Excuses aside, we all have to own what we write. Sure, maybe he did it in haste. Doesn't matter. If you're going to go off half-cocked, don't be surprised when the demons of the internet come back to haunt you.

The only thing required for a Department of Corrections job should be a criminal records check. That's it. This is equivalent to them asking to see your little pink locked diary.

Look, we may prefer Apple and Android to Microsoft but the fact is that they are still the worldwide leaders of tech. Business and government still build their infrastructure based on Microsoft. Microsoft may be losing ground in some areas - absolutely. Right now it's still their market to lose.

@Deckard: Yeah. What's up with that? Even though a lot of us (me included) may use mostly Apple products, we all know and acknowledge that Microsoft still leads the pack and should have been represented.

@Rocket Dan: So when it comes down to it, it really is a matter of semantics on the part of those who preach. I.E. all by-products of most species, like ants or beavers = natural and good. All by-products of one species: man = unnatural and therefore bad.

@Alex Paul: Awesome idea! Pass the cost on to the consumer, which makes it absolutely clear whats happening. Then they can make their choice: stay within the app and pay through the nose, or suffer the "inconvenience" of jumping out to Safari to make their purchase before jumping - almost automatically - back into…

@Amir AtiaTalla: Awesome! Glad you could join us again.

@daveinmn: You get it in there the same you do books: you just hold it in your hand and look everyone in the eye, silently daring them to say anything.

@tylerbrainerd: not likely to happen. Amazon has too much invested to not want to bring litigation. Plus you know the governments would want to get involved. Apple can't undrink the kool-aid.....

@Bug Eyed Gekk: No. It's not. Some, like Al Jazeera, are accessing the internet via satellite.

@Nicolas Brooks: You would be surprised how word can get around. Some people are accessing the internet in Egypt via satellite.

@YvesDadi: 2. Quite late for that one, isn't it? 4. No. The first thing you do in a revolution, or potential revolution is take control of communications. No doubt the Egyptian government justified the action by warning against "tyranny" - really it was to prevent free-thinkers from having a common voice.

We need a wider discussion about this. There are perceived cyber threats coming in from places like China and Iran. What's the potential damage these guys could do to N. America? And what's the best way to prevent it? I'm thinking the Obama kill switch had those threats in mind - but what could they do differently…

@jdale: Hopefully this feature isn't designed to be an anti-theft device, so much as an "oh I forgot my wallet on the tablet" feature.

@snarky30: Yeah. I was worried that it wouldn't fit in my pocket, until I saw the price.

@kgilbe3: That was my thought as well. Maybe there's another technology at work here.

@cottonwin: I think maybe folks' mileage will vary on this one. I can read books on the iPad for 8 hours at a stretch with no problem whatsoever. In fact, my reading consumption went up (while my finances went down) shortly after purchasing the device.

@comodidit: You see - it's moments like those where a handy video cam and youtube are your friends.

@blub: Pompatis of love got missed. I think it was because of the midnight toker thing...