Most computers that shipped with Windows 7 have an OEM activation right in the BIOS. Last time I reinstalled Windows 7 on my Lenovo laptop, I used the official ISO from DigitalRiver (not available there anymore), and instead of using my license code, I followed the instructions here and used my OEM activation. Everything activated and ran normally. This is completely legit because the license is in the BIOS.

What are the facts? The 332-page plan they voted on hasn't been released yet. If it has been, please link to it.

To having Communists read your stuff.

Seriously, I was buying Lenovo before now. I did not get burned on Superfish. But I'm done with Lenovo. If this is what they try get away with without effort at hiding, then what they are they spending effort on hiding? I don't need the PRC in my network also, I have the NSA for that.

Part of the problem is the CYA issue.

If you're writing the code, you sound like a laborer ("I have to..."). If it breaks, it's your fault and you're on the hook publicly.

If you present a third-party component in a meeting, you sound like a manager ("I propose that we..."). Once three or four other people in the meeting have concurred, if something breaks it's the third party's fault. A ticket or two are initiated, it's someone else's problem and everybody gets to cast blame somewhere beyond the walls of the company.

Rational behavior, regrettably.

The precision is actually pretty impressive, I've had a model I designed printed out in brass before, and some of the detail, I can't imagine milling achieving it. But yeah, no question that milling or sintering will get your stronger parts.

Microturbines are one of those few things where 3d printing might actually prove an economical means of production - the keys being small, intricate, and very expensive.

I wonder how effective it'd be to print out one of these, minus the windings. They've got crazy power output (up to 100kW sustained / 200kW peak) and efficiency (up to 98%) in a motor small enough (20kg; significantly less without the windings) to make a 3d printing service (or more realistically in this case, a custom CNC milling service) cost effective. Buying them commercially, they're something like $4k USD each. But there's a 3d model available, so....

All I can say is, I'd love an electric car with one of those driving each wheel....

Laser sintering of titanium is a well established process and should produce excellent turbine blades. 3d printing plus thermal spraying (a new one I've seen uses a form of laser spraying) might actually be able to produce parts better than would be possibly by any other means (such as machining cast metal) because you're not only heating the grains to join them together, but compacting them at high velocity.

Even for the more "primitive" 3d printing metal techs, they're just lost wax casting where the original mold is 3d printed. So the results are no worse than any other lost wax cast metal.

And yes, I was hopeful that this was a fully finished, working product. And that I'd be able to download the model. There's little that I'd be willing to pay the premium of laser titanium sintering for, but a micro jet turbine is one of those things. ;)

Indeed this is the way to go. And I checked the specs; these laptops appear to have IDE drives in them. I can't believe how many people are proposing incredibly complex solutions such as finding a PCMCIA ethernet card and trying to use the old lanmanager protocol to copy files off. Or using a serial cable.

Every slashdotter should have a IDE and SATA to USB adapter in their toolbox. They are dirt cheap (I own probably three I think) and they are always useful for doing data recovery. Most adapters you can buy today connect to SATA, normal IDE, and the 44-pin laptop IDE, and even come with a power supply.

Before you try going down any of those other complex routes, do yourself a favor and go buy a rosewell one from NewEgg or any other vendor really. You'll probably use it more frequently than you think.

If I'm the only one who can unlock your encrypted communications, then it's in my best interest to have everyone encrypt their communications, because then, I'll be the only one with total situation awareness.

It won't be in any of your interests, of course, because you'll be handing me my advantage on a silver platter... but you're all far too shortsighted to pay attention to such things.

Of course Obama and the NSA want you all using strong encryption. Stupid of you to give them what they want, though.

I'm not sure anybody is afraid that an AI can kill everyone on earth by mere thought alone. The fear is that AI will kill everyone on earth with guns, bombs, poison, biological weapons, nukes, or perhaps by bashing in our skulls.

Old fashioned methods of killing people that are proven to be effective and NOT MAGICAL.

So no - it is NOT equivocal.

On the other hand:

- Dietary cholesterol is bad for you.
- Coffee is bad for you.
- Eggs are bad for you.
- Margarine is good for you.
- Eat 9-11 servings of carbs per day.
- Vaccines cause autism.
- GMOs are frankenfoods.
- Stomach ulcers are caused by stress.
- Dietary sodium is bad for you.
- Reefer madness
- Prohibition
- 55 Saves Lives
- Repressed memories
- Rule of thumb
- One in five women on college campuses are sexually assaulted

No purpose if we cease to exist after we die? Is not leaving a better world for our descendants not purpose enough? Is not making life better for our fellow humans not purpose enough? What is it with Christians and their "if humans do not matter for eternity they do not matter at all" sickness?

You are a member of a very unique species: a species able to define a purpose for itself. Nature spent 13,500,000,000 years creating a brain capable of this unique task. Honor the effort and use it. Or, wallow in your nihilist mental squalor. It's up to you.

Stop trying to use Science as an excuse to have the government bully people. Leave people alone to live their lives the way they choose, regardless of Science and the latest elite "consensus" about The Right Way for everyone to live.

There are ultimately limits to this, of course. But the people who want to use the government to bully everyone don't seem to recognize any principled limits on their side. So the other side shouldn't preemptively concede any limits either.

Maybe someday we won't have to deal with so much destructive extremism from so many people.

When I was younger, I remember reading a sci-fi novel about aliens in our solar system who were overseeing mankind's growth.

The aliens chose their base on Ceres because the asteroid field offered nigh-unlimited resources outside the confines of a gravity well, because Ceres had water for living and powering fusion engines, and because it was far enough away from earth to stay out of sight.

While those two white spots *could* be an example of cryovolcanism, I think that we can all agree that ancient abandoned alien city is really the more likely choice ;-)