Really, the only reason to buy a BR player is to watch BR discs. But, if one does not own BR discs and really can't see the difference between BR and DVD, why buy a BR player? If you have a BR player, and you watch DVDs using it, then you are only going to get DVD quality anyway. One either has to buy BR copies of one's current media or one ends up spending money to buy a new player that provides no added value.

Katrina might have been a 100 year storm, but I doubt it. Category 5 hurricanes happen every year and have for a long time.It is just that they rarely make land fall. Why doesn't anyone mention the multiple hurricanes that hit the East coast of the United States in the 90s causing hundreds of millions in damages? Oh, that is right, global warming wasn't the boogie man it is today. New Orleans is a city sitting in a natural bowl between a river, a lake, and gulf. Judging by the failures that occurred, New Orleans would have been swamped if it were hit by a Cat 3 storm.

As far as the heavy weather over the last few days here in the U.S., it happens every year and has happened like that for decades. Try reading "The Wizard of Oz". Dorthy was picked up by what would be an F5 tornado. Huge cyclones have been recorded in the U.S. Midwest and West records have been kept. There is nothing new going on. It is just that people are more aware of it and more afraid of it.

Global warming can't stand up to the criticism they give other kinds of faith, but is regarded as not only science but the holy grail of science.

I beg to differ. Global warming is not the "holy grail of science" and it never has been. The holy grail of science is understanding and knowing the truth.

The problem is that science has become politicized, requires funding from the government and corporations, and too many people claim to be scientists when they do not follow the scientific method. Global Warming, especially Anthropogenic Global Warming is espoused and taken as proven scientific, when it is based on very shaky evidence a lot of supposition. It bases most of it's predictions on measurements from the last few hundred years, but ignores the fact that the climate has changed greatly over the last 500 million years. The last 200 thousand years have been abnormally stable when compared to the last 500 million. To assume that it would continue to remain this stable is foolish, yet that is what climate "scientists" say the case should be.

Take out the politics, the egos, and the monetary pressures and give climate "science" an objective look, and it looks looks like more phrenology than neurology.

Well, you stupid fuck, I suggest you go back to elementary school and re-learn reading comprehension. I said illegal, unauthorized copies.Since you can't seem to understand basic English, let me explain. The noun "copies" is the being modified by BOTH the adjectives "illegal" and "unauthorized". This makes the object of the sentence copies where are both illegal and unauthorized. Do you understand now, shithead?

Now, as for your "bullshit" comment, I was around when games and music didn't have DRM. DRM came about because of people making ILLEGAL, UNAUTHORIZED COPIES, dumabass.

Stop making illegal, unauthorized copies of content and there will be no need for DRM.

Actually you have that exactly backward. You have a right not to be prevented from printing your own newspapers, pamphlets, fliers, etc. by the government. You have a right not to be stopped. You do not have a right to do it. If you had a right to do it, then you would have to be supplied with everything to do it, on demand.

That is the basic difference between a right to something and a right from something. If you have a right to do something, then the government MUST help you do it. But, if you have a right from the government stopping you from doing something, then the government doesn't have to help you, but it can't stop you either. This is why many of the rights of the new rights legislations are causing problems. When the disabled have a right to equal access, and self-cleaning, public toilets can't accommodate the disabled, then the self-cleaning, public toilets can not be deployed through out the city because that violates their right to equal access. (That is an example from real life: self-cleaning public toilets weren't allowed in NYC)

This is explicitly about mobile data access, which is a premium, luxury service, not cell phones or cell phone service. No one is saying "everybody who wants a fucking cell phone is an entitled prick". No, I am saying that you suggesting that someone who can not afford to pay for a deposit and/or pass a credit check should be treated like and charged the same as someone who can do those things makes you an entitled prick.

I am saying that having a fancy cell phone and a data plan are luxuries and your suggesting that people who can't afford the luxury are being ripped off by having to pay the price for the luxury makes you an entitled prick.

Mobile data access is a luxury. It is a premium service. GoPhone is pricing it as such. You don't like it, don't use it. If their customers don't like it, they don't have to use it. You and they can go over to MetroPCS and get a phone from them with unlimited phone, text, and data for about $60.00 a month plus the usual taxes and fees.

