Before someone makes a working hoverboard, we will first hear about the principle that makes it possible. Because one that's practical is almost guaranteed to get someone a Nobel Prize. And certainly Lexus would go for that if they could.

No new principles lately. There is an existing principle of magnetic repulsion that would work only in an extreme condition. One requiring really special stuff buried in the street, and probably including liquid nitrogen to keep it working for even a short time and a few feet.

So, it's a gimmick.

Just want to mod you down for being a deadbeat Greek. Your country owes money, your country needs to pay money. Your poor and destitute can go suck ass as us freemarketer's are concerned.

Free market does not imply favoring debtors over debtees. Why would it? If you're dumb enough to make a bad investment, why would it suddenly be anyone's problem but yours just because that investment took the form of a loan?

Any alliance is secondary to your own country's interests. Of course you spy on your allies, you are just expected to be a bit subtle about it.

Right. So is the information NSA has gained worth more than the cost?

The problem with realpolitiks is that, with some rare near-legendary examples like Bismarck, people simply aren't smart enough to cut through their cultural conditioning to figure out what the actual results will be. So they simply drag their country from disaster to disaster; or, if they're less lucky, get some initial successes which makes them throw caution to the wind and make the final mistake all the more epic - and proving that even Bismarck wasn't smart enough to see how certain cultural traits of the new German Empire could turn out to be weaknessess in the right conditions.

No, you don't "of course" spy on your allies, you carefully weight the value of gaining information versus them getting pissed and your reputation taking a hit. But the NSA can't do that, because spying on teveryone at all times is their essence; even if someone there made a cost-benefit analysis about a specific case, the conclusion would be all but dictated by their employer.

So, what this all is coming down to: ethics matter, whether or not you think they should.

We have this weird lust for capitalism, making excuses when it beats us down. "Oh, that's out of love. Capitalism knows we need to hurt in order to get better."

Not lust, faith. Reformed Capitalism became the US state religion during the Cold War, just like Communism (or "Marxism-Leninism") was the state religion of the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, after the Soviet Union fell we got a bunch of fundamentalists who took it as a sign and decided to return Capitalism to its "pure" roots, the result being the misery and poverty which fundamentalism always brings. So now we have the true believers, the people who go along with it because they grow rich by the current system, the average economist-priests doing their sooth-saying, and the regular people who get the blame for anything that goes wrong. And as things continue getting worse, this secularized religion demands ever-greater shows of faith and doctrinal purity, as the whole thing slowly drifts towards the breaking of its power to cast a spell over people, and subsequent collapse.

The interesting question is: when it falls apart, will the US remain standing, or has it tied their fortunes together too tightly? That is, will disillusionment with Capitalism turn into disillusionment with the Union, or perhaps even the individual States? Might be a good idea to start decoupling these ideas in a hurry...

Your assumption is that everyone else thought it was exploitation. This is probably not the case.

It was exploitation and the teachers went along with it pretending enthusiasm because dissent is the first step to open rebellion and is thus punished. The workplace is one of the last remaining fortressess of despotism in our society, and this is how despotism works.

Just imagine the principal looked like Kim Whatever of North Korean fame, and the pattern becomes all too clear.

It's also a terrible measure because giving to a church is not always the same as giving to a charity. Not saying that all churches aren't charities, just that some spend quite a lot less on charitable works than some other charities.

Not very familiar with trademarks, huh?

This is usually solved on the first come first served basis, and Google should to the same.

First come first served leads to squatting, for example domain squatting. Google has little to gain by hosting garbage channels, in fact they detract from Youtube's overall value by drowning out signal under noise, and frankly I doubt Google's staff likes parasites any more than anyone else does.

On the other hand, any other decision criteria means deciding who has "rights" to a certain name. If this decision process involves human judgement for anything except what are the matters of fact, it's ultimately arbitrary. And if it doesn't, if it's purely algorithmic, then its decisions can't be reversed - because otherwise people can and will do so when they think the loser is more sympathetic.

"Blocked that as well, you never know what they spam you with..."

At present, the best way to update Windows 7 is to use Autopatcher. The Autopatcher group helps everyone avoid Microsoft's anti-customer "updates".

Microsoft's updates are usually poorly described. The business rules Microsoft has made for itself do not include being honest or complete in describing the control Microsoft wants over computers.

Mod parent up!!

If Microsoft had communicated more clearly, this discussion wouldn't be necessary. Microsoft is extremely badly managed.

Really, you should be able to cope with this sort of change. It's minor, and this isn't your site. Deal with it like an adult and quit cluttering up the discussion threads with your whining.

There isn't all that much to clutter up anymore. People are reminiscing about the good old days while packing up their proverbial wagons. Meanwhile, the devs make random changes that won't attract new users but will help drive away the rest of the old.

It's sad, but everything has its end. And at least Slashdot also had glory days. When your grandkids ask you "Anon, what's Slashdot Effect?", you can tell them you were there, crashing those servers.

I expect that wouldn't work. The "have everyone vote" part, specifically. If you're not riled up being told that those guys with the wrong-coloured-signs are going to win, what motivates you to go out and vote?

Other views of the same issues:

1) Backwards compatibility on Xbox One. That is better described as a "business practice" that reverses the extremely destructive previous intentions. Anything else would have killed the Xbox.

2) A change to the subscription business model. Microsoft and Adobe and other companies are testing how much customers can be abused. Now, instead of selling a product, they are trying to take additional control by only renting it. Eventually that abusive business model will collapse. Yes, until then it may be profitable.

3) To the cloud! The "cloud" is based on cloudy thinking. Many managers who don't have sufficient technical knowledge believe using another company's computers will save money. Instead, over several years they will create vendor lock-in. Using another company's computers may be a good way to provide a backup in case of widespread failure at a primary site. It is not a good sole method. Also, anyone wanting to use another's company's computers would contract with Amazon or Google. Microsoft has a long history of wacky management. (See my earlier comment.)

See the InfoWorld article: In a cloud outage, no one can hear you scream.

4) .NET goes open source. It is impossible to know whether that will increase Microsoft's income. It may just lower the rate of decrease of income.

Shame you used that juvenile term "fanbois".

Fanboi: someone who's making decisions based on his identification with some Power That Be that he isn't actually a part of.

The term is not juvenile but perfectly accurate.