Apple just works to keep you buying new. I found an iPad with a cracked screen at the dump a couple years ago. I fixed the screen, but it has an iCloud lock, even if I wipe it. I can't even take it to an Apple store to give it back to the original owner. They won't even contact the owner to ask if they want it back.

The password should be spoken very softly. That's the most secure method I've seen.
It was used securely for years, and the celebrity, contestant and Allen Ludden never heard it when the announcer said the Password.

The store near me in W. Springfield, MA had build a mini drone workshops during last Christmas' school break. RS had some elements of really good marketing, such as sponsorship at MakerFaire. They just couldn't focus on a long-term strategy, and the company was too cumbersome to adapt quickly to changing markets.

And, as was mentioned earlier, cell phones and Monster cables.

I found an iPad that had a cracked screen at my local dump. I was able to replace the glass, and got it started. I factory reset it, which was probably a mistake. The serial number is locked to an iCloud account. I can't even take it to an Apple store to have them contact the previous owner to see if they want it (heck, I'll give it back free), or if they'll release the serial number. I haven't bought an Apple product in years. You can tell how well my revenge is working based on what their stock price has done the past decade.

Apple gives us another reason they hate people too. They make the model and serial numbers too small for a human to read.

One additional step in your argument is ESPN also said that if you want any ESPN/Disney programming then you have to put ESPN3 on your internet service at "no additional charge."

They get money from us cord cutters too as long as your ISP also provides television services to any other customer.
I would have gone with Sling, but I would have preferred 5 additional channels instead of one ESPN for the same money..

IBM payouts for layed off employees is next to nothing. In early 2016 IBM slashed their severance to only one month pay no matter how long the employee was with the company. Before that I believe it was 1 week per year of employment up to 26 weeks.
What they like to avoid is announcing layoffs. That scares away all the new low cost graduates that they hire until they burn them out too.

A while back there was Midwest Express Airlines. They were formed from the Kimberly Clark internal flight department, and was based in Milwaukee. They flew DC-9 and MD-80 planes with 2 X 2 seating, good legroom, good food, and baked on-board cookies.
The flights I took were only about $20 more than the competition. It was a great way to fly.
Then the internet came along and destroyed them. People will always choose the flight that comes out the cheapest, although there's a little leeway to pay more for a flight that doesn't leave at 4 AM.
Midwest couldn't compete, so they eventually went to standard seating and cut back on services. By then they were just like any other airline, except with a limited route structure that couldn't compete with the big airlines.

I rarely fly, but when I do I try to fly on Airbus narrow body planes, or Embraer regional jets. Those usually have 18 inch wide seats..

Once upon a time there used to be an inexpensive effective way to control mosquitoes, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. As long as it was sprayed in limited areas where there are concentrations of mosquitoes, it was pretty safe. I'm not advocating using it from crop dusting aircraft to cover huge areas. Rachel Carlson is personally responsible for the pain, suffering and death of huge numbers of people through the ban.

I know this will probably bring up a few replies about bird egg shell thinning, but I'm writing about allowing LIMITED use of DDT in areas of mosquito populations to prevent the death of 400,000 people (per webmd.com) per year.

There's nothing like the 36" Sony flat screen glass televisions.
186 lbs. of pure video goodness.
I saw a few of those smashed at the dump after the bulldozer went through them. That's about the only thing that could cause any damage to those.
To hold the atmospheric pressure on the flat screen over such a large area, the glass is about an inch thick.
Those things will be around long after cockroaches are extinct.

I learned back with my Galaxy S4 that no one owns any Samsung product. Samsung really retains control. The so-called customer just has a license to use it for a while.
I wanted to put on a different version of Android, and Samsung's Knox software prevents modifying the bootloader, so I'm stuck with all the Verizon bloatware and limited functions from their stock software, such as no tethering.

That's why I went with the more open ZTE as my current phone since it's made by the more open Communist Chinese.

Even if you only have an internet connection, I've got some news for you. You're still paying Disney / ESPN for programming. They've forced anyone who purchases internet service to have ESPN3 included at what they call "no additional cost." Of course, that means that it's already in the fee you pay every month.

Maybe some day they'll put in an advanced error handling utility like the Amiga Guru Meditation.

What does Trump have to do with anything? He's not even a government employee yet.

The problem is the regulation that Congress made without any consideration for their unintended consequences.

Politicians like this scheme because there's graft involved. They can get contributions from the companies that participate in this.
The so-called environmental politicians would prefer to see something scrapped than for someone to get some use out of used electronics.

I'm typing this right now on a HP laptop that was thrown out. It had HP's infamous lead free solder ball grid array problem. Taking the motherboard out, putting it in a toaster over at 350 for 10 minutes, and then blowing a heat gun on the graphics chip until it reached 200 deg C. got it reattached. I had the same problem with a HP printer.
Every LCD TV in my house has been something that I repaired. I don't strip out the boards from TVs I can't use the make a buck on eBay. I give the extra TVs I fix to friends and to non-profit organizations. But that's really against the law here.

The best thing I got was a Jura coffee maker. It just needed a valve replaced at $28 shipped from Germany. New ones sell for $1400, and used ones are at least $300. (Not that I would pay that much for a coffee maker.)

For every arctic, there's an antarctic.
It was just two years ago that there was record ice in the antarctic area.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/an...
That certainly justifies spending hundreds of billions of dollars on bird-frying solar reflectors, or bird chopping windmills for a guestimated 0.2 degree reduction in the planet's temperature