Is an ambitious project wasteful simply because there is a cheaper alternative? It seems like developing a super-heavy rocket might have benefits other than simply getting things to space cheaper than we could yesterday.

You hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph. The DMCA is a horrible piece of legislation that puts a huge amount of power in the hands of copyright holders. Unless Google wants to be personally liable for your video, they have to take the video down until you assert (and take full liability for) that there is no copyright infringement in your video.

In short, yes, the DMCA has virtually eliminated fair-use in many situations, not just on YouTube.

They're not really that lenient. If the copyright holder complains to Google, they may, at the copyright holders discretion, have ads embedded in the video and the revenue shared with the copyright holder, instead of the uploader.

This was Google's solution to the "my baby dancing to video was taken down" problem.

Are they opting to have ads added to their videos, and the revenue shared with them? Then yes, it's commercial.

No. This guy checked the "Monetize my video" box when he uploaded his videos, and his domain redirects to his YouTube channel. He is trying top make money off these videos.

If the baseband is powered down all the time, how do you receive phone calls?

Even if that is true, that was HTC's decision, not Google's.

Perfect is the enemy of good, and all that.

Shhh! De Beers is listening.

Isn't that kinda the point of a security audit?

My bank doesn't have any password requirements. They simply truncate to 8 characters (silently, of course) and are case insensitive.

The M11 snapshot is the most current "stable" version of Cyanongen for the Nexus 5. Granted it's KitKat, not Lollipop. I don't think CM12 (based on Android 5.0) is stable on any device yet.

However, if you're using the device for development, I don't understand why you would want to run an aftermarket ROM.

Well, recordable Blu-ray discs use an inorganic dye, so they should last longer than DVD-Rs and CD-Rs. The manufacturers typically claim a lifespan of 100+ years.

Um, no. Blu-ray is more scratch resistant than DVD. And the best storage for long-term backups is always off site.

Only the first sentence is true. Google does not integrate the patched version of Android with the manufacturers finished OS. And Google certainly doesn't push out OTAs.