Don't sit there and say how some company should price its services how you think they should because you don't think it is fair. It is not your decision and if you don't like their pricing structure, don't use them. Don't use their product or service and they will lower their price or go out of business. GoPhone doesn't want to lower its mobile data access fees, so don't use GoPhone for mobile data accesss, or at all. I am explicitly saying that it is perfectly fine for GoPhone and AT&T to charge a high price for a premium service if it is provided by a sub-prime carrier like GoPhone, especially if they do not want GoPhone users to use said premium service. If GoPhone customers don't like it, they can go somewhere else because they do not have a contract. That is one of the advantage of a GoPhone, remember? And, don't go around suggesting that the government should step in and set the price for that company's service. The U.S. is not the a fascist or socialist state where the government runs all the companies and/or sets the prices. If you want that, move to Venezuela or Cuba.

I think everyone can set their own priorities and make their own decisions, and the best we as a society can do is to prevent predatory business plans from taking root and fucking everybody over.

So, what you are saying is that people should be allowed to make their own decisions, except for the people who run companies. Those people should have to price their product according to what you think is fair. It can only be a predatory plan if the plan causes people to have to continually return to the business. That is what makes payday loans predatory. But, this is not like that. This is pre-paid phone and data service. The phone part is reasonable and no one is forced to use the premium service, the luxury service of mobile data access. And, when one runs out of credit, one doesn't have to pay and continue to use the service, phone or data. One can simply stop using the data access service and use only the phone service. Or, one can go to a different service. One does not have to use mobile data access and one can simply walk away from a pre-paid service. There is no debt and no contract to hold one to the provider.

Oh, and you have already proven yourself to be arrogant, short-sighted, and willfully ignorant of the subject, capitalism, and our government.

Most of the population of the world does not have reliable access to the internet, but web access is a basic human right? I don't think so. People can get a long quite nicely without using the internet, ever. It happens every day in South America, Africa, India, China, etc.

This is not about phones and cellular phone service. This is about mobile data access. GoPhone is a cellular phone and while phone service may be a necessity, mobile data access is not.

If one is looking for a job, one has the time to go to the library. Also, where I live, I can go to the local unemployment office and use computers in the office to search for on-line jobs. One can also go to Kinko's or an internet cafe as many people in the 2nd and 3rd world do. For almost everyone, mobile data access is not vital. For most, even internet access is not vital. Unless one is required to be able to access the internet at a moment's notice, one does not need mobile data access. There is a good chance even you don't need internet access nor is it vital to your existence. Remember, gaming is not vital, neither is checking twitter, facebook, or slashdot. Looking at lolcats, porn, or youtube is not vital. And, you don't need to do any of that from your cell phone. Get a netbook or a laptop and go to Panera Bread, Barnes and Nobles, Denny's, coffee shops, even many McDonalds have free wifi now. I can go to my local mall, which is pretty ghetto, and they have an area set up by the food court with couches, power, and free wifi.Mobile data access via cellular telephone provider is not a necessity, it is a luxury and almost no one needs it.

It is really you that is just making this a social issue and saying how people should spend there money!

You are the one saying a company should not be allowed to charge whatever they want for their service. You are saying that the government should step in and regulate the price of a luxury service so that everyone can have it because you don't think it is fair that only those that can afford the service can use it. YOU are the one making this a social issue by saying that the people are being ripped off because they are being charged a lot for a luxury service, which most people don't even need, by their sub-prime provider. You are the one saying the government must regulate the price of a luxury good to ensure everyone can have it. And, yes, GoPhone is the sub-prime service arm of AT&T.

They wanted, but did not need. If it was such a ripoff, they should have said "no".

The limits of your knowledge are much greater than you imagine. I work in the wireless industry and know a lot more about it than you do. I do not directly work for any one carrier, but I have worked for several carriers, several handset manufacturers, and now for an inter-carrier operator. I have a pretty good idea as to why they charge so much for it. They have only allocated so much bandwidth to GoPhone units and using data eats up that bandwidth. They don't want their GoPhone customers using data, so they make using data very expensive. It is their right as a company to charge what they want and if the customers don't like it, they can go somewhere else, say MetroPCS.

