I think my taste (and others of similar taste) is as such because we've had certain life experiences to make us more cautious about adopting certain kinds of technology. I, for one, don't want to pay for a data plan that I would do my damnedest not to use.

I actually like using paper maps on the road (not GPS).

I don't want to read email when I should be spending time paying attention to the people and places around me.

I don't care if someone gave the eatery a 1-star rating on Yelp because the waitress only gave him one refill of coffee, I want to try their waffles.

I don't want to "check-in", tweet, read others' tweets, or anything of the sort.

And I still have 4 computers rigged to 2 monitors and a projector on a home network an an NAS. I still troubleshoot computers *for fun*. I just know that unplugging is good for me.

I agree completely. I was holding onto a feature phone that was 3.5 years old because it was no longer available and everything else either requires a data plan or is touchscreen (which means I can't change tracks with the device in my pockets). I ended up "upgrading" to the touchscreen dumbphone. I'm not particularly happy with it, but that's what you have to do when you drop the phone down concrete stairs. =\

And that's a damn fine point about the kilobyte-temptation.

Thanks for the phone reference. In regards to the iPhone (or any smartphone), the saying goes, "I couldn't find a purpose for the iPhone until I had one. Now I can't live without it."

That's not something I want. I don't want to VPN to work or check work emails when I'm out of the office. When I'm not at work, it's my time. I simply want a phone with communication with the people I choose to put in my circle with the bonus of not having to carry an MP3 player or camera with me. (Those things fold very easily into the same device.)

Smartphones are really cool and sometimes I ask people to do things on their smartphones (like look up restaurant reviews), but I feel that having SO MUCH information at my fingers would just reduce the amount of actual life I'm living. They're distractions from the people and places around their users and help to prevent people from using some very useful simple skills... like wayfinding.

"I was just doing my job." -- Some guy who bagged onions in the same bag as bananas to the customer's dismay.

That's right... that's an un-Godwin. Your move, Captain hyperbole.

I've made a couple posts in the past regarding how I don't think anyone has ever spent sufficient effort to make a genuinely good feature/dumb phone. Too much effort is put on super-monetization-- from proprietary versions of internet connectivity to downloading Java games, there's just too much bloat in even the simplest of modern phones.

Here's what I would want from a proper modern feature phone:
Hardware:
**A telephone with a particularly good speaker and receiver, speaker phone
**A slideout QWERTY keyboard
**An MP3/Ogg/etc. player with equalizer and 3.5mm jack
**A camera that focuses on image quality, not color mods
**Bluetooth
**micro-SD card slot
**Alarm clock with calendar
**Some standard ringers with the functionality to play a ringer from micro-SD
**Chargeable by micro-USB cord
**With all the weight saved, get a better/larger battery
**Minimal animation/graphics. No need to burn battery on things NO ONE cares about.

No web access, no pic sending, no games, no playing or recording video. Just Phone, text, camera, music, alarm, and long battery life. Something that just works and works for a long time.

I only JUST started flying in August of last year. Flying was never an option growing up, but I'm a career where I'm sent to various places of the country a few times a year.

I've been through SNA, LAX, DFW, SAV, ORD, SFO, OAK, and DCA. I've had a pocket patted once and had the full search because I forgot a flash drive in a leg pocket in my cargo shorts. In both circumstances, I made light of the situation joked profusely with the investigating TSA agent, and went on my way with a smile.

Does that mean I like it? No. Would I prefer not being approached by two men with the assumption that I'm a criminal or terrorist? Yes. (But I do have experience growing up brown in Southern California.)

However, I understand that those "TSA Agents" are literally just local people with no particularly strong commitment to the TSA beyond doing their job sufficiently well so that they keep their jobs. The vast majority of them are just normal people doing the same tedious task over and over, not the jack-booted thugs many make them out to be.

Summary: The workers are just fine. The process seems unnecessary.

