Let's face it, that UK no longer exists. Instead you have creeping US-style fascism in the form of your Tory "leadership". The current UK ministers would never sign those bills much less write them.

Absent my equipment loans (ie, what a carrier subsidy should be - ie, limited duration, can pay of early to unlock completely, etc), I pay $110 for 5 lines. Each with it's own 500MB+tethering.

I get HD Voice on my iPhone5s (great for me and the wife to actually hear each other on the commute home), and unlike AT&T customers, I had Facetime over cellular for the past 2 months.

I used to pay around $100 for a single line on Verizon (wife paid same for AT&T).

The *only* downside is that data in very large buildings (museum, costco) can be literally zero. If you work in a large shielded building and don't have internal wifi, then you might want to reconsider - but that's what the test drive period is for. For all other things, tmobile has been about as reliable as either AT&T or VZ for a whole lot less and with better voice.

Sadly those two bolded statements you mention are pretty far from the truth. Both parties are corrupted by megacorporations (mainly owned/run by the very wealthy) to the degree that only what benefits the megacorps gets passed (whether it benefits/harms small business or individuals seems to be a minor factor). Whether it's dems passing/continuing a tax cut for the wealthy, or the repubs passing big-brother legislation that makes everyone's life more bureacratic, both parties are are not representative of small business or individuals unless they get lobbied by hard cash.

Two decades ago, I might have agreed with both your idea and the parties' signatures. Now I don't think that's the case anymore. Consequently, I don't think any of these kind of ideas will go anywhere. Our "representatives" ... aren't.

Well, shit. Then perhaps they should have considered the privacy implications of mandating a 1984-style (well even more advanced actually) system as a requirement for their console shouldn't they?

The fact that they're still sticking to this as a *requirement* for playing games is pretty telling of their attitude... which is not respectful to their customers.

Go ahead, buy the XBone - I'll wait out this "show my kids dressing up in the living room to an always-on big brother" fad.

5. Integrates with PRISM natively, giving Big Gov (which is quite corrupt these days) a chance to look right into your living room.
6. ???
7. Profit at the expense of your privacy.

Microsoft was the first big tech company to roll over for the NSA (that there's pretty good knowledge of NSA backdoors into Windows for years just shows their further corrupt nature). They give NSA exploit information prior to patching it.

There is no way I am going to give Microsoft (and the government by proxy) a device that can tell when I entered a room, when I leave, and what I'm holding for f*cks sake. Just for some games?

To those who think that Ouya and XBone/PS4 aren't comparable - I'll tell you something - when several of the options is anathema, the remainder, no matter how poor, are all I'm willing to commit to - that it costs so much less is a bonus. I still haven't figured out the Wii U, and I'm not sure I have time to.

Fun should be simple - I debug/analyze and get systems working at my day job - I don't need to mess with all that @ home.

So instead of just having the application fee proportional to the "value" of the patent, make it a yearly tax. If it's a small inventor, they can pay tax on that property that's so valuable - as long as they're pulling in massive licensing fees, they get taxed on that (additional to normal taxation) to support the patent office. If the property isn't making money, then the taxes are lower, but not nonexistant. If it's a big company maintaining a large warchest of intellectual property, they can pay yearly for the right to monopolize those inventions. This will keep them from hoarding useless patents.

Real property is taxed, and so we should treat imaginary property the same.

We need a Paula. Vulcans? Hell, I'd take Vogons at this point.

Why weep - I thought the only valid business model (unless you're on the super-popular end of the power curve distribution) was ad-based apps.

Has this changed recently? Have people been actually paying for their Android apps?

These are exactly the questions that need to be asked - or will have to be asked when iOS7 is gold.

I do have a concern that this, while not crippling the 2nd hand market, might force Apple into the gatekeeper of resales - a position that is very powerful and corrupting.

I hope they make it easy to facilitate resales, or I might consider alternatives for my next smartphone.

You could easily translate Post-PC as Post-Windows and it's a far more accurate term (without being acrimonious). Apple (and Google) is stepping into the gaping void that MSFT has left open with their Win8/Surface boondoggle/catastrophe.

The "PC" will always exist, however, it may consist of a healthy mix of OSX, Windows and ChromeOS (and linux).

So what you're really saying is that "full-screen" mode was useless for you. I use multiple monitors on my MBP, and it's still better at supporting my shitty workplace external monitors than my Thinkpad (prev years model) was. Doing a preso doesn't FUBAR my MBP multi-monitor setup like it did my Thinkpad. BetterSnapTool fixes most of the aero-snap features that Win7 had over OSX.

I never use full-screen, now I might (if IT blesses us with 10.9 any time soon).

If he's smart, those dumps are dead-man triggered. NSA knows this, for sure.
Meanwhile, having him extradited and "Manning'ed" isn't going to go over well at all for PR.

Snowden may actually have a stronger hand than everyone fears.

Now, you're slandering the "learning difference" people.

Really, 25% of the US is dumb as rocks. They don't have the mental retardation excuse - they're not born that way, they just refuse to learn what's good for them.

I'd disagree - I think Apple did essentially re-invent itself when it switched from Apple Computer to Apple back in '07.

It realized it's future was mobile devices, and despite it's massively profitable iPod franchise, effectively cannibalized it completely with the touch-based offerings, iPhone and iPad. Prior to this change Apple was a Mac/iPod company, afterwards it was the iPhone company (and still is).

For now, and it's really all despite Apple essentially not caring about gaining "ground". Because they're the only other reasonable option corps have to a standard WinTel box/book. However, ChromeOS has been getting better and better, and I strongly feel it will rapidly gain a good chunk of the corporate market once it hits a certain feature parity with mainstream desktop OSs.

As long as Microsoft keeps confusing the nascent tablet market with it's entrenched and highly profitable desktop OS market, it will continue to be open to attack from other desktop OS alternatives.