iPod Touch is $199 and much more functional than the Fire, though much smaller.

You don't need to use iTunes to transfer PDFs. There are several hundred PDF readers written specifically for the iPad. I've only tried a few of them but my favorites are Papers, GoodReader and AirSharing, none of which require you to use iTunes for transferring files. Direct access to servers, including mail servers and dropbox, is common. Did you actually try an iPad?

Outsourcing iPad manufacturing to low wage workers in China is hardly the problem. According to iSuppli, each iPad 2 costs $9 to assemble. This is only 3% of the overall manufacturing cost -- the rest is in parts that are made all over the world.

The US benefits at least as much as anyone else from the availability of cheap electronics -- both for consumers and for industry. Unless we are prepared to make all electronics dramatically more expensive, we have to let the market decide who makes the parts that go into our devices. If we're designing the device, and writing software for it, and building new companies and industries around it, that seems like a pretty good contribution to the US economy.

For some reason a lot of people are ignoring the obvious: the iPod touch (and old iPhone's given to kids). Away from consoles, I mostly see kids playing with these (and with their parents iPhones). One friend's kid plays with his Android phone, but she's just 1 and mostly chews on it.

In the most recent quarter reported, Apple (with a tiny share of the market) was already making more profit on its iPhone than Nokia was on all of its handsets combined -- both dumb and smart phones. Also, AAPL's market cap is about four times that of NOK. So I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion about who is the big guy in this battle.

Apple's been fighting to have WiFi enabled because that makes the iPhone experience much better (and hence more saleable). I expect that WiFi will only be turned off in the firmware and the hardware will be the same as is used in the rest of the world: if so, this latent capability could be enabled in the future.

When OS X was introduced it included an OS 9 VM for years ("classic mode"). After the switch to Intel OS X included a PPC VM ("Rosetta") which still allows all PPC programs to run on Intel Macs. In fact, with 3rd party software (e.g., VMWARE Fusion and a copy of Windows XP), a Mac is exactly as compatible with old Windows programs as a PC is.

The EFF article just quotes the iLounge article as its source -- it is certainly not independent confirmation of anything. The guys at http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/14/we-found-the-chip-in.html have pictures of an actual chip under the switch in the cable, but this also proves nothing about DRM. You presumably need circuitry in the cable to make this thing work: unlike the iPhone or iPod touch, this iPod reuses the earphone connector to sync the iPod!! My guess is that one of the functions of the chip in the cable is to simply identify what has been attached to the connector. I've seen no evidence that there's DRM involved.

This poster is absolutely right: the article is a hit piece that misquotes and completely contradicts what the Japanese journalist Hayashi has actually been writing! Mod kalel666 up! Take a look also at http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/20290/ on why the Japanese don't hate the iPhone.

Of course it's all Clinton's fault. Bush has just been clearing brush for the past eight years. The fact that he was the most incompetent president this country has ever had, and put political considerations and ideology ahead of competence and experience in nearly every appointment are irrelevant to the current mess. Heck of a job Bushie!

No, the inflation rate is currently around 0% or slightly negative. See http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/CurrentInflation.asp.

Tax cuts don't help much if they are saved, which is likely. The banks don't need more deposits -- they are afraid to lend even though the Fed rate is at 0%. I think our leaders should forget about the stimulus and just nationalize insolvent banks. This is a way to let the insolvent banks go bankrupt without causing too much disruption to the financial system. This would instantly restore the credit markets and then the government could control credit using fiscal policy again. They can re-privatize the banks later, as was done in Sweden when they had their credit crisis.

Republicans have no basis for posing as fiscal conservatives at this point, having overseen a 10 to 20 trillion dollar expansion in the US debt. Given an economy that is collapsing, losing jobs at the rate of 600,000 per month currently, there is really nothing else to try right now other than government spending: the Fed overnight rate is at 0% so we've run out of fiscal policy. Giving tax cuts to people that they save in the bank will do nothing to stimulate demand. Banks don't need more savings -- they already have free credit from the Fed and are still afraid to lend! The fact that the Republicans insisted on removing $40 billion from the package that was aid to the financially strapped states is incomprehensible to me! This is obviously money that is ready to be spent, which is exactly what a stimulus is about! As GDP drops, government revenues also drop, and so not providing a stimulus could easily cost the government more than doing it!

There is also some real urgency here. Overstimulation of the housing market should not bring down the whole economy, but uncontrolled leveraging and hedging have made that a real possibility. If financial blood flow is not restored soon chunks of the economy will die needlessly and a large portion of the workforce will lie idle and unpaid.