What in the world did they expect? iDevices give access to the internet. People FREAKIN' LOVE the internet! Thus, with iDevices, people will use the internet!

What did they expect people to do with an iPhone? Talk to people? Hell no! We had that capability for years! iDevices are for surfin' the webz and consuming high-bandwidth digital content and, sometimes, being interrupted by taking a phone call.

This will differ per person.

I'm an auditory learner, so when I learn best when listening and hearing. Even when I read silently, I imagine the narrator or character's voice speaking the words with the appropriate pauses and inflections. I also don't speed read. ;)

I take copious notes in lectures if there's something new to me. I hear it, analyze it, compress it (abbr.), and write it. For me, that's TWICE I've gone over whatever fact and that's usually plenty for me. Get me to talk about what I wrote in a conversation and that stuff will be in my brain at least until my next bender. ;)

I know this will turn into a "chicken or the egg" conversation...

"We shouldn't build games for Linux unless there's a proven market!"
"There can't be a market if there are no games to buy!"

But, there's an obvious "egg" here. There must first be a venturing company with a solid history of great games (*cough* half-life, portal, TF2, etc.) that's willing to take the risk. Forging new markets it ALL ABOUT RISK. If you're stunted by your fear of risk, then you're probably not a good entrepreneur.

Work it Valve. I hope it works out for the best. And if it doesn't, then EVERYONE will still thank you for giving it the ol' Orange Box try!

I disagree. If you had a horrible time at a previous job because of horrible bosses and horrible co-workers, don't BS about it. Be honest. If your old workplace is ever going to change for the better, they need to know where they screwed up.

Think you're burning bridges? You might be. But so long as you are honest and tactful in your evaluation, your integrity will be in tact and you will have a clearer mind going into your next position.

Stop coddling bad workplaces. You may be looking for a place to work, but if you are good enough in your field, employers are looking for you, too. You have power and influence. Use it.

And I made mine in cargo shorts, but what we wear while we type is neither here nor there.

And yet the sentence following your quote said "If they reported unfairly toward one team or the next, then that would be bias." which completes the metaphor.

Sweet! I've read in Slashdot comments time and time again that people are modded down as a method of disagreement, but hadn't experienced it until today. I don't know if I should be happy that I now understand it with my above post being marked as a "troll" or if I should be dismayed that the complaints have grounds.

Either way, the above post is not a troll.

I don't think you understand the difference between "bias" in news/reporting and "targeting" in entertainment. ESPN is not "biased" toward a lowbrow audience because focus on ball-sports. That's their entertainment niche. If they reported unfairly toward one team or the next, then that would be bias.

And what does "pro-environmental" mean? That they would like the natural environment to continue to exist?

They're also not anti-business. Never does PBS say anything like, "We should not organize into consolidated sales or service providers to create a streamlined delivery and accounting process." They're against corrupt business. They're bearish investors. They prefer honest and safe investment. But when corrupt business is the means to a new bubble and the myth of perpetual growth, anyone who speaks against such irrational buying will be said to be "anti-business".

They're also not "pro-welfare state", they're pro-healthy-people. Check out the Frontline (I think it was Frontline) episode "Sick Around the World". The reporter goes to different countries finding out how other nations keep their people healthy (Britain, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, etc.). They show faults with all their systems and constantly show contrast with our system which is globally acknowledges to have some of the lowest value of care for the highest cost.

What you may need to acknowledge is that, in balanced investigation and reporting, if some things seem to consistently come out to be favorable, that might not be bias... but reality.

The desktop computer is less disposable than it used to be. Average software resource requirements are not increasing so quickly relative to hardware capabilities as compared to 1995-2005. A computer purchased today with a modern (non-budget) processor, 6+GB of RAM, a $25 low-power discrete video card, and a Blu-ray drive will carry you for multiple years now.

Just like refrigerators, desktop computers are approaching "appliance" lifespan. This is a good thing for consumers and a secure thing for bearish investors.