EV cars contain one quarter of the internal parts of an ICE car, yet currently cost more. As scale and battery technology improve, EV cars should cost half of their current prices. There is no way they should be "quite a bit more" than ICE or hybrid cars.

Last year I installed a Xerox laser printer that a client had purchased, which included legal language when both opening the contents and installing drivers that wanted my agreement to only use Xerox brand toner and supplies in it.

I similarly received a letter 10 years ago telling me my 2G phone (a four year old BlackBerry) would no longer be supported when AT&T turned off their 2G network. When I took the letter to their store, AT&T gave me a free 3G-capable phone (LG Optimus G Pro), or offered to discount a better model. I used the free phone for a week, and instead bought a 3G-capable BlackBerry, which lasted for 5 years.

This time around, it doesn't appear that AT&T is offering free 4G-capable VoLTE replacement phones to folks impacted by AT&T turning off their 3G network in 2022.

I completely agree. I own both the Northgate and several Model M's, and the Northgate Omnikey Ultra is worlds better than the IBM or Gateway keyboards.

My first computer was a used IBM PC-1, which had 64 K RAM on the motherboard and the 4.77 MHz 8088 CPU, and two 5 1/4" floppy drives. I paid $1300 in 1983 including an AST 6 Pack Plus (clock/calendar/serial/parallel/384K RAM) and a Hercules-compatible video card and a monochrome monitor. I later paid $600 (and $50 tax) for a 40 MB Plus Hard Card, which had 39 ms seek time for a full card-slot HDD.

I have been waiting to upgrade, too, but Apple has continued their pursuit of thinness while abandoning the "Pro" market -- specifically professionals using Macs for computing rather than as a fashion accessory. The value and longevity of Macs has decreased significantly from Apple's neglect of both their laptop and desktop product lines.

While most Mac owners won't need to upgrade RAM or disk, I have done so on every Mac I've owned. I don't care about thinness or weight as much as function, compute power, and storage. I have nearly no reason to buy a computer with a slow CPU, small screen, or small SSD, yet Apple relentlessly offers non-Pro computer specs lately.

Phone and tablet revenue have so eclipsed computer revenue that Apple is financially allowed to offer dismal upgrades without recourse. I can only hope their recent Mac sales declines will be analyzed as Apple's own fault, as there are tons of folks desiring to upgrade to a more powerful Mac product.

About 20 months ago, AT&T sent me a letter offering a free Android phone to replace my otherwise-working 5 year old BlackBerry 8900 phone, so they could begin turning off 2G. They said my old phone's coverage would become progressively worse, and I needed to upgrade to a newer device for connectivity to their network. I accepted their free offer, but immediately bought a used BlackBerry Q10, which I use every day, while the LG Optimus Pro gets rarely used as a WiFi-only small tablet.

I'll second your comment on the physical keyboard for faster typing, plus my BlackBerry Q10 get 2.5 times better battery life on long phone calls than my work iPhone 5s. My previous BlackBerry lasted 5 years, & I only replaced the battery (for $5) and the trackball (for $9). That long-life product convinced me to buy another BlackBerry.

As an example of BlackBerry making high quality phones, after my previous BlackBerry phone lasted almost 5 years, I bought a new BlackBerry Q10 a couple months ago. I have nearly no complaints about it. It's a great phone first, & a smart phone as a bonus. My Q10 gets about 2.5 times the battery life of my work-provided iPhone 5s on long conference calls. I also type much faster & more accurately on a physical keyboard. When folks see my new BlackBerry, lots of them say they still miss their BlackBerrys.

I completely agree. And somewhat on-topic: Ever since I bought my Mac, I've searched for a good word processor for it. I bought iWorks & use NeoOffice/J, but haven't been satisfied. Neither can read documents containing tables from either WordPerfect or Word. I even called Corel to see if they knew of a Mac version, but WordPerfect discontinued their Mac version about 8 years ago.

I have always used and loved WordPerfect on a PC for nearly 20 years now.

It's sad to me that superior products so often lose to superior marketing of mediocre products. I've often said that Microsoft's motto is "superior marketing for mediocre products", but I later simplified Microsoft's motto to: "mediocrity for the masses".

Check out the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/). It has been a big thing out here on the Left Coast (California), and is gaining ground throughout the USA. It's beginning to draw international teams, and I'll bet they'll cover the globe as the word gets out.

FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway. Its aim is to get high school kids interested and motivated about science and technology. It's a great premise. Perhaps FIRST can help you, and vice versa. By hooking up with such a sophisticated organization, you gain an incredible support mechanism, and they gain another group of evangelists.

Give them a look-see. I woujld have given anything to be on a challenge team in high school! I bet it'll be a winner, all the way around.