the only time I've really needed copy and paste is when someone tries to send me an MMS. The MMS link opens great in Safari, but the message includes a password required to actually access it in the browser. Since those passwords are generally a weird mixture of characters, I can never remember them long enough to switch over to the browser.

So, for my purposes, if they added either direct MMS support or copy and paste, I'd be equally happy. Copy in paste has enough other uses (grabbing addresses from an email and adding to contacts, for example) that I'd rather have that.

This could have changed, but two significant features of the Instinct show that they are taking the iClone approach somewhat more seriously:

1) Visual Voice Mail
2) Customer self-activation

Also, they've invested a lot of effort in a more usable, visual menu system optimized for touch.

Still, this is a bit of a gamble for Sprint, unless they price it aggressively. AT&T would have a winner with the LG Vu, but they have overpriced the phone, considering the number of used version 1.0 iPhones about to hit the market...

Here's why Apple needs the labels ok: in order to sell something over AT&T's network, AT&T gets a cut of the revenue, generally a very generous one at that. They aren't going to allow this traffic for free, especially as part of an all you can eat plan. even though they aren't fulfilling the purchase or billing for it.

So, given Apple has a fixed revenue split with the record label for the songs sold over iTunes, now it's a 3-day revenue split that has to be negotiated. Keeping the 99 cent price when you are paying ATT as well would drastically reduce the revenue for both Apple and the label.

Yeah, and I wonder what hardware Microsoft was running when Xbox Live was down all that time over the holidays.

Okay, imagine this: Verizon, having opened up their network, allows someone to build a device which uses CDMA to deliver audio streams to your car.

Voila, instant competition for Sirius/XM. In other words, new technology will keep the combined company from exercising anything even close to monopoly power.

Historically, the reason AT&T became a monopoly was that federal regulators felt that the presence of competing phone switching technologies was hurting the market. Different municipalities had incompatibility with other cities.

GSM in Europe is the dominant system for similar reasons, no doubt, which is why unlocking is even possible. Here, where you have CDMA and GSM competing for users over incompatible networks with incompatable handsets, the same degree of interoperability is impossible.

It's a miracle that an AT&T user can even *call* a Verizon user; if these companies weren't tethered to the legacy POTS network, there would be 5 different incompatible carriers.

I'd add a DVD drive so I can play disks with it, too. That's something I could do with a Mac Mini that this device doesn't do, and there's no way to stream DVDs from my laptop.

This is completely consistent with the way Apple generally rolls out new versions of Mac OS -- they pick a Friday evening, close down the store at 4 in the afternoon, choreograph a big line-up with security, people handing out flyers and promo deals, and then open the store at 6pm, controlling the number of people who enter until the line dies down. They typically keep the mall venue open later than usual for that evening, too.

They also typically schedule a large number of blackshirts for the event, and give somewhat of a pep talk to the staff before opening the doors.

Really, folks, it's no big surprise, and may also be a good chance to get a deal on other hardware in the store. When I bought Panther, they were offering 10% off all CPUs, just for the event. They've done this for new iPods and other product rollouts as well, and it's just a variation of their store opening protocol.

This is old hat at the Apple stores, but I do wonder how well the AT&T stores are going to fare.

Frankly, communication to consumers is far more important than technology in the phone arena. My biggest gripe when trying to buy these devices is going to a phone store and only finding appearance models, and no functional devices which will show me how bright the display is, how perky the UI is, whether the phone actually can be heard if you put it to your ear.

Apple has been superb in their retail stores at giving people enough of a tactile experience with their products to actually want to buy them. The fit and finish of the products really helps make the sale.

Heard an interview with this officer in the last couple of days -- the UAV does require an operator within line of sight, so it would only be used in situations where a sheriff's unit was already there.

For some areas in LA County, including the smaller cities which contract with the Sheriff for law enforcement services, a UAV would be a big improvement over the constant helicopter flyovers.

However, the weight constraints for this aircraft makes the payload pretty limited; the camera is probably useful for some tactical purposes, but not for anything but the most basic differentiation of people (kids vs. adults, white jacket vs. black jacket), and most likely wouldn't be useful or admissible in court for ID.

No doubt the cameras will get better, though.

I have to say that the photo sure makes it look a lot more like a toy and less like an imposition on civil rights.