I agree for the most part. My torrenting has really dropped off in the past couple of years. Shows like Top Gear and Dr. Who, which used to be a year or more behind in the US (if they aired at all) are now only a week or so behind. Services like Netflix have much improved libraries of content, rather than just B-movie versions of good movies.

However, I still torrent for a couple of reasons- Streaming services are not compatible when I want to watch content while traveling. They generally don't allow an offline viewing mode.

The other thing I tend to do is torrent kids movies that I have on DVD. The DVD version has umpteen previews, ads, and (ironically) FBI warnings before the movie starts. I used to rip the DVD, but even once I figure out/update the tool that can get around the copy protection, it still takes longer to rip than it does to download the movie in .mkv format.

This is Sony Pictures. The raw video for movies that they are shooting are stored online for editing equipment. One or two movies could easily take up 100TB of disk.

I'm a networking guy, so I'm more network-based, than server-based.

Mostly old data-center cast offs-
24U rack (48U cut in half to fit under my plumbing/duct work) in the basement
Cisco 3750-48 PoE Gig switch, providing direct connections to all of my first floor equipment.
Second floor equipment has a direct run to another 3750 switch upstairs. Too hard to run direct lines in an old house.
Bluecoat (nee Packeteer) Packetshaper 7500 for monitoring and QoS on Internet traffic
Cisco MCS 7825 re-purposed back to an HP server, running Ubuntu for any Linux server needs I have. Usually powered off to save power
Netgear WNDR3700 router running DD-WRT
APC AP7801 Managed PDU

2.58 million people are still paying AOL for their email address. It sounds like you have a very biased circle. Looking through my contact list, I see several family and friends with optimum, comcast, and verizon email addresses.

For years, I had all email for my vanity domain forwarded to my gmail account, and gmail lets you send email out with the Reply-to header set as your vanity domain. It was only when I wanted some more advanced capabilities of Google Apps did I suck it up and start spending the $50/yr/user to fully port my domain over.

because unlike iOS which requires an upgrade of the OS to get a new Appstore, even on devices running 2.3, the Google Play app and Google Play Services can be updated to the latest release without any manufacturer or carrier involvement.

Your right. search and Android are their only successes. Oh, you forgot to mention all their other failures like Gmail, maps, Google apps, chrome, hangouts, chrome cast, etc.

This is more worrying. The Comcast/twc merger is not really a merger of competitors. They generally serve separate and distinct markets. If I am unhappy with comcast, I cant switch to twc. But I can (generally) switch to directv or dish, or possibly at&t uverse or verizon fios.

No. Electricity is not a storage mechanism. It's energy. A battery, hydrogen, and, and gasoline are storage mechanisms.

Well, this might come as a surprise, but not everyone is like you. I very rarely shut down my computer, and I don't want it to go to sleep every time I close the lid to move to a meeting, so I always map my power button to sleep. On the rarer occasions that I do want to shut down or reboot, I hit the Windows key, and the shutdown/reboot options are right there. Just like they have been for almost 1.5 decades, until Microsoft decided to hide it.

Because it's a lot easier to escape the gravity well of an asteroid.

I don't even know about that anymore. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

At the risk of sounding 'Applely', Think different. Right now, I have to stop to 'recharge' my ICE car for 5-10 minutes, once a week. That's, on average, about 6 hours a year I wait for my car to 'recharge'. If I had an electric car, I would be plugging it in every night. For most weeks of my commuting year, it would eliminate any time waiting at the gas pump.

You did read the part where they said the 'next' Keurig machine, right? It doesn't come out until the fall. No reason not to buy the patent-expired Keurig 1.0 machine that you were interested in up until this news broke.

I have a mini-refillable k-cup. Costs about 10c in coffee per cup, and no waste. Sure, it's not a gourmet cup of coffee, but thankfully, I'm not a coffee snob. I'm also not an audio snob, a wine snob, etc. Saves me a lot of money, and I can still be happy.