As you'll see, we've offered a few broad choices that cover the range of issues we've become aware of over the weekend. Once you've weighed in with the poll, why don't you elaborate on these categories in the comments, so that we may all bask in your misfortune?

For the song Woman, I didn't hear a sound quality improvement beyond:(web poll)

Feel Good Inc. -

For the song Feel Good Inc., I didn't hear a sound quality improvement beyond:(ning polls)

Carmen -

For the song Carmen, I didn't hear a sound quality improvement beyond:(opinion poll)

Audio Equipment Cost -

My total audio equipment cost (laptop speakers cost $0):(poll)

The guilty verdict handed down to the Pirate Bay leaders resulted in a huge amount of publicity and popularity for the Pirate Party, regardless of the fact that the two are not officially related. Membership has shot up to a record 42,000+, and a recent poll to check out the frontrunners in the E.U. election showed even rosier numbers.

The Pirate Party is now the second-most popular party for voters 18-30, and Swedish newspaper DN.se predicts a vote of 5.1% in the election, which will be enough for a seat in Parliament. Sure, it's a minority vote (and that's being generous), but a pirate can surely stand his ground. [DN.se (warning: Swedish) via TorrentFreak]

• Dongle
• Cookie
• WAP
• Phone jack
• (Nokia) Navi Key
• Time shifting
• Digital TV
• Ethernet
• (Nokia/Others) PC Suite
• Desktop

It's an odd list. Even though the UK loves its Nokias, the inclusion of two proprietary Nokia terms seems innately disproportionate. "Time shifting" was an awkward term to begin with that's specific but antiquated now that "DVR" has taken over. And as for "phone jack" and "desktop," yes, it's disconcerting that laymen don't understand this "jargon," but I can't remember the last time that I used either of these technologies.

So that pretty much leaves "cookie," "dongle," "ethernet," "digital TV" and "WAP" as the terms people need to learn. Please call your grandmothers and inform them as to the proper definitions immediately. [BBC and image]

• Go here and take a quick 10 minute survey before next Wednesday (8/20)
• After that, you're entered in a drawing for a $300 Visa Gift Card.
• Rules and stuff are here.

Easy, huh?

[Survey]

Well, today that's true, but what Sandy was talking about was cluster computing, the idea that down the line, all the brainpower for game consoles will be located remotely. Consumers will have low-power local units that'll just hook up to a display, which a huge, beefy server farm will run the games themselves and pipe them to you over a high-speed internet connection.

It's certainly an interesting idea, as it would stop requiring people to upgrade their PCs with the hottest graphics card and would allow developers to create games as demanding as they're able to power. However, it seems to me that we might still be a bit far away from the bandwidth that would be required for such a setup.

Is super-high speed internet really going to be widespread enough in 5 years for us to ditch local consoles altogether? While I think this idea will take hold and become the norm eventually, I'd be shocked if we didn't have one more generation of high-powered consoles that eschewed physical media. It'll be a stepping stone generation, but with current console lifespans looking to be pretty long and the bandwidth requirements for cluster computing gaming still pretty steep, that whole idea seems to be 10 years away at the very least.

What do you guys think? Are consoles doomed, or do we have a good long time to wait before they become obsolete?

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Haptic touchscreens, as you probably know, provide tactical feedback when a button is pressed. In this case, the phone vibrates when you hit a button. As it stands, the program is extremely buggy, crashing out and leaving the vibrations going even after you've hit the button. But even if it was running perfectly, with a short vibration coming every time you hit a button, would you want it?

First of all, having your phone vibrate almost continuously while you type a text message would be annoying. Secondly, it would suck up loads of battery life. Thirdly, it seems like it wouldn't really help at all. At this point, most iPhone users seem pretty used to the keyboard; it's not a major griping point. And while haptic feedback might come in handy for, say, selecting icons from the home screen, it's not going to allow you to select buttons or type without looking like you can with physical buttons. It seems more a gimmick than an upgrade.

What do you think? If you had the option to download a program that added haptic functionality to your iPhone, would you do it?

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• By Gender•

While the iPod Touch did win in overall votes, women actually preferred the iPod nano more. The tiny competitor received 32% of their votes. And the poor shuffle, no matter what gender, only picked up 4% of the votes with either sex.

• By Age•

With the 13-17, 18-24 and 25-34 crowds all favoring the iPod touch, there seems to be a trend going on here. Although the aging Facebook'ers, 35-49, gave the finger to the iPod Touch (Get it? The Finger. Touch. Sorry-BL) and heralded two new winners, the iPod nano and the iPhone both coming in with 30% of the geriatric vote.

