@Patrick 2 That is as I figured. Thanks for the reply. Will keep waiting on gene therapy, programmed stem-cell transplants, bionic retinas, etc. :)

@Patrick 2 That is as I figured. Thanks for the reply. Will keep waiting on gene therapy, programmed stem-cell transplants, bionic retinas, etc. :)

So, I don't suppose this has any bearing on treatments for RP, does it? I know that like RP, there's a genetic component to MD, but I assume that with MD the actual degeneration of photoreceptors must be related to these "leaky" vessels. I've not heard of such being the direct cause of retinal degeneration in RP. Am I correct in thus thinking that this type of therapy could have no bearing on slowing the progression of RP?

Picnik.com? Yeah, I'm gonna transfer my 8GB memory card over my 256Kb/s connection to a server so that I can edit it, download it, and print it. That's hours of idle time and oodles of wasted bandwidth. I don't buy that as a solution.

Same issue with MP3's and iPods. Maybe this one goes away in the future with cloud-based music services, but not any time soon.

And don't even think about dealing with a video from your Flip.

Want to take it with you to document your trip to China? Sure. Oh wait. No 'net (or insanely expensive).

Yeah, there are flash games and HTML games, but as the iPhone proved, direct hardware access is critical for anything approaching 3D. This is about as good as it gets for JavaScript: http://canvex.lazyilluminati.com/83/play.xhtml.

You don't THINK you use any apps that tax your CPU. However, I guarantee you do, even if only for a second or two at a time. I just pegged both of my cores just by refreshing a Google Wave session inside of Chrome. Try the above "game" and see what it does (pegs only one core since it is only single threaded and you get maybe 5 FPS). No matter how efficient a JavaScript interpreter gets, it still won't even approach the efficiency of a native application. And applications are only getting more and more complex. It would be dumb beyond belief to use JavaScript for everything...even everything casual.

IF you will NEVER do any of this or if you KNOW you will never need THIS computer to do it (i.e., you always have another laptop with you), then cool.

But why?!? I just don't get it. It will be as expensive as a full-blown Win7 netbook and won't perform any better in the real-world. It reminds me of Palm's Folio concept. Sounds great until you actually think about spending your money on something that is inferior to but costs the same as something already on the market.

As your primary PC? Or as an expensive secondary or tertiary PC? You never edit photos? Never play games? Never do anything that requires the speed and flexibility of direct hardware access? Never do anything while disconnected from the Internet?

Maybe on the tertiary device, but I'd be very surprised if that were true of most anybody's primary device and most folks secondary device. I mean my smartphone (tertiary) is more capable than this. Even Palm's WebOS is designed to run applications locally.

I agree. I do think there are those for whom this will satisfy 95-98% of their needs. I know my wife would qualify as one of those. She spend's most of her time on email and facebook these days. However SOMETIMES she wants to transfer photos from her camera and edit them (not just send them to someone). And SOMETIMES she wants to play real games (okay not often, but sometimes). And SOMETIMES she wants to take her pictures and videos with her to show family even when she doesn't have reliable internet access.

These are going to cost about the same (if not more b/c of hardware requirements) as netbooks running Win 7. And performance-wise, they'll likely be nearly identical. Who cares about 15 second boot time when you do that once a week. You get a 2 second sleep-to-resume time 5 times daily in Windows 7. I'll bet they'll be within 10% on battery life--it's the screen & CPU that suck down the bulk of the power and neither will be compromised here. So, why would I pay the same thing for a computer that does what I want MOST of the time instead of one that is MAYBE a little clunkier or a little slower but will do what I want even during those rare SOMETIMES.

@Neeko I've been running the beta of this powerpack on my MSS for a few months now. You won't "see" much difference unless one or more of your PC's are running Windows 7. If that's the case, then it is the difference between supporting them and not.

@JSM Nope. This updates an existing install. It won't change the installation method. At least with the ss-4200 you CAN add a pci-e card...

Yeah, I got the 28-135 bundle here (got it at BestBuy and it was all they had). I expected to sell the lens on eBay and get the 15-85, but the 28-135 is worth more than the $200 they're going for now. I suppose I should just do it and get it over with, but I also want to wait for the 15-85 to come down to earth in terms of pricing.

FWIW, yes the 18-135 makes more sense (newer/wider), but the reviews on the lens that I've read slot it in below the 28-135 in IQ AND it doesn't have USM AF. I'm not all that religious about the USM part, but the quick focus ring would seem pretty handy for video (use AF to start and tweak or follow with the ring without having to switch off the AF).

Agreed!!!! I've had mine now for two weeks and I still feel that brand new gadget love whenever I touch it. Video is not my forte, but I'm absolutely loving it's high-ISO performance and it's amazing 3D metering. I'm basically NEVER using the flash now. Especially with the 50mm. If I can see it, so can the camera. Wonderful!