tundraboy

I think those barges had a far greater effect on Google's corporate culture than people think.  I can't think of any other corporate project that is as bizarre, ridiculous, and wasteful as those barges.  Google got gun shy after that fiasco and it marked the beginning of the end of the endless parade of Google beta products that would get hyped up then disappear.

A suggestion: a 78 degree setting is much more comfortable if you have a floor fan that gathers the colder air near the floor and shoots it upwards.  A low cost and pro-environment alternative to lowering your thermostat.

GeorgeBMac said:

There are two main approaches to "healthcare":

The one we are most familiar with is actually "DiseaseManagement" -- where you go to the doctor with a complaint or your doctor finds a problem and, in most cases, he prescribes a pill.  The pill typically does nothing to resolve the problem.   But it does suppress the symptoms of the problem (so in the medical mind, they fixed the problem).  (Blood pressure pills are a prime example)

The other approach is actual healthcare where health is promoted and maintained.   Dean Ornish may be the best proponent of that approach as he advocates a healthy lifestyle that includes a healthy diet, daily exercise, stress reduction along with human love and connection.  He has shown that that lifestyle can not only prevent but even reverse heart disease, many cancers, Type 2 diabetes and is currently running a study that may show that it can prevent and reverse Alzheimers.  His program is no longer alternative medicine or anything far out as Medicare and many insurance programs now pay for it because it has been proven to work.

It is estimated that 80% of the $17Trillion Americans spend on health care each year is spent on chronic diseases and that this lifestyle approach can prevent 80% of those chronic diseases.   Which is maybe why those receiving that $17Trillion have never been thrilled by the lifestyle approach.

So, while the American medical system gives lip service to lifestyle medicine it typically then ignores it in favor of traditional medical pills and procedures (which is where the money is).   Apple has come closer than most to promoting those healthy lifestyles but still seems to be firmly rooted in the traditional medical establishment.  That may be good because, in that business, traditional medicine calls the shots and any who challenge it tend to run into a buzz saw.

I expect that the biggest obstacle to shifting to your preferred healthcare model is that it would be seen by at least 40% of the US population as a gross infringement of their freedom and worth taking up arms against.  It's also probably a major component of the pedophile conspiracy's plan to takeover the country.

The idiot calls Apple a "quasi-monopoly".  That is a meaningless term, like "half-pregnant".  There is no such thing.  Well maybe he's not an idiot, just a quasi-idiot.

applesauce007 said:

I think Epic will eventually lose.  
They cannot call Apple a monopoly nor anti-competitive in this case.
All they can do is build a better or cheaper product to compete against Apple.  Good Luck with that.

Microsoft should be ashamed of itself for testifying against Apple in this case.

Epic also has a lawsuit against Google also alleging monopoly.  So Epic has two lawsuits accusing two intense competitors in the market for smartphone apps as being monopolies in that market.  You can't have two monopolists in one market.  You can allege collusion, but of course that's hard to prove for the simple reason that it isn't going on.  So the lawyers are trying to prove that the same app sold through Android is in a different relevant market as the same app sold through iOS.  I think that would be quite a change in antitrust case law because it has always been the product characteristics itself and maybe their geographical availability (irrelevant in downloadable apps)  that determines what is the relevant market.  This will have to go all the way to the Supremes for it to stick.  And I think given the conservative majority, that's a fool's errand.  But very lucrative for the lawyers involved, so I expect years of futile litigation by Epic (subtly egged on by their lawyers).