Apple Watch is still a solution in search of a problem.

No, the problem is real, just artificial.

The problem is that people are buying big-ass phones with big-ass screens, which is great if you're playing videogames or watching movies. However ,they didn't buy a game console or a media player, they bought a phone.

And then they realize just how inconveniently big it is if you want to stay in touch or in the loop. So now they can't put their phone in a convenient location, so they put it in their bag, or one of the few pockets on their clothes that are big enough, which tend to be out of the way.

Which makes it really hard to get to, for someone who must check for texts on a minute-by-minute basis (FOMO - fear of missing out). So they demand a solution, and we've got smartwatches to solve it. No more FOMO - the smartwatch will tell them when they get a text, or a like on facebook, or a tweet or dozens of other things so they don't have to dig out their phone unless they absolutely have to.

Most people though, just buy a phone of the right size to begin with, seeing how the 6"+ is beautiful, but results in something unusuably large. This is a particular problem in Asia, where numbers rule, so they buy 6" phones because 6" is better than 5.5". (iPhone sales stats have it around 1:6 ratio of iPhone6+ to iPhone6 in North America, which drops to around 1:3 in Asia)

I'd be really surprised if the actual hacker(s) really had any moral stance one way or another. My money would be be on just pure financial greed. They see AM and it's customers as a paycheck. They see AM as a source of money and are applying pressure directly on them to pay up and/or shut down. They also pressure subscribers to pressure AM from the other side to pay up to not reveal their information.

In the end I think it will be a loss for the hackers and customers. The hackers aren't going to get their money. AM takes a PR hit but doesn't really care because they already run a website for people with questionable ethics/morality. Customers info might get released, but for the 3 people that are actually real, married, and their partner doesn't already know, the shit might hit the fan. For everyone else, no one cares. And if you're a paying subscriber to a cheating website with your own real information, you're already a fucking idiot and get what you deserve for being a dumbass.

Actually, you're underestimating the impact. The information you have on AM would be perfect for blackmail. And I'm sure you can find some rather large and high-powered people to whom the release of information like that could be deadly - either professionally or politically.

You might think everyone having an affair is doing so with their spouse's full knowledge, but that's unlikely to be the case. I'm sure a tiny percent of those are in open marriages, and maybe a slightly larger proportion are doing so with the spouse's knowledge.

AM is not for people "dating" or "looking for a companion" - they're specifically for people already in a marriage to commit adultery. And this isn't the sort of "let's just get a prostitute" thing either.

So yes, the release of information is potentially devastating, and a good proportion of those marriages will end in divorce, while the others will probably end up with said spouse being a slave.

There may be no money request now, but I'm sure once the offer to shut down is refused, the hackers will be contacting everyone one of those 37M people and asking them for say, $10/month to keep quiet. Not too much to bother police about, see, but enough for a large and steady income.

And yes, the amount is important - ask for too much and the "punishment" for revealing you're an adulterer is probably not as bad. Make it a small amount and most people will just pay for the silence.

Heck, even the hint of a potential affair will drive some marriages on the rocks. Even if there was no one night fling - just having your spouse know you were looking puts you in the doghouse of distrust. (And no, this isn't gender specific - men AND women who were cheated on are equally vindictive to their partners).

I know when I first saw the ads on TV (regular mainstream TV, I know AM has been around a long time, but their profile has been quite low), I knew they would be a perfect hacking target.

Much as hate to appear victim-blaming, even an utter polyanna-style naÃvette would've ended at $3,000. Beyond that, it is stupidity.

"He" (and am not at all sure, there is an identifiable "he" to this scam â" more likely a work of an enterprise) is a crook and should be hung alive by his rib on a rusty hook. But, boy, the lady is stupid...

Yet people throw billions, if not trillions of dollars away in "gambling" every year.

And we're not talking "let's spend $20 on the slots to pass the time for fun", it's "let's spend $2,000 to turn it into profit". Hence why I said "gambling" and not "gaming" or "entertainment". (If you want to know why slots are called "gaming" machines, that's why - they're for entertainment).

