By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

After reports that Apple retail stores had all blocked Facebook to discourage customers from “wasting time” (i.e., hogging the computers so that people who actually wanted to buy something couldn’t try out the software), a CNET writer checked it out for herself, and found out that the answer was… well, sort of.

It turns out that there’s no official ban on the website, but some stores are apparently choosing to block it from the store’s computers (some redirecting the site to the Apple homepage).

Personally, I don’t see the problem with blocking the site if it’s actually a problem; after all, they’ve already done the same thing with MySpace. As I find myself incredibly annoyed pretty much every time I have to go to an Apple store due to the crowds, anything that’s going to keep people moving in and out seems like a swell idea to me. With being a store and a tech support site and some sort of learning annex, I think the retail locations are wearing enough hats without being Internet cafes, too.

Along those same lines, the Apple store in Nashville particularly annoys me because there’s nowhere to sit. If you’ve got to wait for your name to show up on the Genius Bar screen, there should at least be somewhere for you to stay out of the way instead of standing in the middle of the store while people are constantly bumping into you.

And on the subject of Internet cafes, I think that Starbucks would benefit from sticking a few computers in there, or at least offering free wireless (and apparently they can use all the help they can get right now). Maybe the mall locations would suck some of the people out of the overflowing Apple stores.

[Image Source: Flickr]