Eric P

"You keep talking about these people that still make and receive phone calls. I think this is pure urban myth; certainly if they exist, I've never met one. As to the topic at hand, "roundup" type posts are more useful to high volume blogs, as a way of highlighting what's likely to be most interesting in a sea of noise. Single author blogs rarely need them; if something is worth linking to, they just do it in its own post, and it's easy enough to catch up with every singly post they make so a reader isn't likely to miss it." - Eric P

"I can think of a few good reasons to give every student an iPad: 1. Textbooks become easier for students to carry and easier to keep up to date, and students can highlight and write margin notes with an eBook in a way they're disallowed from with school issued dead tree books. (All of my textbooks in high school weighed 20+ pounds combined - the number one reason I wouldn't do my homework is because I was picking and choosing which ones not to carry back and forth). 2. Both homework and testing can be made more dynamic as well - a smart homework program can assist the student when they're struggling and tailor the homework problems towards what the individual student needs the most practice in. As a side effect, it could also cut down on copying since every student would be getting a different homework set. I believe the GRE is already a computerized test that does something like this. 3. Homework (and tests) done on a computer offer a wealth of more information to a teacher than..." - Eric P

"I'm down with this. Leave the pre-existing condition stuff in place, but not the mandate or subsidies. Watch costs spiral out of control, sink the economy, and millions and millions of people lose coverage. I can't think of a faster path to single payer myself." - Eric P

"Kids will go wherever their parents ain't, it's that simple. I don't think Facebook has that much to worry about though, as that tends to change as they get older, and keeping in touch with family actually becomes desirable. Facebook is much better suited to that than its main competitors (Twitter and Tumblr)." - Eric P

"Volume isn't everything. Most of those Android phones are being sold to the low end of the market. A market segment Apple has never cared about or competed for, in any product category. The margins are low and it'd undermine their status as a premium/luxury brand. From a developer perspective, they don't care about that segment either. iOS still commands the lion's share of the app market, and it's on iOS developers can and do make the most money. In other words, Apple utterly dominates the most profitable part of the market, and that doesn't seem to be changing. Incidentally, the same dynamic is true with the Mac. Minority market share, majority profits.  I own an Android and like Android better, but there's no point in being a fanboy or denying the reality of it." - Eric P