[Facebook]

I'd love a touch, as having that Wi-Fi would be awesome. But cutting 44GB out of my portable library? And paying $500 for what amounts to a fancy screen and a Wi-Fi device I'll realistically only be able to use at home? I don't know. Then there's the classic, which would be able to hold all 120GB+ of my music with plenty of room to breathe. It's cheaper, would hold everything as well as some videos, but is just, you know, boring. No Wi-Fi, no huge touchscreen, no fun.

Then, of course, there's the third choice: stick with my perfectly fine 60GB iPod and not blow any more money on something I don't need. And with strong reservations about both of my iPod choices, that might just be the option I go with. How about you? Will you be grabbing a touch despite the dinky hard drive? Will you be upgrading to a monster classic? Maybe getting a fatty nano? Or is that iPhone price drop just what you've been waiting for? Let's see what the most desired of the lineup is, shall we?

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The problem is, the iPhone is only available through AT&T, in my opinion one of the most unscrupulous telecoms around. AT&T's tactics combine Microsoft-style anti-competitive maneuvers and anti-privacy efforts á la RIAA for a chilling effect. I avoid giving AT&T any of my money; it's a personal boycott. I'd like to call for a more wide- ranging one, but that brings up an interesting question: Does a hyped gadget you really want trump any moral misgivings you might have about where it's coming from?

First, let me break down why I think AT&T isn't worthy of your hard-earned money. Back in the 1980s, the original telecom giant was broken up for being a monopoly only to cobble itself back together again years later to nearly the same form as before. (Of course, it now has competition in some businesses, but in many regions of the US it still reigns frighteningly supreme.)

Last year, it was discovered that AT&T has been secretly spying on Americans for the government. Maybe it still is. Then, just recently, it announced that it planned to spy on Internet surfers yet again, looking for pirated media files, presumably to the delight of the RIAA and MPAA. If you don't want to get spied on and want to switch ISPs, guess what? Depending on where you live, you might not have any other options. And if AT&T snoops on all data passing through its network, most US Internet users will be affected, not just AT&T customers. It runs a significant amount of the backbone infrastructure of the Internet, leaving little traffic outside its grasp.

So what we have is a company that doesn't have privacy at the top of its priority list, not to mention the anti-trust laws of this country. It's setting terrible precedents left and right, and its vast power that comes from its huge size makes it all the more unlikely to change for the better. We, as contentious, tech-savvy individuals, should go out of our way to deprive this company of money, power and influence.

However, there are thousands, maybe millions, of people out there just dying to get their hands on an iPhone, and AT&T has a lock on the device for five years.

So, Apple and iPhone fans, what's more important to you? Having the hottest device, or knowing that you are standing up to a company, that in my opinion, has no regard for the privacy and consumer choice of Americans? Is it up to us, the customers, to stand up to these practices, or should we just keep shopping and hope the regulators do their jobs?

I, for one, will be continuing my AT&T boycott for the foreseeable future. –Adam Frucci

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For starters, the RIAA is incredibly stupid, but they are not evil. Like it or not, they actually do represent and help to pay the salaries of the artists whose music you wish to "share."

Should they be suing teenagers in Poughkeepsie? Of course not. Should they be pushing DRM down our throats? No. But what you fail to grasp is that they are doing these things because they are short-sighted, small-minded,
incredibly ignorant bureaucrats who truly believe they are protecting the interests of artists and the people who pay them. They are not evil. They are not fascists. They are just profoundly stupid.

Instead of demonizing them for doing the only thing they know how to do, why don't you come up with a better way? You guys understand the future of tech and what it means for music and movies better than most anyone, so why don't you stop throwing rocks at the dinosaurs and start solving the problem.

Now, I realize that these guys aren't evil incarnate and we just share differing beliefs, but I don't think I've demonized them personally too much (well, maybe a little bit yesterday). This is clearly an ideological debate, and we're just trying to get people talking about it so progress can be made.

As for us needing to solve the problem, to be fair, we're a blog. It isn't our job to develop new products or services, and I certainly would have no idea where to start doing something like that. If anyone has new, groundbreaking ideas or innovations in this field, of course I would love to post them here and get them publicity. However, there's a huge line between writing about technology and developing technology.

Plus, I write 13 posts a day, dude. There are only so many hours around to do stuff in. Publicizing the issue and educating people about what's at stake is our way of helping to solve the problem, as far as I'm concerned.

So what do you guys think? Are we way off, or do you think we're on the right track? I'm not just looking to get a pat on the back here, either. I really care about this issue, and if you guys have ideas as to how we could be more effective, I want to hear them.

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Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Am I way off base here? Is ATHF as bad as Bin Laden? Who is really to blame for the entire of city of Boston being shut down?

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–Adam Frucci

So is this true? Do you see your computer more than your significant other? Do you use your computer as a stand-in for the significant other you wish you had? Fess up, patheticos. At least some of you out there are making up this majority. –Adam Frucci

Brief: Americans prefer computer to spouse, survey says [ComputerWorld]

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Product Page [Joost]