They'll probably try to build some move covert throttling into the driver. And if done properly it will probably all turn out OK. This was a VERY STUPID public relations move that they needed to get past as quickly as possible.

They GROSSLY underestimated the shitstorm of complaints. OC is a small group but they're disproportionately loud. As a business NVIDIA has to balance the occasional fried hardware (an annoyance that has no measurable impact on revenue) with a mass migration to ATI that can reshape the industry (and most dramatically impacts revenue).

They also don't want to have people posting to every corner of the internet that "ALL DRIVERS PAST 344.75 ARE DEFECTIVE AND IF YOU INSTALL IT YOUR MACHINE WILL BE RUINED" [sic emphasis in original].

Maybe the Feds were right when they said they'd never buy Chinese PC hardware. I was just looking at how attractive and powerful their current laptops are. This all makes me FAR less inclined to ever buy one.

Between Ubuntu and Lenovo who needs the NSA? Anyone can just pay these asshats for all your data.

I can't read it. The political self interest is so strong it made my eyes water.

Someone, like maybe torrent freak, did an exhaustive survey of seemingly EVERY VPN. They were specifically asking about what logs the company keeps and what laws govern their operation. A stunning majority of them log virtually everything you do, keep the logs for months, and are conveniently incorporated in the US. (Convenient for spying, not convenient for privacy).

OF COURSE there was absolutely no way to prove the one's that claim to be reputable aren't actually the worst of all. But it is worth at least trying.

PS Here's an updated survey.
http://torrentfreak.com/which-...

This didn't turn out so well for Val Kilmer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt01...

CPS has rarely, if ever, concerned themselves with what is legal. In their defense learning your legal powers and obligations would be a lot of work. It is much more expedient to threaten violence against someone's children. It's very much like King Solomon only backwards. He threatened the child to figure out which woman actually cared about the child so he could return it to the parent. CPS threatens children and uses that threat to coerce compliance from parents afraid for their child's safety. Parents that don't care cannot be threatened in this way.

There are bad parents, there are even monsters masquerading as parents. No question about it, there is evil in the world. But in the final analysis nothing is more monstrous than a bureaucrat with super-police powers. An adult can rationalize: "Sure Mr Cop, you can arrest me on false grounds. I'll spend a day in jail and sue the city for $500,000". But when a sociopath is going to kidnap your child and put them into an unknown situation from which you may NEVER get them back - since there are NO objective laws in the first place, a parent simply can't risk it.

CPS are synonymous with home invaders. Maybe they broke into the home of a bad guy and the world will be better if they just shoot him. Maybe the people are completely innocent of ever even jaywalking. When guilt means whatever they want it to mean and you are guilty until proven innocent, perhaps 3 years from now, you just cannot take the risk.

This is the classic 2 year old mine mine mine mentality. Surely the user would not have ANYTHING other than our software on any system. There is no point in any software other than ours. THIS is why people hate overbearing companies like M$ and rottenapple.

So Valve, are you A) evil or B) criminally incompetent?

I wonder how many jobs the state lost for this communist nirvana. Not so much the telecom jobs, because any state endeavor is going to employ 4 useless people to do the job of one productive individual. But all that infrastructure comes with a great big government check - that is inevitably written against a great big tax. Taxes are the unseen killer in any economy.

It is also worth calling out the studies coming out showing, remarkably, that you cannot replace Teaching with Technology. No rational person would argue for a return to ink and quills. But technology for technology's sake is no better. Comprehensive teacher evaluations and the ability to easily and cheaply fire bad teachers would be infinitely more beneficial to students than sub second ping times.

Blimps like this were used with some success during WWII.

They are excellent at providing a low observablility obstacle capable of ripping the wings off unsuspecting aircraft.

I for one am excited by this important new program that will enable to government to more successfully spy on itself, and see no possibility for mass carnage when an unsuspecting A380 crashing into downtown Baltimore. And besides, in that edge case it will help Boeing sales - an important national agenda item. Played with proper plausible deniability it might even lead to baggage-less, nude flying. This will greatly reduce aircraft gate times, and increase TSA worker morale.

Win-Win-Win. Yeah, I'm liking this plan more and more!

That's the lie that Dow Chemical used to shut down competition when their Freon patents were expiring. Don't battle the government. Just tell them an implausible but unverifiable story, that conveniently vastly increases their regulatory power. Then sit back and let International Treaties to save the environment fill your bank account.

Crony Capitalism FTW!!

So, Mozilla is just like the country that spawned it: A hypocrite and a bully that does not have the approval of it's constituents/employees. That seems all too believable.

Like others have said people will buy the cheaper product irrespective of ANYTHING else - aka The First Law of Walmart.

But if the SEC is going to make a stink about it the easy solution is to not be listed on an American Stock Exchange. It's funny really. We sent every job overseas so we could become the "Financial Center". Now we are going to drive finance offshore too. People, especially the US Government fails to realize that there are other countries on this planet, and not all of them like being our sheep.

I seriously doubt Ford is alone, unique, or even special. On-Star has been spying on everyone for > 10 years. Remember that gangster they prosecuted after having On-Star bug his car. Technically they had a warrant and all but that decreases the creepy factor exactly none!

I expect the short term to see a big rise in casual car modding to disable these devices - everything from simple breaking to special modules to feed the thrice damned spy whatever it needs to hear to keep the engine running (like yes I drove 40,000 miles circling the Ford Corporate headquarters).

OF COURSE government is probably already collecting this data but regardless of promises, executive orders, laws, or international treaties that will continue unabated. If you think otherwise you really have learned nothing at all from history. And where one group of "legal" criminals go the "illegal" ones will soon follow. I don't see a commercial model for a product to stalk your girlfriend, but that doesn't mean it won't be done. How about real time tracking for the people who make the bank deposits? I'm not criminally minded enough to come up with a good use case, but the ONLY way to prevent abuse is to NOT collect the data AT ALL!!!!! If you collect it someone, someday, somehow will use it to harm others.

Want to bet the NSA Hoover didn't pull in ALL the evidence that global warming / climate change is an out and out fraud - complete with names, dates, and DOLLAR Amounts? Seriously if they can hack North Korean nuclear weapons data I think they can stumble upon a global conspiracy by thousands of ass hats that all think they are too smart to get caught.