Functionality has to come first; that's getting the job done. If the UI sucks, the user will find some way around it (maybe make their own, maybe not even use the app), but the job at hand will get done.

Clearance Items! Beware of T-Mobile "deals". I've been a long time customer of T-Mobile. Last August I upgraded to a Samsung Vibrant with 'droid 2.1 with the promise that a 2.2 update would be available within 30 days. Guess what... I'm still on 2.1 with no sign of a 2.2 upgrade in sight. Rumor has it that…

Samsung provides Android updates? Uh, guess again! The Vibrant with 'droid 2.1 I purchased in August was promised a 2.2 update by November. No such update is available ("yet" I'm told by both Samsung and T-Mobile), even with 2.4 hints on the horizon.

@jepzilla: I agree. The site is very misleading. In it's attempt at simplifying the issue it misrepresents how internet connectivity works and the role ISPs play (vs content providers and consumer clients).

@DharmaLab: While I always point out that analogies aren't 100% "the same as...", I often use the car analogy when discussing computer performance problems with non-geek friends and relatives. The parallels concerning time & effort related to maintenance / replacement costs are amazingly close.

@Phoshi:

@OneTrickPony: What I find interesting is the terminology wherein a meeting moved from a day Y to an earlier day X is usually moved "up"; while the same meeting moved to a later day Z is usually moved "back".

As a good friend of mine once said, "The words count. ALL the words count!"

I figure browsers are kinda like cars. Folks interested in impressing their friends lease theirs and change frequently based on bling. Loyalists pick a favorite make and won't change — ever. Practical people (the vast majority I believe) select one that works for them; stick with it as long as it works; and when it…

Vista SP1 took me nearly 100 hours over the span of 4 calendar months. I had Microsoft support telling me to contact my hardware vendor, and the hardware vendor telling me to contact Microsoft support. The end result was a complete wipe of my HD and reinstall of Vista from scratch before SP1 would successfully…

@bswilson: Exactly! The model of providing a functional core with pluggable extensions will always be a winner. It also helps cut down on electronic obesity.

Conceptually, this highlights a risk inherent to "Cloud Computing". Generalized, yet effective, data security still eludes the net. That's a big hit to Cloud Computing proponents.

Side note: I wish my feet looked that young! Can I order a pair?

I've build, and rebuilt, more than a few systems in my accumulating years. Anyone remember 4MHz 8-bit Z80's w/ 64K of memory and 5.25" floppies in an S-100 bus frame? Ahh, those where the days...

I'm a Google Maps person myself.

Well done! A good reminder that Latency is just as important a factor as Bandwidth in determining Throughput potential. While instructions might "comically cheap to execute" any memory content can be tragically expensive to retrieve.

Um... Are people remembering that actual results don't start rolling in until the polls begin closing on the east coast? Until then, it's all just speculation. And that hasn't gotten us in any trouble recently has it?

@Android_Dream: Please tell me you were absent from your Civics class the day they went over the concept of "checks and balances" in our governmental structure!

@JadoJodo: No. I mean I requested XP as an option during the purchasing process and was politely told that XP was no longer available, the only OS option was Vista. And while I could opt for no OS, there would be no reduction in price but there would be restrictions on warranty coverage.

Vista was forced on me when I purchased my "new" laptop, before customer complaints caused the vendor to re-offer XP as an option.