Every rapper in California is gonna want to make their next video there.

Arrangements like Apple's and Samsung's may sound strange at first but it happens a lot more than one might think. I work for a very large French company that has its own in-house IT services group, yet my subsidiary handles the majority of its IT operations on its own, including using external hosting companies and service providers that directly compete with them. We can get away with it because we execute faster, with better flexibility, higher quality, and for less money.

BTW, controlling the manufacturing isn't the advantage some make it out to be. It's a very low-margin industry, which is why so much of it is done in low-wage places like China. If bringing manufacturing in-house had strategic value then you can be assured that Apple and any other company with a decent mountain of cash would work on acquiring such capabilities. Take a look at Sony- nobody is citing their in-house manufacturing as a key differentiator or advantage.

The very study you cite stated that mass transit did not reduce the number of kilometers traveled by automobiles.

The freight companies typically own the tracks that Metra uses. In the case of the BNSF lines the freight company even runs the trains themselves, with Metra only providing customer-facing support.

Ouch... color me embarrassed for failing to RTFS.

I'm not sure what the benefit of this is? The benefits for making a stand-alone device such as a telephone PoE-capable are obvious. But if a device is not stand-alone and requires other powered devices to function, then what are you really accomplishing? A thin client requires a display to be usable, and a display requires a local power source. If HP really wants to solve a problem for thin client users (I have hundreds of the little buggars) then they'll drop the price. There's zero reason these things should cost as much as they do. I'm curious to see how well a Raspberry Pi can function as one.

Rather than worry about the company, worry about yourself: do you really want the company to see your data? The computer assigned to you is their property and they have the right to reclaim that property at any time and for any reason, and they are not required to give you time to "get your affairs in order" ahead of time.

This will not please the Human Resources Dept. I'm guessing none of the execs or board members will serve as a reference for him when he applies for his next job.

If BeOS had survived this wouldn't be an issue. Cores and threads everywhere! But noooooooo...

There have been numerous proposals to link Metra to the CTA, the latest of which is the "Clinton Street Subway" plan. I agree with you that this is a concept that is long overdue, and I'm sure we could find millions more who agree with us. The problem, as usual, is money. When was the last time local government did *anything* on time or on budget? The CTA spent $250 million on the Block 37 super-station and all they have to show for it is a concrete shell that's been mothballed because there's no money to cover the overage. Metra can't even keep track of its executives' vacation time, as Phil Pagano painfully demonstrated.

That being said, I strongly believe that investments in urban transit will provide far better bang for the tax buck than inter-city high-speed service. Illinois is spending $1.1 billion of federal money to construct semi-high-speed service between Alton and Dwight. We're spending that kind of coin to connect a city of 30,000 with a city of 4,400 (in other words, $32,000 per citizen) and yet we have the audacity to criticize Alaska for their so-called "Bridge to Nowhere". That money would go a long way towards... the Clinton Street Subway, perhaps?

Speaking as a life-long Chicagoan I don't really care what the reason was. I'm just glad the games won't be held here. The benefits of holding the games are questionable at best. What is certain is that it would be the biggest source of graft and corruption for friends of Mayor Daley and the Chicago Democratic Machine since the opening of O'Hare. The city hasn't completed a single public works project on time and on budget in decades, and this would surely be a financial disaster that would run into the billions. And it would be up to folks like me to bankroll it, since, unlike the other candidate cities, Chicago did not have federal assistance or sponsorship. If you think the IOC cares one whit about passport control or swamping the locals with debt then I have a bridge to sell you...

What is it with things named/called Caldera

He's still younger than my fourth grade teacher