Apple is pushing people in so many directions that someday soon they will find out the answer to this question. Do the apps being on iPhone give Apple power or does Apple owning the iPhone give them power over the apps? In the early days of the iPhone it struggled as simply an iPod with a ton of bugs and lacking features other smartphones had. The creativity of app developers started to create value on the iPhone. Apple's walled garden, on the other hand, has provided app developers a safe place where they are guaranteed to make money on the customers who sign up. But something has to give. I hope it's that Microsoft or Google catch up enough that their offerings become more enticing. Every day Apple becomes more and more demanding of controlling revenue streams is a day they dig their future grave.

I once encountered some city kids who thought an opossum they saw hanging around a dumpster was a rat. This now has me wondering how many of those "rats the size of small dogs" stories I've heard in the past were just mistaken identity. PS. I'm from the land of Pogo where opossums are not just a wild animal - they can be dinner!

It's also eye opening that someone in the Democratic Party would illegally crack someone's e-mail account to score political points. This guy should be thrown to the curb. Instead he will probably get a slap on the wrist. If Obama gets elected he will probably have a job in Washington DC.

I think there is something else going on with that demographic you mentioned earlier that's also germane. If that power user demographic played games they're not gaming as often on a PC. Their kid is playing a DS (tons of those have been sold), they're playing a 360 or a Wii. That demographic (I say that because my friends and I are in it) are largely buying cheap computers and running Ubuntu and then using the money we might have spent on Vista and a new graphics card on a new video game system.

In fact, you could make a pretty solid argument that Microsoft's success with the XBox has severely undercut the PC market. Take out a large chunk of gamers who are no longer upgrading their PCs to play the latest game and you're left with a few enthusiasts and everyone else is running a computer that's "just good enough". Vista is completely unnecessary. Oh, and they did a good job with XP, honestly. Good enough that most people seemingly see no reason to switch. Even if it's given to them.