Tesla's plan, from the very beginning of the company, was to create the Roadster (an overpriced concept), to generate the seed money to develop the technology further. Thanks to the rich folks who spent the 100k+ and supported this company, they were able to take step two which is the 50k luxury sedan. Step 3 is the 30k sedan, which was still part of their plan and where I have always hoped to come into the picture. I'm removing Slashdot from Google reader and not coming back. The site has been "on the decline" for a very long time, but it's just complete trash now.

I have 10+ devices that could play a DVD and several that can play Blu-Ray. I didn't "intentionally" buy any of them with that express intent. If it *actually* lowers the price on the thing, I am all for this. I do not have the desire to pay for functionality which I do not need.

As are most religions. I love the way they are going about it. Says more about organized religion and the way governments tolerate it than anything about file sharing.

To be honest I'm not sure how you can call Sony security a failure. As far as popular consumer devices go, the PS3 lasted for eons. I am both a Sony and Apple fanboy (somewhat), and have to laugh at the hours (literally) it takes any Apple product to be cracked while Sony (as dysfunctional as any company there is) makes a product that lasts for years. Cracking the keys was inevitable, but Sony should be recognized for making it more difficult than anyone else :) I still sit on the side of the fence where the damn thing should have been open from the get-go...but meh

I didn't know "fair use" included charging people monetarily to view the portion you are supposedly "fairly using". Also fair use does not stipulate you can use 100% of the source.

You're the problem. Go ahead and extend your attitude to everything which has ever been done or researched and let us know how humans progress.

I know it is popular to make fun of Americans...but at least do it in such a way that doesn't make you look like an idiot. I live in nearly the most impossibly redneck area in the country (southwestern Missouri), and not even a two-toothed grease monkey would say what you just typed.

Are you aware the terms of a typical lease are for 12k miles per year? Ever heard of a "3 year / 36,000 mile warranty" ? 90k is damn close to what the industry says you should drive in 8 years.

Myself...I drive 45k-50k per year. I like newer cars and could never afford to lease one.

This is a very valid point. They should stop calling this "theft".

They are a cash cow. Little to no resources are put into them, and students gain (at most) some busy work to do while reading the book on their own. I have taken online courses at three universities. Each one of them charged more per credit hour (~50% more) while I felt like I learned much less from the course. I'm sure there are good programs out there somewhere, but none in the institutions where I have had experience. In order to do well in online courses, you need to be a self-starter. MUCH moreso than in a typical classroom environment. My advice, if it applies to your courses, is to use the heck out of MIT's OCW program. Those lectures have gotten me through many online courses where the professors had (for the most part) not even read the current text we were assigned to use. I have donated several times to MIT because of OCW, it is fantastic.