(Of course, if they did that, they might lose half a dozen attendees.)

Is there some new point to this?

I've seen people buy the 'best' musical instruments thinking it will help them play better, it doesn't. Know what does? Practice,experience,time...

I play an instrument. I now play a lot better, because I practice a lot more, because the instrument I bought two years ago is a joy to play and listen to compared to the one I had before.

Different people prefer different instruments, just as different people prefer different languages. Your plea to stop creating/using new ones sounds suspiciously like the argument that everything has already been invented.

Too small and the phone will be more snaggy.

Too big, and the available rectangular screen real estate shrinks.

Sure, there is an acceptable window, and this isn't rocket science, but it isn't pure art, either.

Your assertion that rounded corners are purely functional is self serving and only caused by your prejudices.

How is it self-serving? Samsung isn't paying me anything.

So, from the hotel's perspective, it's an extra revenue stream they aren't paying anything for.

According to the wikipedia page on wayport, AT&T now operates 45,000 hotspots.

The "rounded corners" were not a utility patent -- it was a design patent, and only one element of it.

Yes, it was included in a design patent, but it shouldn't have been -- at least not in a way that allowed Apple to beat up Samsung over rounded corners. Rounded corners on a device you slip in your pocket are purely functional.

Whether you believe in punishment by the state or by a higher being, whether you believe in the death penalty for chewing gum, or don't believe in it for murder -- it doesn't make sense to not kill somebody, to let him out of jail, and then to make it impossible for him to earn a decent living.

Dynamic languages don't have to be dynamically typed.

This may well be because their study cannot discern the amount of programmer effort per check-in, but it is a fatal flaw. Open development methods mean that a lot of dirty laundry gets checked into repositories. If dynamic languages have more bugs per check-in, but require significantly less work per check-in, then measuring bugs per check-in without measuring effort per check-in is meaningless, and that's before you even get to the functionality provided by the checked-in code.

That seems an awfully low threshold for disrupting air traffic, since wireless access points can be had for just a few dollars these days.

Parent:

If our threshold for fear has become so low that some kid's not-so-funny practical joke can now result in several hours of delays to long distance transportation,

Me:

Don't scare the horses.

Seriously. Even before 9/11, any joking about a bomb in an airport would be problematic. You can't expect everybody in a position of power to be intelligent, so don't frighten the ones at the airport.

Now, you can argue it shouldn't be that way, and you may well be right. That's just like arguing you ought to be able to walk anywhere in Chicago any time of the day or night. True, but immaterial to reality.

Even though they disclaimed it in the fine print, Snapchat's entire premise was that you could send you pictures to people, and they could only see them once, for a little bit.

The analogy about the cash is off-point -- the entire reason people use credit cards instead of cash is security; same as the reason they use snapchat instead of email.

The difference between the bank and snapchat is this: with the bank, although they didn't promise and you didn't expect perfect security, they will make you whole financially by refund money taken due to fraud, while snapchat is completely the opposite -- they effectively promised better security than they delivered, and none of their users will be made whole.