Any teabilly can run a mail server. Running one *well* is complicated and expensive.

Email is so cheap that there's very little point in running ones' own email server. It's kind of like generating your own electricity: Sure, you can do it, but it's very complicated, very expensive, and is less effective than the existing systems.

I have no idea what your post means. I read it a few times. WTF are you talking about?

I spent $250 for a used generic laptop for my mom a few years ago. It does everything she needs it to do. It hasn't had any problems. If it does, I'll buy her another one. I can buy 4 laptops for every one of yours.

Apple computers cost insane amounts of money. Unless you're 1. very wealthy, 2. concerned about what other people think about your computer, or 3. have a specific technical reason to buy an Apple, there's really no point.

1. Brand is irrelevant. They're all made in the same factories with the same parts.

2. CPU is irrelevant. High end video and audio people might notice a difference, but most people can't tell the difference between i3 and i7. They're all much faster than any regular consumer needs.

4. Batteries wear out very quickly, and often cost as much as the computer to replace. Batteries are a waste of money.

5. RAM and hard drive space are the most important things when buying a laptop.

I couldn't disagree more. Brand doesn't matter at all. They're all made with the same parts, in the same factories, the same way. Brand matters 0% in my estimation. As long as it's not Apple, any laptop will do.

That's because everybody decided to buy shit online!

This is being typed on an Acer that is about 10 years old. It's the longest living laptop I've ever had.

All laptops are made the same way, in the same places, with the same parts. Name brand doesn't matter.

There are already other credit cards out there: namely Discover and American Express. Both operate somewhat separately from Visa/MC, but are forced to share the same network (First Data). Introducing a new credit card won't make a difference, because it'll have to use the same network.

Groupon and PayPal, and just about every other consumer oriented brand that "accepts" credit cards is just re-branding some other service and tacking on some more fees. Groupon certainly is not building a credit card network. More than likely, they're not even creating a credit card gateway. It won't have any impact, whatsoever, on the industry, as per the original post's suggestion.

That'd be nice if it were true. Visa/MC prices (fees) are at an all time high.

And, the barrier to entry isn't Visa/MC, but the credit card processing network, which is largely a monopoly, controlled by FirstData.

WTF does your post have to do with this article? I've read it a few times, but it doesn't seem to make sense, although other people have seen fit to moderate it up.

Credit card reader + Apple devices = business fail. I've seen this a few times, and all of the places I've seen this are now closed, or will be closing soon. A retail business dumb enough to waste money on Apple devices for POS and is paying such an exorbitant amount to accept credit cards is not run by people making financially sound decisions.

The US killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. It's documented fact from virtually every organization and country that is not the US government (they don't count civilians deaths). I'm not going to have a discussion about the value of said lives.

Eh. The US killed a few hundred thousand innocent Iraqis for no good reason. Evil-ness is all relative.