Umm....you didn't read your quoted section entirely. If I am a vendor and only accept credit and cash, I charge everyone the same amount, and give a cash discount. I have thus just charged a credit fee.

Here's the original source over at Google Groups from JBQ http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/browse_thread/thread/3757b189f4e93df0?hl=en&pli=1

Actually, those guys using just the open source aren't going to count as customers because the devices won't ship with the google apps, including market. That's why when you install Cyanogenmod, you need to go get the google apps package from somewhere else to provide the extra functionality. Only devices that license through google get the market, gmail, etc.

Seriously? CM tells you how to do this, as does rom manager, etc. Google and Cyanogen came to very nice terms quite some time ago about gapps. Cyanogen can't include it, but they are allowed to provide it as a separate package. So here you go: http://goo-inside.me/gapps/

Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway Bill Gates and Microsoft (in the 90's)

Jack is just the hole/opening. Port is the entire housing, etc.. Easy enough.

Go read the patent. Jack is the same as a port. Here's what it basically proposes: Two types of ports. First is a half-port. Nothing will fit that new port except for the half plug. The second is a fully circular "port", but only putting the electrical contacts on one half of the the port. The other half (to make a full circle) is just a non-conducting part of the case of the device. This eliminates the contacts on the other half of the port, thus shaving maybe like a millimeter or two off the total thickness of your port. You go to a full half-port, and it would cut a jack in half entirely.

as opposed to whom? Didn't these script kiddies have this script before as well?

Fine line though right? If I develop a new type of super-light but super-strong steel, should I be allowed to patent the chemical formula that makes up compound? Is my new type of steel an invention or a discovery? This compound is a mixture of pre-existing things, carbon, iron, etc., but in a way never before done. Does it exist it nature? Chances are there might be a few molecules existing somewhere out there in the universe, that just haven't been found.

For what it's worth though, I am completely and utterly against gene patents. It's kind of gray, given my previous example, but Isolating a gene in the genome is definitely not an invention in my book.

I doubt it's over. The Logitech Revue was the very first device to market. I completely dismissed the Revue as a half-assed attempt to beat apple. After seeing the SageTV/Google screenshots, I have no doubts the second iteration will be where it's at. Maybe something that combines the GoogleTV2.0 with Android@Home...that would be sweet. I also think that Amazon may enter the fray in a few years.

Your analogy about the store was quite faulty. A slightly better analogy would be to think of it more like a mall. So you have a vendor in one of those stores that is paying the owners of the mall a fee to rent out space there. Now, if that vendor starts doing stuff like offering "FREE CANDY!" and it floods the mall with people, to the detriment of other patrons and shop owners, then yes, that's a problem. But, there are ways to fix that though. In addition, companies like netflix aren't hijacking a connection. They pay for their internet service so they can stream you video. And they almost certainly pay through the nose for the amount of data they push out onto the network. Youtube does the same thing. As does Google, Microsoft, Apple and any other cloud based service. Those guys are all paying a metric farkload of money. If you as an ISP can't afford to provide a service then you have 3 choices. Either raise the price to make more money, reduce the service to a point where you can, or a combination of the 2. The BEST analogy is something we've had for quite sometime, and that's the power companies. For instance, if I want to run 30 AC units off of my line, I pay for every kWh I use. If someone comes out with a new device that uses tons of power, they aren't "leaching" off my power company, as I am paying for that usage. The power company doesn't care how I use my power or what I use it for, as I am paying them all the same. In addition, I get better rates if I use power at lower demand times. If I choose to watch Netflix at 8pm, it sucks, but so does running my AC at 3PM in the afternoon. I can also go over to plans that give me a better rate if I keep my kW usage below certain levels at any given point, just like if I was to keep my total downloads to less than 5mb/s at any time. These kind of options help the power company meet their goals of trying to supply a finite resource at any given point in time. If I decide to reduce my usage by switching over to lower wattage lights, that means I use less juice and it pays more. This would be analogous to using compression schemes on my data. The power company and the way they operate would be a perfect analogue for an ISP.

No, it's not just you. It's blog spam and the link is at the bottom: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/why-netflix-raised-its-prices/

Transferring isn't really viable. These ships don't have cranes on em. How in the world would you, at sea, pluck a container from the top of the stack and move it to another boat? Helicopter? That's a logistical and economical nightmare for a couple of containers....