Give NASA the $14 billion spent in fiscal 2013 training foreign armies and providing them with weapons. That'll make up the difference nicely. Not enough? Move on to the $24 billion spent on the "National Drug Control Strategy." Two things we don't need more of are dead bodies and prison inmates.

I well recall the cries of "Windows Everywhere!" (and Windows CE that went with it). As you note, they want this for the same reasons the government wants to standardize the military aircraft they buy - saving money by re-using common components. Problem is, something that does everything does nothing well; witness the F-35 and the TFX/F-111. Worst thing is, it never actually costs less, anyway - you get an inferior product with higher costs.

It was a little annoying that Apple made the jump all at once into USB, but really - a couple of RS422 ports was better? ADB was always only for mice and keyboards, and years of experience showed that for most users, SCSI was just too expensive and hard to set up. Or don't you remember "SCSI Hell"? For higher end Macs, you could retrofit SCSI, serial, and even USB cards if you really needed to. Some configurations even included a SCSI card.

As far as "USB was everywhere on PC's" that's just wrong. At the time Apple switched over, 99% of PC users had never heard of a USB port. I know, I was managing a computer store at the time.

I was working very closely with Apple at the time, and unless everyone was being lied to, "IBM saved Macintosh" is a pretty serious mischaracterization. More like three companies working together to create a platform useful to all the contributors. Did IBM put more into it than the other AIM members? Probably. But they didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

There was a reason, and I'm surprised you've completely missed it.

"We'll invent something to fix this when the time comes" is not a sound policy, or a policy at all. It's wishful thinking. What if we don't?

What's the point of having a "plan" when it changes every four or eight years? It takes longer than that to complete a large technology project; the only way to accomplish it is to have a beloved leader start it, then quick shoot him - so it'll be completed in his honor. Come to think of it, we'll never get past the "beloved leader" part. What's the last time we had anything other than the lesser of evils?

I must admit (and this will probably get some catcalls) I don't think the "kiddie porn" industry is as big or as big a problem as is claimed. I've been poking around some of the dark and unpleasant parts of the internet since there WAS an internet, and I don't think I've seen a single unambiguous example. Certainly not "$20 billion dollars worth" - NO ONE is that good at hiding. Rather, I think it's the one thing they can manufacture criminals with, that no one dares defend.

After reading this, some of my spare time will be taken up with loading as much obsolete recordable media as possible with pictures of flowers, puppies, and kittens (what's the age of consent for a cat?) and secreting them around the house. If I ever have any porn, I'll print it out on paper, to be safe from lazy searches.

I live in a small town. The next town over (a bit over a mile) has a fire department completely obsessed with fireworks. Not just the 4th, but MOST holidays. It was cute at first, but now I close the windows, draw the shades, and turn up the TV.

I have been personally ripped off more than once by companies that "went out of business." The parentheses because, in many cases (like this one) the closure is not what people visualize, with chained doors, etc. There are still assets, employees, offices. In one case I was able to recover what was owed by calling the officers of the "old" company at their "new" jobs, every day, until I got my money. Did they legally owe it to me? Technically, probably not. I shamed/annoyed them into it.

I don't know 2600 from The Readers Digest, but I DO read several titles distributed by TEN: The Enthusiast Network; in one case I know the people at the magazine personally. I'll be writing letters and having conversations with these publishers about the people they're doing business with.

I could make phone calls on it without carrying a separate phone. Beyond that and telling time, I can't think of any other use for a screen I'd want to wear on my wrist.

That locks us into an impossible scenario - anything related to a hovercraft as we know it is completely unsuitable as a consumer highway vehicle. So, the company MUST be talking about something else entirely.

This. It really doesn't matter whether he's charged with treason, data theft, or jaywalking - or tax evasion, for that matter. He's upset the apple cart of the people who re-interpret the law, and if he's ever out from under the protection of a nation the USA can't intimidate, he'll burn for it.

If Mr. Snowden is a traitor, we need to fix the laws until he ISN'T a traitor. He performed a valuable service to the citizens of this republic, and to the citizens of many other nations around the world.

(Muses to self...) "Gee, I hope I don't have to eject..." "YEEEEEE!!!"