That's already an option with our electric utility. In exchange for a reduced summer time rate, we let them cycle our A/C. The don't do it through the thermostat. They have a box directly connected to the compressor. There are limits as to how much time it can be off. There's been times when it's been activated at our house but it's usually on again before there's been very much of an impact on the the temp of the home.

The utility company doesn't know when you go to bed at night, when you get up in the morning, when you leave for the day, and when you get back. The NEST does.

Further the NEST knows how long it takes to warm or cool your home to a given setting as it relates to weather conditions. The NEST knows how quickly your home loses heat in the winter and how fast it heats up in the summer.

;)

Walmart is all about price and Apple isn't.

With regard to Walmart that is very apparent when it comes to things like bikes and sporting goods. What you buy there might be fine for the kids (maybe) or if intended for just occasional use but other than that, it's best to stay away. As far as bikes go, there are some online sources for good bikes at prices lower than what you'd pay at a traditional shop. You're giving up service and test rides but it's a good option for some people.

And for those that are interested, you can get good prices on refurb Apple equipment from Apple's online store. I've bought a few things that way and really the only thing you give up is the fancy packaging and the ability to take it home from the store that day.

I had my son when I was 35 and my daughter when I was 39. My son is 14 now, a bit taller than me and he can beat me playing one on one. But I can still win too and probably would most of the time if I had much in the way of basketball skills. But I'm 5' 8" and I knew early on that it wasn't going to be my sport.

A few years ago he gave me crap about getting old so I challenged him to a race when he's 15 and I'm 50. That will be this coming FALL and he's a little worried. He's insisting on a 40 yard dash because he knows he'd lose any kind of endurance race. He'd better hope I slow down a lot in the next few months because the 40 will not be an easy one for him either.

Sadly enough many Americans in their 20's and 30's are in pretty crappy physical condition and it really doesn't take that much for a 50 year old to be in shape by comparison. Take care of yourself and you'll be fine in your 50's.

The other thing about teenagers that's important to remember is that they'd much rather be doing something with their friends than with you. That's not to say my son minds playing ball with his Dad, - but only if he's got nothing else going on.

I do wish that there was going to be a larger span of time between the time they finish college and the time I retire from work but honestly as far as active playing time goes, my kids got far more time from me that most kids get from their parents, - no matter what their age.

I didn't take it this way. I'm sure most people know that having kids is entirely optional. But there are folks who want both kids AND a career but wanted to focus on the career for awhile before starting a family.

That is one possibility and I do have some real concerns about it. There are all kinds of ways to misuse technology.

On the other hand, have you ever sat at a stoplight and waited... and waited, for the light to change when nobody is coming from any other direction? It not only wastes your time, it's a waste of our resources and contributes to our pollution problems. This is the kind of problem that having better communications between devices or devices and humans can solve.

I've got a rather dumpy house in a nice urban neighborhood. It's paid for and worth a bit over $200,000. Looking at long term trends and the increasing popularity of urban living, it will most likely appreciate a fair amount before I retire.

That alone will get me a good chunk of the way towards being a millionaire in terms of net worth.

Now add in the gobs of money that they recommend you save for retirement and by the time you do retire... well, you've got a lot of money. This assumes of course that you can navigate yourself past the agism that's also part of being a developer and remain a well paid part of the workforce until you retire.

We've actually deployed quite a few tablets in the field to replace laptops that never worked very well for the task. Can't really use them while walking around.

For servers, desktops, thin clients, and laptops we have a number of different combinations of processors and operations systems including Windows 7 and 8, Ubuntu, OS X, debian, and VMWare ESX/ESXi. We also have a PBX, access points, routers, switches, modems, printers, gateways, Raspberry Pis, Arduinos utilizing various processors and OSes (though lots are linux variants). Then there are the company supplied and supported smartphones.

We have about 80 employees. We're not exactly a tech firm but close.

My point is the computing world is much bigger than Wintel even for companies that still rely on that combination. The non Wintel part of the technology world is growing. Intel would be stupid to pin its continued success on the future of Windows.

Fair enough. I can respect that.

And only if a significant number of sophisticated and knowledgeable eyes have the time and interest to dig through lines and lines of code looking for vulnerabilities.

The reality is that the majority of eyeballs looking at code are the ones that have other reasons to be looking at it. They aren't necessarily looking for vulnerabilities but maybe they spot something.

The eyes that might be interested in scouring code looking for vulnerabilities could be the ones wanting to exploit them rather than fix them.

Note: Over time as innovation in both smartphone/tablet hardware and software slows, and businesses come to rely on software that may not work with the latest IOS/Android update, there may be increasingly stronger calls for Apple and others to offer patches to older versions of their table/phone OSes rather than forcing users to upgrade.

With a different purpose and traditionally a different market than desktop computers.

Some of this has changed and will continue to change over time, but your typical IOS device is purchased by an individual rather than a business and replaced a couple of year later. While home users still purchase PCs they do it far less often than they used to. Businesses purchase far more than home users.

Further IOS updates are free and typically upgrading is simple and uneventful (typically). Most software is still compatible and those titles that aren't are usually updated quickly as well. New versions cost little or nothing.

So on the IOS side you typically have newer hardware and ease of updates. Plus most users are chomping at the bit to upgrade. There are exceptions. On the PC side it's different. Lost of home users have older hardware that may not support the update. Or they're worried the update will break something. Or they don't want to pay for it.

Businesses may have custom software that simply won't run under the new OS and would be expensive to rewrite. Large businesses tend to be slow to roll updates out to their employees even if they want to.

I'm not offended by your position at all nor do I see you or really anyone else as "the enemy".

I am curious though. You don't seem to be convinced that global warming is occurring yet you are insulted that I implied that you're taking no action. So what actions are you taking in that regard and why are you doing so?

And if you're not parroting a narrative and don't trust climate scientists, nor climate change skeptics, why would you claim that the climate has been cooling for 15 years? It would seem to me that if you truly doubt both sides, you could come to no conclusion at all about whether the climate has been cooling or warming.

You claim to to believe neither side, yet you repeat the (false) claims of the climate change skeptics. You basically admit you're choosing to ignore anyone who could reasonably claim to be an authority of the subject on the basis that they've likely been corrupted by grant money and because of contradictions you and others have exaggerated.

Maybe we should just stop all research that requires money. Surely nothing accurate can come from it.

I agree that not taking a stand either way is pretty convenient. You can disassociate yourself from the worst of the skeptics and chicken littles while at the same time not taking any action.

Has it occurred to you that that is maybe the plan of some of these folks? Create just enough doubt to keep any real change from occurring? Who are the ones really fighting against the idea of AGW? Aren't they the ones living the aristocratic lifestyles?

If your opinions are based on "real science" rather than whatever happens to fit your world view, then how is it you could so easily come to a conclusion about my age that is so completely wrong.

Trust me. By the mid 70's I was much more than a "gleam" and I remember the ice age predictions. Perhaps you should go back and see what was being written in SCIENTIFIC publications and the National Academy of Sciences about climate at the time rather than was was being condensed into Time and Newsweek. I have. You might be surprised.

Regardless. The point of my original post is that people like you have made up your mind and it doesn't matter what the science really says. You're going to choose to believe whatever it is you wish. On the bright side, I'm apparently a much younger person in your world.

I'm afraid I'm doing what I told myself I wouldn't, -wasting my time arguing with closed minds.