They're rendering your device unusable, which they may not do knowingly.

That is irrelevant. You cannot give yourself rights with shrinkwrap license. The law still wins.

If only one of them does it, they will have lost money over this.

Yes, if they did it by accident. If it can be shown that they did it on purpose, and that is almost certainly the case here, then it doesn't matter what they put in the license.

Depends on what you want from a phone, if you only want a phone and e-mail/SMS terminal with emergency browsing capability and a nav app with a tiny map display then something the size of an iPhone 5/5s is fine. If, however, you want to do more like read e-books, edit documents, play games, etc... then a device the size of the iPhone 6 is at the lower end of the usable but a bit beyond the upper end of how big a phone should be. So the choice you have is a device that's the right size for a phone but a crappy size for a tablet or do you want a device that is a usable tablet but too big for a phone. The perfect mobile device has, what? something equivalent to a 15 inch or bigger display but is still physically no larger than a match box and those are irreconcilable demands until we are able to project holographic displays like they do in scifi movies. The Google glass is another take on this but I would prefer the holo displays. I suppose you could also go for the Borg solution and splice the device output through a wireless link directly into the optical nerve but I'm not that obsessed with the mobile lifestyle so I draw the line at surgery. Eventually this issue will be solved and probably with a technology none of us can currently conceive of at this moment.

Also for once the summary is spot on: "these weapons rely on exact dosage to prevent fatality, and that the ability to deliver the right agent to the right people in the right dose without exposing the wrong people, or delivering the wrong dose' is a near-impossible expectation". Maybe you should have read it. Or remembered that in the russian vs Chechen situation a decade ago, most of the hostages died because of the incapacitating agent. Also, if all it takes is a few gas mask, expect the next hostage takers to use gas masks.

Actually I prefer my phones to have a screen diagonal of 4.95" but I could only choose diagonals <= 4.9 " or diagonals >=5.0" so I chose 5.0"-5.4" so I could post and complain about this outrageous dearth of choices.

Safety? I mean, duh, we're talking about a potentially lethal disease and bedsheets worth a few cents.

Come back when they start burning the mattresses.

...provided you're in the presence of something or someone that can transmit it. Before you go full bore on panic mode, realize that we are talking about a low single digit cases in the US and that Ebola is, at least to our current knowledge, only contagious when symptoms are displayed.

In other words, as long as you're not an idiot you should be fine. As for the rest, well, Darwin should be allowed to be right from time to time.

Becaues the average I-beam is more easy to spot than the average virus. It's trivial to know whether you're protected from an I-Beam (is that hard hat on? Yes? You are), but not whether you're protected against viral matter (is your hazmat suit tight? You sure? Are you?)

It's not easy to catch for the average person. Hmm... how to draw a parallel that the average /. reader can understand...

If your job is to solder tiny parts into electronics, getting burned by a soldering iron is quite easy if you're not careful. It's rather unlikely to impossible for the average person on the street to get a soldering burn.

Likewise, if you're working with people who are infectious on a daily base and have to handle their highly contagious blood, urine, feces, saliva and other stuff the average person not only finds yucky but wouldn't want to get near if paid to do so, you can get infected easily if you're not careful, while for the average person who has zero if not less contact to either contagious people or their bodily substances the risk is far lower, if not nonexistent.

And every time he farts we get to hear it as news?

Who needs social networks online?

Facebook solves a very serious problem. Are you too happy? Is it uncomfortable being happier than everyone else? Facebook is the answer. Read Facebook use predicts declines in happiness, new study finds. Or download the scientific paper.

Uh, no. 'A significant hike in the minimum wage' would mean those jobs would be automated away, too.

Yes, exactly. Their reply to my comment ignored the content of my comment that they were replying to. I don't get it, either.