Several points here... Clearly establish any conditions that go with accepting the cash. Are they buying any part of ownership, or are they just providing a bonus or reward to help you along? Is there any expectation that your new computer will have 100% up-time, or have a stated life in years? The common sense approach would be to say that if you have been doing any personal stuff on a company computer, and it has been in your own time, without affecting your work time or your work, then it's OK, and they can only object if what you're doing reduces the life of the computer. Given that it's a 'personal' computer, not a company computer, then wear and tear would be OK, and we eliminate that objection. They can only object if your personal activities are affecting your work productivity. Remember, there has to be a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing for them to capture the computer or data on it. Keep your nose clean, and all should be well. Best of all, in case your computer needs to be inspected for maintenance (probably only applicable to company assets), or put on a company network, keep any personal stuff separable, in known folders, backed up regularly, and if shared then only securely shared(!).

Most code gets assembled into GOTOs (jumps) anyway. I'm sure some competent programmers can manage their own GOTOs just like a compiler can.

Imagine the chaos that a cat could cause if one-click ordering is enabled.

Put a dymnamo on a pair of lifts on a multi-storey car park, for the cars GOING DOWN :o)

Agree: it's theft, AND a very inefficient way of generating electricity. We should be moving away from biofuel generation (and this is yet more inefficiency).

Should segments come adrift, they could do huge damage to property. Who would insure such a venture?

A lot of it will probably go to umbrella consultancy fees: spend $100m to learn how to spend $450m wisely among 'carefully chosen suppliers'. Yes, I know that adds up to $550m.

Dell screens have 'desktop', 'media', and 'gaming' modes, which (I guess) affect colour curves and pixel response. If you're really interested in these artifacts, I suggest you research the available modes that the screen supports. I also call upon reviewers to test these modes before commenting on problems.

...because there won't then be a wireless access that you can change their passwords with!

That's because your real-time clock is broken!

Abstract concepts generally have the best game rules because they offer the widest set of possible options; game designers are not restricted by the constraints of 'the familiar', but players then face the initial bump in the learning curve in order to absorb the initial concept. The problem here is that algorithms cannot draw upon the vast life experience and everyday cultural references that ordinary people possess. Further, abstract games, no matter how well-designed, are difficult to market and sell (take The Sentinel as an example); they need someone else (reviewer) to say, "This is good, go buy it".

In my experience, paperless billing only cuts paper by about 20%. Companies and institutions that are savvy enough allow the switchover to paperless billing, are also savvy enough to have a continuous mailshot campaign. The result is that you are still mailbombed and sent changes to T&Cs, for example. The cynical view is that 'paperless billing' is Greenwash (go look that word up if you haven't seen it before) - it's really about saving the company money by not paying the third-party billing service.

Unfortunately, the only way to satisfy me was to have them remove Zenith from the site. Of course, they didn't change their business model for my benefit: they continue to exploit others without theeir knowledge.

This looks like a way in for agent software to charge for modules of software, e.g. episodic games. Alternatively, it looks like a good technology to speed up app launch on any system, using caching.