It's not just you. Firefox has the Netscape syndrome: it gets crappier with every release. And that's without any damn addons.

Compared to Safari's recent versions, FF's recent versions have typically been more sluggish. I just downloaded Camino and will be testing that out.

I believe that Apple's real contribution to the MP3 field was the massive amounts of money it spent on advertising. Apple spends more per year on advertising than every other electronics company in the world...combined...$500 million+.

Apple doesn't make quality products. It makes quality marketing. And it proved that style trumps substance.

As long as their competition continues to believe absurdities like that, they'll continue winning.

B/c music covers are explicitly covered by licensing laws. Videogame covers are just unimaginative copies (which may also violate copyright laws covering derivative works).

If you want to make a game, make it like the game you are copying, but make it unique. Change the graphics. Add new enemies. But don't make the same game.

It seems everyone has read the post in a different sense than I'd intended. I'm not suggesting that people pass copycat games off as originals. It just might be a good workout.

For example, a lot of the fun in DOOM has been (in my opinion) lost in later generations of FPS. An honest attempt at copying might have helped game designers capture the little details that made the game fun - not just the general idea of "whoo I'm a first-person shooter".

A contract signed by a minor is voidable (can be cancelled without penalty) by the minor, but is not void (legally inoperable as if it never existed).

HOWEVER, if a contract is cancelled, both sides must return anything they received the other side party to the contract.

Not entirely true. He could void the contract, but then he'd have to turn over any profits made to the guy he bought the code from (unjust enrichment/quasi-contract).

Just because there isn't a remedy under the contract doesn't mean there isn't a remedy at equity. Usually, the equitable remedy is worse (from the minor's point of view) than the contractual remedy, b/c the equitable remedy is not limited to losses/gains/terms under the contract -- it is limited only by what the court deems is "fair".

It only costs a few hundred thousand dollars to launch a few satellites. Deep space telescopes do cost less than a luxury airliner. (The Dreamliner and Airbus Monsterplane both cost in excess of $250M/per -- and that doesn't include customizations). We have NASA to thank for that -- without a government agency willing to shell out hundreds of billions of dollars on research, this sort of stuff would cost hundreds of millions of dollars per launch.

NASA also isn't the space police. It is the space bureaucracy, and the space experts agency, primarily because the private sector didn't care enough about space to do any of this stuff itself.

NASA exists because of the failure of the private sector.

But prizes are a good idea -- it's more than time for the private sector to get into the game.

While you're right, you're talking about the past 40 years. I think the post parent is talking about the next 40 years.

People who actually want to learn have been doing it in the library, study hall, or in their own dorm room. You can't learn most of the hard sciences, or even the humanities, from online. You have to do it in a lab, or read the hard copy/visit the site/examine the artifacts.

CS you can learn online. Math you can learn online. Everything else, offline trumps the shit out of online, and it always will.

A netbook is not a tablet pc; it's a mini-laptop. Nowhere does the author refer to a tablet pc. Indeed, he specifically mentions the Dell Mini 9 netbook, which has been on sale for the past year.

Sarcasm... The 'Mac Tablet' that has been rumored forever is an Apple version of the TabletPC. He claimed to have a 'crude version' of a the rumored 'Mac tablet.' It's hard to have that when the Mac tablet's main feature is a touchscreen. I doubt the Dell netbook has a touchscreen. Ergo, he does not have a 'crude version' of such a device unless your definition of 'crude' includes 'missing the most important feature.'

"In the end, I had a crude version of the Mac tablet computer that the rumor mill always says is just around the corner."

The difference between a well-run non-profit and a well-run business: the non-profit puts 100% of profits back into its operations, while the business may re-invest the profit or distribute it to its owners.

Most states already require non-profits to operate like businesses; indeed, non-profits are expected to operate better than businesses -- most states require non-profits to maintain levels of capitalization that require devilish efficiency and reuse.

A bigger difference is that the donors aren't the customers. A charity has positive cash flow so long as it pleases its donors, who don't necessarily know what's really happening with the people who receive the charity's services.

I don't think you understand quite how the donor-charity relationship works. The donors are the customers. The charity earns money by pleasing the donors. The venue for pleasing the donors is by performing charitable acts.

If a donor is pissed, it will force the charity to conform to his/her demands. The recipients of the charity's services are usually an afterthought, b/c they are far more easily replaced than any donor.