I strongly disagree. The whole idea is nonsense. If there is a failure of the "command channel" in the table, everything I said is correct. Do you trust Ikea to make 100% reliable electronics?

A few days ago, at a store called Dollar Tree, I bought a Charge and Sync dock for $1. Wouldn't a dock be better than buying cheap-looking Ikea furniture, especially since the convenience is minimal or non-existent?

Who would EVER put an expensive phone flat on a table??? That's asking for trouble. It's easy to knock it off.

I'm NOT saying the $1 dock is better. I'm saying that a dock is better than laying a phone flat on a table. (The $1 dock needs a charging transformer, of course.)

Look at the Wikipedia page to which you linked! Quoting: "This article appears to be written like an advertisement."

Air core transformers, especially air core transformers with distance between the primary and secondary, don't transfer much energy. Do you want to wait longer because you bought an ugly-looking Ikea table?

Quote from the article: "The wireless charging works through an energy induction transfer."

Translation #1: There is a coil in the table. There is a coil in the back of the phone. The 2 coils act as a transformer with an air core. That only works if you bought a new phone. (And paid huge amounts for it including the 2-year contract.)

Problem: The coil in the table will also induct energy (induce electricity) into anything that conducts electricity.

So, if a child puts a phone on the charger area that is not one meant for rear-side induction, there will likely be problems.

Library books have chips with high-frequency antennas. The chips help libraries prevent theft. It is possible that putting electricity into the antennas will cause problems.

What else could go wrong? Lots. Some of the chemicals in your body are conductive. So, if you rest your hand on the table, the coil will cause electrical current in your hand.

Translation #2: The CEO of Ikea has no technical knowledge.

We need open source hard drive firmware.

We also need open source integrated circuits.

Jumping to page 3 of the article in SpritesMods.com: Parts on the [hard disk] PCB: "My target was to try and compromise the security of a system by using hard disk firmware mods."

Interesting.

You said, "... poor program management, lack of requirements management, and often also marketing-driven decision-making."

Overall, that is poor management of technical projects. The biggest single problem? Dishonesty, on several levels.

The first step in improving management is to get everyone to understand that there is poor management.

"This is a cultural thing. Asian cultures are strongly hierarchical: you always agree with the guy above you. Never argue."

That's an important insight. I often talk about that with friends.

I get about 5x lower bandwidth streaming movies from Amazon than from Netflix. I've stopped renting HD movies from Amazon because the buffering kills it. Netflix happens to have paid to AT&T (my ISP) to get preferred service [1].

Hmm... That sounds an awful lot like a "fast lane" to me.

[1] http://time.com/3059431/netfli...