The real monopoly abuse was Microsoft directly using its monopoly power to force hardware manufacturers to cut out the competition.

I haven't tried passbook yet (I won't upgrade to iOS6 until Google releases a stand-alone maps app), but I have had an app called Cardstar for years, which stores all of my retail rewards/discount cards. In the several years I have been trying to use this app (On the first iPhone, the 3 and the 4), through several…

I was up in Vermont skiing near the end of the season before the last election, when it was clear it was going to be a race between McCain and Obama. I was at a bar, making new friends with strangers and the subject of politics came up. I decided to say what I thought was the safest thing possible. I said "it doesn't…

All good advice, except for the dividing people into groups thing. I mean, if your goal to try to win over as many votes to your candidate as possible, getting the word out on social media is one way of trying to accomplish that. If you can do it in a way that is intelligent, insightful and friendly, you might…

But if you were to sue the hotel for your 10 carat diamond ring, you would still have to prove that you had the item stolen. So if the burden of proof is impossible, then the hotel should have no compelling reason to post disclaimers denying responsibility. Unless, of course, in those cases where it *could* be proven,…

No, yours was the first I saw. I don't like repeating the same thing over and over, so hopefully people will read my reply here and that's enough. I know at lot of people feel as you do, and I didn't mean to single you out. I'm just very passionate about this issue and as the father of three small children, I have to…

I don't disagree. I travel a lot. For several years of my life, I lived exclusively out of hotels all over the country. 99.99% of the time, everything in my room is safe. I leave my laptop, jewelry and other valuables out because, well, you can't fit a laptop in a hotel safe, and its probably safer in the room than…

I just meant that the higher resolution will be standard. Screen sizes will always vary because people need to buy what is appropriate for their room size (or not).

I get the retailer part of it, but I've also looked at CC security camera systems and they aren't up to speed with the latest digital camera technology. They just seem slow to incorporate the same improvements that the market seems to demand from cell phone and digital camera manufacturers.

So true. I know reliability is a factor (laptops crash, hang, require reboots, patches, etc.), but even so, a "legit security camera" manufacturers, with dedicated hardware/software could still charge the same ridiculous prices AND upgrade their technology to something from 5 to 10 years ago. Perhaps because no…

No doubt synthetics are obviously synthetic, and natural is preferred, but the existence of synthetic diamonds still has an overall affect on demand, thus lowering the market value of all diamonds.

You know, with camera technology having advanced so far in recent years, it is really surprising to me that we still have such grainy, low resolution security footage anymore. I understand that HD video takes up a lot of storage space, but storage space is also very cheap now. Even a nice 480p image with good color…

There is a big difference between nonchalantly grabbing an iPhone, and snatching a baby. The mother may have been watching nearby and not noticed because he was so calm about it. Also, he was on CCTV, which means police will post something about this and ask if anyone has any information about this guy, then move on…

The hottest temperature during the big bang is estimated at 10^28K, and that represents all of the energy in the universe, so I would say there isn't enough energy in the universe to reach a kugelblitz.

If Apple blocks Google Maps from the app store when it comes out, I think that will be the push I need to go to Android.

If you want to know how worthless diamonds really are, just try to sell some at a pawn shop. They are not only ridiculously common rocks, but they can, and are, made in labs now. Sure, natural diamonds are going to be preferred, but you can't tell me that lab-made diamonds (as well as other alternatives), don't have…

Upconversion is the term used when the pixelated image is "smoothed" out at higher resolution. Some systems have better algorithms than others to do this, so it matters to a certain extent. But no matter what, you are just trading a pixelated (jagged edge) image for a smoother (blurred) image, which isn't going to…

I bet he has trouble understanding the difference between square feet and linear feet as well.

Sony always names their products that way. It would be nice if the numbers meant something. Like car model numbers, which often indicate engine size, or something to that effect.

1080P at 5 feet away with what size screen? At 84", I bet the difference is noticeable. Worth the money? Of course not, but in 5 to 10 years, this will just simply be the standard.