The first thing the new owners need to do is to start talking to the right people so they can overcome all the licensing BS that stops ThinkGeek from shipping all their cool stuff (Marvel, Star Wars, Dr Who etc) overseas.

Me, I wish the code for the Space Shuttle was available. The shuttles are now decommissioned and sitting in museums and no country wanting to build any kind of shuttle or space plane is going to be replicating a 40 year old American design when there are far better ways to do it nowadays so there shouldn't be any risk to national security in releasing the code (not to mention that the code alone isn't enough to rebuild the computer system, let alone the whole shuttle).

If only Australia would do what the UK has done and target tax dodging corporations.

That said, I do wonder if the UK is going to target some of the biggest tax dodgers (Mr Murdoch's media empire is VERY high on the list of global tax cheats yet no government seems to have the guts to go after them)

People who say "this is crap because I can buy a Nexus or Galaxy or android-device-of-the-month for far less money" don't have a clue about what the Neo900 is or why its nothing like the Nexus or Galaxy or other Android devices.

Things the Neo900 has that NONE of the current high-end Android devices (the things most people are going to be comparing the Neo900 to) have:
Physical hardware keyboard (there are still people like me who love physical keyboards and wont buy a phone without one)

Hardware enforced separation between the modem and the main CPU (this means that the rumors that the NSA can listen to you via your cellphone microphone are definatly NOT going to happen on a Neo900)

No closed blobs for the cellular radio on the main CPU side (pretty much all "open" android ROMs still require a closed-source radio library specific to the radio in your particular Android device. The Neo900 will have a 100% open source library to talk to the cellular radio module)

No closed blobs on the main CPU side for WiFi, bluetooth, NFC, audio, touch screen, camera, GPS or sensors (unlike even the Google Nexus phones which require closed blobs for many pieces of hardware)

Full schematics and hardware documentation available (show me a high-end phone where you can get THAT)

The Neo900 isn't meant to be a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone or Google Nexus. Its meant to be a phone for people who care about their privacy and want a device where they control all the software running on the main CPU and can be sure none of the other CPUs in the device have access to the main CPU/RAM/storage or to hardware like the microphone. And a phone for hardware geeks who want a hackable device and one THEY control and not some carrier or OEM (there are phones where the bootloader started out unlocked and was then locked by an OTA update)

Its got LTE, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and bluetooth 4.0 low energy for fast speeds and the ability to talk to other devices.

The 3 modem options available mean its compatible with many carriers all over the world.

As far as I know there is no closed source code required on the main CPU to use the WiFi chip, the only thing you absolutely HAVE to have for WiFi to work is a firmware blob downloaded to the chip itself.

I wouldn't count on Abbot loosing an election, not as long as the sheeple in this country continue to believe the garbage spoon-fed to them by Mr Murdoch and his empire (an empire which basically declared all out war on the ALP at the last election and would probably do so again because of certain policies the ALP have that would be VERY bad for Mr Murdoch and his interest if they became law like the policy to make his empire pay the tax they are supposed to be paying)

Its a good thing because states shouldn't be allowed to prohibit municipalities from installing/running their own infrastructure (whether it be water pipes, power lines, telecommunications infrastructure, transit systems or whatever else).

Have some sort of system where there it something on the track that gets picked up by the train so that at any given time the train knows exactly what the maximum speed is at that point. Then engineer the train systems to ensure it never exceeds that speed (even if there is a throttle failure causing the throttle to be in the wrong place, the speed regulation system would be a separate system and clamp the speed anyway)
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Now there might be failures in the speed regulation system but it wouldn't be able to make the train go faster, only slower (meaning the worst that could happen is a train going slower than it should be)

1.Ensure 100% that the ads can't serve me viruses, worms or any other nasties (and that they aren't trying to get people to install such software via the ad)
2.No ads that play audio
3.No ads that cover the content
4.No ads that contain elements pretending to be UI or otherwise attempting to mislead people into clicking on them. (including things that try to get people to install spyware, adware or other undesirable software)
5.No ads for anything that is illegal, of questionable legality or attempts to defraud or scam people (online gambling, porn, get-rich-quick schemes, questionable weight loss schemes that don't actually work etc)
and 6.Geolocate my IP address and serve me ads for things actually available to me here in Australia. No more ads for US-only things please. (that includes US charities, lobby groups, special interest groups, things like AARP etc)

Of course ad providers will do none of these things so I will continue to block their ads.

Too bad there are many countries in this world (even countries that claim to be free countries) where owning a knife that can be opened one-handed like that would be illegal :(

The only thing I have on my keychain is house keys. (I dont own a car)
In my bag I usually have my keys, my wallet, my Nokia N900 Linux phone and the case for my prescription sunglasses (the glasses will usually either be in the case or on my face)

Yeah but enough of the customers of the site being blocked for failing to pay GST wouldn't know how to use things like that to push the site into GST compliance.

Given that the Australian government is about to introduce an internet filter (thanks to new anti-piracy laws designed to let big media companies force ISPs to block overseas pirate sites), it wouldn't be that hard for the government to simply block via the filter any web site that refuses to comply with the law and hand over the 10% GST (and the appropriate records of how much Australian customers spent on the site)

I bet if you had proper high speed rail (of the European or Japanese kind) linking Grand Central to Union Station in DC it would be FASTER than taking an airplane between those 2 cities.

Not only that, taking the train has so many advantages over flying. The seats on any train I have ever been on have more legroom and space than economy class on even the best airlines. No need to pay through the nose for checked baggage or other addons. No need to be at the airport 3 hours before your flight (that will probably leave a hour late anyway) or hand over all your liquids as you pass through security. (although the way things are going in the US, it wouldn't surprise me to see the feds and TSA wanting to put security checkpoints at not just Amtrak stations but long-distance bus stops as well)

But would whatever lobby group represents all those yellow cabs allow the city to replace all those profitable airport cab trips with trips on the train?