Given Slashdot's track record predicting Apple's imminent failures, I'd bet on this being a success based on the number of people in this thread claiming it's nothing new and that no one would want this.

"We only need to know when when there is malfeasance that is being kept secret." And how will you know the lies that you believe? And you should in fact have the ability to rummage through every cabinet. They're *your* cabinets. If a public servant doesn't like that, then perhaps he should look for the opportunities in the private sector. As far as I'm concerned, the government's right to privacy got thrown out the window when they threw my right to privacy out the window. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Apparently everyone via wikileaks now. Nobody likes a panopticon, but if you set one up, you shouldn't be surprised if you suddenly find yourself in one too.

"...website-attacking group 'Anonymous' ..." In other news, temporary lodging provider The US Army and shipping group The US Navy have blocked their members from using porn-delivery mechanism The Internet. Oh wait...

Kind of a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy?

According to TFA this doesn't work at all in Steve Job's browser. Or the iOS browsers. Or Chrome. All of which use webkit. So your snide comment turns out to be more or less true. How 'bout them apples?

So the question becomes whether this is also true for other products and services. Mortgages? Insurance? Physical products? Ancillary question: do these companies not realize the potential PR damage stuff like this does?

Yes, definitely a clear and direct line between manipulating images on a screen in the lab and the iPad. I think Apple should immediately shutter its iPad business right now, as this will clearly disrupt next quarter's iPad sales. Does every idiot on the net have to somehow blabber "iPod","iPhone" or "iPad" when they want attention?

It's just this stupid obsession with binary outcomes: either you're successful to the point of excluding everything else or you're a failure. Apparently, a nice little sustainable business is never enough anymore. You *must* eat the world or die. Hopefully the relevant people will ignore this kind of infantile BS and just get on with keeping the excellent products up to date and innovating where it makes sense.

Yes. Yes it is.

In other news, Mercedes owners are dicks, Linux users rarely shower, Hispanics are lazy and Women are dumb. Aren't stereotypes fun? Especially stereotypes backed by "scientific polls". Seriously, this kind of crap is really, really freaking stupid.

I don't have an iPhone 4, but I've been following this pretty closely as I'm interesting in buying one. One thing I note is a similarity between what many people report with the iPhone and what you describe with the Droid X. This is borne out by those people I personally know who already own an iPhone 4 - none of them have reported a problem in daily use. Two of 4 report being able to cause the issue although it doesn't affect them in normal use, the other 2 can't seem to replicate the issue. I don't personally know any Droid X owners. This really feels like a silly manufactured issue that now has a life of its own with the sniping back and forth. I have a lot of trouble believing that a major company like Apple would fake a video with a competitor's product though. Maybe back in the days of Edison and Tesla, but I don't buy that anyone would do that today.

I suspect you're right. If you look at Apple's iTunes platform, it has the makings of a real ip-based network. Streaming media in its current state (Hulu, NetFlix) represent the sort of market that Apple has proven they can go into and dominate; established revenue potential with weak existing players and inhouse technology to offer an unmatchable user experience. It could also explain Apple's North Carolina datacenter that's about to go live, and dovetails with rumors of a new AppleTV product.

I agree wholeheartedly. I'm not sure if geeks only have a binary emotional state, and now that Microsoft is increasingly irrelevant, Apple has been slotted into that Jungian archetype in their brains, but I *am* sure that the real world is a) a lot more nuanced that that; and b) almost 100% uncaring as to the opinion of slashdot posters re: the "worthiness" of a company.

No they won't.

Well, it's Apple and people are "all over their asses".

And just to clarify a point - after having read the terms, Apple doesn't appear to be telling people they cannot use any other ad service, just not ad services that send demographic and usage data back *to companies who also own a product that competes with the iPhone*.

I would suspect Apple's response to an unfavorable ruling will simply be to ban ads and/or analytics in iOS apps. But it seems unlikely that Apple will get an unfavorable ruling on this - it seems a bit unrealistic for the government to force a company to reveal information to competitors.