Not only does Google want more stuff to go through them they are complicit if not one of the prime agitators of this phenomenon.

For example to get directions to go from the White House to the US Capitol you get this URL (used the quotes so can see the whole URL w/o having to scroll over): "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+White+House,+1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/US+Congress+-+Sergeant+at+Arms,+1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515/@38.8950631,-77.0311265,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b7bcdecbb1df:0x715969d86d0b76bf!2m2!1d-77.0365298!2d38.8976763!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b7b057914a6b:0x617d58ed260bc5e2!2m2!1d-77.0090646!2d38.8899056"

All of the characters after the +20515 is completely unneeded for the above link to work. "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+White+House,+1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/US+Congress+-+Sergeant+at+Arms,+1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515" is all that is needed for the link to work, and can even whittle that down more by another 49 characters to "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515" and it would still work. Perhaps they should start leading by example and fix what they helped create instead of worrying about what to replace it with.

Dell has a solution to this that Lenovo should be able to implement: The ability to install BIOS updates from a flash drive straight from the boot options menu. No hacks or "firmware services" needed. Actually I am surprised that they don't (but I don't have much experience with modern Thinkpads, so they may already have the capability already).

Simply put the BIOS update file onto a FAT32 formatted flash drive, restart the system and press the key to bring up the boot menu (on Dell's it is F12), select the option for BIOS firmware update, select the BIOS update in the file explorer, and select update. This method takes an operating system out of the equation completely and the only tool you need is a common USB flash drive.

It is not so much an issue with Dell, but an issue with the computer industry in general. On a previous notebook computer I used as my main notebook, a Thinkpad T21, it had a single speaker and at maximum volume it could be heard clearly throughout the house (granted while not a booming sound from true stereo speakers good enough for a notebook computer so I could keep hearing it as I moved about the house) and to this day sounds good with minimal distortion, however with a newer notebook, a Thinkpad T500, its speakers were starting to crackle after barely a year of usage. However the speakers that most computer manufactures are using nowadays are a lot cheaper so they limit the power that goes to them thereby limiting the volume and in some cases that can make watching a movie on the computer impossible without headphones, external speakers, or boosting the volume through EQ adjustments or the volume boost function of VLC.

This issue is not limited to Dell and IBM/Lenovo but is true for many manufactures computers, especially in notebooks without a premium audio option which include beefier speakers and sometimes an additional woofer speaker for better low range. The real fix would be to use a higher quality speaker that can take a little more power (I mean we are only talking about a few watts of power so how hard can it be). Therein lies the problem, with notebook computers being commodity products these days and the majority of buyers looking for the best price, the manufactures skimp on quality. Because of said skimping on quality leads people to use bandaid fixes which in turn exacerbates the issue and leads the already prematurely prone to failure speakers to fail even more prematurely.

That was in the "The '37's" episode of the 2nd season of Voyager if I am not mistaken. What they found was evidence of rust in space (which by ST logic should not exist) and when they tracked it down they came across an old 1930's Ford pickup truck floating in space. After they pull the truck onto the ship they start messing around with it, get it started (though I doubt it wold have started the gas would have long evaporated through the fuel system especially in the vacuum of space, or if it was somehow hermetically sealed inside the gas tank would have gone bad and had terrible varnish issues if it wouldn't have been frozen solid by the cold of space) then turn the radio on and find a signal on the AM band and trace it to a nearby planet and find a 1930's era plane sending out a SOS signal (though with a "modern" power source powering it).

While there are 50 states in the United States, only 48 of them are contiguous. The other two, Alaska and Hawaii, are not contiguous, one being separated by about a third of the Pacific Ocean, and the other with a good chunk of Canada between it and the lower 48.

On the sizes of the various states, all of the US states are larger than at least one country in the world. The largest state, Alaska, is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. The smallest state, Rhode Island, is larger than a couple dozen countries or so.

As for the one you specifically mentioned, the United Kingdom, it is almost twice the size of Louisiana but about half way between Minnesota and Michigan in size.

I do not know where you got your size comparison of the EU to NYC from, as NYC is smaller than the state of Rhode Island.

Exactly, Moore's Law isn't a law, it is a marketing plan. I don't see why so many people get so serious about it. A real law (of science) would be something like the law of gravity where it has a near universal application, whereas Moore's Law is a "law" that describes Intel's marketing plan.

