You'd be surprised at the latest advancements in bionics / prosthetics. John's Hopkins in particular is doing amazing work. They have actually developed a prosthetic hand that not only provides most of the dexterity of the human hand, but includes tactile feedback as well...science fiction is almost science fact. …

it's a fine consumer product, but there are much more impressive prosthetic devices being developed. check out this recent piece by 60 Minutes ...it'll truly blow your mind:

It would be achieved (scientifically) by rotating the dial, estimated to be about a 45- degree turn...approximately the same technology used to crank the amp to "11" to make it louder ;-)

Sorry, BigHeadEd, just noticed you beat me to the punchline.

Highly doubt it'll be called the iPad Mini. Then Apple would be selling Mini and Maxi iPads, and that's just not bloody likely. So to speak.

Is should say, the mere fact that they are planning to sue before the new iPhone has been RELEASED (officially) is an admission that they've seen the new design, and stolen it. Just to clarify.

The mere fact that they are planning to sue BEFORE they've seen the new iPhone is an admission that they've stolen the design. Isn't that obvious, y'all!?!

Regarding whether authors should be "patenting" books, Eric...surely you've heard of plagiarism. Writers can't write, verbatim, what someone else has written, just as designers shouldn't be able to design, verbatim, what someone else has designed.

Not sure if it's copacetic do do this (guess you'll let me know), but my dad designed a geeky/cool backpack called the Volks-bagen, which you can check out at [www.baxac.com].