I don't buy this "it's just human nature" argument.

The prevalence of cell phone use while driving is much greater than that of driving drunk. It is not because it is less of a "human nature". It is because there are stronger deterrents.

If people faced similar penalties to those of DUI (jail time, loss of driving privileges for extended periods of time, etc) for having their hands on the phone while driving, you can bet "human nature" would change accordingly.

As far as their concerned, if it helps Netflix, it hurts cable.

With popcorn, the felony is actually "a salt and buttery".

Exactly. If the "turn off your phones" banner had only before the previews instead, this shooting would have been completely justified.

Does China make it illegal to sell or possess a device that will let the user "sideload" apps? Apple may have been told by China to take the app of the store (we can only speculate), but by making themselves the gate keepers of what apps a user can install, they give China a one stop shop to dictate the apps a large number of their citizens can use. Apple is not blameless, and while they might not censor so much on speech grounds, them making themselves the gatekeeper of apps is very China-like.

It is not so much that they ignore laws. It is more like they sidestep the laws they don't like by conducting certain business in countries with laws they do like.

Dial-up access... there is an app for that.

Does that unlimited plan include international calling? Voice over data can be much more cost effective for that, even without unlimited data. I have gotten good performance even with mobile networks on both ends.

Also, there are apps for that with better track records on user privacy than Facebook.

What stops you from turning off your phone at home?

Considering the penalty for possession of 500 grams weed carries the death penalty in Singapore, I would not be surprised if those black sheep really don't exist there.

ad supported != free

In general, operating systems are more becoming more walled gardens for the vendor's "store" and designed around "affiliated" experiences rather than actual pieces of software that make it easy for the user to install and use the software and services of their choosing. "Free" or not, Ubuntu going down this slope reflects this frustrating trend.

And the compression artifacts look amazing at that resolution!!!!

...and if they can can get a high quality image that fills their field of view with sound that is powerful and convincing, that is good enough for some people to feel like they have actually experienced something, as opposed to just "watching" it.

Of course, most of the people who can afford to create these artificial experiences in their home somewhat convincingly can also afford to actually go to places and have the real life experiences to which you are likely referring. But then, a convincing presentation of something is the closest ANY person can get to "experiencing" events and places that can't possibly be experienced in real life.

I'd never grant that movies can be a substitute for actually going places and interacting with the environment and the people, especially as someone who usually chooses to spend disposable income on travel instead of upgrading the home theater. However with the right presentation and material, movies the can be life experiences you'll never forget.

The stuff on cable is so compressed to hell and filtered that it was never really HD to begin with.

Downloading 31 songs, or ruining someone's life because they download 31 songs?