"Well Mr. Smith, the good news is that your wife doesn't have cancer. The bad news is that the diagnostic equipment ate her."

You have the Part 15 and ISM services for that. You really can buy a microwave link that's metropolitan-distance and legal to use.

We lost much of our 440 capability to PAVE PAWS in California. Remember, Amateur Radio is not the primary service on many bands. The military is on 440.

If you want that nearly infinite microwave spectrum, you have the Part 15 and ISM services. Absolutely nothing is stopping you. Power is not the issue with those frequencies, it's line of sight and Fresnel zones.

No, I absolutely do not have to prefix my words with anything. You do that by posting as an anonymous coward. I use my real name to indicate that I stand behind my words.

Yes. The usual mechanism here would be WiFi security, with HTTPS or SSL inside of it.

It would be very bad if Firefox was gone.

The stock Android Webkit browser has a very bad security flaw - it does not properly enforce the Single Origin Policy (SOP) in Jelly Bean and below. It will not be fixed.

For Android devices that lack Google Play, Firefox is the best option.

Firefox would be an even better option if it was as fast as the stock Webkit browser. Let's hope that happens.

Potential Firefox wins:

• Chinese phones that don't have Play should/will turn to Firefox.
• Cyanogenmod has declared that they intend to take Android away from Google. Firefox could be key to that effort.
• If Google makes any further privacy/security blunders with Android, and the market reacts negatively, there may be a significant market demand for Android devices that have been stripped of all Google code. Firefox would certainly float in those waters as well.

Firefox is also the default browser in RedHat/Oracle/Scientific/CentOS Linux. That has to count for something.

OK, no real technical data and some absurd claims here.

First all-digital transceiver? No. There have been others. Especially if you allow them to have a DAC and an ADC and no other components in the analog domain, but even without that, there are lots of IoT-class radios with direct-to-digital detectors and digital outputs directly to the antenna. You might have one in your car remote (mine is two-way).

And they have to use patented algorithms? Everybody else can get along with well-known technology old enough that any applicable patents are long expired.

It would be nicer if there was some information about what they are actually doing. If they really have patented it, there's no reason to hold back.

Uranium was an awful decision for power generation, chosen only because it could also be used in weapons.

Thorium is a waste product in mining, and it only comes in one naturally-occurring isotope, so it doesn't need expensive enrichment like uranium.

Thorium reactors follow the U-233 decay chain, and run entirely as a liquid, low-pressure system, which can be diluted easily and, if necessary, mixed with boron for complete emergency control.

Conventional uranium fuel comes as metallic rods - which cannot be diluted. High-pressure uranium reactors should be universally retired - they are expensive and unsafe.

Unless you own a pawn shop. Florida (and I'm guessing other states too) effectively makes them immune to action for trading in stolen property, and makes you jump through ridiculous legal hoops to get your stuff back even if you can prove it's yours.

Perhaps if Blue is smart, they will offer X a free license to use their 'technology' in exchange for dropping any attempt to squash the patent.

Wouldn't it kind of defeat the purpose of patenting the idea if the only company that would have the need to use the patented invention was given permission to use it for free? Granted, the patent still has 15 years to go before it runs out, but SpaceX is likely to be the only company using the technology in the near future.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com... [nakedcapitalism.com]

Well, that might explain why it's practically impossible to get a Rickenbacker 4003 through Musician's Friend. They're almost never in stock, which I could understand if RIC is demanding cash up front for them now.

Ting actually roams on Verizon. If you want that, you will not be on GSM.

If they had any real intention of competing in this space, they would have bought Page Plus Cellular. Even a purchase of BYO Wireless would make more sense than another Sprint has-been

This is another round of Google Plus - great sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I saw a 'gator right at the edge of the VAB parking lot last month. In a drainage ditch, up to the fence, cars parked right on the other side.

With luck, they'll start incorporating our radio transceivers. I hear that SpaceX flies with several USRPs now, so that's not completely unrealistic. That might be as close as I can get. Anyone who can get me a base invitation, though, would be greatly appreciated and I'd be happy to do some entertaining speeches while there. I need a base invite for Vandenberg, too. I got in to the official viewing site for the first try of the last launch (and that scrubbed too), but this next one is on Pad 6.

I was in Florida to speak at Orlando Hamcation and went to see the DISCOVR launch at Kennedy Space Center. I paid $50 to be at LC-39 for the launch, an observation tower made from a disused gantry on the Nasa Causeway between the pads and the Vehicle Assembly Building. A crawler was parked next door! A hot sandwich buffet, chips, and sodas were served. It was cold and windy! I watched for a few hours and unfortunately the launch scrubbed due to high stratospheric winds.

The next day, Delaware North Corporation, which operates tourism at KSC, decided not to open LC-39 or the Saturn 5 center for the launch. This was the third launch attempt and I guess they decided most people had left. I was annoyed.

The closest beach was going to be closed in the evening, it's a sensitive ecological area. I ended up seeing the launch from Jetty Park. This turned out not to be such a great location, the tower wasn't visible at all and the first 10 seconds of the rocket in flight were obscured before we saw it over a hill.

What's a better viewing location?