If Apple (or someone) files a patent application it is on the public record*, if they don't, they can't make a claim. So . . . how is Apple meant to make Samsung do its due diligence?

*37 C.F.R. 1.11

How is the ISP meant to know the video's bitrate?

In fact, most streaming video doesn't have a bitrate. It has several and the player adapts based on network conditions.

Have we forgotten about PolyHeme? It isn't truly artificial (it is made from human hemoglobin), but it is not infectious and is not type specific. And it can be stored for a year at room temperature.

People don't want DNS. They want web and mail. Both depend on DNS.

A couple of points of fact.

1. You can run non-MacOS software on Mac hardware. (E.g. Windows, Linux.)
2. You can run MacOS on non-Apple hardware (though it is a violation of the license agreement).

I take your point, but I think it would be more apt to say "free as in bar mix". Yes, it's figured into the overall bill. Yes, it makes you want more of the product for sale. But it's not really a trap. More of a loss leader.

"Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which serve to mask the source and destination of data by routing it through a third-party server"

This is a false and very dangerous line of thinking. A VPN and a proxy are two different things. And they don't necessarily do what you're saying they do.

"We don't know why Facebook would be against a browser extension that improves their users' site experience."

Easy. You seem to be operating under the very common -- but clearly mistaken -- belief that Facebook users are Facebook's customers. In fact, Facebook's advertisers are their customers, and Facebook users are the product. Once you look at it from this perspective, everything Facebook does makes sense.

"The automobile saved people time, which is why it replaced the horse."

It also saved Manhattan from being -- quite literally -- buried in horse shit.

"Most people don't think too highly of the folks behind Standard Oil, but an honest assessment would suggest that they did more to save whales than anyone at Greenpeace -- by making whale oil a less cost effective heating mechanism."

Strangers with this kind of intellectual honesty make me go a big rubbery one, if you know what I mean.

Very, very well said. Kudos.

From the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the article:

"some rich areas of the country receiving up to US$23,000 per line per year from the agency's Universal Service Fund"

Per line, per year. Not one-time.

I wonder why you think I'm upset.

Your sig suggest that you're a thoughtful person, but your post seems as if you didn't think about what you were saying at all.

Surely you don't really think that a market wherein the vast majority of consumers use an optional (subsidized) system will treat outlier, "pay-as-you-go" consumers equitably.

I've never been able to accept the oft-cited studies claiming that hands free is no safer than using the phone directly while driving. I'm embarrassed that I never considered a common cause between accidents during hands-free and hands-on calls that is unrelated to the call.

In any case, IN YOUR FACE commenters who cited the older studies!

I had the same questions, so I went to their site. I browsed around. Read the FAQ. Tried to borrow a book.

I still have the same questions.

-Peter

Aren't casinos exploiting humans? Isn't this worse?

-Peter