getting a lot of flack in high school for answering "I don't know" to a lot of stuff. And not just from teachers ^^

Actually, they're not so much security tools as spying tools. I read TFA as "NSA has been helping US corps spy on allies's corps". Well, after spying on Germany's Chancelor and others, that's par for the course for the US I guess.

"holding a 7" phone up to your face looks pretty ridiculous"... Well, I feel less ridiculous the very few times I do that than if I had to carry a phone AND a tablet AND a laptop every time I travel. Plus I don't really care about ridiculous, like beauty it is mostly in the eye of the beholder.

"unless you are using speaker phone or a bluetooth headset" I'm using a wired headset. Sorry if that's not fashion-approved.

"But, thankfully, life hasn't forced me to be constantly tethered to a device like this." Well, if you prefer to be tethered to a stamp-size squint-box for fear of how others look at you, that's your prerogative. I advise you to gather a crowd next time you go buy... anything... and get their approval before any purchase.

To give you a point of reference, a 6" screen (let alone my 7") is to a 4" screen what a 23" is to a 15" screen. I wouldn't go back to 15" on my desktop, I wouldn't go back to 4" for my phone.

Hey, you sound just like the fashion police back when I got my first ridiculously huge phone that they wouldn't be caught dead using. My 4.3" HTC HD2.

Then, again for my huger more ridiculouser 5.3" Galaxy Note.

Then, again for my hugerer ridiculouserer 6" Ascend Mate.

Now, my hugererer ridiculousererer 7" Huawei X1.

I know you reactionary types need time to catch up to new things. Please, do take it, but in the mean time, shut up. Meanwhile, I'll be enjoying reading and watching vids on my "phone", which is really more of a e-reader+media player. Don't worry, you'll get there...

Specs != performance.

From what I see around me, perfomance is not an issue for any less than 3yo phone. Specifications are still key though: screen size, battery life, camera, sound quality on speakers and headset. One issue is that specs are sometimes off the mark: good screen doesn't mean more pixels, it means legible in bright light, at an angle, with good colors... Good camera doesn't man moar pixels, it means good pictures inside with no blur, etc etc.

Indeed. Music files and Video files take sooooo much less space on iOS !

Have you actually tried it ? I've got an Android **desktop**, and it's usable. Most apps understand mouse buttons and wheel; the lack of the usual sensors and touchscreen is only a problem in some games.
Things could be better: I miss keyboard shortcuts, right click for Back is silly, and zooming in/out seems to be up to the OEMs. But overall, it's more than usable.

It seems they've picked "privacy" as a fighting point vs Google. They don't seem to realize that people either
1- don't care anyway
or
2- care, and know Apple is bullshitting.

Really ?

Really !

Really ?

Really ??

Really !!

from wikipedia:

"A bully pulpit is a position sufficiently conspicuous to provide an opportunity to speak out and be listened to."
Not to "do", not to "enforce".. just to "be heard".

Sounds apt to me.

This sounds mostly political, then a bit managerial, then a teeny weeny bit technical. And from what I've read before, that post is mostly a bully pulpit with 0 effective power.

I'm sure each and every budgeting unit have their own systems, their own standards, their own teams, and their own kickbacks -sorry, suppliers. Standardizing, rationalizing and unifying all that is a bit technical, but, mostly, political.

It's way too imprecise. For the staples, Lifechacker.com has regularly "best of" lists.

What makes the Pi attractive is relative openness.
There are a lot way more powerful Android sticks that end up cheaper ( http://www.geekbuying.com/item... , $43 w/8GB Flash, WiFi, BT and a PSU are included)
The hardware could be more open, but the libraries and documentation for the CPU/pinouts, and above all the GPU, would require a lot of work and hit a lot of walls. It's telling that the Pi's competitors are all chipset-maker driven.

I work for consulting firms, selling both flesh-by-the-month and fixed-budget custom dev/integration. Here's what I'd like begining devs to know:

1- be presentable. Be clean, pleasant, non-threatening (agreed, that means be lame. Lame is good). You don't *have* to wear a suit and tie (though if you want to move up, you probably should), but at least clean jeans (chinos is much better) and a top with a collar (polo is OK). "Town" shoes are much better than hiking or sport shoes. Needing to express your personality by shocking others is pretty much a dead-end. It's not "look how much you need me that I can bug you by being an ass", it's "look how much I'm sabotaging myself by making my self be a problem".

2- don't be afraid to say "no" and "I don't know". And don't say anything else instead (like "yes" or "this idea/tech sucks"). If your client/boss is asking for unrealistic, impossible stuff, just say so, or at least say you need to check, don't accept. Saying you can't do something, or something is undoable, will hurt you and others a lot less than accepting and then not delivering. Also, "I can't do it" and "it's undoable" are not the same. Maybe you need help from someone else. Maybe you need training.

3- Be proactive. Learn new skills and try to help people around you. You boss mainly. If you spot a problem or a potential sale, say so. Don't make a huge issue out of it, don't get frustrated if it doesn't get top priority, but do point out issues, and if you can, solutions.

4- be patient. Many youngsters have this mental image of where they want to get, and how good they are. You'll probably get there, but not in 6 months. You *will* have to work on nonsensical doomed projects, with idiots as coworkers and bosses. That doesn't prevent you from building skills (technical, personal , organizational), networking and building up your brand...

I loved consolidating my watch, PDA, phone, and media player into a smartphone. Yo make me go the other way, a gizmo would have to provide very strong utility. Not alerts, not exercise data, not a duplicate of the remote that's already on my headset, not a teaser of stuff that I need to go to my phone to really use/act upon.

I've narrowed it down to either universal ID (for logins, PINs, locks...) or doing what my smartphone does, only hands-free. Not holding my breath...