You've just realized why autonomous drones are necessary; they can't be jammed.

If you're broadcasting a 1 MW jamming signal, you are a pretty bright light for HARM missiles or other radar-seeking technology. More sophisticated schemes or ECM are possible, but the physics is pretty clear on how you track down a broadcast location.

..they haven't outlawed any of those things, and the technology adoption is growing like wildfire now. Commercial enterprise wants secure commerce, and they're going to get it.

Never underestimate the almighty dollar.

"I expect you to hold the United States to the standards that I've outlined, I also hope that you won't let the world forget the places where those who hold their government to standards go to jail rather than win prizes."

I don't even know where to begin with this one.

Don't worry. The internet will deal with this because there's money on the line, and the US should understand this. If you start with a base assumption everything is being recorded and monitored, then you can build systems that have protections against that designed in from the start. Math is awesome.

The outcome from this will be an even harder to stop internet. This may have be an unintended effect, but may end up being a net positive gain for personal liberty in the long run. History is full of reasons why this is a good thing, and why we must never lower our guard.

Interesting times.

That's great, but certain professions limit your options for self expression.

These are also the professions where one is likely to have the disposable income to drop $5k on a watch as your primary accessory.

See how that works?

Does this prototype work for those who need glasses?

This happened a few years ago and is why I have nothing to do with Bitcoin - I lost quite a few coins, then decided it was too risky to be involved with until the exchange problem was figured out.

I am not sure why this is not more widely known, but there you go. I am not sure there is a solution to this problem.. without the involvement of traditional government.

1918. Less than 100 years ago. 3-5% of total world population died.

People forget. History repeats. :(

I had.. a few Bitcoins a very long time ago.

I stopped being interested the first time the exchange went screwy and f--ked over people. I think it was a database hack of some type or DDOS.

It's unregulated, and the problem is you need a exchange to turn Bitcoins into Cash, and Cash into Bitcoins. That means somewhere you have to trust someone.

Call me when a nation state is backing a cryptocurrency. That will change everything. Until then it is a crap shoot.

Can you buy an ounce of blow with it?

If yes, it's currency.

If no, it ain't.

Pretty simple. It also sums up why governments have issue, and will inevitably crack down.

A crypto currency backed by a nation-state would be a very interesting thing indeed.

Rocco is effective at deterring people from taking pictures in strip clubs.

Answer: Have Rocco ride shotgun.

This isn't about products. It's about access to your health data when you can trivially generate good quality long term trends.

A number of people don't think you should be able to access your own blood chemistry reports, DNA, MRI, charts, and other medical data.

Those are inputs into expert systems sometimes that very may reveal trends that could save your life. They are also inputs that can be analyzed offshore at very low cost - in different regulatory environments.

This isn't about snake tonic. This is about data - your data - and who will own it.

I welcome Apple coming to that party.

Apple could be in a position to leverage advances in sensing technology to make medicine cheaper and much more accessible.

They're also big enough to beat down the FDA and Wizard lobby (aka Doctors).

THz imaging is another wildcard in the non intrusive sensing market that nobody is talking about. Making this technology small and cheap is something a lot of very smart people are working on.

All this data fed into the cloud in real time and analyzed for problems? What's not to like?

That's the comedic joke. There are no real options.

The only one I can see really having any effect is a mass deployment of existing nuclear technologies, focusing the entire resources of the western world on solving the fusion problem, and a massive research project to develop super-capacitor or other high density electrical energy storage technology.

People can shout about other alternatives, wind, solar, whatever, but none of the people shouting have training in thermodynamics. I've crunched the numbers for myself. They tell me one thing: We're fucked, and nothing has the energy density to replace oil.

Sadly, none of the things that will make a difference are going to happen, and all the politicians spout is hot air, and lustily dream about taxing carbon - because see my original point, there are no real options.

The leadership isn't there because we don't have an energy crisis yet. The climate will change and populations will adjust.

In the mean time, I am investing heavily in fossil fuels. Teach your kids math and physics. Lack of both in the schools has us in this mess.

The rise of the code academies is people trying to profit. Nothing more. Same thing happened 15 years ago.

There's so much information out there for free now - tutorials, books, references, open source, computers (damn near free), operating systems - the types of personalities that will excel have the tools available.

The money would be vastly better spent in providing access to maker spaces, and programming spaces with fat connections and coffee so people can network and work on ideas. Find a way to mix in some entrepreneurial types and you've got something.

Buy iPads? Why not buy them all a copy of the art of computer programming instead. Even if you don't understand it, it sets a stage. I remember getting my hands on a copy when I was very young, but I didn't understand it very well. Not understanding it bothered me the same way not understanding how the radios I took apart worked. 20 years later I know how both things.

Been here a long time. Only come back for the discussions.

If they go ahead with the Beta, they'll have killed the site.

I agree; not so much providing an alternative as providing a place to go. There will be a vacuum created by the marketing droids and designers destroying this community.

Seriously, how much infrastructure could you possibly need to run a site like this in 2014, anyway?