Your check engine light comes on. See how much help you get calling GM! They'll tell you to take it to a dealer (which, by the way, is not part of GM).

Oh, so you got a "free" 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty? Oh yes, you paid for that, and it wasn't cheap. You just weren't allowed to opt out.

Why do we expect free technical support for computers?

Personally, when I search Google for something, I get what I want on the first page of listings, Usually, what I want is the first or second item in the list. Google has gotten really, really good at figuring out what people want.

And it's not MetaFilter.

In this case, I think MetaFilter's problems are more related to their own inability to stay relevant, than anything Google did.

Yes, there are crazy amounts being paid for certain lucky tech companies. SnapChat turning down $3 billion, for example. Sorry, the company simply isn't worth more than half of the S&P 500. So in the sense that some social media-related companies are being bought by the giants for huge dollar amounts, there is a bubble.

But the bubble isn't extending to the bottom of the food chain. In the 90's, anybody who could say "Java" could get six figures, and any guy with a hair-brained idea and a few programmers, could get VC money from rich guys who did random things to choose where to sink their money. It's not like that now. These days, you have to actually be able to write software, to get a good job, and you have to have a viable business, to get VC dollars.

I always thought programming was fun!

Maybe if it's painful to you, you should try a different line of work.

In terms of processor cycles, it takes a LONG time to type any kind of command for the computer to execute. It doesn't mind, it just spins happily, waiting for the end of our slow key presses.

Just as we can interpret input that comes in the form of visual cues, speech, or written words, any future AI is likely to have all of these capabilities as well. And that AI, being built by humans, is going to be well-adapted to human speed. Why would we make AI that was NOT suited to interaction with humans?

Great point. Interestingly, speech recognition is also a massive undertaking for the human brain, we just don't notice, because our brains don't have just one processor, or even eight or sixteen cores, but millions of neurons processing audio data at the same time. It's going to take a while before inexpensive computers can match that kind of processing power.

This assumes that Apple engineers are smart enough to do this intentionally. I suspect the problem is more due to incompetence than evil intent.

Domain registrars are another story. If you've tried lately to renew a domain name registration even with Network Solutions, the original registrar, you'll find it really, really difficult to just renew, without buying some additional service you didn't want. And once you do, good luck trying to get your money back!

"Somehow" makes it sound mysterious and inexplicable. I'd be willing to bet that the truth is far less sensational. I could see a student tech assistant doing something like this on a dare, or a low-skilled admin just clicking OK one too many times, without actually reading the warning message.

You didn't say what industry you were describing. In every industry, experience generally leads towards higher productivity. But in software development, experience often leads to productivity that is orders of magnitude higher. A competent older software engineer can run circles around a younger worker, even if that younger worker puts in lots of hours.

The Idaho stop law just recognizes the actual behavior of bicyclists. This is what all traffic laws are supposed to do anyway. Speed limits, for example, are in most states required to be set according to how fast motorists actually drive.

The only places I've ever seen bicyclists obey stop signs or lights, are in very busy intersections, where they would be crazy to flout the signals. But I admit, when I'm riding my bike around the neighborhood, I don't stop for any stop signs, and you probably don't either.

No doubt. So why didn't YOU take steps to prevent the Heartbleed vulnerability? The same reason everybody else didn't: time. Finding bugs takes time. Sure, you can automate, but that automation also takes time. So we are caught between two desires: 1) the desire to add or improve functionality, and 2) the desire to avoid vulnerabilities. The two desires compete for the amount of time that is available, so it becomes a trade-off.

It's also an arms race. There is real financial incentive for finding vulnerabilities that can be exploited, far more incentive than there is for software authors to prevent exploitation.

Given that it's not FUN to find vulnerabilities, unless you are the guy trying to exploit it, there are always going to be vulnerabilities.

Of course, we should find ways to improve quality control in open source software. But the next Heartblee is going to happen. It's like asking, "How can we prevent crime from happening?" Sure, you can and should take measures to prevent it, but there will always be unexpected loopholes in software, that allow unwanted access.

Anyone who thinks their Internet activity is private...is deluding themselves. If the NSA couldn't keep their activities private, what makes you think YOU can?

Maybe you should consider an Android tablet...Android already does this.

As I moved from programmer to team lead to manager to director, I had to delegate more and more of my technical responsibilities to others. As an accomplished programmer, I missed many of my old duties, in which I had excelled. But along the way, I realized that my real value to the company was no longer in the code I could personally write, but in my ability to build a team and help them be successful. I still write code for fun at home, but on the job, I have learned to let others do the hands-on work, even if I KNOW I could do it 5 times faster. I learned that it's less about getting today's programming done quickly, as it is about mentoring others to be able to do it for themselves.

I think the same principles apply to IT, or just about any other profession.