Er, I don't understand ... so Apple would rather people use vulgar words ignorantly and inappropriately than actually know that they're vulgar? This is a serious issue. I've seen immigrants casually misusing vulgar words without knowing that they're offensive. What's wrong with simply specifying in the definition that the word is vulgar and/or not recommended for use? I'd much rather have my child know the meaning of a profanity/obscenity, and know that it's vulgar, than learn its meaning on the streets where it might be casually used. Does Apple really think that if a vulgar word doesn't appear in a dictionary, then it won't be used?

I thought the ad was fine. Very European in tone and humor. My ex is Swedish so I saw many similar ads in her VHS collection. A search on YouTube will show other such ads, especially from Germany, Scandinavia, France and Italy. My feeling is that it was made for the Euro market, and only the ending is specific to the country. In the UK, the guy would have a British accent. In Germany, it would be German, etc. Note that the guy's mouth is deliberately covered so that we wouldn't know what language he was speaking.

The point of the ad was to highlight the realism of the hi res camera and the phone's interactivity, and it worked for me. It's the video version of the old Memorex ad.

As for the stalking aspect, how do we know that they're not dating? In the sitcom Friends, couple Ross and Rachel were able to look into each other's apartments. Upon discovering that she was being watched, the woman performed for the guy so she certainly didn't feel threatened. It's no more perverse than phone sex between spouses.. Or a webcam between lovers. And you know what? I often stare lovingly at my sleeping girlfriend without her knowledge (am I supposed to wake her to let her know?). She does the same with me. We think it's romantic. So why not assume the same of the people in this ad?

Robert
> I want to see someone do this with a macbook air!

WAAAAAAY too expensive!

Juaquin
> Summary - it's performs like most laptops when dropped, except it
> has an SSD so there's little chance of your data being lost

And it's very light at 2lbs, so there is much less impact when dropped as compared to a 6-8 lb laptop.

Yankees368
> I'm pretty sure my 4 year old Dell laptop can go through the
> same torture tests just fine

I dunno about that. Physics dictate that momentum (impact) is proportional to mass. At 6-8 lbs, a normal laptop would hit the floor with much more force than a 2lb Asus. I don't think a normal laptop's screen would survive if it fell while opened (which was the most impressive demo for me). Either the hinge would come off (risking tearing the wires) or the screen would crack (a common feature of As-Is LCD items on eBay).

But the heat test was just silly because 104F [externally!] is probably lower than what your Dell normally reaches internally.

Thoughts:
The last heat test is meaningless. 40C is only 104F so the tester shouldn't have reacted so painfully when he touched the Asus. Most normal laptops surpass 104F internally so this is not exactly impressive.

The cold test was more meaningful because water expands when frozen. That can potentially damage the LCD, since the L stands for Liquid. LCDs are moving crystals suspended in liquid which is why they're sluggish or dim in cold weather. I don't know if the test here actually reached 32F or below.

The Asus most likely can't survive the most obvious test: Water submersion or simply getting soaked (especially when turned on). I say obvious because pouring a drink on the keyboard or getting caught in the rain is more common than many of the other scenarios.

The huge Panasonic plasma TV

Herman Manfred
> Strangely, I have no problem perfectly cooking a variety of different types of
> rice (short grain, long grain, "sticky", etc) in a rice cooker I bought for about
> $30 from Costco (US member-based discount chain).

While the rice probably tastes okay, the rice from the $100+ "fuzzy logic" cookers usually taste better. First, they often have heating elements around the pot as well as on the bottom. This promotes even cooking and less burning. Secondly, a computer cycles the heating to match the type of rice being used. Many of the best cookers also have a slow cook mode which takes 40 mins and longer. This uses a cycling algorithm which optimizes the release and cooking of the alpha and then beta starches. Afficionados tell me that the slow cooked rice is fantastic.

RE: MICROWAVE RICE

Sam Daniel
> there is a *significant* difference from microwaved or "instant" rice cooked on
> the stove vs. good rice in a rice cooker

It is a mistake to think that microwaved rice is INFERIOR. I cook normal long and medium grain rice in the microwave with great success. In fact, it usually tastes better than rice cooked on the stover or in a cheap rice cooker.

Here's why: microwave heating is evenly distributed throughout the pot (assuming the pot is on a turntable). That allows the rice to cook and steam evenly. Cheap cookers and stove cooking concentrate the heat on the bottom, which makes cooking uneven and risks burning (which is nearly impossible in a microwave. This is precisely why these new induction heating cookers are so successful: Induction causes the entire metal pot to become the heating element, which means even heating throughout the pot. The more expensive non-IH "fuzzy logic" cookers often have heating elements on the sides as well as the bottom to distribute heat, while a computer cycles the process.

The cheap cookers and stove pots do none of this, thus inferior rice. There are other advantages to microwaving if your oven has advanced controls. I'd pop my rice in before leaving for work and set its timer to cook about an hour before I get home. My program is 20 mins on HIGH (100%) to fully cook and then 2 hr at 10% to keep WARM. Some online recipes start on high, then lowering to medium, and at least one recipe claims to take only 15 mins.

BTW, in this case, the microwave saves neither time nor electricity. It will still take about 20-25 mins for the alpha/beta-starches to cook no matter what type of heat. And most microwaves use 1000 watts while a typical medium rice cooker uses about 800-1000 watts. The advantages are convenience, consistency, and ease of cleanup.

While you can microwave rice in normal glass/ceramic ware, I'd recommend getting a dedicated plastic microwave rice cooker. The locking vented cover is made to properly recycle the moisture and distribute the steam. Believe it or not, I've seen cheap knockoffs in Chinatown for as little as $3.95.

http://www.google.com/products?q=microwave+rice+cooker&btnG=Search+Froogle

CowboyGA
- I thought these things had to have an accelerometer ... can anyone explain how
- else to make it gesture sensitive?

An accelerometer is only needed to track g-force. To track changes in displacement (thus velocity and acceleration), you can probably get by with a simple GPS-like system. If the remote can track changes in 4 LEDs (of slightly different wavelengths), it can conceivably triangulate (is it quadrangulate when you have 4 points?) its position in space. Just a guess.