You forgot to put this on your list: Videos skip and pause when fully buffered . I am not sure what is the actual cause for it is but something causes it, even on a 2.8GHz Core2Duo w/ 8GB of memory with Win 7 64bit I get that a lot especially with youtube sometimes with others.

OK missed mentioned coincidence by name but did allege it.

Well in the case of the article had nothing to do with the DVD sales/rentals, digi sales and whatnot, but box office sales. That part of my comments were simply saying that basing popularity of a movie based on revenues which naturally get inflated over past years due to rising ticket prices (and not to mention a range of ticket prices in theaters which further distorts the numbers) rather than based on a value which is more set it absolute numbers like the number of tickets sold, should be evaluated.

Just because there is alleged correlation between the two events doesn't mean the lower box office revenues were caused by the shutdown. Perhaps it is due to lackluster movies this year, perhaps it was due to the ever dwindling economy so those who would have normally gone to a movie couldn't justify spending an ever increasing amount on tickets (and concessions if the choose to get those), or perhaps it was just more people going to see "matinee" showings which are often a lot less expensive which drives down revenues but perhaps increases ticket sales. Heck one local theater to me has matinee showings that are $3 and most other showings are less than $5 before 6PM.

Perhaps instead of counting revenues they should count actual ticket sales. Like when they say a movie has broken a box office revenue record, is it because more people are actually seeing the movie or is it because ticket prices are at record highs?

The nice thing about TV shows is the fact that broadcasters often repeat them often and are available in other formats such as DVD's or online streaming services, so even if you were to cancel your service to Boxee the information isn't gone, just might be a slight time inconvenience if one wanted to watch it. Or one could just use a TV provider provided DVR box which records the digital stream directly to the box instead of to the "cloud", it just isn't "unlimited" .

However from personal experience a 500GB DVR box is more than enough (at least for SD programming). Also now being offered by TV providers is boxes with a lot more that 500GB are being offered now and can in some cases record up to 5 programs at once.

I've been running the 64 bit of version Windows 7 for a year and a half now (when I got my Thinkpad T500 before that I had no 64bit capable machines), and I have had no issues running 32 bit applications on it. 16 bit applications however, or 32 bit applications with 16 bit installers or 16 bit legacy code in them yes there is an issue there as the 64 bit versions of Windows have the NTVDM removed from it, but also workarounds. For older DOS applications/games there is always DOSBox and with Windows 7 Pro, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions one can use the XP Mode virtual machine, which I find works quite well and even offers an integrations mode so it is mostly seamless between the real machine and the virtual machine.

I did quantify in my initial comment "if it doesn't cost them anything" so as long as it is not totally free and they are paying something (to see a basic clinic and what not). One thing I do think there should be is not health insurance they way it is traditionally thought of, but a Catastrophic insurance which would cover things like non-lifestyle related issues (lung cancer for smokers, cirrhosis of the liver for excessive drinkers, various issues that come from extremely poor living including extreme obesity (unless there is some other issue that goes with it like thyroid issues which makes weight control difficult), etc just to name a few). By having that catastrophic insurance it should lead people to live better lifestyles since while they are covered for things outside their direct control, they know that by having to pay for their own health upkeep (even if subsidized) they will live in a more healthy way. Personally speaking if it wasn't for the unknown potential issues that would cost me tons of money I wouldn't have health insurance myself, but I would rather play it safe in case I need to go in for an appendectomy or something that is outside of my control.

We tried that before. If i recall last time we tried to outlaw alcohol it backfired and gave to the rise of 1920's gangsters, bootlegging, and everything that came with it. Outlawing products do not work, because people will find a way to get them, much in the same way as today's war on drugs, if anything it has lead to an increase of drug usage.

Personally speaking this article is a perfect example why people shouldn't get "free" or rather publicly paid health care as it leads people to live in a manner which is inconsistent with healthy living as there is no cost benefit to them otherwise. If people have to pay for what they are getting they are more inclined to live in a manner which fits what they can afford. As in what incentive do people have to live healthily if it doesn't cost them anything to live the opposite.

You sir have discovered capitalism at work! Why do people demonize businesses who seek out the best and brightest and PAY them for their knowledge and skill. Perhaps because they didn't get those well paying jobs themselves.

Just because it has been detected now doesn't mean it hasn't been around for hundreds, thousands, millions, or even billions of years already. So too early to say that these holes are anything to worry about. After all, the sun does coronal mass ejections quite often, some of which are aimed towards us, which while major events generally uneventful, maybe with some satellites knocked out.