I guess if Unix is a religion, Mac OS X would be a cult, since it took Unix and turned it into its own special variant. And like many cults, it's one that takes all your money in exchange for "perfection"!

Wintel has already lost teenagers, grandparents, and all those who use computers just for email and facebook. They have switched to phones, tablets, and now some of them to Chromebooks. If Chromebooks weren't around, they still wouldn't be buying Wintel, but Android or iOS.

But...corporate America is still solidly entrenched, and they are just now moving on from Windows XP to Windows 7. In 10 years or so, when Windows 7 is as old as XP is now, That's when they will start to think about where to go next, and whatever it is, that option isn't around yet. So we'll see!

There never was going to be an opportunity for Linux. Don't get me wrong, I like Linux, and have installed and played with several distros. But the problem is, it's an OS designed by and for hobbyists. Hobbyists like to tinker, but the average consumer does not. They just want it to work. A hobbyist OS will always require maintenance and care by hobbyists.

The kernel certainly can be tamed. Apple tamed Unix and turned it into Mac OS; Google tamed the Linux kernel and turned it into Android. And that's the point. Making a consumer-friendly OS will always require a company that has a consumer focus.

Phones are, above all, portable. This means they will have small screens! Even an iPad has only a 10 inch screen, compared to desktop computers, which generally have at least 20-inch screens, or two. The fact is, the more real estate you have, the more you can do with it. Mobile sites have to make do with what little space is available, and they do that by leaving things out. Most sites don't spend that much time or money thinking about what to leave out, so they wind up with a poorly designed mobile site...if there is a mobile version at all. It's hard enough for many sites to create a quality "regular" site, and adding a mobile version nearly doubles the effort. It's just not worth the money, for a lot of sites.

They should have taken the $3 billion and run with it.

SnapChat only works as long as it doesn't need to make money. Once advertising comes in, advertisers will be calling the shots, because they are paying the money. They will want to know more and more about users and what they are sending to each other. They'll eventually get what they want.

Comedy shows on TV have used canned laughter for decades, but nobody would say that it beats the experience of sitting in an auditorium live, with a great comedian on stage. The better TV shows will continue to have real music played by real musicians, and we'll all continue to get a better musical experience by going to the local concert hall, church, or bar.

This is really about Big Music losing its stranglehold on deciding who the big stars will be.

Your points are valid. It comes down to WHY municipalities are shortening the yellow light time. If it's to make more money, that is unacceptable. If there is a positive impact on public safety, then that is a valid reason to make the change. If the impact is negative, and the officials know it, then it becomes downright unethical.

Imagine a world where you and I could get a bounty for finding building code violations. That could be a full-time occupation, and a lot of people would be going around finding frivolous technical violations just to get the money.

Software isn't any different. There are lots of things that could be considered bugs, that shouldn't deserve a bug bounty. Who is the arbiter of what deserves a bounty and what doesn't?

This is pure BS.

The point should not be to establish blame, but to reduce the frequency of accidents. Yes, people do stupid things on the road, we all know that. And sometimes you and I are the ones doing those stupid things, unless you are one of the 75% of drivers who think they are above-average drivers. If adding a second to the yellow light time reduces accidents (as it has been demonstrated to do), then increasing the yellow light time should be a seriously considered option!

Maybe not, but the red light camera technology companies can bribe the same legislators with a lot more money than individual citizens can.

This is a good point. Aircraft don't have to worry much about water, snow, or ice splashing onto their windshields!

I'm guessing you don't often have to type passwords on tablets, or you wouldn't be suggesting very long ones as the solution. I have enough trouble getting short ones entered correctly on those on-screen keyboards. I don't think I'm alone, either, judging by the typos I find in texts and emails people send to me.

It might help Google avoid anti-trust lawsuits from the Justice department.

You mean, the employees that have been working there already, who have been cooperating with the spy agencies? I feel better already!

The big tech companies want to appear to be unwilling to cooperate with spying. But what's to keep them from secretly cooperating all the same?