There are a lot of factors why the cinemas and the film makers are having a hard time. First is the experience in the theater itself:

• The movies used to be a reasonably affordable night out for the family. It no longer is. High ticket prices and even higher snack prices easily drive a night out for a family of 4 to $60 - $80 or more. For a movie? Less expensive matinees at least get into the realm of reasonableness.
• The experience inside the theater is usually less than pleasant. The move starts 20 minutes after they say it will to bombard you with add. Many folks, all of which think they are the center of the universe, talk or text on their phones during the movie, ruining the experience. Again, matinees help since there are usually fewer people, but still.

Second is the home entertainment experience.

• It's more and more common place for people to have large, flat screens in their house. It's not a cinematic experience, but it's close enough that it outweighs the aggravation of the theater.
• It used to take a year or more for movies to finally hit the movie channels and then to DVD. Now they're available in a few months on the movie channels or NetFlix or other provider. Heck, you can reserve movies on NetFlix while they're still in the theater. And you KNOW that summer blockbuster (or stinker) will be readily available in time for your Holiday shopping. You wait, at most, a few months before you can see anyway.

What has evaporated is the incentive to actually see it in the theater. The experience.

No My Problem.

This is new? Back in 1991, they used this technique to figure out what breaks the Ex-Presidents surf.

Not necessarily "bad" parenting, but certainly lazy parenting. It is completely the parent's responsibility to monitor what their children are doing. Blaming Apple for your kids running up your credit card is like blaming Glock when you shoot someone. It's YOUR responsibility. I have young child who has an iPod Touch and we set up an account for him with no credit card attached to it and only we know the password. If he wants to purchase anything he has to come to us, he pays us with his allowance and we purchase it for him. This serves several purposes:

• 1) It allows us to monitor what he's playing/using and veto power if we don't think the content is appropriate.
• 2) He learns the value of money, since he's spending his own.
• 3) There's interaction between us regarding this device, and he asks plenty of questions.

Can Apple (or other software vendors) do a better job with parental controls, ease of use and understanding of this technology? Of course, but it'll never be perfect and every kid and family is different. It's no different than any other product - if you don't understand it, feel it's dangerous or not appropriate, don't like the company's policies or history, etc. - you don't buy the product.

This "poor me, it's not MY fault" attitude just boils my blood.

YOU bought the product. YOU allow your kid to use it. It's YOUR responsibility.

It's not an electronic babysitter. It's a device that can be used for good or evil - there needs to be guidance.

Appropriate XKCD reference. This discussion is now over. There is nothing left to be said.

...or a swallow...but which one? An African or a European swallow?

Well this is money well spent. I mean, having to correct my clock every 100 million years was becoming just too laborious.