Buurin

I got the red rings tonight (this will be my 4th xbox!) and as usual I went to Fred Meyer to buy a core while my box is out for repair... To my suprise they said they dont carry the core anymore either.

I'm on my 3rd and I think they have a new 'coffin'... Mine was just a plain box with foam inserts (similar shape for cardboard coffin)

My issues are:
1) The thing obviously should not break
2) Since it does... Debit my account for the cost of a console and send me a replacement console instead of an empty box. Therefore I have a new console in 3-4 days as opposed to weeks. When you receive my broken console then give me a refund on the previous debit
3) Extend my warranty for another year

I currently go and buy a replacement console while mine is in for repair.. I then return it when I get the refurbished unit back. This is unfair to my local retailer, but I'm not going to go 3 weeks w/o a console.

Keep in mind the hardware is sold at a loss so if it is true that MS insisted people pay for maps it is because they need to make up for that initial loss in the sale of the box, not because of greed.

I dont see how people can complain about $10 for 4 new levels running on some hardware that MS basically gave you, as well as free maps and a new game type.

If anyone is greedy its us, the customers :)

Lipo fires
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1199486

I dont use Lipos in my planes for this reason.

I've never heard the argument that jury's should not decide patent cases, but that makes a lot of sense.

Is this a recognized argument or did you just come up with that?

I have a normal 2.5" drive in my carPC w/ no shock absortption whatsoever... Been running fine for close to a year now...

Its mounted in the VoomPC v1 case.

Some people over engineer their setups.

Touchscreens are really terrible if you are trying to input data: i.e. Text message, e-mail... Not only can you not type by feel but there is a very slight delay in the time for the key to register, perhaps the iPhone does not have this delay?

They are fit for navigation (i.e. clicking large icons) ONLY, in my opinion.

Perhaps I have a deathwish but admittedly I txt message while driving, being able to feel the keys is KEY (no pun intended) to performing this task.

I have a 7 inch touchscreen in my car connected to my carPC and with even such a large surface I avoid using it all all costs, instead I use an infrared remote which I can 'feel'.

You really just have to spend some with a touchscreen to realize how frustrating it is... Its hard to understand but every keystroke requires a look.

Its really easy to sit in the lab making touchscreen devices or sit in the store and demo such a device but its totally different trying to use it while walking, driving, or doing anything other than sitting down focused on the device.

I am curious to see what the RIAA tries to do about www.lala.com

Its a CD trading site. Summed up: You list the CDs you have and select the CDs you want. They send you shipping materials and for every cd you trade you get 1 in return.

Ideally you are not supposed to rip/burn the CDs you recieve.

"Relativley speaking they don't give that much to charity. They give millions but that because they have billions and billions. "

1) They give billions and are ranked like #2 where the ranking is calculated by a percentage of your net worth. From BusinessWeek: "The year's other billion-dollar-club members include No. 1 givers Bill and Melinda Gates, the world's largest international donors, who made history this year by giving their estimated $3 billion Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) dividend to their foundation. It's one of the largest donations in history by a living donor. To put it into perspective, that one gift is three times bigger than the amount that America's richest family, the descendants of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT ) founder Sam Walton, has given during their entire lifetimes ..."

2) The dollar amount really isnt indicative of anything... Many people give to charity and see no results. Theres a difference between charity and philanthropy, you can measure charity in dollars whereas philanthropy you measure in results (http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/comment/article.php?article=333)