The reason they don't just open the phone and read the data is that it's encrypted with 256-bit AES, which they can not decrypt any time before the sun explodes.

Making the word "Nazi" plural does not call for an apostrophe. Damned Nazis.

"Going through software" is difficult? You mean that software that pops open when you plug in the device and displays thumbnails on your screen? That arcane, inscrutable software with the "share" button to upload to Facebook? What are you, a yak-herder?

I don't know of any phone, point-and-shoot, or DSLR that makes it hard to upload photos. Facebook's app is available to you free if you want to do it from your phone, and anyone can plug their camera into their computer, choose what they want to share, and click a couple times on a website. Who exactly is having a problem?

Phhht. Stuck with iOS 5? Based on what? iOS 6 ran great on the iPhone 4 and iOS 7 runs great on it, too. The fanciest visual effects that would've over-taxed the hardware are turned off automatically. For me, and for others I've spoken with, it's running flawlessly.

There's a bit of a difference between "should be", and "they're adding a..." There's no need to reflexively defend Gore. AGW is real. Gore being an asshole is also real.

It's all who your friends are, of course. My FB friends are my real friends, and they're writers, artists, business-owners, musicians, tech people, and some family. We have quite interesting discussions and share stuff we're all interested in. If you collect random idiot as FB friends, then you get swamped with pets, food, and pseudo-inspirational bullshit.

Yep. I've been a Mac user since 1986, and have listened to generations of people who reflexively hate every step Apple takes, only to retreat as they continue to succeed. iOS 7 will look like no other mobile OS, and has an elegant layered design, in my opinion. There is a maturity in letting skeuomorphic and bubbly stuff go. People know about tapping on a screen now, and I trust Apple's designers. If you want to see a real "mishmash," just look at the Android hardware/software landscape.

Then it is pure coincidence that the prescriptions to remedy the "problem" just happen to be exactly the anti-capitalist ones the left has been pushing for the past couple generations? Only more government control over industry can solve all the problems perceived by scientists funded by government?
We recently learned CO2 emissions were way down because of the increased utilization of cleaner-burning natural gas. Will the left get behind the gas industry? Only if they stand to gain money and power, as with anything else. I'm stunned that people still believe that the left is benevolent and altruistic, like some 1960s hippy commune retards.

I think this guy got exactly what he wanted: publicity for the anti-TSA cause. Try "saying" something loud about bombs or terrorism in a security line or on a plane. You're asking for trouble, and you know it. I'm not saying it's good or justified, but I don't walk up to cops on the street with anti-police shirts with "robbery", "assault" or "weapon" on them, even though it's legal.

Hah! I do the reverse. I use black Sony earbuds with my iPod Touch, and nobody looks twice. I actually felt embarrassingly trendy with the white ones, but still love the iPod.

Is this something to brag about in 2012? You can get an off-the-shelf DSLR with more pixels than that. Of course, it wouldn't have a 4.3 meter mirror.

This is a patent applied for in 2007, when most "smartphones" had physical keyboards. It is a basic element of the iPhone touchscreen interface, and you can absolutely bet that Apple will use the system to stop their competitors from copying everything they do.

Right. Plus, everyone's jumping on this as if Apple just applied for it. This looks like a basic early iPhone filing which is just recently granted and published. It's not news.

I must agree with you about the family aspect. My mother had never heard of MySpace, but she, my dad, sister, cousins, high-school and college friends are ALL on FB and use it almost daily. Facebook has crossed the threshold, just as Google did (and I used the Mom test for that, too.) Once my Mom said she needed to Google something, I knew that race was over. I have no great love for FB, but it's won.