Until I can tell T-Mobile to shove their forced bloatware up their ass without rooting my phone, my phone isn't open at all.

Seriously, who cares what anyone at Microsoft has to say about anything in the mobile world? They entered last, they're running dead last, and offer nothing new at all to the entirety of the mobile industry. In other words, they are far from being experts on anything in the mobile field, and should not be sought for comments on it.

I never even knew they had a music store, and would have boycotted it just the same as we have their big box stores if I had.

Still, its ironic that the first time I hear about it is when it's closing.

For the cost of the 1-at-a-time DVD plan with Netflix we can get 2-3 streaming rentals from Amazon for the exact same movies.

Our Roku player already has the ability to tie in with Amazon's service, so all Netflix did with this was lose $2/month from us. We were on the $9.99/mo plan, but just switched it to the streaming-only, $7.99 plan.

This may not bode well for Linux gaming. For the 10 years I've tried them ATI cards (more specifically their drivers) have never worked well in Linux. If M$ gets a hold of Nvidia I wouldn't be at all surprised to see NVidia's support for Linux falter as well.

This does not bode well at all for Linux gaming. For the 10 years I've tried them ATI cards (more specifically their drivers) have never worked well in Linux. If M$ gets a hold of Nvidia I wouldn't be at all surprised to see NVidia's support for Linux wane as well.

It was the same for me. When all that was available was encrypted music I continued to get unencumbered mp3s from wherever I could. Once Amazon freed things up I was happy to pay $1 per track for higher quality, id3-completed mp3s.

If Symbian is so widespread, how is it that I've never handled nor seen a device that ran it?

Another ironic facet to this is that T-Mobiles "Visual Voicemail" service (it's not what it sounds like, just your contact's photo attached to a visual list of downloaded voicemail messages) won't work over wifi in any fashion, and generates no less than 2 errors each time I get a voicemail message on my phone while connected to a wifi.

When you call to get support for this issue their "fix" is to turn off the wifi antenna and just let the phone live on their 3G network full time.

That doesn't lend itself to a 500MB data cap now, does it?

The USDA hasn't made a single wise or logical decision on their own in many years, so why should they start to now?

American Express has had this in some of their cards for a few years but there are two issues with it that keep me from taking advantage of it:

1) They are so keen to promote their RFID system that it uses that system's name as the description of the transaction in your statement. To see what merchant you actually transacted with you have to drill down in that statement entry every single time. Not only is this a PITA but it may require more user effort to spot fraudulent activity when it occurs.

2) I use a money clip, so taking it out of my pocket and waving it within an inch of the transponder isn't much different than peeling that card off the top and swiping it. Considering the statement issue in #1 I am happy to spend the extra second to swipe. Either way the money clip is coming out of my pocket, and that takes longer to accomplish than swiping or waving anyway.


#2 above would be negated by using a cell phone rather than a card, but if #1 isn't accounted for I'll just keep swiping my card, thank you.

The Human Resource Director goes to photocopy the new Employee Handbook, which contains this entry:

"No computer, physical mailings or any other media shall contain or promote pornography (including but not limited to child pornography and bestiality). Any violation of this policy will be dealt with severely and quickly, and could result in termination."

The copy job is denied and simply goes away. The Director doesn't know why her job didn't complete so she tries it again, and again a 3rd time before moving on to a different copier.

The Network Administrator receives this email message, pre-marked as high priority:

"ATTENTION ADMINISTRATOR: IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

User 'HR Dir' is a sadomasochistic, highly active and prolific peddler of child, farm animal and pet pornography as well as snuff films, and publicly declares their issues with premature ejaculation and poor sexual performance. CLICK HERE to notify your local law enforcement agencies."

If Facebook really wants to speed up the customer experience all they need to do is remove Akamai from their content delivery network (CDN). That's where my browser is always stuck in a Waiting status when I notice a connectivity issue.

I understand what the article is implying. I used to pirate music, but then Amazon came along with decent quality MP3s that I can purchase at a reasonable price through an easy interface, and which play on anything. If I want something that can't be found on Amazon I still go P2P for it, but this activity is lessening as my library becomes more complete and Amazon keeps adding content. I used to pirate movies but then the Roku player came out and I was able to tie our Netflix account right into it. Now I get decent quality movies and episodes on demand, for no more ongoing cost than I was already paying for the Netflix account and an Internet connection. In other words, when things work to my benefit I spend money. When they work towards an evil empire's benefit I do everything I can to rip it off. So if you want me to spend money you've got to let go.

I have an iPhone and am an avid snowboarder and mountain biker. Knowing what I would put the phone through I picked up a ruggedized cover for it the day I got it (a silicon wrap with an acrylic backing that covers all 4 corners, and a screen protector).

In the 8 months that I have had the phone I have:

- Dropped it down a ski run, helplessly watching it slide on the cover on its back down about 500 feet of vert. It got some snow on the data port so I made sure to power it down and dry it out.

- Kept it in the top pocket of my pack on a back country trip in the middle of a storm with temperatures reaching -12F so that I could track our progress using the GPS.

- Had it in the top internal pocket of my camelback when I endo'd in a rock garden at 18 MPH on a singletrack trail, rolled into the fall and skidded to a halt on my shoulders.

- Dropped it from chest height to the pavement once, had it slide off the roof of a car to the pavement once, and dropped it onto conference tables at least twice.

Throughout all of these events the phone has worked just fine. As I write this it sits on my desk in front of me, which is where I left it after uploading this morning's GPS track and answering 2 text messages.

What I'm getting at is that I'm sure I tripped just about every warranty-related sensor the phone has long ago, but it did not seem to affect anything. But since they've been tripped, I wonder if they will work against me should an actual warranty-covered problem arise, with no way for an Apple tech to know if one had anything to do with the other.