I only have experience with the canadian cell companies, so I don't know if this is true more generally. Pretty much every cell company here has secret hidden plans only available if you phone customer service and say the magic words 'cancel service'. Some of the bonuses available might include roaming plans. You don't get to know the real pricing unless you do the song and dance. Also, you could look for group discount plans... maybe your student union, or school has some deals available. Those should be somewhat comparable to the types of discounts you can get from a retention department.

It looks worse than the Wiimote and Nunchuck in some ways... that off-hand controller looks like ergonomics hell. The Nunchuck has the stick and buttons all comfortably accessible, the Sony equivalent has tiny buttons and a d-pad below the analog stick... and it's less contoured, looks like it could mess up your hand badly. Kind of makes me wonder what is really driving the controller design... they might be trying to make this work with existing games (or at least slightly modified versions), and I think we've seen from the Wii that that doesn't really work.

I think it's like that in games because it was regular practice to just empty the clip. I'm under the impression that during WW2, it was a regular practice to empty the clip instead of reloading. quoting from wikipedia... " In battle, the manual of arms called for the rifle to be fired until empty, and then recharged quickly. "

I have some special edition DVD of that movie... it may be all those things you say but it still cuts abruptly between scenes, and ends up a jumbled mess. I don't remember exactly, but it certainly felt like the movie takes 1hr to cover the 1/3 of the book, then 0.5hr to cover the rest.

I get the feeling that people are put off by the fact that the iPad is not what they expected. It's kind of funny that prior to Apple's announcement there was commentary about how no one has been able to make tablet computers successful, and now after the announcement, when it's clear that Apple made the 'big iPod' instead, there's all kinds of complaints that they didn't build a tablet computer.

So I'm agreeing with you and taking it further. I don't think (many, or at least the vocal ones) geeks have even figure out what the iPad is and what market it is actually going for. As support for this I would point to all of the 'It's Just a Big iPod' talk (which I suspect will be the new "Less space than a Nomad..."). It's not just a big iPod, it is a big iPod. It's a device that is fundamentally about the consumption of media. It's an iPod; a music player with access to the iTunes music store. It's a portable video player with access to the iTunes movies and tv shows store. It's an ebook reader with access to the iTunes bookstore. It's a gaming device with access to the iTunes App store.

Whether or not that's a good thing or if it will have any kind of impact is an open question, but, make no mistake about it, it is an evolution of the iPod and that's very likely what Apple intended. If it helps people get their head around it... think of the iPad as a new product in the line of iPods and AppleTV rather than Macs

That's great for some people, but personally I find the amount of options overwhelming. Same thing with computers as well. Once upon a time I would've researched parts and looked at spec sheets and read reviews to figure out exactly what to get. However, it seems like I would inevitably be slightly disappointed in the end. I think I enjoyed the process of the 'shopping' more than the final product and in the end it is the final product I have to live with. Choice is good for consumers, but I suspect there are many out there like me that will go with the one easy good choice over many possibly horrible to excellent choices.

For people like me, Apple is generally a good option. They make basically quality products with very good usability and design. The iPhone is an excellent phone and will remain an excellent phone even if products with better feature sets at lower price points exist. I know many times /. posters like to dismiss shoppers like me as being 'stupid' or 'vain' or something, but quite frankly I find a lot of those people either disingenuous or delusional when they try to argue the iPhone is selling purely on 'style' or try to compare product using purely specs.

Saying it's ridiculous is ridiculous :p

It's a perfectly valid comparison for price of entry (the only thing that matters to the vast majority of consumers). Also, this should be obvious, people buy products, and not feature lists.

I would say the assumption isn't so much based on hubris as on practical considerations. We only really know our civilization, so we can only make these kinds of conjectures based on what an advanced version of our own civilization would be like (we would so trash the place with probes). If we don't make those assumptions, then there really is no starting point to get very far on this kind of 'what-ifs'. Maybe the planets are sentient...

Didn't Looking Glass die because of EIDOS, and Origin die because of EA? Black Isle was like part of Interplay or something? So I think it is fair to say that at least the people holding the purse strings didn't understand the market in those three examples.

Umm... that could be considered driving with an unsecured load. I don't think Oz is the only place you might be fined for that.

It probably also has to do with the PR problem of appearing in a movie while there is a serious recession/crisis on. The public expects their politicians to be hard at work in these times. I'm don't know what that really means and I doubt politicians do, but they have to at least do a good job of appearing to be hard at work.

I would agree that the amount is small enough that it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. It does complicate the business case for demos and free content though, but I don't think it's enough of a cost to tip decisions one way or the other.

The bigger problem is the PR. This is one more move that re-enforces the impression that Sony has shifted to mitigating their losses for this console generation. Dropping BC (seemingly less value in newer SKUs), being slow to cut the price, and now this. Each move by itself doesn't matter much, but the cumulative effect has significantly soured the prospect of buying a PS3 for many people (whether justified or not is a bit of a moot point). Personally, were it not for the fact that the MGS4 80 gig was so limited, I would have a PS3 by now.

I'm pretty sure that one is in the works, and Neil Gaiman will be directing... or at least he wants to. We'll see if the project ever comes together.

sorry.. disregard. I misread GP

Err... actually Final Fantasy practically saved Square... They were going to be toast before its release, and that's why it's "Final"