The Chromebooks may be shipped to the customer but the "customer" is not the person who has to use it. This sounds like the "cheap PC" effect all over again. A functionary decides some similar but significantly less capable device is good enough product because all he sees is a lower price tag. Whenever the customer is not the same as the user of a computing device, the result is usually distorted by short sighted initial cost arguments. Also, it is your damn sig so it goes in automatically without extra typing. Put in the apostrophe.

In fact locally the earth is flat which is an important insight about geometry. So for a sufficiently small neighborhood a plane is a good approximation while globally it is spherical. On the other hand there is some reason why Apple is a far more profitable company than any of its competitors. Keep at it, eventually you may figure out why. (Of course, I don't have much hope for a breakthrough in the short run).

Not a very good example. Most people do not think the earth is flat. From personal observation on a flight the curvature of the earth is visible. Also anyone living on a coast can see evidence of the curvature. Anyone viewing an eclipse of the sun or moon will see compelling evidence. The shared experience of the moon landing is not exactly a secret. And finally the ancient Greeks already had determined the earth was a sphere from their own personal experience and observation.

But seriously, do you know anyone who thinks the earth is flat?

"But who cares? Only an idiot would try to generalize from your tiny sample size."

I think a better conclusion would be that only and idiot would ignore his own experience.

Since WB doesn't seem like they care enough to provide according to their promise, it sounds like a job for 'Popcorn Time'!

Maybe everyone else is crazy who reports it but I know I've read Apple has over $140 billion in cash. Much of it is overseas and would be subject to taxation if brought back to US but that is a whole lot more than the $10+ billion you mention. In fact it is much more than the market cap for Intel you mention but I have doubts about that since it is from the same source.

Gamma rays are stopped by 1/4 inches of aluminum? I can see it messing with radio waves, but gamma radiation? Requiring all passenger planes to include a radiation dosimeter for a while (include it with the black box recorder) and we would have a practical answer.

I don't know enough about the details of cloud computing infrastructure to have a strong opinion one way or the other but it seems like a dull but useful market with many competitors but not much potential for a meteoric success like an iPhone or iPad. If Microsoft proves unsatisfactory for some reason, then like in the case of Samsung, I would expect Apple to move to a competitor or start their own (cf Apple Store vs big box disasters like Best Buy). Regardless of the details you can rest assured that there will be an Apple for which you can predict decline and disaster.

Gosh, I didn't think I would have any more to add but this just begs. Bill Gates quite rationally propped up what he considered a harmless adversary to try to satisfy those who objected to his use of monopoly power to subvert the market elsewhere. But Apple was saved by Steve Jobs and built to make Microsoft relatively irrelevant to the future of computing. They (MS) still matter and probably 'always' will but this isn't the future Mr Gates had in mind when he made his very profitable investment in Apple (but they sold those shares many years ago).

This sort of disagreement is not one that can be settled by words. It will be settled by results which will take years to play out. The song you sing of Apple's doom has been sung many times for many decades. If one worships at the temple of market share, predictions are simple and often wrong. Please note how many Commodore computers are relevant today. On a day to day basis we see the drama of Dell and HP, marketshare champions, both dealing with 'interesting times'.

But enough of prognostication. What I was objecting to strenuously was the absurdity of how you characterized that Apple was trying to sneak their failed product, the iPhone, into Brazil using the good name and technical excellence of the locally produced legitimate 'iPhone'. The absurdity of the statement is beyond redemption. It's just absurd.

You really haven't bothered to look at any numbers, have you? Apple makes more money based just on the iPhone than Microsoft does on everything. Soon it is projected to be more than Microsoft and Google combined. We can differ on what we consider a good or better product but successful is rather easily numerically determined and Apple's iPhone is a monster. You are entitled to your own opinions but you are not entitled to your own facts.

"There was not nefarious trademark squatting"

That is exactly what is being alleged. If it were like the Cisco case where an actual product was developed and sold, then one can quite objectively expect Apple to address the issue and rectify the situation (i.e. pay up). In the Brazilian case, like the Chinese case, it appears to be a mugging of opportunity. They saw their opportunity for a payday and made the requisite minimal moves so a home court judge could put his compromised seal on the tawdry affair.

"Yes, I can say exactly that. Look at it like this: A local company creates a successful product and a huge american company with massive lawyers come in and sell an inferior product under the same name. Does the US company deserve to peddle its inferior product to consumers pretending it is the locally produced quality product?"

Successful product? Successful product? Are you blind? Apple's iPhone, whatever else could be said about it, is arguably the most successful product in the history of the world! (No, I don't own or intend to buy an Apple iPhone. I vastly prefer the iPod touch, especially in its most recent version). There is simply no way in the world that Apple intends "to peddle its inferior product" using the reputation of the local product.

"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens."

Has the Plex app on Roku improved recently? The last time I used it the experience had a definite flimsy, underpowered feel. I find the Air Video Server and corresponding iOS app much nicer. I use AirPlay and Apple TV, of course, to view on a big screen TV. A rather peculiar feature is that Apple TV works on my home network, which is not connected to the internet, while Roku simply fails to function if it cannot connect to the internet.

Isn't this mainly just the dark side of Moore's Law? I'm right on the cusp now for Mountain Lion so I am not unfamiliar with the frustration that I will need a new MBP for future updates but I also know how much technology has progressed since I got my classic 15" MBP that runs so well. On the other hand Macs tend to hold their value so you should be able to sell your model to someone who doesn't need the latest update for a good price. Try that with a 5 year old Toshiba (or a 1 year old model).

Oh please, bitch. The Mach microkernel was pioneered by Avie Tevanian and his colleagues at CMU. He left CMU to join a new company called NeXT which had as its CEO Steve Jobs after he left Apple. NeXTStep was developed but did not reach critical mass. When Jobs returned to Apple he brought Tevanian and Jon Rubenstein (previously head of hardware engineering at NeXT) to head Software and Hardware respectively at the 'new' Apple. The software for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, and iPod touch is all developed from the foundation of NeXTStep and the mach microkernel.

What is it with you guys? Apple introduces the first consumer friendly PC in the Apple ][, then the first mass market gui PC in the Mac (after the failed and distinctly not mass market Lisa), the first mp3 player that did not suck too much in the iPod, the first cell phone that often delights rather than inspire you to smash it: iPhone, and finally a pad format device that people actually want to use. But you aren't impressed. Wow. Mit der dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. That's as much /. as I can take for today.