maybe i missed it, so apologies if i did:
whether you rinse your rice affects the outcome (of raw rice)
if you want sticky rice with lots of starch, just cook it in twice the volume of water as volume of rice to be prepated
however, if you want a more asian flaky rice, rinse the rice is cold running water for at least 30 seconds
and the rice cooker is a no brainer. a bit of oil on the bottom (making clean up MUCH easier) then the water and rice. put the lid on tightly and walk away until the bell rings telling you that it is done ... and it's now on the "warm" setting. how much easier can it get?