Finally gets another. One guy does something selfless, and another guy does too as a reward. Especially since in an auction he's not just covering the cost, he's running the price up with his participation in the bidding. When everything i read seems to drop Humanity notch-by-notch, it's nice to see something that bumps it up a bit. Kudos Human Race.

[/Optimism]

As somebody who designs networks of sensors and controls for manufacturing processes, I want to know what the investment was, and what payback period they are using to calculate those savings. Depending on the size of the plant $9 million might not even come close to covering that kind of mass retrofit.

What "Time"? These are Corporate Executives. When they break the law their company pays cash. Jail is the legal system for people who dont have enough money to pay Government Fines.

For a second there I thought parallax had executed a machine vision sensor system driven by their micro-controller. That would have been so much cooler than this all but empty gesture.

Unless I missed it (I know I broke Slashdot rules and actually read the ruling) I dont think he had actually admitted to the crimes themselves, only that he did admit that he was in possession of the Encryption Key. Presumably they already had compelling evidence of the crime itself or they wouldn't have been investigating him in the first place.


From the Ruling:
On the day of his arrest, the defendant was interviewed by law enforcement officials after having
been advised of the Miranda rights. In response to questioning, he said that he had more than one
computer in his home. The defendant also informed the officials that "[e]verything is encrypted
and no one is going to get to it." In order to decrypt the information, he would have to "start the
program." The defendant said that he used encryption for privacy purposes, and that when law
enforcement officials asked him about the type of encryption used, they essentially were asking for
the defendant's help in putting him in jail. The defendant reiterated that he was able to decrypt
the computers, but he refused to divulge any further information that would enable a forensic
search.

Not quite, but you are making a good point. According to The Ruling the only reason the motion was filed and this issue came at all up was because the guy happened to have used a particularly effective encryption software that the State was unable to circumvent. But they tried and would have been perfectly allowed to use any of the information found had they succeeded. Which is like saying that the 5th amendment would protect the contents of my safe, but only if I can afford a top-of-the-line one.

I get the legalese argument the guy as trying to make and the narrow line they tried to draw with the ruling, but Im not sure why it even got past the original judge.

If it had been the exact same situation, just a combination lock on on physical file cabinet in his office, once a proper court subpena was issued Law Enforcement might have asked for the combination as a courtesy but would have been perfectly within their rights to simply cut the thing open. And if they found evidence of some unrelated crime, that is long been fair game just like a drug bust during a traffic stop.

Maybe it's different by State, I dont know

This "new" supercapacitor has nothing to do with liberating devices from Power Cords. Supercapacitors still need to be externally charged. All this development does is make them a bit more resilient than current model when in more rugged environment, and supposedly make it where we used supercapacitors as structural components. In other words your car would not have a separate battery to replace, because it's frame itself would be used to store electricity. While the creator seems to think that is the wave of the future, I dont see it as a particular good (or cost effective) idea.

The fact that a smartphone (Or I assume by extension any personal computer) can qualify should be an indcator that the test itself is flawed. Just like how many early definitions of Life applied to Fire (breaths, eats, grows, responds to outside stimuli, etc) even though it is just a chemical reaction.

Just because the national management is regrettably old-fashioned and very very conservative does not mean the youth themselves are assholes. At that age they more often actually live up to the public Ideals.

The contracts that the rest of the world think are a ridiculous and counter-productive system?

Besides, this would have nothing to do with contracts. It just means that if you want to change carriers, you would be able to take your phone with you. IF you hadnt yet paid off the subsidy, they would probably bill you for that when you left, not force others to pay for it. And if they stiff the company on a contractually obligated fee they will most likely find themselves in court or have bill collectors harassing them, just like with every single monetary contract in the country.