Those of us who despise corporate tracking are probably among the most likely to enjoy having an optional start menu.

It's the usual clauses... "Socially Responsible Behavior includes, but is not limited to:" also known as, we can decide you broke a policy whether or not it's actually written. A great many school behavior policies include similar language, allowing school authorities to add things not previously written.

He didn't break any laws, but most policies are much less specific than law. He's just lucky they didn't include "these policies may change at any time, with or without notice".

This is a silly argument that one often sees nowadays. Of course no measure we take will be perfect, and the terrorists will exploit whatever gaps we leave in the protection, but the point is not to create a perfect system, but to make it more difficult for the terrorists so that there will be fewer attacks.

One might as well argue against equipping cars with door locks, since thieves can and do find ways around them. The point is to make it more difficult for them, so a large number of potential evil-doers will give up before they start.

Bill Atkinson outlined a plan for a "magic slate" in his "HyperCard Handbook" over 20 years ago.

The Newton was a step in that direction, as was Sony's MagicLink; after that (about 1995) nothing happened.

I agree with those who say that the smartphones have made such devices seem to be too little, too late.

At this point, what would a "magic slate" do that a smartphone with a larger screen, larger hd, and wifi capability couldn't/wouldn't do?

In our company, our network security means that even if you did get into the building and plug directly into the wired network, you still cannot see any of the networked PCs or network drives. You only get internet access. This makes it very convenient for visitors who come into the building for the day and need outside access.

Wireless works the same way. It's secure, but even if someone did break into it (we broadcast outside the building so you can go sit outside and work with a laptop if you wanted) they still can't access any data.

I moved to France last year and was pleasantly surprised at the ISPs attitudes towards sharing wifi.

My provider, Free.fr, by default enables guest access on my router. However, it's not completely open.
In order to access the connect, you must enter your account details (login and password), and then you are given access to a limited connection.
Should you not want to share your connection with other people, you can easily disable this feature; but doing so also disables your account from being able to access roaming wifi.

I really love that the community sharing feature is enabled by default.
As long as I'm willing to share my connection with other subscribers, then I get access to their bandwidth when I'm away from home. And, as one of the larger providers in the area, this means I have access from just about anywhere I go.

2% of your own mail never gets there? Contact the postal inspectors. My experience is more like 100% makes it to the destination, as far as I can tell.

Because it's actually just 15 minutes of airing, prior to cleanup? Not hours. Check with the EPA, they've got a nice website at energystar.gov that has information about all sorts of good stuff, including CFLs. First thing that pops up on google when you search for "mercury light disposal".

I think the idea is, to let your boss know that if he cancels your time off, he will be costing you money. Some bosses are actually human, and won't want to directly reduce the money in your bank account.

I wouldn't try to get it written into a contract though.