We want to hear from you… click through to the poll on our blog now to let us know if you plan on getting an iPhone 4 from Verizon.

“Vote now!”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/4290/vote-are-you-getting-a-verizon-iphone-4 (voting ends at noon ET on Wednesday)

*Start Soapbox*

While the US House of Representatives voted this week to repeal the health care reform law, Vermont legislators heard on Wednesday from Dr. William Hsiao, Professor of Economics at Harvard and the designer of the much acclaimed Taiwanese health care system. Dr. Hsiao and his team of 20 experts were asked by the Vermont legislature to analyze the current health care system in Vermont and make recommendations on three systems to replace the current system.

Dr. Hsiao noted that the current system is broken and headed to failure despite the excessive cost of the system. His plans were a single-payer system completely operated by the government, a system with a “public option” and a public-private single payer system. His recommendation is for the third option: a public-private single payer system that would cover all Vermonters but would use existing private companies to administer the program.

His analysis shows that this could be funded with an 11% payroll tax and provide essential health care coverage to all Vermonters. Further, he demonstrated how that could save the state over $2 Billion by 2024, create 5,000 jobs, reduce employer and employee cost of insurance, attract 3,500 new residents and increase the state’s domestic product by over $150 million.

Of course, he identified several challenges and barriers to implementation; however, in the current political climate in our state with both a Governor and a legislature committed to reform, there is a very strong possibility that his suggestion or some modification of it will be adopted in Vermont. I know that our analysis of Dr. Hsiao’s proposal shows that our cost to insure our employees would drop 50%. We currently estimate about 22% of payroll to cover health insurance, Dr. Hsiao estimates a payroll tax of 11% and some percentage of that would be born by the employees. This would allow us to hire more people and to pay our current employees higher wages.

This sensible approach to health care reform simply makes intuitive sense as well as economic sense. The current “system” is nothing more than an accident of history and a Rube Goldberg contraption that is on the verge of total collapse. You can read Dr. Hsiao’s presentation to the Vermont legislature “here.”:http://leg.state.vt.us/jfo/healthcare/FINAL%20VT%20Hsiao%20Presentation%20for%20Jan1911_1.pdf

*End Soapbox*

__Have a comment?__ “Leave it on the blog here”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/soapbox-vermont-leads-the-nation-in-health-care-reform/ __or email me at the above address!__

As of this morning, the App Store is just 20,000,000 shy of its ten billionth download, and that folks, is a lot of “*Angry Birds.*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fangry-birds%2Fid343200656%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30

If a cool twenty mil seems like a large number of remaining downloads, get this: according to Apple, 350 apps are being downloaded every second! Considering the store is just over two years old, only serves to make this number more impressive. The iTunes Music Store by comparison opened in the Spring of 2003, and just surpassed the ten billion mark last February.

The App Store has grown to be one of Apple’s most lucrative platforms ever, benefiting both the company and the developers behind the apps immensely. The diversity of offerings in the store arguably drives the incredible popularity of iOS devices such as the iPad, and Apple has taken notice. As a way of expressing its thanks, the company is giving away a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card to whomever downloads the 10 billionth app.

As the store is predicted to achieve this milestone by the end of the day, Apple has updated its homepage with a ticker counting off the downloads. As the lucky download draws nearer, it’s likely the frequency of downloads will only increase.

According to the Calculator app, if the number stays at exactly at 350/second, the ten billionth download is under 16 hours away. Contests such as these have the potential to propel a relatively small developer into the spotlight if their app is the milestone download. This was the case with “*Bump*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fbump%2Fid305479724%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 (the 1 billionth app downloaded).

Get those fingers ready people. If you time your taps right, you may not be paying for apps, music, or movies for a long long time!

Keep an eye on the ticker “*here.*”:http://www.apple.com/

This past Monday, Steve Jobs announced a second medical leave of absence from Apple. In a companywide email published on the company’s “*PR page*”http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/17advisory.html Jobs announced the following:

__Team,__

__At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.__

__I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.__

__I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.__

__Steve__

The expected duration of this leave is unknown, but Jobs makes it evident he plans to maintain his role as CEO. When Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009, Tim Cook oversaw Apple’s day to day in the interim. As the announcement is still new, it is unknown whether the complications Mr. Jobs has encountered with pancreatic cancer in the past are connected to his current ailments.

Here’s a little Bears/Packers history to show you the depth of the rivalry of these teams. The two teams have been playing each other since 1921 and have only once before faced each other in a championship game.

In 1941, the Bears beat the Packers 33-14 to win the Western Division championship. The Bears went on to beat the NY Giants for their 4th NFL Championship. The Bears and Packers have faced each other 181 times with the Bears holding a 92-83-6 record over the Pack.

It may be below zero outside on Sunday but the game between the Bears and Packers should be fantastic as my Chicago Bears take the next step to the Super Bowl!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali, Ed & Ben_