For selected values of "always". Apple has supported Unicode well since OS X, that is since 2001 or so, or in other words, ten years after the Unicode standard was published. Even Windows was earlier - Unicode support in Windows NT 3.x was there on the API level, in NT 4 it would work well if your programmers had been halfway diligent, and in Windows 2000 it would work well out of the box. With Apple systems before 2001, it was a pain to get Unicode working properly on MacOS 9 - it was technically supported in 9.x, but it didn't really work all that well.

With OS X, Apple finally had the opportunity (that Plan 9 had had something like a decade earlier) to design a new API that used Unicode for all strings. Prior to OS X, the Apple device that supported Unicode best was the Newton, and even there you didn't have proper input methods and rather limited font support.

I developed major wrist problems when writing my PhD dissertation, which involved coding (some 20,000 lines of Python) and writing lots of text. I had started off on an IBM Thinkpad X60 keyboard, which while good as laptop keyboards go, is not ideal for coding.

What made the problem go away for me was four things:

1. A Fujitsu-Siemens KBPC-E USB split keyboard. an adjustable keyboard that can be raised in the middle and has built-in adjustable wrist rests. The keyboard is a rebranded version of the Kinesis Maxim, with different keycaps. Normally they sell for somewhere between 60 and 100 EUR over here, I got lucky that there was an eBay seller who sold a bulk lot of them for 10 EUR each. I bought four.

   In addition I used a keyboard remapper to assign extra functions to the Windows keys (there is an extra set of Windows keys in the key column left of the keyboard). I remapped them into extra Enter and Backspace keys to be used with the left hand.

2. A small traveller's mouse, with the pointer set to high acceleration. I can rest my hand on the table and push it around with small movements.
3. A set of Rehband Manu ComforT wrist guards with built-in carbon fiber support (now made and sold by Otto Bock Healthcare. Not cheap at about 100 EUR each, but they did a good job.
4. Taking care of overall ergonomics of the workplace. Sitting with a straight back, getting a low table so my elbows would remain at a 90 angle, that sort of thing. It's worth talking it over with an orthopedist, some of the tips you get may seem counterintuitive but it works.

With the combination of the four, I went from having constant pain in the wrist to writing 140,000 words within six months without major issues, Your mileage may vary, but in my case it has definitely worked.

Actually the Germans had been using magnetic tape recorders since about 1935. The AC bias technique you mentioned was developed for the AEG Magnetophon, which was a series of tape recorders, not wire recorders.

Towards 1943 or so it was pretty much a high-end system, with stereo and everything. There are a few surviving recordings that were later reissued in LP and CD form.

Well, what are you actually trying to say?

If you can take the $0.99 MP3 and use that to perform a song yourself, go ahead. I'm sure the composer won't mind.

As for the price difference, the target market for sheet music is much smaller than that for MP3s, so it's not really surprising that the price is higher, as there are fewer buyers to offset whatever initial investment there was.

Then again, I'm not sure if a $3 price difference between completely different products entitles anyone to anything. But that's already a question of ethics, not one of "simple math".

When I was in a similar situation I simply got a used Symbian phone (in my case a Nokia E60 for some 50 EUR, the most important thing is there to get one with the S60 operating system.). You should be able to use that with Skype for Symbian, or alternatively with fring if your phone is not supported directly. Works well.

The E-series Nokias had the advantage is that they also included a SIP client out of the box so you weren't limited to Skype. Also there is a Python programming environment if you're into that sort of thing.

Unlike the iPod Touch it also has the advantage that it works as a phone when you're somewhere where there actually is cellular reception, or when you go abroad.

Well, seeing how your requirements and usage patterns are apparently completely different from those of the person you're replying to, and also from those of the story submitter who wanted "dual band, great range, USB print server and storage", it's not really a surprise that you don't experience the issues those persons are having with your hardware, is it?

The other question is, if you are the type that rejects file sharing functionality in a router on principle, why spend the extra premium for this functionality?

Actually it's about both. China probably has a lower percentage of English speakers than Georgia, but if you have more people enrolled into universities than Georgia has citizens, the raw number probably does make a difference.

Not to mention that there is a fair number of countries in Asia where the percentage is higher, too.

In Georgia, somewhat OK if you look at banks and tech stores, not great if you look at grocery stores or bus drivers.

Better than the guy in the store, and probably better than in Turkmenistan or so, but not higher than in India, for example.

I was answering to a statement that there is an "abundance of English speakers", compared to other nations in Asia. There, the raw numbers do play a role. It's much easier to find a qualified English-speaking Indian than a Georgian.

You are speaking about a country of four million people. The capital has a population of less than 1.5 million, and the regions outside the capital are largely uninteresting for IT investment. The abundance of English speakers and large population of engineers need to be seen in relation to that.

English in Georgia is largely limited to the young generation, people over 35 are more likely to speak Russian than English, even though they probably won't like to. I guess you could find more English speakers in many Asian cities than in Georgia, depending on what constitutes "Asia" for you. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan alone have something like a few hundred times the number of English speakers Georgia does. Knowledge also does not mean good knowledge. People already complain about the English of call centers in Bangalore, but I don't see significantly better English in Georgia on a broad scale.

This means practically nothing. For IT work the Internet is the medium of choice anyway. For what it's worth, Kosovo is even closer to Europe, yet I don't see European IT outsourcing to Kosovo happening on a large scale. Georgia is also politically unstable. They got into a war with Russia recently where an EU commission later found that it was primarily the Georgians who started it. The Georgians may fly the EU flag outside government buildings on their own initiative and declare it their goal to join the EU and NATO, but both the EU and NATO are growing increasingly skeptical of the country. Politically they're further away from the EU than they ever were.

Political culture can be irrational in Georgia. It's formally a democracy, but changes of government have never resulted from elections. Public culture can be fairly racist; in 1991 the country was founded amindst slogans such as "Georgia for Georgians", which got them into several civil wars and cost them significant territories inhabited by ethnic minorities, which would now rather see themselves annexed by Russia than governed by Georgia (not that those minorities are necessarily much better in terms of interethnic relations). Infrastructure is problematic outside the cities, too. There are entire regions that don't have electricity (or that had them until 1992, when someone dismantled and stole 70km of overland electricity line for the copper).

Personally I actually like the country, make no mistake. I have been there, I have friends there, I can read Georgian if I have to. But it's not a place I'd recommend for major IT investments.

With the price of cable and all the available options to watch things for free online, I have found that there is a growing minority that is relying on over the air local tv and getting everything else online. I ditched cable about a year ago. I just use over the air tv, netflix, and hulu. Easily saves me $1200+ a year. As long as you are not a sports junkie it is a very viable option.