Nasa generally uses HDD technology with the largest safe disk area. Blocks? I don't know, I just know that they consider sending a 400MB hard disk much safer than sending a 40GB hard disk.

Also it often takes years to get equipment certified.

This happens to my HD-DVDs to. It only happened to two of them, both were ones I took to the beachhouse.

Wow yet another uninformed story by engadget.

iTunes account is ONLY required to ACTIVATE the phone. Instead of standing in the store giving out 200 lines of information, you can go home, enter LESS information (make sure it's accurate, instead of a sales rep spelling stuff wrong) and activate through iTunes.

It's no different than ANY cingular phone you purchase online. You activate it on the INTERNET or on the Handset.

The purpose of this is to get people in/out of the store, so YOU the engadget reader doesn't have to wait in LINE for 2 hours behind BUBBA while a rep ACTIVATES his cellphone.

Geeze engadget, grow up.

Why does any of this matter?

Real reason to use the iphone:
*Thinner than a RAZR
*It Makes Phone calls! (gasp!)
*It's an iPod, so I have one less device to carry!

Those are the selling points that everyone can understand.
Everything else is just frosting on the cake.

"You haven't attached a cover sheet to your TPS report!", "Don't Shred Me. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

It's called a chargeback, just call your credit card company, or let CompUSA execs know you are doing a chargeback. Chargebacks are the one thing that effectively get a companies attention, because chargebacks are used by merchant accounts to control the rate CompUSA pays for every transaction, and they love even the SMALLEST excuse to raise the rates.

Nobody is above a merchant account. Walmart had their merchant account turned off because there chargeback rate was too high and the merchant account didn't like it.

In the US you can get "blacklisted" and never be able to accept credit cards again. Banks don't care how big you are.

Okay here's the truth about a Zune Vs. iPod.

I own several iPods but I'm a gadget lover, so when the zune came out, I rushed out and bought one. It was a lot of fun to change my background wallpaper on my music player, adjust all kind of little settings that the iPod didn't have. Then I realized between the really bad Zune software, and the overly complex features I didn't use, I was SPENDING ALL MY TIME screwing around fixing stuff or messing with settings than actually using the Zune.

The worst feature on the Zune is the HORRIBLE SCREEN. And I do mean HORRIBLE. Make sure you see an iPod screen first, it's so much more dense pixel wise that looking at the zune felt like wearing blurry glasses.

Other things I hate about the Zune. It's got portable media center interface navigation, it adds more complicated to the interface and it's just annoying. Of course people who use it for a long time or DO NOT have an iPod will THINK it's just fine if you remember your walkman or portable cd player.

I went back to my iPod, my Zune was last seen under my bed, I was gonna give it away but I can't find it.

Oh yeah, the iPod's battery life, navigation, sound quality, software screen, connector (yes even the connector), and SIZE OF even the 80GB one is much thinner than a zune!

dustin worthey,

based on your comments "it's a piece of crap" you obviously must be one of the 8 people on earth who has one, apparently you are so elite you topped, everyone else on planet earth. Or Maybe you should wait till YOU ACTUALLY TRY ONE HANDS ON. GASP!

If your dumb enough to buy a display that has a glass face, and is shinny.. well

It's not a cool prototype at all, just a really dumb idea

This keyboard is completely flawed. Even flat/square laptop keyboard have indentations in the keys for your fingers. Has anyone EVER actually typed on a 100% flat key? I have it's HORRIBLE. Just start typing on the flat surface of your desk, because it's pretty much like this. They should have put clear/curved plastic caps over the screens.

Now the keyboard can't actually be used, it's just a screen made out of little screens. Horrible.

Apple has a patent from 10 years ago for the exact same idea, in their patent they describe how flat keys are useless and that they must be curved to function.