Apple can't even manage to get MobileMe to freakin' work decently, how do they expect to get THAT to run?

I believe you, most of the specs on most consumer electronics are bullshit construed to attract the ignorant buyer.

1000:1 sounds correct, and it is actually perfectly fine.

Contrast is a hyped up parameter that actually has relatively little impact on user experience: under normal circumstances, the human eye can only discern contrast to about 800:1 or so, thus anything more is undetectable anyway.

Here is a great article on what contract actually implies: http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/contrast-ratio.html

Since when "4:3 1600 x 1200" is "pathetic"? It's UXGA resolution and is the standard for 20" monitors.

Besides, higher resolutions on such a small monitor will only make text and interfaces smaller and harder to see, which for a "pro" user are not necessarily "pro"s.

@Joe

look at your own garden before criticizing everyone else's (and in this case, it ALMOST is everyone else's, since the vast majority of the world uses the metric system).

The metric system is by far superior to the english measurement system (guess where the "inch" and the "foot" and the "pound" come from... look it up on wikipedia).

The metric system is infinatly simpler to use and much, MUCH more elegant. To give a practical example: do you know that a cube with a side of 10 centimeters holds EXACTLY 1 liter of water which weighs EXACTLY 1 kilogram? Try that with feet and gallons and pounds!

PS yeah yeah I know that the water needs to be pure H2O (distilled) and at a certain temperature... but it still works!

Because the space shuttle (factoring in development and maintenance costs) costs on average 1.3 BILLION dollars... per launch!

The space shuttle has two major flaws that keep it from being a competitive launch platform:

1. Not reusable: only parts of the shuttle are reusable, and even those have extremely high maintenance costs (solid rocket boosters need to be fished out of the ocean, tiles need to be substituted on the shuttle itself)

2. extremely complex (and outdated) technology that keeps the shuttle from flying as often as it was desired (originally it was thought that 1 flight per week could be achieved).

The shuttle was supposed to deliver cheap and frequent earth to orbit and it has failed in that mission: that is why NASA is going back to the original apollo approach with the upcoming new family of launch vehicles (I forget the name right now).

Andrea

No worries, it will not be "istant", nor anywhere near.

It's just bad writing.

I don't understand the veiled criticism at Microsoft.

Heck, for once they are actually FOLLOWING an existing standard instead of creating their own version/flavour/interpretation of one!

The issue is why there are such flags in the first place, not the fact that Microsoft enforces them if they are used.

@Paul,

if he has so much trouble even reaching qualifying times (and it's not certain if he even will in time for Beijing) I guess the "enhancemenet" legs he has arent's that enhancing as you might think.... I'd keep my legs if I were you!

Everyone keeps referring to these legs as "enhancements". They are not: if they were an enhancement they would work BETTER than normal legs, and I'm quite sure they don't. If they did, Pistorious would run circles around normo-abled athelets, and not just struggle to qualify.

My fiancee is an amputee (right leg) and is a world class para-athlete in long jump. In competitions she uses an uber-cool prosthetis like Pistorius (a similar model actually, made from the same company). I've been to a few of her competiotions against other para-athletes and I've also seen her participate in "normal" events (whatever normal means): anyone who has seen a para-event can clearly see that these kind of prosthetics help REDUCE the disadvantage, but they are not thye same as having a real leg, and they definately do NOT give an advantage against people who have both.

That said, check out when a para-event is being held near your city and go see it. Tke your kids too. The spirit, tenacity, and professionalism being shown by these athletes is amazing.... and the technology is pretty cool too (although - as someone elase said - it's a bit of an excess to call them cyborgs).

Andrea

The goal here is to make this accessible to people who cannot have a stack of AAA batteries, perhaps because they live in rural areas.

And the idea, di per se', is not bad at all. I would not mind having a similar way to charge my cell phones or iPod anywhere, anytime, without depending on electricity or USB port.

Andrea