So yeah, that would include a lot of "intelligent" people who play the lotto or go to a casino for anything other than fun. So I guess we're pretty much all stupid because face it, few people actually win. Especially in the end since those that win small usually gamble it away again.

This lady fell for a scammer in the same way billions of people fell for the scan of get-rich-quick.

Will they be have to be melted together to prevent cracks between segments for weatherproofing against rain, snow and ice? (Water expands when frozen, remember)

Actually, modern road construction pretty much demands that all water drain through the road, rather than just drain to the side. The reason is that if water collects on the surface (which it does even when the road is peaked as they should be), it can form ice and you end up with black ice during the cold days.

It also makes the road shiny and makes your headlights reflect away from you, making it even harder to see the road markings on those rainy days.

By peaking and making the asphalt drainable, the water doesn't collect on the surface, so you avoid black ice and the road appears drier in the rain so you can see the lane markings and other things much easier.

It does, however, lead to pothole issues as the aggregate bed below it shifts more. But it's one reason why modern paved roads are far quieter (the airiness also does a number to reduce tire noise), and far easier to drive on.

It happened quite recently, so you can still see the difference - parts of the road are nasty and hard to see and slippery, while other parts are quiet, easy to see and has good grip, In the same weather conditions.

Formalizing the meritocracy a bit: How about a "consumers' union" [no relation to the org/mag] website that works like a central clearing house:

- Any member can post a boycott request, with an explanation as to why: bad product, invasive advertising (popups, etc.)
- Members upvote the request by signing on to the boycott
- No downvotes to prevent astroturfing by the advertisers
- With enough votes, all members agree to boycott the product/advertiser for the given period (say 1-5 years)

Why not just stop buying ANYTHING then? Apple products will be the first boycott (yay Apple haters). Followed by Samsung, HTC and other Android products (yay Apple fanbois). Then we'd have boycotts of Nokia products (yay Microsoft haters), Etc. etc. etc.

That's the problem - "the wisdom of the masses" is really quite dumb. We've seen this through Google bombing (every one of those "type blah into Google then click "i'm feeling lucky"" is an example), reddit (if you have an unpopular opinion, you're going to get downvoted to obvlision), even /..

The BD-5 will always be there, even when the last one is scrapped or hung-up in a museum, as inspiration to the young future aerospace engineer. RIP Jim Bede. Not a perfect airplane guy, but always pushing to make things better for aviators while others went with the mainstream flow.

Well, don't despair - others have taken inspiration from the BD-5J and created their own version.

The only difference is it might actually be flyable.

Often, employees can get the WORST of both worlds...if they are hired as a W2 employee of the contracting house (usually the prime) of a federal gig. Yes you get some benefits, but you don't get the pay and freedom of a full blown contractor.

OTOH, the employer has to pay payroll taxes of the employee, there's paid time off, etc. And well, the person doesn't have to seek out work when the contract's running out (because of the way things work, an independent contractor has the obligation to seek additional work to provide "independence" - you cannot have your contract renewed over and over again otherwise you can get classified as an employee.

All that is why contractors are paid more money - because instead of benefits and perks, all that is cashed out. You take time off - you don't get paid, so you're paid more to compensate for that. The contracting company doesn't pay payroll taxes on you - that's now your responsibility, etc.

Of course, the downside is you're cashing out your perks. If you're taxed at 25%, that means your paid time off is now taxed. So instead of taking 8 hours off, you got cashed out 8 hours, and effectively were paid for 6 hours.

It's good that Google's autonomous cars haven't caused any accidents, however the bigger question is if there was a human driver in those situations, would any of them have been avoidable? I try to keep an eye on vehicles coming to a stop behind me when I'm stopped, which is something the Google cars may not be programmed to do (or even have rear-facing sensors to detect that at all). I'm sure these vehicles are safer than a good many drivers on the road, but they can only react and respond in ways they were specifically designed for.

