Actually - that may not matter what iTunes does. It appears that they are licensing the masters for redistribution by Apple. Apple is then selling permanent digital downloads (that, btw, has a specific meaning) - which makes them more akin to a CD sale. How Apple distributes the songs may be irrelevant to the case as the contract in dispute is about how the masters were licensed, or so it seems.

Oh, they're not providing the recording studio for free. All of the costs of recording and production - at full retail value - come out of the artists share of their contract proceeds before they start receiving any money. It's just that the studio is lending them the money so they aren't out of pocket for those costs up front.

This could go badly for the record companies on both fronts.

They are apparently licensing their content to iTunes - providing a master for duplication by a distributor - which could lead to them paying higher fees to the artists. At the same time, however, iTunes may be selling individual copies to their users, which may fall under first dale doctrine and allow resale of the "permanent digital downloads" - as is the case under consideration with reDigi.

I was going to suggest replacing their oxidizer with a barium based compound. It's how the amateurs do it.

The most interesting thing is that it's not marriage or middle class living that necessarily promotes caring about your kid's education. I see a great deal of apathy in affluent neighborhoods full of married families. Hell, I see a lot in middle class, married families with only one working parent. Sure, working at the poverty line, or being a single parent makes raising kids a bigger challenge - but they are still your kids, and you chose to bring them into this world. Learn some responsibility. That goes for all the stay-at-home parents who still can't find time to help their kids with homework every night. If you can't handle the commitment, don't have kids - you're fucking it up for those of us who actually care.

The rare case for a +6 insightful comment.

You want to know the best predictor of elem school success? You have to promise not to tell anyone, but it's parental involvement. Find a school where most of the parents are engaged with their kids, and regularly volunteer at the school, and you'll find a great learning environment. Everything else - money, test score changes over time, administration, etc. are really secondary. They get your kids for 5 hours a day 180 days a year, and you have them for 19 hours on those days and 24 on the other 185.

The biggest problem with elementary schools isn't money or bad teachers or inefficient administration - it's parents that don't give a shit.

Or you're not flying that many people. Only about 520 people have gone into space, worldwide.

Parts of copyright law already have this - mechanical licensing, for example. It's relatively straight forward and accessible. Oddly, syncronization rights are not compulsory, nor are master rights. They're not always easy, but it's a hell of a lot better than if they didn't exist.

Actually, you need a bit of training to use the on screen keyboards. I, too, was wedded to my HTC phones for their kbd, and had troubles at first with the iPhone because I didn't understand how they work. The capacitive screens see a potential rise which is centered around the contact point - like a big bump or hill - not a single x,y location. The OS (well, drivers) then reduce that potential field to the most likely point. I believe that for the keyboard, additional processing is done to predict what key you are more likely to hit based on the typing in order to increase your chance of a correct keystrike in a borderline case.

The key (ha!) is to press the key you want like you mean it. Don't try to finesse it or you'll probably end up with the potential field skewed one way or the other. Once you realize that you don't have to touch just the key you want, it gets much easier. It's basically the opposite of how you deal with a chicklet keyboard.

It works, mostly. M and backspace suck mightily, and there is occasionally confusion in the U-I-O recognition, but for the most part it's as good as a physical keyboard. The biggest beef I have is that there are no arrow keys.