FTFY.

I won't get into the whole "manned versus unmanned" argument. But I'd point out we "didn't have a manned space program to speak of" from 1975 to 1981--six years. We've been buying rides from the Russians since 2011. SpaceX is expecting to have it's capsule ready for it's first manned mission in 2017, which will be six years from the last Shuttle launch.

Somehow we survived the six years between 1975 and 1981 as a country without a manned spaceflight program. I think we'll probably do it again between 2011 and 2017.

Foam? Spray paint!

I'm totally tagging the 91st floor of the Freedom Tower...

Exactly.

I'll add another angle--can I bring my bike for free? Airlines charge you if you're bringing more than a small suitcase. For the most part, trains don't. I know that the trains going up the coast from LA let you bring a bike for free, though you have to let them know in advance.

And the comfort angle--how much is your comfort worth for how long?

Say that I can fly from LA to SF in an hour. I'm a bit more okay with being jammed into a seat with 300 of my new closest friends. But if the amenities are more like an airline's business-class seat for a quarter of the price of a business-class seat, I'd consider it as long as the schedules work.

That's something else to consider. I can't speak for LA to SF, but way back when there was an hourly airline shuttle between NY and Boston. Pretty easy on the schedule. If there's one train a day at 6:00AM and 4 or 5 airlines flights a day, I'd consider the airlines over the train.

But what about the data that's already IN the US?

Actually, I believe it's meant for use in a hospital, not to be carried around.

Next time they put me on morphine, I am so hacking into this... :^D

Good point.

In some ways, Apple introduced iTunes to make sure that people could buy music on their Macs. Microsoft's DRM solution wouldn't run on Macs and nobody really cared about Real's solution. Since Apple was getting into music (with "Rip, Mix, Burn" and iTunes), they needed this and didn't want to be left behind.

Now there's plenty of streaming music solutions available for people's iPhones. So why is Apple getting into this market except to compete with their third-party developers?

Now if the local Donut Shop had an app, the response would have been quicker...

I have a friend who still has his iPod. The reason is simple--he likes his music but he needs his phone. And he doesn't want to waste his phone battery listening to music when he might need that power for an important phone call.

Or you end up a situation where you have to use older software.

Of course, if you're a developer and you're making Apps, Apple will at some point insist that your applications must link against the latest version of the operating system if you want to release through their stores (and you don't have much choice if it's iOS) which means that, yes, you have to go buy new hardware. I'm facing this pretty soon with my five year-old MacBook Pro.

But for people who are not developers, there isn't as much of an issue.

Your expectations may be off, then.

For example, if I call you, the police can find out that I spoke with you by checking my or your telephone records. While they cannot determine what was said, they can know that I called you at a particular time.

Where you are is somewhat the same thing and is probably protected in the same way.

It's my understanding--and I may be wrong here--but my phone is not broadcasting where it is. It is communicating with various cell towers. The company that owns those towers is using various techniques to figure out where I am.

What was the official soft drink of Challenger? Ocean Spray.
They tried, but they couldn't get 7-Up.

What if there is no profitable way to do it?

Don't get me wrong--I love what SpaceX is doing and I believe it will save the US Taxpayer and businesses money sending items and people into orbit. But exploration is expensive and you may not find what you're looking for--a bad Return On Investment.

I'm reminded of the old saw about the California gold rush: the only people who made money were the people who mined the miners.

I mean, who's SpaceX's biggest customer? The US Government.

Most users don't consider the security side, which means they're probably quite happy with KitKat and see no reason to upgrade--or they'll upgrade when they get a new phone which they can try before they buy.

While I agree that OEM supported upgrades for older phones are spotty at best, who would you have do it instead?

Hell, they had copies of the people in the "pattern buffer." Just beam them back to the Enterprise and stick them back there. This way you don't lose the experience by making a new one each time.