By "lose" I mean "share information with a trusted partner" clause in their privacy contract that lets them get away with selling it anyway.

They'd happily take your money, and promptly "lose" your information a few times a year for more.

Regardless of your actual faith, why wouldn't you choose this option?

And here I thought they were just trying to match the Australian prices to avoid the government inquiry into software pricing, but you're right - They would need to triple the prices to match.

OEM machines do include a product key attached. You are licensing the software when you buy that machine, you aren't buying the recovery disk. Grab a clean OEM installation disk from a friend, ask for a copy from the shop you bought it from (a non crapware version that they keep in their workshop) or download a copy. The disk is just an installation media, and has nothing to do with your license of windows.

That said, the disk is still handy. You can call up MS support, claim your sticker has been torn up or damaged, and get a replacement key from them - they will ask for either the part number on the inner ring of the disk, or ask you to scan/photograph the disk.

Additionally you are able to activate your copy of windows online up to 3 times per month, after that you will need to contact them over the phone, and when asked by the automated machine, say that you are installing it on the same computer, and that it is only installed only on that computer exclusively.

Suggesting that having a passion for and gaining knowledge for building and tweaking hardware will have no value later in life? You're probably right, he should be out there learning to be an accountant or banker, or something he has no interest in.

All three of them

After bothering to Read TFA, these are Netcomm mobile broadband modems. So disregard nearly everything except the vendor firmware bit I guess.

Chances are this is the remote admin password for easy customer service. The devices are probably just rebranded Netgears or Belkins. Flash the firmware from the Vendor's support site, and clear off the Telstra "customer friendly" version of the firmware and this becomes a non-issue. I recall even manually adding a variable into the url enabled "advanced mode" to change this stuff without flashing the firmware.

Just because you can play whatever you want at a quality you feel is enough for your standards doesn't mean you represent everyone. Too many posts here encouraging mediocrity. Why should I be happy with 'good enough'? What if I want to play a game across three 30" screens at 7860x1600 at 120fps? What if I want a car that can go from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds? There is nobody anywhere that is happy that everything in life just hovers around "close enough is good enough".

Did you make it back alive?

Local fire dept saves cat stuck in tree. Slashdot Front page

Don't worry, they simulated the freezer first.

Generally wifi is for private networks or hotspots, not internet as a utility/service. This is very likely about 3G/4G services for smartphones or home 3G/4G modems.

Of course comparing US prices to AU/NZ prices skews the data considerably. It basically means this poll would only be valid if it was voted on by US citizens only. Internet services (and pretty much everything else) is more expensive for AU/NZ and there isn't a true "unlimited" service that is commonly available at the moment (they all have that silly download quota before dropping your connection to 64kbs).

On average a similar internet plan in Australia would be around double what you can get in the US, or 3 to 4 times more expensive for less if you go with telstra bigpond services. Try comparing something from a US telco to an australian company like Bigpond or Optus : Neither have unlimited DATA on their plans, but both hit the $69+ mark. Compare this to AT&T with a $69 unlimited data plan.

Considering the difference is expected value for money for these services (and not just between US and AUS or NZ - different regions offers different levels of service!), this poll is pointless for either trivia or marketing research.

"screw C put it all in binary"
I wonder who else bothered to convert this up before me.