I guess that is the choice you make when you decide that trolling is more important than getting laid...

NO NO NO!!! The way to fight this crap is to never deal with facebook.

You are telling people to follow the masses in order to save yourself. This NEVER works. It will just reinforce the problems you describe and make not having an account even more suspicious.

If you have an account, delete it - permanently. If a hr rep asks you why you do not have an account tell them that you place no value in having one, and you would rather spend your time productively. (i.e. show them why it is an asset not to conform.)

If a business requires you to "like" them on facebook for discounts, tell the owner that you will go to the competition which doesn't treat you like cattle. (The second you "like" a business, or use its apps, is the second they have open season on your personal information.)

Once society realizes that there is a large amount of people that do not want facebook and will never get facebook, can we stop this bullshit that everyone needs it.

I don't blame you for not caring. However, I know for a fact that my co-workers do care when I fart.

I do agree with this, you should support businesses that you like. I also tend to prefer smaller Mom and Pop style businesses over the huge faceless corporate conglomerate.

However, if your tiny local business had a virus infecting their coffee the way some web advertisers install malware, I guarantee that you would never return. If they are blasting obnoxious noises inside their business the way audio ads hit your browser, you would likely not return either.

People will support you, if they like you. But, if you are obnoxious, you will not be liked.

I agree...

For this, I personally use just Flashblock and NoScript. I do not use AdBlock.

Blocking Flash removes over 90% of the most annoying, blinking, and sound based ads.

Blocking javascript removes the tracking and reporting home to 3rd parties.

Whats left are text based and image based adds. Occasionally a few of the images are extremely annoying, and when I go to sites with those ads I learn quickly not to return.

20 years ago, there was a hatred towards any commercialization of the internet. I did not mind it, after all people have to pay the bills. However, when you become obnoxious, you do not deserve to profit. If you try to stealthily track peoples movements across the net, you deserve to die a quick death.

The fact is many of the worse offenders are bloggers. They all rehash the same BS and cry when its hard to make a buck. If you want to become rich, you should provide content worthy of drawing the masses, not garbage that only makes money due to screwing your tiny user base.

So my mother who does nothing but play games and email should have a general purpose computer because you think a device should do more than just suck content?

Yet you just said that everyone needs more than just content machines. My mom is aware of her needs, yet you want to force something more on her...

I am a developer. Unlike the masses, I need a general purpose computer. There will always be a market for them no matter how much we flood the market will less versatile devices like tablets and smartphones (which is where I believe the market is heading.)

For personal use, many people do not need a full computer, lets give them something simpler that better fits their needs. Even some business purposes can be done on a tablet now. Why should we force them to buy something more?

25 years ago would you have suggested that we all continue to use dumb terminals hooked up to mainframes? The modern computer decimated the market for mainframes, supercomputers, and minicomputers. Today, the market share of these large and powerful machines is significantly diminished, yet they still exist for the people have a need for them that a normal computer can not fulfill.

Plain and simple, not everyone needs a "computer" just because you think that they do. There will be a need for them and computers will not go extinct, but fewer and fewer people (as a percentage) will have that need and smaller devices will displace computers in the market.

Instead of paying $35 to file an appeal, or admitting guilt by clicking through...

If/when you get your first strike.... Go to your local courthouse and file a lawsuit against your ISP. (This will probably cost roughly the same as the $35.) Say that they have blocked your internet access that you paid them to provide.

State that they are accused you of an illegal action without allowing for due process. Make the valid points that are provided elsewhere in the comments, ... that they are assuming your guild, collusion with other monopolies, etc.

As people are fond of saying on Slashdot, I am not a lawyer, but, I doubt that the ISPs or the MAFIAA will want to see this case actually go to trial.

I'm 6'11". For me, a 17" laptop is really just that, a laptop. Smaller laptops have never interested me. I do not need to worry about a little extra weight on the laptop and I enjoy the fact that keyboards on 17" laptops are nearly full sized and usually come with a numeric keypad as well. (although, I hate the race for cheapness in all laptops that is making 90% of them with the horrid "chicklet" style keys.)

As a developer, I will generally spend $1500 to get a good desktop replacement laptop with a 17" screen. Then I will be happy to be able to bring it with me when I have the need.

Actually, I would even consider a larger laptop, if they had the features I look for when I buy one.

Exactly, the size you need depends on what you want to use it for combined with your personal opinion.

