Yes, as a punch bag.

Thank you,
Now you got me wondering on who will win... the Fox or the Weasel...

The real problem is that there are two camps that are competing for patent legislature.
1. Software/hardware patents. Enough is said about that on Slashdot.
2. Pharma patents. If you bind two chemicals it does wonders for a particular disease patents.

Developing a patent for the pharma group genuinely costs a lot of money (research, test groups etc.) whereas a software/hardware patent not necessarily does (think of an idea "People need blue handsets" and document it). Both camps have a ton of money and both have very different stakes at this. The software camp can do without, the pharma group cannot. This is a deadlock from different business interests which results in no effort to reform the mess. The recent changes in legislature are just weak.

An evolutionist answer never flies in those situations.
To be honest, I am more disturbed by making ponies sexy than slim...

I was a fan of the iPhone 3Some.

Welcome to the new internet.
In case you have not noticed, "half" the world is on the net which means the number of morons out here quadrupled as well.
Try to read the comments section on your favorite news site, you will understand what I mean...

I think we are on the same page...

When I said, 'everyone needs to have one', it is a statement that a large number of people think that they need to have one (disclaimer, I do not carry a smart phone).
With that behavior, the portion of money spent on non essentials moves to the smart phone business with the effect that this money doesn't do much for the economy other than the Apple's (and Apple's effect on the local economy is marginal). the behavior feeds only the Asian supply chain, not much in US or Europe.

People buying luxury items feeds/reignites the economy (the essentials economy remains in a recession), the problem now is that the luxury items people buy are no longer sourced/built/shipped in the US/Eur limiting the effect on recovery. Things that fuel our economy best: Kitchen/bathroom/garden remodels and products sourced and built in your region.

As someone said before: a $500 handbag to carry food stamps.

In the past year I have been saying something along this lines to explain why there is a recession and the iPhone (I am using this device as a generalization for the entire smart phone/tablet market) is one of the initiators.

It is the device everyone should have, so sales for these devices (including apps) are skyrocketing. It is something that you can flounder around with, peer pressure... Because the non-essential money is spent on these luxury items, no money goes towards the things that are within the home (like furniture, carpets, appliances etc. - again a generalization). Just look around, all I see are furniture stores (and the likes) close all over the place.

So what happens is that a couple of companies benefit from this trend (Apple, HTC, Samsung, etc.). Since these devices are not assembled in the USA/Europe, our hard earned cash goes to China (not your local furniture store and its supply chain), with the result that a large part of our money is not inserted in the US/Eur economy.

What about tracking cookies?

The problem is that this does not work for everything.
I fly every week and therefore I receive every week three emails asking me to rate how pleasant the service was from my airline, car rental firm and the travel agent.
Eventhough, I am loyal to these companies, everytime I delete such an email (yes, I do not respond to these quality questionnaires), I hate them a little more...

So a spammebadly@gmail.com will not help me, I need my confirmation emails from these companies.

And yes, a rule in my email client will do the trick, I just do not work that way...

As the world becomes more computer literate, we will see that number of power users proportionally drops.
Most of the people who came online in the past 5 years do so for web/email/facebook.
This group is okay with a single window approach, it is nice, comfy and does not confuse them.

It is a sign of the times, more people online means more people that are not computer geeks.
The market is shifting to a simple interface that everyone can use.
I think the iPad world is a perfect example of this.

When the iPad was released not many people understood the product well.
My own personal reaction was, great... a large screen phone... no idea what to do with it.
Nowadays that market has shaped up into the simple thing that allows you to do things in between other things.
Browse the web during commercial breaks, watch a movie or play a game, update facebook.

95% of the people out there do not configure networks, write code, tinker with their photos, are creative on their computers (music, art, write novels, etc.), create business transactions etc..
To this group, a single non-overlapping window into the computer is exactly what they want.

In essence this is no different from the Windows/Linux crowd differences.
The market will shift where it can go, there is no right or wrong, it is all what works for you personally.

-m.

I agree with you, the tablet market has found the way to the coffee table and to train/air travel time.
It is a coffee table niche product that is useful for browsing the web between commercials, catching up on TV shows past and other things.
I can only laugh when I see people using an ipad with a keyboard, stand and all... just to update their Facebook status (Hey, I am at the airport on my way to Panama city beach). At that point, what is so bad about a laptop.

I have a tablet and all I do is code for it, watch a movie, browse the web or get maps to where I go next.
It is a perfect in between device, not a laptop, nor a desktop.

In a corporate setting there is the copier that scans nice PDFs. Wherever I go, companies have nice copiers that scan.
For the home user, an all in one printer/scanner with sheet feeder would withstand the occasional stacks of contracts when buying/selling houses.
My Canon MP cost me $100 and scans everything I need digitally stored. I never use the built in fax since my VOIP provider has issues with fax machines.

I understand you want to defend your position, but price is not the issue.

Heck, when buying a house earlier this year, I had to print and sign one page document while in Hawaii.
I printed it and took a picture of the page and emailed it to my realtor.
Worked just as well (actually, was even easier than trying to find a fax machine in the hotel).

Excellent point. Without their enterprise stronghold, Blackberry would be truly irrelevant today.
The question is though, who will take the flag from Blackberry and create a framework that enterprises want to embrace (focus on cost, security, deployability and control).
I believe Android or Microsoft/Nokia are the only two who could have a chance at doing so, especially since Apple does not show any interest in this area (corporate phones on corporate plans are typically locked down from spending corporate money on nonsense apps).

The funny thing is that when I read (scanned to be honest) the comment, I processed it as "sex and beer repetitively with some other thoughts mixed in".
Your comment made me reread the comment only to realize I read what I wanted to read not what was forced upon me... (lotsa sex with one drink).
So, I stand by the original poster that this is pretty much my thought pattern...