Try the "computer as kitchen" analogy.

System memory = counter top; where stuff that's being worked on now is
Hard drive = refrigerator and cabinets; stuff you want to keep/use, but aren't using now
CPU = oven
Programs = food processor, blender, etc.

I've found it to work surprisingly well.

No. The scientists have to get their funding from somewhere; and the government throws a lot of money around. The other options for funding are worse: You can get it from corporations, who will only fund research if they see a way to make a profit from it in the next three to five years; or you can get from universities, but I understand that the political games in academia are far more vicious than they are in government.

For a reporter, I don't think you did a good job checking up on your "facts". The Boston Herald was started in the 1840s, the Boston Globe wasn't founded until 1872. I haven't found any indication that either of them ever had a lapse in publishing; so I don't think there was ever a time when one's only option for news in Boston was the Globe.

That was my interpretation as well. An app can duplicate functionality (alternate dialers, browsers, etc.) but not overwrite the existing MS-provided apps or, in the install process, make itself the default behavior for certain actions.

Hopefully the state of Virginia follows proper backup procedures, and has a copies of the data that are off-site and off-line. It may take a day or so for someone to go fetch the tapes, but the data shouldn't be lost. So the people trying to ransom this data should be screwed.

Came for a reference to the X-ray laser in The Mote in God's Eye...leaving only mildly disappointed that Footfall got mentioned first...

What, you don't do your browsing from inside emacs? Get with the program, man!

If I recall correctly, they didn't get the Starship Troopers movie from the book. The movie script had the working title "Bug Hunt at Outpost 9" or something similar and the writing team had probably never heard of the novel. When the got the rights to the Starship Troopers title, they changed some names of characters and places to match what's in the book. Beyond that, there's no relation between the two.

That mindset of "the average person who uses some trendy service I reject because I'm trendily un-trendy is stupid" really gets to me.

For me, it's not about a "trendy service that I reject because I'm trendily un-trendy". A stupid idea is stupid whether it's trendy or not, and a good idea is good whether it's trendy or not. And in my opinion, sites that ONLY do social networking are stupid. (I also think Twitter - the great trend of the past month - is stupid.) Slashdot's friends/foes system is an awesome addition to this site - but none of us are on this site for the social networking aspect of it; we're all here because we want "news for nerds" and any social networking that happens is a bonus.

Nice job reading a bunch of stuff I didn't say into my post. I stated that I was going by evidence of other social networking sites that I have seen; several people have POLITELY disagreed with me, you had to be rude about it. (Based on the polite responses, I may go take a look tonight after work - the firewall here blocks it - as apparently it's considerably less idiotic than the social networking sites I have seen.)

I never said that "anyone who has a need for something like it is an idiot". I understand that other people have a different set of needs than I do. Social networking sites may be the best solution in some cases - I just can't think of any.

As for communicating with others in different timezones or those who are unavailable for long periods: E-mail will wait to be read until your brothers are awake; forum posts are always available and can be responded to; a personal blog would allow your submariner cousin to catch up what you've been up to when he surfaces.

Obviously there is a niche for social networking websites; I just don't understand the appeal of them, and I don't see how they could be a better solution for communicating with friends than other methods that were out before social networking sites.

From TFS:

Karpinski emphasized that correlation does not equal causation and that the grades association could be caused by something else.

I would posit that the "something else" is that Facebook (and MySpace, etc.) users are idiots. I've never looked at Facebook, but if what I see on MySpace is any indication, it will be at least 98% crud (and that's giving Facebook users a lot of credit - 99.999% of MySpace content is crud).

You didn't make your point very clear in your first paragraph - it sounded like you were just saying "using this thing one-handed is going to be a pain in the ass and I think people will drop it all the time", which is something that happens frequently with PDAs in those environments today (mostly because people are holding onto railings/poles with their elbow and attempting to use the PDA with the stylus). Now that I know that your issue with it is that you think it will be harder to hold onto, thus making the dropping problem worse; I agree with you on that point. Actually, allowing (but not forcing) a pointer controlled with a small trackball like is used on Blackberries might solve the "hard to use one handed because thumbs are wide" issue just as well and without requiring a looser grip on the device.

I'm not sure what point you were trying to making linking the the Wikipedia article on thumbs. This technology allows for a PDA that can be used without a stylus and without your thumb getting in the way of the screen. I think this is great, as I often miss the button I intended to hit when using my thumb rather than the stylus on my smartphone. I am somewhat disinclined to believe that an index finger is dextrous enough to cover the whole screen of a typical modern PDA, though.

As for Codex, it's not a DS with an accelerometer. It's a DS with a position sensor in the hinge, and (apparently) the ability to turn both screens to the outside. Tablet PC on table - hinge at 105 degrees, screens to the inside; book on table - hinge at 180 degrees; battleship mode - hinge at 0 degrees, screens to the outside. I'm not sure how you think that even a simple program would have trouble distinguishing between these.