Even if there was a shortcut for safely ignoring return values, I would (the company I work for would) still need to check and catch every return. Why? We have to log them all.

If you don't want to deal with failed returns, I find that a scripting language is the best way to go. I write my glue functions to handle nulls gracefully and I am done.

I like to have local retailers around, so I don't mind paying the $7 extra as long as I can afford it. Never felt like property either.

only seems to bother EE majors and everyone else seems to be immune to it.

This is not comparable at all to surveillance. What part of get out of my face does he not understand?

Last I checked broadband internet was not free.

This is actually a bad thing.

What if I told you it really is one sided and Apple has really little to no ground to stand on?

But the whole twist is the ending. I am afraid I will not be looking forward to it knowing how it ends.

The situation you describe is something you and I would choose to vote against. But there are people who would vote for it. And if you put enough of them together, they will have their way - either through their representatives or by referendums. It is not about the universal right or wrong since there is no such thing.

Some things aren't really best decided by the majority

Right. Too bad that is what democracy is.

You are preaching to the converted. But I am not the point here. Your fallacy is again assuming that you know the right and wrong and you want to impose your "right"s on other people. What is plain obvious to you is not to some people.

By definition, the majority will get their way: either through direct voting, or through their representatives. There is no argument to be made here. It is the definition of Democracy.

You are under the impression that there is a "universal right" and "universal wrong" (and you claim to know the right in this case)

In a democracy the majority should get their way - by definition.

goodwill

You mean "going thermonuclear" no doubt.

If history teaches one thing that is abuse of monopoly is inevitable.

I bet Jobs could have sold iTube powered iPods and could have made people believe they sound better.

+Adam D'Angelo

This is not something people typically do. You cant get the majority to store their cards in faraday cages just because of this.

People typically carry their wallets in their back pockets and purses, both of which a hacker can get arbitrarily close to. 5cm is way too much.

Care to point to some resources? Because that would mean the fixed readers at warehouses are pretty much useless.