Obviously I'm not aware of the "consultations". My opinion is, and continues to be that members of the state government hold personal convictions, and those convictions can influence their decisions. Having lived in Utah for several years, I think that the government is under great pressure to show that it is not directly influenced by the church. For every claim that it is influenced/controlled by the church, I have never seen anything definitive.

The source of this legislation is a man, Michael Waddoups, not the LDS church.

There's a big difference between a government's strings being pulled by a church and a government made up of a large number of people who share the same beliefs. One's a violation of principal, the other is legal, legitimate government established by the people. The Utah state government is FAR from being in the pocket of the church.

Blade Runner was a great movie. It's reputation and storyline ought to be left alone. If you want to write a story, it shouldn't be dependent on the world that it's set in. Fundamentally, if the story is sound it will function in whatever world you set it in. You don't need to put it in the world of Blade Runner.

The functionality of the API I think will determine it's usefulness. If all the thing does is give you a 400x400 ad for a BestBuy product, this thing will be worthless and BB will quickly learn that. If however, they offer a really flexible system which can deliver what a blogger wants, in the way that he wants, then this thing could offer a great integration point for BestBuy. Non-invasiveness is the key... as always.

I really don't think Steve leaving Apple will be that big of a deal. Yes, it will cause the stock to drop significantly. Yes, it will leave a spot open for someone to take over the keynote speech, but I don't think these are company-killing problems. Jobs does his announcements the way he does because it's something that he's really good at. He knows how to tell a story, lead an audience, and deliver the right pieces at the right time. I think the key will be (when it's needed) to not try to replace Jobs. You can't. The person might have the same job, but he/she doesn't have to do it the same way. People keep on predicting the loss of Steve means the death of Apple. Steve has done a lot for Apple, but my prediction is that Apple will only fall apart if they try to replicate what they have with Jobs.

Apple's policies are. The iPhone would be a much better platform to develop on if a developer didn't find out after spending his time programming that his application was going to be thrown out. It would help if Apple's policies were more open. It's unfortunate and frustrating that this is the case.