Yes, but with this they can identify you, not your device or the IP you're behind. You have paid for the service and to get it on all your devices, and in all your browsing sessions, you need to identify yourself. This service completes the loop for google and instead of guessing that the tracking info from mobile device at this address, and pc at this address and so on, is all the same individual - you're consolidating it for them.

But if they remove the boxes and the site reflows, how are you aware that you're receiving the service (no ads) that you paid for?
May seem strange, but the absence of ads wouldn't really be noticed (the same way you mainly tune them out at the moment anyway) but a box not showing an advert, or thanking you for a contribution, where an advert should be gives you that positive confirmation that you're getting something for your money.
I made the same point in my submission on this, that you'd prefer a better laid out, easily read site. But the weird thing is, you'd probably not appreciate it!
There's also the danger of a protection racket angle on this - "hey nicely presented site you're reading here, be a shame if any adverts came along to spoil it" but I may be going to far....

they do it in exactly the same way as they do for adverts (using the same mechanism). You're paying for your own advert, essentially. When you visit, it's logged in googles ad network alongside the rest, and paid to the website's account periodically as part of the same process.
Although the amount you're paying seems small, the amount per eyeball will work out very close to that of a traditional google ad. they will only get microcents from google for your single visit if you see an ad from Chrysler, or you pay yourself.

Made my very first submission http://slashdot.org/submission... which made that very point (though they've chosen one by an AC, which I couldn't find by searching, that doesn't mention anything like that - oh well)
I'd mod you up to get this point made, but no points.
Yes, they're taking money and to make use of it you have to give them more in depth information about your life online.

Having got past the urge to tell you to read the article (I know, why would you?):
Walruses can't stay indefinitely in the water like seals and similar mammals, so need somewhere to rest. Usually this is on ice, but the ice has apparently receded past the continental shelf so it's over deeper water. As the Walruses dive to feed off crustaceans and other tidbits on the seafloor, their larder is beyond reach if they stayed on the ice. Putting all this together, they had to find somewhere else to rest which just so happens to be here.
And just in case you wondered, they live in large groups anyway - it's not like roaming walruses decided to all congregate at once in this spot.

save your outrage, there's no need for an MS live account here. Click the link, read the article as you would on any news site and return here to make a positive contribution. Why on earth do you think you need a Live account?
there's been a few linked articles behind paywalls before, but this doesn't even need you to login to anything to read, what's your problem?

You need a thousand separator, so you'd say a decimal point is an acceptable alternative? A decimal point separates the decimals, hence the name

Well, it all depends on where you get your electricity. The vehicle is purely electrically driven. It does have a petrol driven generator to top up the battery, but the engine is not involved in driving the wheels, so could easily be described as all-electric as you can rip out the engine and the car still drives.
The tesla has a large amount of batteries, charged from an external generator.
The fisker has slightly fewer batteries, charged from an on-board generator in the space created (and external as needed)
both are driven by an electric motor powered by those batteries.

What make/model is the smartboard? A 'smartboard' is a name that can be applied to many a device with varying different capabilities, plus varying interfaces. Asking for software that will run with yours is difficult to answer without knowing what you have.

Fair enough

All things considered, Blackberry missed out on the action - relaunching their tab with sponsorship of the NFL would have made a sensible tie-in. "The coach is referring to his playbook" (but possibly could have got "Things are getting tough out there, He's going to have to throw away the playbook" - win some, lose some in Marketing I suppose)
as an interesting aside, my mother refers to any tablet (ipad/android or other) as "that playbook"... shows it's all down to first contact.

The other side of the commoditization is not just the name falling into general use (and trademarks being lost).
if a coach on a football field is being mistaken for using an iPad when actually using a surface, then the viewers may get the impression that they're all interchangeable - i.e. a surface obviously isn't inferior, and there isn't some magical reason for needing to buy an iPad specifically.
Microsoft has built their company around capturing the middle market from the established players. You don't need an IBM PC, you don't need a mainframe, you don't need a Playstation/Nintendo.... and now you don't need an iPad (and could become "or iPhone/Android"?)
They don't need to 'crush the competition', just let them play in their own environments, whilst taking up the rest of the market.

you say this in reply to a poster who's telling you that he uses photoshop on his surface?
From the phrasing ("in the field") I'd also say that use is professionally. Now, your full time photoshop pro may not use it exclusively, but you've kinda replied to your own counterargument.

As someone above also said, there's enough room for people who like/use android, iPad, or Surface so your preference is valid. Personally though, the cost comparison is only one aspect - you're happy to use one device for one thing and another for some other use case, but for may people the convenience of not having to assess if they'll need the laptop, the tablet or the phone (or lug around all of them) is a benefit that outweighs the slight cost difference.

Unsure why you need to be on 'the latest and greatest' to perform a useful search. Google touted their simplicity all along, blank white screen with a text input and submit button.
For a successful search you enter a text string and hit enter, the website does its stuff and returns a list of links. This shouldn't need anything that isn't supported even in the most basic browser. Even adding functionality such as previews doesn't need heavy duty scripts, or modern features.