose that, despite the fact that I am a citizen, my English isn't that great, or I'm mentally challenged and can't really understand what's going on, or I just managed to somehow piss off the cop.

I believe the chance that something like this will happen, more than once, is quite high. Regardless, it's possible under both the new law in Arizona and the existing, unenforced federal law. This makes them both bad laws, in my opinion. I don't deny that illegal immigration is a big problem in need of a solution, but there must be a better way than this.

You seem to be laboring under the impression that Slashdot is a single person. I assure you that this is not the case.

This is really an oversimplification of the issues and concerns involved with warrantless wiretapping. Even so, reasonable people disagree about the extent to which the government can go to combat crime. I happen to think they've gone too far.

I believe the immigration law is a bad one. Mostly because of the potential it has to harm American Citizens of a certain ethnicity. Again, I am but one of the many people who post their various opinions here.

That type of regulation is heavy handed and likely to be ineffective anyway. But the parent only mentioned "government intervention," a phrase which apparently sends your mind to a very dark place. Intervention can take many forms, which can include education and incentives for healthy behavior, or things we haven't thought of yet. I believe it's short sighted to dismiss any attempt at correcting the obesity epidemic out of hand. But did I already mention that I'm not speaking for all of Slashdot?

UI is their speciality in part because they avoid doing something until they figure out how to do it right. See copy/paste on the iPhone.

You're asking them to make a phone that occasionally interrupts what you're doing to ask for input on what it can do to keep working properly. I don't know that you'll ever get a UI out of that approach that isn't abjectly terrible.

My guess is that multitasking for third party apps will come, but only when it doesn't come with a non-trivial decrease in either performance or usability. It's not as easy a problem as you make it out to be.

I already replied to someone else on this subject, but: I believe that you know better than I do. It sounds like this tool brings some much-needed relief to the task of setting up a Windows system.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear about so many improvements in Windows in general since I last used it on a desktop. I always kind of hoped that the success of its competitors would cause the improvement, rather than the death, of Microsoft, and I'm glad to see some evidence that that's happening

As an aside:

I suspect we have very different criteria for establishing trust :)

You know what? That's entirely fair. I guess I've been away from the Windows world for too long.

Actually, the idea of a centralized software repository in general is a fantastic idea, and I've been using apt and ports for years. I'm just set to default deny when it comes to the idea of installing anything from an unfamiliar on Windows. But if it's built such a strong base of trust among people more in the know than myself, it must be worth a second look.

That is, if I ever find myself in the position of setting up a Windows system again.