I am with you on this. VR/AR has the very real potential to replace the traditional monitor setup as our primary way of having a flat window onto a GUI.

You can have virtual monitors of any size and number around you. You are no longer limited by physical real estate or the pricetag of a high-end physical monitor. No one can look over your shoulder unless you allow them to, no silly privacy shields.

I think the tech needs at least one more generation. At least 4K or higher to each eye at 120Hz or so. At that level I believe the virtual monitors floating around your head will be "comfortably real". The other side of the issue is that the market needs someone to come up with a suitable API with a sensible set of standards that can manage and host these virtual monitors, so it can be plug-n-work for most modern OS's.

Just wanted to post to recommend adding Iain M. Banks' Culture series to your back log.

The Player of Games is a good one to dip your toes into. All the Culture novels are a little bit like being thrown into the middle of a movie and not knowing what happened earlier, but that one eases you in the best.

No silent agenda convinced me I should choose to rent rather than purchase. My personal socioeconomic status and best guess about my career trajectory did the convincing. It is currently my best choice for the moment. There will be a point in the next 3 to 5 years where I can consider otherwise.

Can we just say it's a case of "it depends". For every story that buying a home worked out for someone, there's a story of how buying a home ruined them. The worst I know is brand new couple bought their first house on a development where the contractors fucked up their sewage line construction, somehow got what had to be not-up-to-standard construction past the inspectors and now 6 houses in a row including theirs are literally sinking into a man-made shit-swamp. It will take years to get through the courts.

You keep replying with the single-use tunnel-vision use case of "but muhh Wacom tablet". I keep waiting for you to consider other valid use cases but it never happens.

She lasted 20 years amigo. I would love to know who you would put forward as an example of someone who satisfies your criteria for fortitude.

Isn't it more likely GE bought them to tear down 3 of them (i.e. reverse-engineer the reverse-engineering) and do test flights with the other 7?

You do not speak for me and are only considering your own use case. I would consider getting one after the 1st generation when they work out the kinks.

It means I don't need a separate tablet to read digital comics or watch Netflix while I'm traveling. The rest of the time it remains a small form factor that fits in a pocket. I save weight and space in my carry-on.

My suspicion is that the tech will really shine when the folding phone picks up a 3rd role as a portable flat client. Throw in a folding dock, travel keyboard and mouse and now you have a laptop replacement. I know Huawei and Samsung are both experimenting with desktop UI modes. Google might be setting the stage with this Fuschia OS they've been working on. Give the technology a chance to mature and we might see something interesting.

I checked the website but can't find any information that I can call an ordinary land-line telephone with it. Can it?

Because if it can't, then it is not a replacement.

Have you seen the beautiful all-glass corp-esque headquarters of the The Salvation Army in London? It has a beautiful Thames riverside location, right on the path to the Millenium Bridge and faces the Tate Modern Museum.

I can't believe that would ever be supported by a 15% cap. That operating cost could be better spent so I like the idea of a cap (though I would add a sliding scale and caveats).

Even if you do that....*sigh*

SAS, British Airways and Singapore Airlines were the last 3 airlines I flew with. All 3 announced that passengers with children could board first along with the "Silver" or "Gold" passengers.

You know what?

At least half the family groups that qualified (toddlers, 5 year olds) in all three waiting lounges did not take advantage of this. They lined up in the normal queue and basically slowed everyone down while they handheld little William down the aisle then got the baby bag sorted and dealt with the arguments over the window seat. Seriously wtf is wrong with people?

Singapore Airlines were very proactive though. They had the ground staff actually walk up to eligible family groups and tell them they could board. I guess people just assume they don't qualify?

They probably watched Hugh Jackman "hacking" in Swordfish.

The scene makes me want to inflict pain of cute fluffy creatures. You can tell Hugh has never been a techy person ever. He probably never even knew what a computer looked like until he showed up on set. Then he rented Hackers, watched it, and acted and interpretation of it (badly).

Dude, seriously, you're overusing that term for a cheap shot. Please stop.

The New trilogy (Eps 1 -3) no matter how much we despise them, was amazing to anyone who happened to be between 6 and 9 years old when they saw Phantom Menace. The Disney Trilogy is aimed at the same age group ("moichondizing, moichondizing!" - The Great Yogurt).

Those 6-9 year olds are going to get their own generational label.

I really really hope to see this become an affordable tool for game developer studios. You would be able to have the scriptwriting depth and flexibility of say the old Fallout, Planescape or Baldurs Gate games and not have to worry about getting VAs for every damn random NPC in the game or having to re-record lines.

It doesn't necessaily mean the end of traditional voice-acting, star power and emotional reach would still be a draw for key roles, but you could finally get away from every damn Nord in Skyrim having the same voice.

And if it becomes available to the game modder community, I can't even imagine what crazy fan-fiction they could come up with now that they can have something to voice-act it for them.

And I fully expect some of it to be levels of cringe so horrific, even Cthulhu would shudder and turn away to cosnider another dimension to eat...

The solution is probably already being developed in a defense lab somewhere.

Instead of wasting a US$3.4 million missile, you deploy a force of 10 hunter-killer drones worth maybe US$100,000 each to patrol a given area.
Much like a Roomba, they know when to come back to recharge or switch battery packs. They never get tired or bored and don't complain about the MREs and missing the kids at home.
They have sensor suites for detecting other drones and can be notified by ground forces of sightings.

Not quite sure what kind of package they could be fitted with to take down another drone but I'm sure there are plenty of cheap off-the-shelf options.