If someone wants to show me a demonstration of software that can turn that iSight camera on, snap a pic, and then turn off in 10ms - I'd love to see. Hey, maybe it's possible. But it takes Apple's Photo Booth like 4-5 seconds before it displays a picture.

Doesn't say that the school official activated the camera or snapped the pic. If the student snapped their own pic and the school official saw the picture, the school would be totally within their rights (assuming they have the right to browse the contents of the laptop at any time, and this I would assume).

Not if the student took the picture of himself. The "big question" here is: Who activated the camera?

Also, I don't think I've seen anywhere that indicates this security software can snap pictures without turning the green light on next to the camera. Meaning that we're not exactly talking about "covert surveillance".

Very few days go by when I don't have a call dropped on my iPhone, just sitting here in my home office. And forget about when driving. Everyone I know in LA who has an iPhone complains about the very same thing. If you want to listen to a funny conversation, eavesdrop on a conversation between two iPhones. "Yeah, it's me again. The iPhone dropped the call again. Yeah, well.... hello? Hello?"

So far their answer? "Mark The Spot", an iPhone app that they want you to switch to and register a complaint about dropped calls instead of trying to call back the person whose call just dropped off. Why don't they look at their records and see the number of times I redialed a number within 30 seconds that I was just connected to?

I've been an Apple guy since the II, and make my living on the Mac platform. But another couple of months to shake out the Nexus and I'm moving. I like Apple but not willing to continue being punked by this Apple/AT&T alliance.

The best strategy of all - Never post anything in a massively public system that you don't want to be public. :-)

You can deny access from your account all you want, but when your friends click that "grant access" it's almost the same as if you've done it. Try that ACLU quiz and they will show you what kind of information they can gather about your friends without their permission.

Problem is that you don't need to give them your info. All your "friends" who take dumb-ass surveys like "Which Star Wars character are you?" are giving away your info for you. http://apps.facebook.com/aclunc_privacy_quiz/

If phones could display detailed and accurate information as to the power usage of each application, we'll be able to evaluate applications not only based on features and stability but also power consumption. Apps could compete to use the least amount of power, or be configurable individually to balance battery & speed.

Yep, including the additional memory "backpacks". And as a former beta tester for Rio, I've got an interesting collection of their other players - the Karma, Forge, and a bunch of others I can't even remember the name of.