These types of device admittedly aren't designed for lower spenders, but in the UK it's fairly common to have short or nonexistent contract periods, where data usage can incur quite hefty fees. On my 'pay-as-you-go' tariff the notional cost of data is £4/MB*, which would put something like this at £20 ($30) an HOUR... By comparison I could get a contract for a new HTC Wildfire for £15/mo. Surely half the idea (of lower-end smartphones at least) is function creep: to try and get more limited users gradually using more and more data so both manufacturers and carriers win. Maybe this is a case of too much, too soon? - * Of course, I would never use this for anything except -very- occasionally checking emails.

I wish *your* car had 3-5x stricter licensing requirements.

Seriously, as a cyclist and a moderate environmentalist, it seems that there are far too many people on the roads, making travelling more dangerous and time consuming for everyone, whose justification for driving a private car is rougly 'I can't take the bus, that's for poor people'. The right to drive needs to be balanced with the rights of local populations to safe and efficient roads and the rights of the global population to a clean planet.

By imposing far stricter driving tests and regular re-tests, it would still allow those with a legitimate business need (on-call nurses, tradespeople, etc.) access to a vehicle without prohibitive extra cost. Public transport, walking and cycling can easily fill the gap for the rest of us - in some places it already does.

I wish *your* car, and indeed most cars, had 3-5x stricter licensing requirements.

Seriously, as a cyclist and moderate environmentalist it seems obvious to me that in many regions there are just too many cars on the roads, causing huge tailbacks and dangerous road conditions for those who actually have a reason to be using the road other than 'I can't use the bus, that's for poor people'. The right to drive a vehicle needs to be balanced against the rights of the local population to safe roads and the global population to a clean planet.

Tougher driving tests and regular re-tests would mean that people would actually consider other options and would not prohibit those that have a legitimate business need (on-call nurses, tradespeople, etc.) on cost grounds. Not everyone needs a car.

What do the Romans make of that?

They have put out some quite revealing articles on tech issues in the public sector and with the current government in particular, for example ID cards, net neutrality and censorship, and the fate of Gary McKinnon, which have really been fascinating.

However, 'slightly dodgy' doesn't begin to describe some of their opinion pieces - the quality of some of them, particularly on environmental issues, is pure, fact-free nonsense. One recently attacked the industrial carbon-credits system citing its (admittedly major) limitations as reasons to abandon energy saving initiatives altogether. Would post link but it was a month or so ago.

(Disclaimer: I am a Green Party voter)

You must be new here, and you're fooling nobody.

Maybe that's what's happening here. ...or maybe that's what they *want* us to think.. ;)

Well, this is Slashdot, and my parent's basement only has air vents...

Windmills do not work like that! Goodnight!

Now if I know anything about which number is bigger than the other...