May be avoidable if you're a top-tier driver who leaves sufficient gap ahead of you for such things (my driving class taught me to leave a 3-4 car gap between you and the car in front, narrowing it as traffic builds behind you), so you have the ability to maneuver - either changing lanes or simply using it as absorption space in a crash (or moving forward a bit to give a bit more distance for the guy behind to stop).

But you're talking top tier drivers. Average Joe probably will be just on their phone not looking out for traffic, ahead or behind. And most drivers don't pay attention to their rear view mirrors while stopped, either - if not on their phone, they'll just be looking ahead at the light.

And given an accident like this, it's even harder to debate as it appears people don't even look far enough ahead while driving.

I'd be curious to see how it responds to really weird northeast conditions like a snow squall or black-ice. Or my personal favorite, when it's really snowing and you need to make sure you're stopped in a good spot that you can get traction once you can start moving again

The problem is that people drive entirely way too fast - when conditions are bad, you don't want to go fast. Especially in snow and ice - changing your velocity (accelerating or braking) is hazardous and should be avoided.

Autonomous cars also have a greater sense of slippage than humans - tires work because the road doesn't move underneath them - and anyone with basic physics knows the coefficient of kinetic friction (slipping) is lower than the coefficient of static friction. What that means is the instant you detect slippage, you stop powering that wheel because once it slips, it will continue to slip - you have to slow down the wheel until the speeds match again.

It is one situation where sometimes the automatic "creep" is actually useful since creep is typically slow enough that you can get going. And you shouldn't be driving to fast anyways because stopping will require an equally gentle slowdown. Too many people try to do regular speeds and that's what leads to issues.

You have got to be kidding. Yes, those cars were easy to work on, they had to be as they required constant service. Ever wonder why all the 'service stations' became 'mini-marts'? Because new, electronically-controlled, cars no longer provided the steady cash stream that all that mechanical crap did.

I remember when I was a kid in the 60s that a big part of the family vacation budget was 'get the car ready.' Going on any trip of more than a few hundred miles meant 'major tuneup' - points, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, idle adjustments, etc. And of course it had to be done ahead of time, because there was a fairly good chance that something would not be right and it would have to go back.

My current car has 102K miles on it, and the only service it has ever required is fluid and belt changes.

Exactly.

Today's modern car got to be "twist and go" - you insert key, twist, and car is running. Doesn't matter if it's -40C or +40C (let's say -40F to 100F).

Hell, you can even put the wrong octane gas and it'll still work! (if it needs premium, you can put in a tank of regular and it won't kill itself from knock/preignition). The computer handles it just fine. And while not wholly recommended, normal consumer level cars that say they need mid-grade often run just fine on regular (I won't do it to say, a BMW, but a Toyota or Honda? Sure).

Plus, starting the car after it's been running for a while doesn't result in vapor lock.

And let's not forget all things mechanical are perfect, for more than one automatic transmission has needed recall because a hole was 1/32" an inch too small. (The hole was in the control unit - a mechanical computer, if you will).

In fact, if you want to "go back to the good old days" take up flying. Small piston single engine planes are purely all mechanical for the most part - the spark's done by magnetos, even. You manage the carburettor (some have fuel injection, but it's continuous, always spraying fuel), the mixture, etc.

And many pilots are anticipating the day when instead of all that, they have a simple throttle and the rest of that stuff is managed by a computer (FADEC - Full Authority Digital Engine Control) - two of them for redundancy.

Hell, with something as "complex" as a servo-controlled throttle has gotten rid of annoyances like stuck throttle cables.

The modern car is actually very freaking reliable. You won't believe how far some people will actually run them - they will buy a 25 year old car for $1000 and literally run it into the ground - oil changes? Well, they'll dump a quart in every month of so. Check engine light? Been on for 10 years, if it hasn't burned out yet. Yeah, it doesn't perform as good, the transmission is laggy and all that, but even a simple tune up costs more than the car's worth.

