This is the begininng of the end for RIM? Yeah, that might've been poignant what, 4? 5? Years ago. They were like a dinosaur standing on a big block of wood...on top of a tar pit. It was just a matter of time without a miracle, and from the looks of it, they haven't even been praying.

Well, when you talk about salaried employees, the breakdown & specifics of their workday are essentially irrelevant. The only issue should be whether or not said-salaried employee is getting their work done. A good, competent employee will get their work done in a satisfactorily-timely manner. If they're getting the job done, it shouldn't matter if their lunch hour is 30 minutes or 2 hours. If the work isn't getting done right, then they should be chastised or reprimanded or what-have-you. Companies that want to dictate every minute of an employee's work-week should be paying hourly.

You have no idea what you're talking about. They "clearly" don't need it to function, huh? It's so obvious to you, where'd you go to med school? Or, let me guess, you've been studying ADD for the past 20 years?

...as if 4 voices suddenly cried out in terror and then went on with their lives.

A ridiculous argument. Compare the current resale values of other personal computers with a similar MSRP from the same era with a G5 and you'll see that the Mac has far and away more residual value. And it's not only financial. Despite the fact that PCs dominate the desktops of my social circle, I don't know anybody using a PII or PIII-based machine for anything significant, yet I know of a fair amount of living, breathing, productive PowerPC-era Macs.

Startling insights...a year after iOS 4 was released. Is there really anyone who has a 3G and is considering upgrading to 4 that isn't aware of this already? In other late-breaking stories, Barack Obama won the 2008 election! HOPE PREVAILS!

That's a preposterous argument. Your post makes it seem like WM is a superior platform for your "adult" tasks. In reality, it's anything but. You are right though, there is a reason that people run Windows phones, but the reason is because they don't know better.

If only I had a mod points.

"Automagically" is not a word.

I prefer people that iron it.

Of course there are ways for ISPs to make more money. Caching FB content, guaranteed service for Netflix, or whatever...all that stuff does is make the ISP money. It's not doing me any favors. As it stands, I have no problems with my connection to FB, Netflix, or anywhere else. And my ISP has no problem paying their rent. Now, once they can start monetizing my QoS...it all goes out the window.

Like I said, contrary to your claim, the economics haven't changed. My internets are moving through the tubes just the same, and that's not going to change significantly in the future. ISPs' reward for upgrading their networks is that they don't get run over by the competition. There is no true gain to be had for users from any of this. If Cox cuts a deal with Facebook so that they get preferred service, I'm not going to see a discount on my bill. Know what I will see? A slow-down when I visit Myspace, or whatever other website that didn't pay the protection racket.

And to answer your question about why shouldn't ISPs be free to monetize their products however they'd like? Because they're monopolies. In many instances in America, government protected monopolies at that.

Not to get all ad hominem, but your OP falls flat. (My unqualified analysis? You get off on being contrarian for its own sake.) ISPs being free to do as you'd like will benefit nobody but the ISPs...and of course the Facebooks of the world who would have it that much easier to keep new competition at bay.

You're wrong about all of this.

AT&T did not offer people competitive or advantageous pricing for going to tiered service. They dropped the price $5 and added a cap. Hardly significant or a fair trade. Then they eliminated the unlimited plan, so of course people are signing up for the metered service. Grandfathered AT&T accounts are OK, of course. But I haven't met anyone who was happy with the way AT&T handled all of that. And trust me, before long, that price is going to go back up $5. That's why this kind of thing is always a net loss.

The economics of the internet, re: my ISP, are the same as they've ever been. I pay them $60 a month, and they deliver mediocre "broadband." It doesn't matter what the fuck I do with my internet connection. In the past, my bits maybe came from Geocities instead of Facebook, but none of that means shit re: an ISP. What has changed is that other people have started making a lot of money from their websites, and the ISPs want a cut.