For half a billion dollars, we could have had half a stealth bomber.

I agree with you -

The "scam" here is the massive one where America thought the purpose of the market was to provide retirement savings- Thus people dumped all their money into the market in hopes of having big retirement payouts. Look at the surge in the DOW since the 90's- that's everyone's retirements going straight into the market. You know how many people nearing retirement in 2008 and 2009 watched their retirement plans go out the window?

I don't have a solution, and I also have money in the market, but the core purpose of the market has been wildly changed from what it is designed for.

I did IT at an Ad Agency. I remember recommending we upgrade the art guys to 24 inch iMacs. These guys just used Photoshop and Illustrator all day, and the iMacs, at the time around $2K, were the perfect thing for them. When I took this plan to my boss, the final decision maker, he made me go with some crazy Pro setup instead- I think with displays the machines cost about $4K each, just for Photoshop and Illustrator.

Why?

Because they were more expensive, which equaled "better" in his eyes. You can't forget there are a lot of stupid people out there with a lot of money, and just figure that higher cost equals better product... Hell, look at Apple's entire product line- way more expensive than compatible Dell or HP products (though I do agree the Apple is higher quality.)

So when you think about a microtransaction, you think it's a small amount of money. There are two ways for a studio to profit from this: Either they get a wider group of people paying for a game for less money, or they charge so many micropayments to their core users that it winds up netting out the same as if people just bought the game in the first place. In the former, more people get to enjoy the game for free, but if the game doesn't get REALLY widespread acceptance, then they default to the latter, adding more and more micropayments to people that don't realize how much they are spending until they have dropped $100 or more on the game.

Should the latter happen, then the whole idea of micropayments will start to look shady and people will avoid any game that employs the tactic. In other words: It's a slippery slope for all but the most popular games.

This could have been amazing ten years ago... but printers as a technology on the whole seem to be dying out to me. I knew fewer people that have them, as there is very little that needs to be printed anymore.

If Spirit and Opportunity were really worth their salt, the would be on their way down to fix Phoenix... but they are such Divas after all the years of attention, you know THAT will never happen...

Just from a personal point of view, this seems to hold up. I know people in my company that are tremendous producers in whatever they do, but you spend some time with them and realize they are awful people to be around. I can't imagine what it is like to actually live with them.

Look at Steve Jobs- sure, the guy has consistently created some of the best products in tech history, but everything I understand about him is that he is a tyrant to work with- I can only imagine what his homelife is like.

Now, I would like to hear back from someone that is a top producer, like a Steve Jobs, and find out if those people consider themselves happy... in a sense, these people are sacrificing their lives, and possibly the lives of their families, to push us ahead technologically. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

I can't hear anything, I was blown. - Tobias Funke

No, but if you are budget-conscious at all (and not everyone is), you do know that the next version will be a bit better, so you weigh if you need to get the current model.

I came into a 1st gen iPod for nearly free when the 3rd gen came out... Then I used that same one until the 80 GB Classic came out. Had I upgraded at every new model, I would have spent more than the $300 total for both units... I just had to "suffer" without the ability to play video for an extra couple of years.

There is obviously going to be some class of device that is part ereader, part computer and part media center, but, just as the smartphone market too years to take shape, the accepted version of this device is still years away, so don't waste your money on an iPad or Kindle just yet... wait for the market to mature.

So now I'll have a strobe light effect every time I check my email!

How is Vint Cerf not on here?

your sig is incredibly apt for your post...