I was surprised that the Insignia was not mentioned in the article. Isn't this the most obvious rebadging that GM has ever done? Either way, I'm happy to see them bringing any Opel overseas.

Why is everyone who uses a Mac considered a fanboy these days? Is Windows really so superior that everyone using Mac OS X is under the RDF? I have been using the Mac for over 20 years, but my choice in system has little to do with the hardware. I may pay more for the same or similar hardware, but my preference is for the operating system, not the hardware. I don't have the time or patience for a hackintosh, so I buy my systems from Apple.

Apple has added some great things for developers with the last few versions of Mac OS X, and there has been plenty of excellent first and third party software created as a result. The operating system significantly contributes to the value of any system, whether that be Mac, Windows, or Linux. It's hard to believe that these new ads make no mention of the platform.

Selling more Macs for less money does not necessarily mean an increased bottom line for Apple. Pricing is an extremely difficult decision for any company, but you can be sure that there is logic behind it. I wish Apple's systems were more affordable, and I'm happy to let the company know about that wish, but the pricing decision is theirs to make. I suspect I will buy many more Macs in the future, but I won't be doing it because of some misplaced loyalty for the company.

@Jonathan

I wouldn't be surprised if this changes for the release of 3.0. Apple must know in welcoming turn-by-turn GPS they must allow applications running in the background.

The thing that most critics ignore regarding multitasking is that many of the common system tasks can be accomplished by 3rd party developers using a couple lines and the system frameworks. Functionality for taking photos and browsing the web is easily embedded into 3rd party applications with OS 2.0 and emailing and maps browsing have been added to that list with OS 3.0. Combining this framework support with the state-saving behavior Apple recommends for 3rd party applications means that there are few tasks that would benefit from running in the background. Once again, I do see the upcoming turn-by-turn navigation applications as an exception here, but we won't know Apple's official policy until the summer. Not allowing apps in the background is an artificial limitation of the system, so this could change at any time.

Honestly, I believe Apple intended to restrict 3rd party developers to web applications initially. Otherwise, they probably would have included more than the 128MB of memory in the first generation phones. As it stands currently, 3rd party applications have about 30MB free memory to work with. That's not much room for background applications. It's hard enough to keep within those limits without running into low memory notifications as it is. I suspect this will change dramatically with the next hardware update.

Hourly is another:
www.hourlyapp.com

Because it wasn't included in the first place probably. There are lots of things that would be great to have on the iPhone and iPod touch, but that doesn't mean we're entitled to them.

I am surprised no one has made any Zoolander references yet. I guess it will have to be me. ;)

Seriously, though, I can't wait until everyday navigation systems are smarter about this kind of thing. Left turns and gravel roads should have some kind of penalty in the system. If this is the case already, my apologies for my ignorance.