To be fair RSS was hitting mainstream when it go whacked. It was where Bluetooth was right before the headset rage set in (2003?) and pulled it out of the limbo it had been in between the wants of nerds and the cheapness of manufacturers and most consumers. The 4 factors that hurt RSS in my mind were: 1. non-obvious pronunciation to laymen/not memorable name- even Bluetooth, Firefox, and Google are easier to remember. 2. Similarly it's lack of corporate co-opting and the ensuing pitch as the "next big thing"; good or bad this often pushes tech into the public eye. 4. The post-Chrome seemingly desperate obsession of existing browser providers to seem hip by eliminating and UI elements not used 100% of users. If back and forwards buttons are tossed in the dumpster RSS had no chance in hell. And finally, like you suggested a bit of 1 + 2 in Facebook. A good enough, and for casual users simpler integrated option that also worked for other needs like photo sharing and discussion postings in a presumed safe environment.

I think Facebook won the race to zero long ago. Zero long term viability, zero morality, zero innovation strategy = zero chance of being around in 20 years. They have no depth of innovation or base of loyalty beyond people waiting for the next thing and their friends to migrate. They know they are MySpace, which is why they are spending billions buying up everything in sight in the hopes to finding the innovation and depth that define long term tech company survival. But like most companies without a culture of ingenuity all they can do is buy the current cool thing and run it into the ground. Jokes about this era will be the the way people fixated on the worth of something with so little value. At least the 2000 bubble was about many new ideas being tested and failing. Facebook's value is entirely hinging on the insane concept that somebody can't MySpace them just as quickly. It will be interesting when the market wakes up to that reality.

Totally agree with the verdict. But to suggest that being stuck in traffic makes it impossible to drive recklessly isn't realistic. That said any distinction between a Garmin or inbuilt mapping and using a mobile is absurd and the court thankfully agreed.

Bingo! We have a winner.

What is a CRT? It it pronounced like Kurt, or CeeeArrrrrTeeee? Do they come with any cool apps? I do like the idea of my own ray tube though. Sounds pretty up and coming. Anybody know of any upcoming IPOs investing in this tech?

So I'm gonna bet those divisions are not going to see the focus they did under Ballmer. Assuming the company decides to shift away from chasing the competition with decent but never exciting consumer products. Makes sense too, the new CEO worked for a segment of the company that couldn't have been too thrilled to be bankrolling duds like those. It is pretty bizarre to think that Elop reportedly wanted to sell the Xbox (and Bing) group and now he has been put in charge of it. But maybe it was just a nice gesture to hand him some Ballmer legacy stuff that isn't really anything but an endless drain of company resources and focus. Or maybe they are just stupid and think that his skill at wreaking good organizations might have the the inverse effect on already broken ones.

Not to bash the iPhone, but how is it that Apple seems to be so much ahead of the pack when it comes to the iPad but the iPhone seems to be just another high-end smartphone? I mean the new full-size iPad seems so much better especially in size and weight than anything else out there, while the 5s is just a nice spec bump.

Totally agree with you except for Gitmo. His opponents tried to make it sound like by giving those bastards a trial and bringing them to NYC that somehow everybody was in danger, and they were gonna get off easy (in NYC yeah right). If I recall for whatever reason he doesn't have the authority to force the issue because he can't bring them to the states without congress.

That said he is a coward who did the base minimum to say he tried when people called him on it. If he had pushed back against the fear mongering and reminded people that only that the justice is a conviction not indefinite detention he might have been able to do it. Hell if anything I would have pushed the point and reminded people that if we ever plan on charging them it would be better to do it soon instead of letting them sit in limbo until some future date while the evidence gets lost and witnesses disappear and then we really are stuck with having to hold them forever. Plus how do you defend that one to our allies. Um yeh we don't really have enough to convict these guys every since Mohammed Kablewie died in that hunger strike last year. And nobody can find the taped confession. But we can't let them go.

Hmm interesting. I surprised rent doesn't rank higher. Thanks for the info.

I think it really depends on the business as well. If you are running a corner mart then I imagine you get a lot of chargebacks and bad cards which wouldn't help and lots of small transactions must be a pain. On the other hand while the guy who fixes PCs might think it's silly they don't just give him cash, and thats fair, but other than the fee he pays what would be the reason to "hate" them as you say? And before anybody comes yelling that credit cards are satan and real men use paper money let me agree with the first part of that statement and then remind people that debit cards for many people are actually a better way to handle their money than cash At least for me it is. But maybe I've just been lucky dealing with a surprisingly honest credit union instead of my old bank.

Just because the mods weren't any good doesn't change what I thought was a pretty obvious joke post. I meant no offense... but when you saw the Japan stuff and then the random jump to Ubuntu being racist you didn't suspect maybe he wasn't serious?

Thank you! This is such a common misunderstanding people have and it can really lead you to confusion when actually dealing with a person who has the condition. In fact it was that exact problem that led to my parents being reluctant to put up the money to have me tested as an adolescent. They were caring people, but money was tight, and the few times I remember it being mentioned by friends or family as something to look into they would reply non-defensively that they had considered it and then provide examples of how I would read my software and computer manuals cover to cover (back when they were 200 pages) or had no problem focusing on cartoons, or how I had never been trouble in school. I remember them telling a teacher my at conferences in 5th grade after he suggested testing, and upon hearing it the teacher himself remarked that my issues must be something else then.

This was compounded further by the fact that I am much more closely aligned with what used to be called ADD back before they bizarrely decided to reintegrate ADD and ADHD back into just ADHD. I'm not hyperactive at all, and despite ADD and ADHD's many shared symptoms I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have to explain to people who are confused about how I could be such a slow paced laid back person(to a fault) and have a disorder that people associate with kids jumping off the walls. This disorder is already so surprisingly misunderstood by the public that lumping slow pokes like myself with individuals who at first glance seem to be my polar opposite only further confuses those trying to understand my situation, and gives ammo to people who think the whole thing is made up or just a willpower issue.

As somebody with mild ADHD and who just happens to be a gamer I was exited by the headline. That is until I saw that these games aren't really games, at least not the kind any self-respecting gamer would choose. Bummer dude.

As a non-coffee drinker I've been told by multiple people that Starbucks of all places is very proactive about this stuff. I think they had an app for the original iPhone almost right when the Appstore opened that laid some of the framework like being able to save billing info in the app along with giftcards. Clearly certain companies payed enough attention early on to realize that NFC or something like it was coming soon and it was a good idea to get people used to the concept of using their phone in the transaction process. Chipotle also did something similar early on, but for whatever reason they scaled it back a bit and seemed to shift more to scannable coupons which still accomplishes the goal of getting people thinking of their phone as a means of improving the ordering process. The main cost for these retailers isn't the food/coffee they serve it's the time and space you take up as you order it and then have to wait for all the inefficiencies with cash, cards, or checks. Getting you in and out as quickly as possible is their goal. The side benefit for them is that for once their methods for saving them money also have the effect of making the experience quicker and more pleasant for you. An uncommon win-win in the world of low margin penny pinching retailers.