Makes me nostalgic for the gopher:// protocol.

The Raping Internet Privacy Act?

Does that make the local nightclub the G-Spot?

The new Tesla Roadster claims that it can do 245 miles on a single charge ... and it's a hell of a lot cooler than a volt! 100 miles on a charge, pfft! :)

Actually, no.

Even with a warrant, you don't have to unlock your front door, the police just have the right to break it down or get a locksmith to pick it if you don't.

Same with a safe - with a warrant you don't have to provide the combination, but they can legally crack it or cut it open.

So if you want to extend it to cryptography - you don't need to provide the password, but they're free to try and crack or break into the encrypted 'container.' ... they're just upset because unlike a physical object like a safe or a door, brute force isn't sufficient this time.

But regardless, a password, safe combination, or any number of other things are stored in your mind - and the state (in the USA at least) cannot force you to divest the contents of your mind against your will. That's what the 5th amendment is all about and why sodium pentathol and it's ilk are barred from being used to gather evidence.

I didn't say I wanted to work for someone who could DO my job, I said I wanted to work for someone who in the past HAS DONE something similar to my job.

A dev manager should be an EX-coder. They may not have programmed in many years, maybe not in remotely the same language, and is probably not abreast of the latest technologies or techniques. However they should understand the fundamental concepts having done it before and be able to be a useful participant in design discussions. Above the 'dev manager' level (ie. not dealing directly with programmers), then it's completely different.

I used to work for a manager that had never been a programmer, and it was the worst experience of my life - he wanted to know the details of things so many times I had to explain things as if I were describing it to a 5 year old. It caused a lot of friction between me and him, because I spent half my time explaining things to him instead of getting things actually done.

Not to mention, if the manager understands they're not programmers, and knows they're never going to be asked to perform as one, but they HAVE been programmers, they also then tend to know what to look for and cut through the smoke screen in interviews. I can't tell you how many people who I've been called in to do an interview with who had very impressive resumes but in the end, could probably do a little more than "Hello World", but not much.

Why would any self-respecting geek want to work in a place where there is no possibility of being management, and all the management is, self-admittedly, not 'qualified' to do their job?

I'm sorry, but I've never been able to respect a manager who could not have done my job, and has done in previous years. Now that doesn't mean everyone up to the CEO needs to be a programmer, very quickly managers stop being programmers and their day focuses on other things (read: meetings and bureaucracy).

So by my example, a dev manager should be a former programmer, his/her manager should have experience leading a team of tech people, his/her manager should have been a manager for other tech managers before, etc. In other words, each level should have experience doing the day-to-day job of the level below.

And what about career advancement - it sounds pretty lame when all the management positions are pre-filled, so the only way to move up the chain is for someone higher up to retire, or get dishonorably discharged (I assume the guys in management are career military, not doing a tour).

50 light-years EACH WAY don't forget.

When you get back, she certainly won't be worth the diamond anymore - because you really won't want to 'hit that' in 100 years, even assuming you can travel at light speed ;P

And if you remember the 80's documentary "The Navigator", where he was gone 4 years and everyone else aged 12, then by extension, 100 light years will turn into 300 years.

Depending on your finances, I recently bought an MSI WindTop for my toddler (2) and special needs 5 year old.

This is a touch screen all-in-one computer, and after seeing one setup in the local library, and how easily my 2 year old interacted with it without having mouse skills, it was a no-brainer.

And having set the computer up in the kitchen (it has built in wifi), I can use it as a kitchen computer when I need it, and sit the kids in front of it when they want to use it. And from there you can just get any regular kids software, and they just touch the screen instead of use the mouse.

If you want to take it one step further, try http://www.awe-net.com/ - they have fully pre-built WindTop PCs, loaded with a bunch of software for kids from 2 - 10, so it will be useful for years to come. This is what my local library has, and it's great.

No, you're a troll if you try and enforce IP rights to IP you don't actually own.

Just like patent trolls are only trolls if they try to enforce patents on products or ideas that they don't actually make or use themselves.

Completely different if you wrote something, then go after people for copyright violations on what you wrote. Or you invented something, got a patent, and actively manufacture things using that patented method, and go after other making stuff that also uses that method without paying you.

Remember those disk compression utilities (DoubleSpace and such)? Well, I used them back in the day, and every so often, for some reason, the file system header would get corrupted. I actually had to re-create it manually, with a hex editor. But once I did the disk would boot and work just fine until the next time.

True story.

While I agree, none of the criminal's prior offenses included either violent crimes or crimes of a sexual nature.

His priors were for fraud and such. I'm not saying the mother was not an idiot, but it's not like she left her with a known pedophile or rapist.

OK, so humans become mobile power sources.

I really don't want to see a guy on the side of the road with wires shoved up his arse trying to jump his car to start because his battery is dead.
*clench* "Try it now!"

That said, I guess the BDSM scene can now do something useful after attaching the alligator clamps to their nipples.

Just because the update cycle is not annual, does not mean there is not induced obsolescence.

Do you still run DOS? No, it's obsolete, no modern apps run on it. In fact, I doubt you would even consider using anything before Windows 2000 at the earliest these days. And if you're not a Windows user, would you use a Linux with a 2.0.x kernel? Probably not, aside from the fact it does not support modern hardware (x86_64 and such), there are big advantages to newer versions of Linux.

Would you still use Office 95? Of course not, at least, not in a business setting, it cannot open the majority of documents that would be sent around today in the business world. Indeed, it's rapidly becoming inconvenient to use any version of office before '07, due to people starting to send/receive ooxml files.

So you want to talk about art then. Sure, you CAN play games from bygone years, but they start running into the same issues as other apps - newer machines are too modern for them, operating systems have changed and you need emulated environments. Or even if that's not the case, they just don't look as good as games designed for current hardware. So, except for the nostalga crowd, yes, Games have 'induced obsolescence' by virtue of the improvements in computing technology make older games just less appealing. And nobody would try and claim computer games aren't artistic expressions. Hell, I recently purchased Monkey Island again because they re-vamped it with newer graphics and such. Sure, I could have still played the older version, but why not get the updated look that looks nicer on hardware that didn't exist when the original was released. But I am still playing the exact same game, with the exact same puzzles and story line.

So there are many ways computer software can become obsolete without changing the media on which it is distributed, and trigger you to buy it again. But even media progression is a valid reason to re-buy media you own. Many people have re-purchased music they already own on cassette tape on CD, or videos they already own on VHS on DVD, because the media makes them much more convenient an they don't need to keep old clunky players around. Indeed, even re-buying books they own as eBooks so they can carry their entire library around on a single portable device. Or even bought stuff they already own on DVD on Blu-Ray because the movie they love looks that much better in HD. And I'm sure once 3D TV's become more prevalent, there might be another round of re-buying (mainly animated films which can be more readily re-mastered in 3D) to get the 3D experience their older DVD did not offer. It's still induced obsolescence, triggered by the advance in technology.

How is that any different to obsolescence induced by a change in fashion trends? The point TFA is trying to make is, there is enough other impetus to spur on the industry without needing to lock down content like they have done. Even despite technology advances triggering a subset of people to re-buy stuff they already own, a lack of copyright protection would also stop authors of creative works being so lazy, and force them to be more ambitious or adventurous (as she mentions many big-name designers have said they have had to become, and it has elevated both their creativity and bottom lines at the same time). When you can just create something, and lock it down, you have no real need to innovate and do something daring as a next project, you can just sit back and earn royalties or keep selling the same old stuff.

I miss getting the entire civilopedia as a separate book with the Civilization game. It was kind of interesting to read it.