That the worst kind of flamethrowing / sniping / namecalling would be happening in here.

A**ple fankids have been the snidest bunch I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with - going all the way back to the 80's at SF Macromedia conferences, where, when the PC's crashed during presentations, howls of laughter and yelled-out snide remarks were all the rage. When the Macs crashed... polite silence. Some things never change.

I'm getting a Fire for my honey for Xmas. I'm not expecting it to be the damned second coming of Christ. Nor am I expecting it to perform on par with / exceed a $500 to $900 tablet - because I actually did my research before buying it. (And if I WERE going to buy one, you can bet yer ass it wouldn't be an iPad) The Fire is is a media consumption tablet with some extra bells and whistles - and if you compare it apples to apples (sorry) to something like an iTouch (which I have)... I'll take it in a heartbeat - if for no other reason than the fact that I don't have to use some POS proprietary software (iTunes) to get an damned MP3 on it. And for those of you who protest when someone rightfully describes iPads and iTouches as closed systems - well, hope yer enjoying the Kool Aid.

Amazon never positioned this as an iPad killer - pundits and press did - and in a sense they were right - maybe not killing the iPad as a device - but definitely taking a big chunk of the market that the iPad never could. Why? Because there are a whole bunch of folks out there who would never shell out over half a grand on a tablet. They are now.

One last thought - I work independently in tech - have for over 20 years, on both platforms. So do a bunch of friends - some of whom have actually made the plunge and bought a Fire. Everything I've heard back is positive - they think it's a lovely little device that does what they expected it to. In fact, I haven't heard a single negative.

"It’s smoother and quicker than the only similar system I’ve tried, a Vadem Clio smart netbook from 1999." Still have one of them. But it wasn't a netbook by any stretch. It was a slammin CE tablet.

This is the same flawed logic that allowed businesses to pump crap out of smokestacks for decades. There are savings that don't involve money - like public health and clean air.

"they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless". As a steady twitter user - well, duh. You have to actually CONVERSE with people to form friendships there - it's not about creating a profile for others to view. But more to the point - I find it fascinating that Morgan Stanley - and the world for that matter, seems to find the observations of a 15-year-old so relevant. Not that I've got anything against 15-year-olds - I've got a kid of my own. But between facebook, myspace and twitter, I've got hundreds of friends that I actually know in one way or the other - and less than 10 are teens. This is the case for most of the people I know. Why are these observations sparking such a "storm"?

76334,2421 here... remember it fondly. RIP

For those who were talking about the mainstream media covering this adequately...Go listen to the 2600 recordings of Emmanuel Goldstein being rounded up during the NY RNC convention. You'll get an entirely different feel for what's it's like to be detained for just being on the street. What planet did they land us on, anyway?