Thank you for understand exactly what I was trying to say. However, it's not necessary to disable wifi completely. Instead, the phone should just not send any probe requests, and it should not automatically connect to an insecure network that it has never seen before.

The 802.11 protocol does not require cell phones to broadcast their MAC addresses. Phones do it so that they can discover nearby networks faster, but it is completely optional.

There needs to be an update to iOS and Android that gives users the option to disable this feature (I can't remember the official name). Users should understand that it will take longer to find access points, but in exchange, they get vastly increased privacy.

The #1 reason why Wedel was unable to find a job was because he was unwilling to relocate (something about a child custody agreement). I'm sorry, but I don't really have sympathy for him. The tech industry collapsed in North Texas, and he should have moved. Apparently after his wife complained to Obama, he got lots of calls from companies around the country, but he turned them all down. I'm pretty sure he could have gotten full relocation benefits, as well.

He probably could have moved to Austin, which is only three hours away, and gotten a job. Heck, my company hires EEs like him.

My father-in-law had to travel the world to keep employed as an engineer. I chose to live in Austin because it is a good place for engineers like me to stay employed. If you want to work as an engineer in this country, you have to be prepared to move to where the jobs are. North Texas is not one of those places.

I heard that the plots and scripts are being dumbed-down so that they translate better into foreign markets, especially China. So instead of one culture enjoying a movie, none of them do.

Have you seen the prices for camps these days? When I was a child, my parents put me in the local summer camp -- all day, every day, all summer long. I did arts and crafts, hung out with my friends, swam at the beach, all that stuff.

A similar camp today would cost thousands of dollars per child. $300/week is the starting price. There's an overnight camp at our local renfest that costs $700/week.

You must be remembering it wrong. Kicktraq shows steady progress over the project, and a surge of backers about three days ago:

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1458134548/arkyd-a-space-telescope-for-everyone-0/#chart-daily

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

Well, with that logic, Oracle never does anything evil.

Surely they could find some archeologists would be willing to pay the bill for exclusive access to the site?

Just lie on your resume. If you really do know how to use the technology, just say you used it as part of your job. How would HR or the interviewers know you're lying?

As Jim Sterling points out MSFT is pretty much giving the finger to everybody that doesn't have 1.-A ton of money and 2.- Incredible broadband,

I have a ton of money and incredible broadband, and I still think that Microsoft is giving me the finger with the Xbox One.

There's little incentive to do this because Steam games are often much cheaper than Xbox games, and there are more of them. I frequently buy new games, but I justify the $60 cost knowing that I can sell it for about half that when I'm done with the game. If I only pay $20 for a game, I'm not worried about selling it.

If Microsoft wants to adopt the Steam model, they also have to adopt the Steam prices. This means that games need to sell for at most $50, and then they need to quickly go on sale.

Chinese, which would actually be REALLY useful in this modern world.

No, it wouldn't. It would take a massive effort to be proficient enough in Mandarin to be able to use it, and you would still not be accepted by native Chinese, because you're not one of them. You won't be able to use your rudimentary Mandarin to make any kind of business deals in China. If anything, you'd just be forced by your employer to travel to Beijing frequently and breathe in the toxic air. No thanks.

How about ... the first person to set foot on the planet gets to name it?

The TSA is now in the public comment stage of its project to roll out Advanced Imaging Technology scanners. The TSA wants your feedback as to whether or not this project should be continued or cancelled.

If we convince the TSA to cancel the project, does that mean that the TSA will keep the x-ray machines, and not replace them with millimeter-wave systems? That's actually a bad thing. Given a choice, I would prefer the millimeter-wave scanners over an x-ray scanner.