"Right now, on newegg, im only seeing USB3.0 on highend multi-hundred-dollar motherboards, so it seems to be a wash in that regard."

At least do a bit of checking before making claims such as this. A 15 second search of Newegg shows SEVERAL AMD and Intel boards under $100 that include USB 3.0, a even more in the $150 range (if you don't care to go the "bargain basement" route). Have an empty PCI-e 1.0 slot? Less than $50 can get you going with USB 3.0. This isn't to say I disagree with your overall statement, just with your decision to ignore the details.

I totally agree, it's way overuse. Wish I could expand on my thoughts but I'm smack in the middle of the Snow Storm of the Century right now and the power could go out at any minute.

I'd be more worried about the comfort than being able to see the "screen." If your mouse would initiate a command when touched, what if you want to use the mouse WITHOUT initiating the command? How would you move it? Dunno how other people use their mouse, but my hand generally rests on the mouse when I use it, meaning I would constantly be touching the screen. Would I be expected to hold the mouse in some awkward position by which my fingers are not touching it......? Just because touch sensitivity works on displays doesn't mean it works for EVERYTHING. I think this is an example of Apple taking an idea a bit too far.......

Exactly. At least Verizon had the decency to inform you they were changing your password AND what they were changing it to. Something tells me that if someone else with less than your best interest at heart had found out you were using a default password on your router they would have done neither after changing it for you.

I say consider yourself lucky and take this lesson to heart.

Of course, apple could have easily designed the phone with with a some plastic along the side, but this would go against their aesthetic "vision".
So instead in order to correct the problem each person who buys the phone has to spend MORE money on a case, effectively hiding the aesthetic "vision." Actually, that sounds just about right.....

I can personally vouch for that. I'm a State government employee and any time we contract work out (which is generally on construction projects in my department's case) there is a list of minority-owned businesses that we must go through and contact X number of for bids before we can make any decision. Should we decide on a company not minority owned we have to give a lengthy explanation of why they were chosen over the minority-owned companies. This isn't always as hard as it sounds though, since the vast majority of the numbers on the lists (that get updated yearly) are no longer in service (or as in at least one occasion in the past reused by sex hotlines, those are fun). I am all for using minority contractors when they are the best options, but not just because they are minority owned. But I guess that's what reverse discrimination is all about these days..... Oh, I'm sorry, I meant "equal" opportunity.

No, it would more likely convince them that "hey, I got this great customer experience without even ever spending a dime, why spend money for what I can continue getting for free?" Not that I disagree (or agree for that matter) with allowing pirated users the option to use the software, I just think your logic is off.

I agree whole-heartedly. I was in band from the 4th grade all the way through til high school graduation and I saw what copyright "protection" did to our music program. I remember having to share one sheet of music for 4 people because our director didn't want to take a chance at violating copyright by making an extra copy or two; whether a violation would have occurred or not didn't matter (and I'm not sure it would have), the fear of it happening was enough. Except in areas where the band actually makes a profit (all of our concerts were free at the time and open to the public, no profit was made except during marching band season) how is this not all covered under fair use? It's ridiculous. The only reason we didn't have financial problems was because we had such a good group of lobbying parents in the past that pushed the district for money, allowing us to build a substantial back catalog of music we could play from. I can see why smaller schools don't even start up band/orchestra programs though, it's too damn expensive. IMO, the RIAA will be a major culprit in the death of music education in America.

Not at all. The summary clearly states that it requires 2 people that YOU appoint to confirm death before they will send the e-mail. This means these two people need to know about the service. I would suppose in most cases at least one of these two would be your intended recipient, meaning they know to expect the e-mail. Even if people receiving it weren't on your confirmation list I'm sure the site's intention is to warn those who would receive the e-mail before passing so there are no bad surprises.

You may not agree with the service (I know I certainly don't, I agree with you that a hand written message is best) but just because you don't think it's useful doesn't make it pathetic. Ultimately, if people sign up for the service it will survive, if not then it was a bad idea and it will fade away.

Take a look at this. Obviously not the correct model/color but it fits pretty cool in the 2010 Camaro SS "mail slot." Here's the link to where I saw this video a while back. Good for a laugh if nothing else.