Ender's Game, found that book in high school it's long been one of my favorites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game#Plot_summary Interesting how back in '85 sci-fi had already locked on to this emerging tech... and possible abuses.

With out being overly obvious, you realize this is a 2-3mb app with 1.2 gigs of map data? You realize Android apps have access to a SD card? Just my Google listen (podcasts) has nearly 2G of data alone stored on my SD card.

I got a My Touch 3G for $99 on the "Oprah sale" about a month ago, I live in podunk and as such have yet to see a 3G connection... I 'opted out' of the data plan, so my TCO is currently much lower than the normal smart phone user. Why would I dumb down my smart phone, it has wifi... around here just about every public building has a public wifi access point (even the grocery store), I don't use my phone while I'm driving... so it has entirely been a non-issue. It is a good phone, a definite upgrade from my old flip phone. Even the weakest aspect of the phone (the camera) is an upgrade from my old phone... I got the phone before the 1.6 update was rolled out and the improvement going from 1.5 to 1.6 was significant. If that is any indication of what is in store when 2.0 is released, I'm flat out excited. Oh and the toys, the google star map alone is worth the price of admission... I have never been so impressed with a portable device, and I've had all sorts of smartphones shoved down my throat by employers (Windows Mobile and Blackberries mostly I guess, I've only played with friends iPhones and have yet to see any new palm devices). So I for one hope that Android really does take off, I know it has impressed me.

I just discovered the 2D barcode.  I Just got an Android phone and it can read these in a blink.  Now I just ordered a pile of new business cards with QR's for my contact info on the back.  I think this is awesome, and am really surprised this is not used ALOT more.

Lets see I have a touchscreen in my kitchen, (old 12" ELOtouch, SFF celeron, WIFI) for recipes, shopping lists, and watching my recorded TV/listening to music while in the kitchen.  Whole family loves the thing, and it just gets wiped off like the rest of the counter tops.  It does have a wireless keyboard with a trackball, but I don't think that has been pulled off the top of the fridge for a long time.

I have a Hitachi slate windows PC in the living room (can't get the fingerprint reader to work in linux), everyone in the family has a profile setup on it, and logs in with a finger swipe.  I use the thing for drawing all the time, and find it a really comfortable way to compute.  Of course for real text entry or coding work I still have to drag out a standard form factor laptop as using the onscreen keyboard is tedious and not nearly as fast as touch typing.  I do have a BT keyboard I could use with it, but standard laptops just have an ergonomic advantage for text entry.  My only real complaint about the slate is that it does not respond to finger input.  I love the pressure sensitive stylus and it does wonders in Alias Sketchbook, but it would be nice if I could 'smudge' pencil and move the paper around with my fingers... much as I would with a normal drawing pad.  On a funny note, I do still 'wipe away' the screen after using the eraser... like there are virtual rubber bbs on my tablet pc.

I've owned all sorts of various touch screen toys (Palm, PPC, TomTom) over the years.  One thing I can say for certain is that touch screen technology is starting to finally feel mature.

Finally I just picked up a 'MyTouch 3g' phone.  I just absolutely love the Android UI! Simple, fast and for what it is (a social communication device, or a phone with toys) perfectly suitable.  So around my home at least the "Touch revolution" started long time ago (the ELO Touchscreen is nearly 10 years old, tablet at least five), and I'm glad the rest of the world is starting to catch on.

~WTF is up with trying to format an okay looking post here... tryed plain text, html (including using tags)... I give up, at least the 'code' option at least picks up the carriage returns.

How would they put the commercials into the mirror?

Lets see; My PC has a 46" monitor, looks like a stereo component (read no association with work), it does require some brain effort to read the guide and choose a channel with the remote. But the fact that the wife can manage it, mean that it has to be pretty close to zero brain effort.

Of course because it is a PVR it is never shut completely off, so I would say normal 'boot time', that is the time it takes for it so wake from sleep is indeed faster than the power on cycle of the LCD TV connected to it.

There *are* a lot of cards out there with a HDMI on them, more ever day. These cards also have an internal header to connect the video card to the SPDIF header on your motherboard (or other audio card with a SPDIF header). So they do indeed carry audio.

I think the best (or at least the most entertaining) way to do it would be a variable rate that changed every day. You could even use the different gravity to help focus your exercise routine. I imagine a one quarter gravity day when you are taking a day of rest would be kind relaxing.