A "very concerned grandparent" wrote,
"....Why don't they enclose an application to the NRA in every box as well....the marketing person who came up with this brain child of an idea should be fired."
Sigh...people like this should buy houses made of Nerf® and forbid anything more dangerous than a spork be used in the home. It should be a really weak, cheap spork; the child might go on a rampage at the local shopping mall. Do not stockpile sporks; Homeland Security might consider the stockpile a weapon of mass destruction. Sigh... perhaps people like this should simply get involved with their children, and (heaven forbid) even play with them?
Not all responses were negative. This one hit the issue squarely on the head.
Not everyone felt the weapon-like remotes were a bad idea. A Wii fan wrote,
"....I really hope that those people out there who believe that a gun-shaped remote will turn every kid that touches one into a homicidal maniac, don't ruin the fun for us Wii-playing adults who can handle the reality. I grew up with toy guns and also shot a rifle in the sixth grade and never killed anyone....If you don't think it's a good idea, then please, feel free to exercise your right to protest by not purchasing the product....."
In our opinion, blaming a $14 hunk of plastic for the ills of the world somewhat misses the point. Opinions of this ilk are a graphic illustration of inattentive parents desperately attempting to side-step their responsibilities. Ignorant perceptions like this one inspire groundless panic and hysteria. There is not a single credible study that links video gaming, in and of itself, to anything remotely negative. If you want to avoid negative outcomes with your children, BE A PARENT!!!
Sure to make the Jobs Mob and AT&T very happy, David Harrison has made available an open source method for unlocking the iPhone from provider AT&T. He suggests donating to your favorite charity as opposed to sending him any green. Nice guy! He might want to check his war chest for legal defense funds, however.
Although we do not have an iPhone in need of unlocking (one of our staff has one, but he has AT&T service), it appears this is legitimate from a cursory glance around the webosphere. If you need it, it's right here . Use at your own risk...
Just when you thought stupid ideas had become an endangered species, the RIAA has pressed forward and shown us how naive we have been. The RIAA has officially backed a move by the recording industry to reintroduce the CD single. The product includes two songs and a "ringtone". This brilliantly clueless idea is to be marketed as a "ringle", complete with an even more clueless retail price ranging from $6 to $7 per CD. Apart from the fact that the industry has not agreed on how the ringtone is to be redeemed (Sony BMG, the initial proponent of the idea, is the exception here), the pricing puts it way out of the league of legitimate digital music downloads. Reuter's reports...
Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which came up with the ringle idea,
and Universal Music Group are going to be the first out of the box with
ringles. The former will unleash 50 titles during October and November,
while UMG will have anywhere from 10 to 20 titles ready. The Recording
Industry Association of America has approved the "ringle" name, and
there is an industrywide logo to help brand it. But except for Sony,
each major still needs to cut a deal with a digital aggregator to allow
consumers to redeem the ringtone.
Meanwhile, label profit margins for the format are considered slim.
The majors are gambling that the ringle can instill in consumers the
mind-set to connect to the Internet via the CD.
Sources suggest the ringle will carry either a $5.98 or $6.98 list
price, while the wholesale cost to retailers will be less than $4. If
it's $5.98, ringles will have a 31 percent gross margin, shy of the 35
percent profit margin that CD albums carry nowadays; if it's $6.98,
that would give retail a 42.7 percent gross margin, similar to the
profit margin cassette and vinyl albums enjoyed back in the day.
Sony, purveyor of extremely expensive consoles and rootkits, has launched an interesting portable media player that just has to be seen to be believed. Is it too quirky for western markets? Perhaps. The following video does some justice to understanding what it is, and how freaky it is too. {Update: The estimated retail for this device with only 1GB of storage, currently only available in Japan is ~$350 U.S. Whatever Sony is smoking, I WANT SOME!!!}
I know this is not exactly on topic for us, but when I found this, I just had to share. Gizmodo's own intrepid Richard Blakely, along with Transformers helmet wearing friend Sarah, attempt to get some fast food. Apparently, fast food restaurant managers are instinctively afraid of Optimus Prime...