And, it doesn't matter if you think it is extremely expensive. All luxury goods are expensive. Diamonds, caviar, champagne, supercars, fur coats, furniture made from solid wood and leather, etc. are all expensive. You keep complaining that something that is a luxury is expensive from a budget brand. Yes, it is expensive, but it is not a ripoff. Very few people actually need it. Don't like it, don't use it.

Oh, and GoPhone is targeted at people who can not get a regular service plan, which requires a credit check and/or a deposit. That demographic would be the poor and those with poor credit. Your "poor vs people" statement in the first paragraph is semantically null. The poor are people and they are the subgroup the author claims is most effected by the situation explored. The poor are people and they are the target market for this service.

You are yet another dumbass who thinks that data plans are a necessity. MOBILE DATA ACCESS IS LUXURY, NOT A NECESSITY. Tell me, have you ever been poor? Have you ever had to skip a meal or three to pay a bill? I have been poor and have had to do just that. I know poor people. I have worked with them, lived in poor neighborhoods, and had poor people as friends and neighbors. You know what? None of us needed mobile data access. When we needed to use the internet, we went to the library or to a friend who had a computer and internet access. None of use had smart phones. We had regular cell phones and pagers. A few of use had computers, and I had the only laptop.

If using mobile data access is a ripoff as you say, don't use it. Problem solved. Oh, and you do know that one way companies keeps people from using a service they offer but don't have much capacity for is to charge a lot for using said service, right?

Oh, and while we are at it, what, exactly do you know about mobile data technology and access? Do you know how it works? Do you know anything about what happens between the handset, the tower, and the switch center? You do understand that cellular phone technology is geared towards voice calls and not data right?

You are not upset about any ripoff, because there is no ripoff. I am going to tell you straight out. You are an over-entitled, spoiled brat who is outraged that a company specializing in mobile voice and text communications has decided that pre-paid mobile data access is a luxury and has decided to charge like it is a luxury, and you consider that a ripoff. Well, let me inform you of something, mobile data access, prepaid or not, is a luxury and no one actually needs to use it. Hell, the way most people use their cell phones, they would be better off with two-way pagers. Why aren't you complaining that it is a ripoff to require a voice plan to get texting?

Mot people do not need internet service or a computer. And, smart phones are still luxury items. That $100 for the android phone is also food for a week, an electric bill, almost a week's rent in a cheap apartment. Almost no one needs one. In fact, considering how most people use their phones almost exclusively for texting, most people would be better off with a two way pager.

I like the way you put that "rent and bills and food". Well, you know what, "bills" encompasses a lot of things. I also notice you didn't include any money put aside for emergencies. And, again, mobile data access is not a necessity, it is a luxury. A cell phone and cell service can substitute, and may be better than, home phone service, but the data connectivity is not needed and is, in fact, a luxury.

You never leave your house and communicate with the outside world with nothing more than your smart phone, right? I mean, that is the only reason I can see for insisting that one requires a smart phone with data access to communicate with the outside world, especially considering that one can simply go outside and interact with the outside world, you fucking, spoiled little shit.

You know, shithead, I see people every day who live here in America without smart phones and without computers. You know how they do it? They have a regular cell phone, they make friends with their neighbors, and they go to a fucking library to use a computer. These people live in crappy neighborhoods, and are poor. But, you know what they don't have and don't need to go about their lives? Smart phones, laptops, home computers, and mobile data access.

You are complaining that they are not able to afford a luxury good, when they are busy spending their money on the necessities of life. Oh, and a lot of these people will have one, maybe two cell phones per HOUSEHOLD, which may consist of three generations.

I suggest you and your self-righteous ilk actually interact with the poor some time. And, I don't mean the drug dealers, drug addicted strippers, pimps, whores, and assorted other criminal lowlifes you get your jollies with, I mean the actual working poor. I have been one and I can tell you have never been. I have no doubt that you are an over-entitled college student who is still busy sucking on mommy's tit and fucking off in school to get a real job and is probably too scared to actually talk to a real poor person.

You are an ignorant, over-entitled, spoiled, pissant with delusions of helping the poor by giving them things they don't need but you think are necessities. You would give the poor polo mallets when what they really want is food, shelter, and decent paying jobs.