a lot of it is actually import taxes. from what i understand, a few countries in south america have agreements with one another that they lower import taxes when trading with one another, but boost the taxes up into the stratosphere when importing from outside of that area, and brazil is part of this agreement. when i was in argentina 2 years ago, the PS3 was said to be coming soon at the equivalent of $1000 US, ipods and digital cameras were ridiculously expensive, and almost every cell phone and car i saw was from brazil, because they would have cost probably 30% more if they came from, say, japan or mexico.

it actually ends up helping brazil a lot, because a ton of car companies have factories in brazil to get around the import taxes (when a citroen costs literally half of what a mini cooper costs, you know something's up, and in this case it's because citroen has factories within the trade area and mini doesn't), which gives jobs to countless brazilians. although it also results in things like $700 playstations and $300 nike air maxes (although converse has sneaker factories in both brazil and argentina now if i'm not mistaken, and adidas has factories in argentina as well.)

actually sorta (the phone itself is hot, windows mobile not so much) wishing i didnt re-ink my contract last month. the blackberry 8830 is nice and all, but the touch pro is downright beautiful. blackberry needs to come out with mogul-like and touch-pro-like devices, because i'll deal with the extra pocket bulge if it meant a mega screen and a real keyboard, but windows mobile isn't my cup of tea.

design: mostly good, except palm's smartphones have JUNK KEYBOARDS! i have a blackberry 8830, and a lot of people don't like the 8800 series because of its keyboard, but i find it's ten times better than that of any centro or treo.

if sprint was smart, they'd keep the licensing rights to the PTT technology, and sell the iDEN network itself. because people want PTT, but they don't want the garbage phones that typically show up on iDEN; licensing rights keep bringing money in, operating the network just bogs them down.

this means that a dark knight game is likely to follow....yes!

idk guys, i heard localized haptics were canceled for the thunder.

although multi-touch is confirmed, as well as a user interface that's endlessly better than ANY OTHER phone on vzw. which, let's face it, they need now.

1/4 the build quality of a mini is pretty darn good. my mini is more comfortable and more solidly built than any other car in the family, including a lincoln.

that aside, this new mustang looks pretty good. i liked the guigiaro mustang a lot, but ford's actual plans still look good.

also, the back end, with the car bra on, looks like rice. the bra makes the taillamps look rounded, and all i can think is "american supra".

in a minute, it'll turn to two.
lol.

the colors bring to mind a ferrari.
the data speed brings to mind a ferrari.
the amount of storage compared to other drives brings to mind the amount of gas a ferrari sucks up compared to another car.
and the price compared to said other cheapo drives.
all in all, i'd probably bite, it's a great product for the money right now, but in 2 years when flash is either half its current price or replaced by a cheaper type of solid state memory, the price will be an embarrassment.

if the eee didn't undercut the vaio UX's price so much, sony wouldnt be complaining.