Pretty sure MS makes their money when Best Buy gets the product from them (also not sure that there's a middle-man supplier to Best Buy but if there is, wow is that crappy supply chain management).

Just a gentle reminder...you wouldn't have the Internet if it hadn't been for the defense industry.

I just can't see a US commander going "We DIE." Emphasis on the DIE. Plus they don't have those cool little (and incredible noisy) eye piece things. Though I guess they will over the next few years so, awesome.

You do realize that you can buy unlocked GSM phones, purchase a SIM card from AT&T (and formerly T-Mobile) and use it without having to pay several hundred dollars up-front right? I've done that many times over the years. Ditto for purchasing a used or new CDMA device. You just call up the carrier and say you want to activate a device. You don't have to "pay for a new phone with a 2 year service plan whether you get one or not" as you say...

How about because there's no law to use your integrated vehicle GPS, radio, talk to folks in the vehicle with you, turn around to bat at the twins fighting in the back seat, etc., all of which are just as potentially distracting? The law is very specific in what is and what is not illegal. Enforcement outside the bounds of the law is not OK. As it's already been stated, the law was felt so initially specific to only speaking on a phone that they had to add another law to ban text messaging. That speaks to the specific intent of the law, not to ban complete use of phones, but only to ban particular functions.

Fairly certain it's not a question of affordability, and you're missing the point :)

RoUS's?

...I'm ashamed to be associated with this article/author in any way. I've been a lefty since day one per my parents - there was never any doubt. Was it easy growing up learning to write, use tech, etc.? Yeah, actually, it was. A child's brain is highly plastic. Additionally, my kindegarten and first grade teacher (same woman) was lefthanded so I had that advantage as compared to all the other unfortunates in my class hehe. And now that I'm an adult I do just fine. Yeah, I mouse with my right. And by some miracle I can actually use standard scissors - the horror! I don't think I've ever known anyone who couldn't. I do have a dexterity advantage in operating a motorcycle though as the transmission controls are fully on the left side. :D

LS is full of it. I used to do testing of this nature for the Navy. I know many of the people who would have done this testing for the USAF. Never in 6 years of working in that field did we ever require a contractor who had submitted equipment for test to do so with no knowledge of what the test would be. They are blowing smoke to cover their asses in the hope that "the right people" won't know any better.

And just where do these people think the funds are going to come from to pay for these books in this all but bankrupt state? Oh I know, let's raise the sales tax and vehicle registration fees again. What a joke.

"...a post oil economy."??? Right. I imagine that their increasing use of oil is a sign of this then? "China's demand for oil will grow 6.2% to 483 million tons in 2011, predicted PetroChina Co (NYSE: PTR, SHA: 601857, HKG: 0857), the nation's biggest company. China consumed 455 million tons of oil in 2010, said the PetroChina report..." http://thechinaperspective.com/articles/china039sdemand-8134/ Yep, looks like a post oil economy to me. I imagine that building entire cities for no one to reside in is your impression of their sustainable economy going forward? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2005231/Chinas-ghost-towns-New-satellite-pictures-massive-skyscraper-cities-STILL-completely-empty.html

SPNKR all the way.

You need a better helmet my friend. I certainly don't have that problem. My Shoei X11 is great at high speed - only gets a little squidgy in high crosswinds which we have here in the high desert quite a lot in spring and fall unfortunately.

Problem with that is, can they do anything OTHER than CS? What if you asked him to change the air filter on his car?

You're assuming there's a method by which they can reduce prices by changing a part to a cheaper version, by new technology that makes production cheaper, etc. I don't really think that's a possibility here.