It was mentioned earlier RT seems a bit fringe. Certainly a class action of this size would be on some mainstream news sites, but some sniffing on google turns up other small sites quoting RT.

I recently changed cell providers to Sprint. My number one criteria when shopping for new cell service was "anybody but AT&T"

-- "Ummm you missed portable cd players which I've used since 1992."

True. I'm officially an old person when I type walkman and reflexively follow it with "cassette player". I had intended to type CD player. But it was still a pain to lug all the CDs around. :)

Also I remember owning lots of one-hit wonder CDs I regretted buying about five minutes after walking out of the music store.

The istore may not have been the first digital music store but they have made the biggest impact in changing the business model. You can thank Apple for being able to buy the one decent song on a CD for an affordable price.

The iPod also has made it easier for people to have all of their favorites at their fingertips. Before that there were some crappy, poorly designed mp3 players by creative and that's about it. Your other option before ipod were walkman style cassette players.

It's easy to be cynical about the music business, but in this case recognition is deserved.

Tyrants and Kings used to do it all the time. Public opinion mush be controlled.

Meet the new boss....

>> "All with exciting names like Sony XV-20039clb (now with tint control!)."

What!?! you mean you don't like the name "Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch"?

Shame on you! Go write it on the chalkboard 100 times!

I remember when Amiga and Atari both came out with machines based on the Motorolla 68000 processer (the same as the first mac). I owned an Atari ST during that time. Apple sued Atari over the TOS desktop, specifically they were mad about the Trash Can icon (among other things).

Then there were the emulators. Since they shared the same processor it was only a matter of time before someone wrote an emulator to let Mac run on Atari. "Gadgets by Small" was hounded by Apple's lawyers when they published Spectre 128 and Magic Sac. The ST ran 68000 Mac software with very little impact in performance.

>>"Lets be clear here-- its not "bible thumpers" that added a stigma to it. "

Yes.

It is.

I'm not the one who pushes that public image of home-schooling. Most home-school parents I've met do so because they teach Evolution in science class and the earth is more than 6500 years old. There's no creationist counter POV. Then they go on to talk about how offended they at lessons regarding tolerance and respect that might include gays. And of course there's a school nurse around every corner offering contraceptives and abortions. After all, these kids are just being indoctrinated into a democratic voting block. The teachers don't really care about teaching the three R's, they're just a big union of liberal activists helping Obama get re-elected.

I've heard it a million times. Don't tell me you haven't.

In early learning repetition and learning by example are important. To carry your lego story a step further - You build 90% of the Falcon while your kid watches. But then you only build 70-80 percent on your next lego project, and after 3 or 4 more projects your kid is mostly going solo with the occasional question.

You instinct about starting with a simpler kit is also valid. Showing kids the most complex thing at the beginning is a good way to intimidate them to where they have no interest.

Same for homework. Sometimes I feel like I'm spoon-feeding my kids the whole assignment. But they learn a little even when we do that. Some evenings they do very well on their own and I'm just quality checking on spelling and handwriting.

>> "too bad Apple can't pass along some of those 'savings' to the end customer."

An iphone 4 (not s) is free to new customers at sprint. I'm sure Apple had to sign off on that. Apple does occasionally have deals.

Apple is a bunch of profit mongers, don't get me wrong. But my main point is Apple sold the current generation of smart phones to the average man. Before iphone it was a sea of crackberries. Love apple or hate them, I think we can agree iphone is a step up from BB.