You mean those little old ladies that are super nice and ask to see your badge? I don't know who works at the "convention center" in Boston, but in my city it seems to be mostly staffed by retiree-aged people.

I'd call the 30,000 people killed in 2001 in the US by firearms fairly significant. Source: http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/09/death-by-the-barrel.html

Lots of other interesting statistics in that article as well. I'm not going to point-by-point argue with you because I'll never convince you that I'm right and you're wrong, but I feel that a lot of the reasons people want to own guns are based on "emotion, hearsay, conjecture, and fearmongering" just as anti-gun arguments are based on the same thing.

FWIW I have no problems with guns, I learned how to shoot while in Boy Scouts, would enjoy the chance to try hunting at some point, and I find target shooting fun, but I don't personally own a firearm as I don't feel I need one to be safe.

I haven't read all the comments that have been posted, but...

I think having very long white boards (or even entire walls painted out with that "whiteboard" paint) would be a great way for the kids/instructors to be able to communally hash out ideas in meatspace. Most rooms don't seem to have enough spaces like this to jot down ideas, draw, write, and think out loud...

He may have been "half joking", but that is indeed done, and it's why you often see clusters of fast food (or coffee shops, or whatever) businesses together. The basic idea is that one company did a bunch of research and determined the site was good. The next company comes along, and says "Hey, Brand A is here, so we should probably be here as well". They'll preform their own market research and due diligence regarding the site of course, but the existence of other brands there drives up the idea that the site is good location.

Furthermore, these business clusters serve to actually drive up business far all the brands located there, despite them being competitors and for the most past interchangeable with each other, as you gain a larger share of customer traffic to an area with many businesses.

Lastly, my current company is majority owned by one of the early investors and owners of Hollywood video. He said that Hollywood and Blockbuster would engage in the same practice of locating physically close to a competitor's store, because that area would have good customer demographics.

Its a pretty interesting topic, really..

So you're saying I shouldn't be giving my toddler bottles filled with whiskey then?

But at least they had an iPhone funeral before the launch!! (wait, or was that for the Kin's launch?)

Am I the only one who notices that when a company B introduces a "Company A Product Killer!", its always Company B who loses out in the end?

I was an editor at the school newspaper when I was in highschool, so we were also required to read the NYTimes and our local city rag every day (delivered free to us at school). I too formed a high opinion of the NYTimes that has stayed with me, despite their errors over the past decade. I'll be sad to say that I'll be browsing it less frequently once they start charging, because $15/mo just seems a little steep to me.

Damnit! Evil plan is already foiled. I'm sure there will be services that pop up to handle that, though...

I personally think $15 is a little steep. I'd pay $5... I'm a daily reader of the NYTimes online, but news can come from many sources, not just the Times. I guess if I really want to read a story I'll just post it for myself in Facebook and follow the link...

Portland, Oregon has an iPhone (and maybe Android? Not sure.) app that lets you report things like pot holes, graffiti, etc. It's actually pretty slick. It''s called "PDX Reporter" or something like that.

You can take a picture and attach it to the report, pinpoint the location on a map screen, and write a comment in a comment box. Once you submit a report, you can track them through fulfillment. I've only reported potholes, but all the ones I've reported have been fixed within a week of reporting.

Yeah, I too like Apple, and I don't have a problem with their business practices in most cases. Hey, you make a super popular device, you deserve to profit from it, plain and simple.

But this move is adding nothing of value to the user, and simply inserting another middle-man to take a slice of someone's (in this case, Amazon) profit. I hope no one wonders why E-Book prices will most likely go up instead of down - more folks are getting into the game, which means more hands are reaching into the pot of money for a payout.

Same here. I turn on airplane mode, and keep it PUT AWAY, until instructed by the flight crew that it is OK to use electronics. I've used my iPhone to watch many movies and play games on flights, and never had a flight attendant ask me to turn it off. Likely they can't tell it apart from a iPod touch, or they just don't care since it really poses no risk.

Color me "not surprise". Engineers, much like artists, have a hard time knowing when something is done and want to "tweak and tweak" everything to death.

Solution? Rather than *finish* something, just remove the versions! It'll be in development for perpetuity - an engineer's dream come true.

I was wondering why I was so creeped out by every picture of her during the 2008 election. Those eye... wowzers. She looked like an android from a movie.

You're right, people DO confuse Fox's news and pundit commentary, but I feel that's how Fox likes it.

Also, Fox seems big on the whole "some people say..." line of introducing an idea that they want out there, but don't want to be directly blamed for introducing. "SOME PEOPLE SAY.... Obama is a socialist Muslim born in Kenya. But we'll let you decide!".

To be fair, I don't personally find the other channels much better and I don't watch any of them (I don't have extended cable). I just listen to NPR on the radio when I'm in the car, and read some newspapers online.