They have to have them manufactured, shipped and installed in all of their locations and then there is the conundrum of plugging the equipment in, too. Do they order vacuums with special plugs? Replace the plugs on COTS vacuums?

Actually, until recently, most appliances in the UK were terminated in pigtails. You had to buy your own UK plug and wire it up yourself. (And it was taught in school how to wire a plug properly).

So technically, the COTS appliance would do absolutely squat since the line cord is provided as a pigtail anyways.

And while yes, you may need to "develop" a plug, there actually are plenty of existing plugs - using Australian plugs would suffice - the voltage and frequency is the same, and the angled pins would foil it. Or use one of the many North American ones (I think we have spinning locking ones that work at 240V that won't fit a standard 2 prong plug).

Then again, they are rather proud of their plug. And their ability to wire a plug.

Indeed. Facebook had HTML5 video enabled on mobile for some time but until recently, the desktop page was still using Flash.

Well, a certain mobile platform pretty much ensured mobile platforms won't have flash. And that certain platform is also somewhat of a target for facebook as well.

Though, on the topic of flash killing... why is it YouTube has no problem serving up HTML5 video to Firefox, but Chrome (on the same machine) insists that YouTube must use Flash? Yes, the machine is old, but Firefox can play HTML5 video from YouTube and Chrome cannot?

Truckers shouldn't use google maps anyway - they don't provide legal truck routes. There are other applications out there like ALK PC Miler that provides truck routes based on verified truck routes, height and weight limits, etc.

Guess what? Truckers are like you and I.

Truck-capable GPSes are available, and expensive as heck. Many even let you enter the size of your rig so they will not plan routes where the clearance is lower than your height.

Of course, most truckers don't realize that and assume it's just another way to screw them out of money, so they avoid them and go for the "free" solutions. Because free is good, time is money, and GPS units are all the same... right?

No one is researching the bias leading to 99% male construction workers, or garbage men.

Apparently a woman thinks you're wrong. So wrong she started a company creating a working clothes line for women. Specifically, she worked in the mining industry and was forced to put on the standard safety equipment. Which works great for men, but not so much for women (notably, using the facilities requires taking it all off).

So the fact she's able to create a clothing line for working women and build a company out of it (she expanded to better work wear for men, too) shows there's actually demand and the numbers are there.

And why it there are so many women in tech in the past, famous ones at that?

I think the real truth is that IT is the new "construction worker". And despite IT workers supposedly being "more intelligent" or "skilled" or even "meritocracy", they just have poor social skills and in general are just boors. Talking to the computer, the computer doesn't care about etiquette, manners, or other things, so you can grunt and make racist and sexist and other jokes with impunity. That's probably the real truth, and we don't want to admit it because we LIKE it that way. Sort of a "no girls allowed" clubhouse.

Greed isn't a question of absolute amounts. It's about having more than others, whether or not you can actually use/consume/enjoy it. It's about status and power -- limiting what others can have so that you get to have something special.

Of course, a sane person will care little about status. If your neighbour has a faster computer, you can still be a better programmer, which is something no amount of greed will ever take away.

And that's why Star Trek's replicators will cause a ground-shift in economic thinking.

I mean, so you have a faster computer today. In 5 minutes, I can have one just as fast as yours out of a magic machine.

That's the thing - "things" are effectively infinitely replicable. You want gold? Ask the machine to make it for you. But you having 100lbs of gold doesn't mean I can't go and do the same. So now having more "stuff" is really an exercise in futility because what you have, I can get easily.

And that's what changes the greed equation significantly - because what you have, others can as well.

Greed works when others can't have what you have. I have a 200ft yacht, you don't, therefore "I'm better than you".

But geez, if you can get a 200ft yacht easily, then my 200ft yacht is kind of pointless.

About the only thing that's not easily replicable is things that are not "stuff", like knowledge. But you better keep that on your own, because otherwise anyone else can look it up too.