No fun name like GRINCH? Not interested. Try harder.

No, I mostly ignore it. But this *is* still /.

Sure. But it's in the item that started every thread in this discussion, so by definition, it's on-topic anywhere in this /. article, being downstream of the incendiary comment.

Except that the /. article discusses Windows, making comparisons between Windows and OSX on this topic on-topic by definition.

Better yet, go with "Bueller" and then leave without your coffee, leaving them calling Bueller, Bueller, Bueller.

So is AppleCare (no +) a warranty or insurance? It's provided by the manufacturer...

AppleCare+ is more like insurance since it covers accidental damage as well, with a deductible.

Personally I've done very well with AppleCare. Since I live in an area where Apple has no local store, a warranty swap without AppleCare runs me $30-$40 for advanced exchange, or I go 2-6 weeks without my phone, which isn't acceptable. Paying $69 for AppleCare the first time I need it is a no-brainer (since I waive the $35 advanced-exchange fee, that means it only runs me $34. I generally swap my devices once a year, and I've found I do get better resale value too since I'm selling a device with 10-14 months of warranty on it).

Now that Apple won't sell straight AppleCare for the iPhone and I have to get AppleCare+, I'm more apprehensive, but since I also plan on keeping this one for a little over 2 years instead of my usual 12-14 months, I figure it'll work out. I currently have a dead-standby-button iPhone 5 on my desk waiting for UPS pickup on Monday, so I'm $35 of savings into the $99 investment.

However, this takes into account the fact that I've had to warranty all but one iPod Touch / iPhone that I've owned, with a couple DOAs along the way (one DOA was, itself, a warranty replacement). Usually it's the Standby or Home button that goes over time -- If it were just me, I'd say I'm rough on them. Since it's a known defect, I have no problem making Apple replace 'em -- The more they spend on replacing bad buttons, the more likely they are to re-engineer, like they finally did for the iPhone 5.

For me the $69-$99 warranty cost is worth it since replacement cost on the device is ~$700.

(And before anyone throws a tantrum about my prices being "wrong", remember that there is more than one country in the world)

Do they just refund the warranty price and call it a day? Or is that a bonus you get for waiting more than 5 days, but you still get whatever you're entitled to without the refunded warranty?

(Never used the service, but I can't see why they'd have a business if their model allowed them to never pay out anything, ever, except to refund what they were paid)

Sure, just make sure that you assign the CEO, whatever VP is in charge of IT and similar roles with firstname.lastname3@example.com and see how quickly the policy gets changed.

From a job security point of view, you should probably send out "proposed new addresses" as opposed to actually assigning such things in the real world.

Nothing looks more professional than bob_smith72@example.com

BlackBerry also separates the data layer. Save a document to an SD card from your corporate email and try to send it from your personal email? You can't. But you can send it from your corporate email.

It's not the same as fully virtualizing, but it creates a nice data firewall between corporate and personal data.

How so? BlackBerry Smartphones don't run Linux, they run a mostly proprietary OS with heavy Java integration. BB10 and PlayBook run QNX, which is an independent micro-kernel with a POSIX interface. Given that Windows itself has a POSIX subsystem (admittedly it's in the process of being depreciated), this wouldn't be a difficult pill for Microsoft to swallow.

I agree completely with regards to giving kids their freedom, my parents were annoying about being over-bearing and it meant that I didn't get the life experience of taking care of myself early in life.

The trick is to know what they're up to, but NOT INTERFERE unless it's actually dangerous. Let them get into a little trouble, because that's how life works, but it's good to know that all is actually well.

It's called an iPhone. Your kid will carry it willingly, no stress, no questions asked.

Good try, except that people overwhelmingly support ObamaCare when you present it outside of a political context (in other words, sit down and show the terms to people without the label). Inside political context, you still have well over 50% supporting it, so it's not even clearly divided on party lines.

Heck, even Mitt supports it, he practically wrote and implemented it himself at the state level.

"Out of 19,000 emails received by the Committee on the subject of the proposed Draft Communications Bill, not a single one was in favor of it, or even agreed with its premise. Has there ever been a bill so universally rejected by the public in a consultation?"

In other words, the people overwhelmingly support this initiative and it should be implemented as soon as possible, probably way pay raises for the politicians involved?