As many above posters have stated, when trying to get a much younger person interested in something, immediate and observable results are important.

As a result, I would recommend Turing as the introductory language. While I may be a bit biased since this is the language I learned programming on, I truly think it is an excellent first language.

It has a very simple syntax that nonetheless teaches the basics of if/else blocks, loops, decision trees, and more and because it is so simple, it is very easy to quickly get into and program text, graphics or animated environments. It also comes with its own IDE that auto-indents and performs many tasks that help a beginning programmer, so little more than the base environment is required.

While the person in question should of course move relatively quickly to a real and industry-utilized language like C/Java/etc Turing can teach the fundamentals of programming in a very easy to learn package. I can only speak for myself, but had I been introduced straightaway into C, I believe I would have encountered many more difficulties than I would have had I not learned programming fundamentals on Turing.

Just my opinion.

Lets compare red to blue coloured things:

In Health:
Fire is less healthy when inserted into your body than water (+1 blue)

In money:
20 Euro blue note buys more at Quiznos than 10 Euro red note (+1 blue)

In the Matrix:
Red pill allows you to live in a decrepit city underground, implanted with large amounts of metal in your head and constantly hunted by squid robots itching to place dendrites through your ribcage and/or face.
Blue Pill allows you to live in a nice modern city with noticeable lack of said squid robots. And now it helps you avoid and/or lessen the impact of spinal injuries. (+11!!one1 blue)

Winner? Blue!

Cloud computing, despite being, IMO still largely a buzzword, is not about to spell the doom of the IT profession.

Because when this cataclysmic event occurs, and thousands of techs are downsized, cloud computing will step right in to unbox and set up the computers. It will step right in and build the server racks, run the cabling, configure the LAN settings, create VPN's, manage the thousands of inane and trivial tickets that nonetheless require physical presence to fix.

It will also apparently make sure that nothing ever crashes. And what about redundancy? When the ISP has a meltdown, or a blackout happens and the net is unavailable, will the intranet cloud be sufficient without enough onsite support?

Please. This article is just FUD. IT techs will be needed, as always.

Most of these technician services are quite dodgy. For every one that offers honest service at a fair price, there are a hundred like the above, or like Geek Squad.

Here are some choice bits:
Set up a wireless router with encryption (=WEP, probably) = $150
Securely add another device to the above (=type in pass.) = $90
OS Upgrade and Update (=install Win and run wind. update) = $90
Data transfer up to 9.4 GB (=burn two prol. cheapo DVD-R) = $60
Online console setup (=config router for 360 to get Live) = $150

It is ridiculous that this is the state of the market - unqualified techs charging enormous amounts of money for trivial tasks. I realize that there are some honest, upstanding people in these companies, but the mass of those who are not drown the out. It is sad really, as I know some very qualified people who run a very honest and fairly priced business doing support/repairs, but they are bypassed by uninformed users who run to Geek Squad because 'at these prices you must be doing something dodgy'.

Probably saved passwords in Firefox or whatever equivalent they were using. If you are not using a master password, one can just hit 'show passwords' to get em all.

Since most people don't like typing their passwords in each time, if someone has used a particular browser for a long time, it can be a goldmine of access info and details.

The headline 'Free Rainbow Tables' makes you immediately think of a table covered in Skittles

Now _that_ is a cool name for a scientific journal. I can imagine reading it now...

[Me]: Wow, OLED's use 75% less energy now!
-turns pages-
[Me]: Oh, fusion! That was fast!