I own a 10" Asus Transformer. I have used it to present ideas to clients during a lunch meeting. It is a lot easier than lugging along a full size laptop; but I can not think about trying to use a smaller 7" screen to share ideas with multiple people. Also being larger, the on-screen keyboard makes it easier to take down a few notes.

My mother has a 7" Kindle. She uses it for a few casual games, reading a book or two, and to keep up with a few emails when on the road visiting me and my brothers. The smaller size makes it even easier to bring along and she is happy with it. (I also confess that I like the better resolution on some tablet games.)

Different strokes for different folks... If apple is currently selling a lot more 7" screens instead of 10", it is probably the people who like ios, that though 10" was a little too much, and they finally having their needs fulfilled. It may also simply be that the 7" tablet is more afforable. (At least I assume that the mini is cheaper anyway, I personally prefer android and have not priced apple's gear.)

Well, I for one can still hear it another 15,360 times; but then again, I know my powers of 2...

Believe it or not, I am serious with that answer.

• Porn was on the front line bringing credit card payments to the web.
• Its not universal, but they have single sign-on across there brand network.
• Guess who helped to bring video streaming, and video chat to the web... PORN.
• They would also love to get a standard for Virtual Reality.
• Most porn actresses/actor embrace social media.
• More people in the general public probably heard of Craigslist because of prostitution than any other reason. (not exactly porn, but related.)

Heck the web as a whole grew in no small part due to the existence of porn.

Is there a gaming equivalent to Rule 34? No, Rule 34 relates to internet porn.

Looking back even further, porn embraced VHS tapes before major movie studios ever did.

Compared to the games industry which only uses the web to force always on connections even for single player.

Instead of allowing people to play peer-to-peer online force people to join their online community only. (and will turn game servers off forcing your game to be useless.)

The same game industry which only recently and reluctantly allowed downloadable distribution.

Is it even a competition?!?, porn beats the gaming industry easily for embracing technology.

Exactly. If we didn't complain, they wouldn't know why we stopped buying.

EA, it wasn't micro transactions that caused me to boycott you, it was excessive DRM. (but micro transactions suck too!)

What happens if I am sick? My mental acuity is not the same when my head is pounding with a headache... My reactions are slowed. Even if you can account for the difference in attentiveness between the start of the work day and the end, will you be able to recognize me when someone wakes me at 3am to troubleshoot?

Even without sickness and sleepiness, anything that can affect my mood can bring some minor changes to my typing habits. Even if they use cameras to measure eye movement, mood will be a factor. Think of how well you type (or how you would expect to) during major life changing events such as marriage/divorce/birth of children/death of parents. Can the even account for differences between days that you get promoted (or at least praised) compared to the day when your boss chews you out.

Then there are physical changes... Anything from a paper cut to carpal tunnel syndrome, or breaking a bone and getting a cast will seriously impact your typing.

Finally, what happens when your keyboard (or mouse) breaks and you need to get a new one. Even if it is the same model, a new one will generally have stiffer keys and buttons. You would be screwed if it had a different layout of keys or if it was a model of a different size. As for smart phones and tablets, what happens when you buy a new phone?

I'm sorry, I do not believe that this can be reliable enough. Even though I am somewhat impressed with Analytic software's ability to determine people's behaviour, that works on the masses with a margin of error; there will always be a few fringe cases that do not fit the mold; for authentication you need to be right, all the time, and I do not see that possibility.

The police is my first though as well...

If you are worried at all about financial threats, the 2nd action would be to contact the major credit reporting agencies and ask to freeze your credit. In theory this stops them from giving out your credit report so that no one (including yourself) can apply for credit while frozen.

This can prevent someone malicious from applying for credit cards, running them up, and destroying your credit history in the process. (even though it is a huge inconvenience if you need to get credit during this time.) This can also be a problem if you are seeking employment and your potential employer wants to run a credit check on you.

I'm also a fan of KeePass.

It is cross platform as well including Linux/Unix, Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS.

There are two versions, v1 and v2. BOTH are actively supported and updated. v2 is really a rewrite using .net, so v1 is better if you want to use it on non-windows devices.

There are plugins for browser integration, and as a flat file, in theory you can sync it through dropbox (or a different cloud service.) Of course you better trust that service if you do...

Very Important: Have a very good and long passphrase as a login. Also, create a key file and require both. A key file is just a 2nd authentication method. (If you rely on a cloud service, never put the key on the cloud.) If someone gets your key, you should pray that you have a damn good password or you are screwed.