So what would you do if you got your eReader, but didn't have a computer to establish a wired connection to your router?

WPS in theory gives a built-in password that you can use to boot-strap the process with only wireless devices.

This exploit in WPS isn't due to a conceptual defect, it's an implementation defect that made the built-in PINs pretty much useless. So assuming that router vendors add in some rate-limiting, a proper-length PIN, or lock-outs for incorrect guesses (with a physical button to clear the lockout), the concept can be more secure than the average WPA password. It's ridiculous to suggest that only computer-savvy people should be able to use WIFI, and it's no longer an option to have the routers default to open access points.

Why should we believe Microsoft supports Mac OS/X for anything but blatantly self-serving reasons, when the customers have been trodden on time and again?

Are they? I bought my phone for about £50 and I'm on a pre-pay plan where I typically pay £2-3 each month. For £5/month I can get a light-use data package (enough for email and IM).

Keep telling yourself that. Despite all the promises, even the iPads are still computers with many typical computer problems. Anyone I know who actually got one instead of just marveling about it has felt the enthusiasm over the managed experience fade. It's still a novelty market, and while there are many people who strongly desire a tablet, that is mostly a testament to the failure of the PC platform, not proof that tablets can do what people want. As the insight that tablets are not the solution to all domestic computer problems seeps in, the pressure on the price will increase. Nobody wants to spend that kind of money on something that ultimately does not deliver and ends up as a glorified universal remote.

You made a $70 dollar downpayment and will be paying off the phone over the next two years.

But that's also surely not the way they want it.

(c) Siri. If your iOS Device supports Siri, which includes the dictation feature, these features allow you to make requests, give commands and dictate text to your device using your voice. When you use Siri, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple to process your requests. Your device will also send Apple other information, such as your first name and nickname; the names, nicknames, and relationship with you (e.g., “my dad”) of your address book contacts; and song names in your collection (collectively, your “User Data”). All of this data is used to help Siri understand you better and recognize what you say. It is not linked to other data that Apple may have from your use of other Apple services. By using Siri, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information, including your voice input and User Data, to provide and improve Siri and other Apple products and services. If you have Location Services turned on, the location of your iOS Device at the time you make a request will also be sent to Apple to help Siri improve the accuracy of its response to your location-based requests. You may disable the location-based functionality of Siri by going to the Location Services setting on your iOS Device and turning off the individual location setting for Siri. You can also turn off Siri altogether at any time. To do so, open Settings, tap General, tap Siri, and slide the Siri switch to “off”. You may also restrict the ability to use Siri under the Restrictions Setting.

You must not be reading the marketshare numbers. They are still selling quite well, by themselves... but not compared to anything. There are still tons of iPhones selling but if you add up the numbers of all manufacturers of Android phones you see they aren't in the lead any more.

It seems Siri is English-only.

Yet the vast majority of the world's population does not talk in English in daily life. Chinese is probably the most widely spoken language, but then you still have the many different dialects.

I wonder how technologies like Siri manage the various versions of English, with sometimes opposite meanings to very similar expressions. Not to mention the varying accents.

But seriously, for the folks with Siri, is it that useful? Do you use that often?

I've played around with the voice recognition features of droid, and they're more annoying than useful. Part of it is, the only time I'd really want any of those features is when driving. Otherwise, my fingers are much more accurate than my voice.