SHUSH. I'm not old. Really, I'm not. 2020 is still the distant future, so there.

" “some form of KERS” would be inevitable on production cars after 2020."

I'm hoping that by then, electric cars (with regenerative braking) are starting to become the norm.

Really, 2020? With the pace technology develops, this might as well be Star Trek.

It shouldn't cost more to "rent" a two year old movie to stream online that it does to BUY it in the bargain bin. Not only that, but many older movies aren't available to rent at all, only for "purchase" (which, when bought online is really a long-term rental anyway due to DRM).

Get the rental prices down. Let me pay $2-$3 to watch a movie rather than $6-$10. And for the love of Princess Celestia, when you PAY for content online, it should look good! No compression artifacts, no buffering. Let me pull down the whole thing, or maybe half of it before watching to ensure a good experience.

Did Fluke actually request this? Or did Customs do this of their own volition?

If it's the latter, Fluke should step up and allow them to make a one time exception for this shipment. It would generate considerably goodwill for the company and show that they're not bullies keeping the little guy down.

If they DID request this, then fuck them all with a chainsaw, seriously.

Did you hear that? That was the sound of millions of religious zealots pressing their palms harder against their ears and screaming LA LA LA even louder.

One fundamental issue is that corporations have this crazy idea that it's the job of companies like Google, ISPs and cloud service providers to enforce their copyrights.

Umm, it's NOT. It's the job of the content owners to enforce their copyrights, send take-downs, and so on.

Companies like Google, ISPs, cloud service providers, etc. do not have the time or resources to enforce copyright. We can't expect them to without driving the cost of service even higher than it already ridiculously is.

(Of course, the fact that Comcast now owns NBC means that the ISP and content owner are one.. which blurs this thinking and is also quite dangerous; I'm still pissed that regulators let that happen.)

All fungi can fuck off. Seriously.

From what I read, it looks like they sold the fuel at "full cost", rather than "market rate".

Does this mean they sold the fuel at the same cost NASA paid for it? If so, what's the big deal? NASA is a government agency, not a business. They don't have to sell fuel at a profit.

It's not like they were giving it away or losing money on it!

Arguably, simply holding your phone to your ear and talking on it is a lot less distracting than LOOKING at the phone and tapping to find map directions.

Why is the former illegal, while the latter is okay? Either make them both illegal, or make it okay to *talk* on the phone as well.

Ahh, my mistake then. Still, these are very early machines that were no longer being sold after 2007. I think de-supporting 7 year old machines, especially for good reasons (major architecture changes) isn't something that we need to be so up in arms about. Seven years is an eternity in the tech world.

Supporting ancient hardware for so long is one of the reasons why Microsoft software tends to be so bloated and unreliable. If your seven year old hardware isn't supported, you can likely find 5 year old hardware on the used market for next to nothing and upgrade your stuff. :)

Are there Macs that can run Snow Leopard but cannot run Lion?

My 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 supports Lion, and it's one of the oldest Intel Macs. I don't think there's many people "stuck" on Snow Leopard; they should be able to upgrade to Lion and get security updates. Apple has historically only supported the current and previous versions of OS X. Basically, Lion users are getting unexpected support right now, and I think it's because of the large installed base that can't run anything newer than Lion.

Rightfully afraid; this is Miami. Bikes will vanish relatively quickly if locked outside. Also assholes who realize they can't steal it because you used a good lock will just vandalize it instead.

Yup, no way in HELL I'd commute on this bike unless I had a secure place to keep it at work.

(I actually do; I could just tuck the bike into one of our server rooms. Mmm, climate controlled bike locker! But most people don't have this luxury. Also I bet if all the employees started bike commuting, management would put a quick stop to it)

There was actually a brief time when some ISPs tried to *BAN* routers! Yup, they said you couldn't use a router and had to connect your computer directly to the Internet. There were also clauses that tried to ban you from connecting multiple computers to one connection.

This was in the days when cable and DSL access was just starting out. They would actually send a guy over to your home to set up the hardware AND install software on your computer. They would often refuse to install on anything that wasn't a Windows machine, so if you ran Linux or a Mac you had to set up a "dummy" windows machine for them to do the install on, then switch back to Linux when they left.

It was a horrible, dark time, and I'm glad it's over.

"No routers allowed", hah.

I often wonder this. I've been on AT&T since 2010 and they've always handed me an IP behind a NAT. I know prior to 2010, Sprint handed out real IPs but I bet they've stopped by now.

You can supposedly pay an extra $15 a month to AT&T for an "Enterprise" data connection that gives you a real routable IP. I've had absolutely zero use for it, but I bet it comes in handy for folks using USB cellular modems.

Either way, this is how cellular providers are staving off IP depletion. Frankly I don't care; the lack of a real routable IP has never kept me from doing anything I need to do with my phone.