You're spot on here and illustrating my primary point--that the parents have enjoyed a greater convenience in overcoming the communication troubles with their d

You're spot on here and illustrating my primary point--that the parents have enjoyed a greater convenience in overcoming the communication troubles with their daughter. I didn't intend to make light of how incredible that particular convenience is over other methods. I don't doubt or discount that the iPad app is leaps and bounds improved over other methods in this particular case. Again, none of that is disputable as far as I see. The particular dimension of the story I felt worth pointing out that was disputable, however, were the ways in which the author made hyperbolic claims. I could tell with the reactions in the HN comments that everyone was capitalizing on the anti-PRC/Apple angle and somewhat beating it to death. Speaking as a parent of two, the eldest of whom started speaking later than "normal" and still seems to have some issues (though by no means as extreme as Maya's), it was the claims that there was zero communication without the app that stood out to me (particularly after taking other content on the blog into consideration). It is unquestionably sad and pathetic when anything that truly helps improve people's lives in a demonstrable way is threatened by crap in the business world. Stories like Maya's are excellent for helping enlighten people to the ways that IP fighting can seriously degrade people's lives. I just still think it's worth being intellectually honest even amid the harshest emotional pulls.