No, but they might have spent $3.9B so they can say its CPU is not "Made in China" and have a Chinese company "procure" the designs and start making the next gen chips based on the tech, while also having to worry about grey market versions of Samsung and Apple devices that utilize the processor.

If they can control a key component of the device (and "made in america" certainly provides that), then they can minimize grey market goods impact on their branded devices by potentially relegating them to an inferior parts chain.

Oddly I finally am catching up on back episodes of Person of Interest.

Just saw "Prophets" which contained a few clips of failed AI attempts ... felt very apropos, so I tracked down a link on YouTube. For your viewing (and thinking) pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkCGDcnmXEs

From the article:

Google already has a separate lease for another portion of the former air base, where it wants to build a second campus. Page and Brin have also used the Moffett runways for their collection of private jets, under another lease arrangement that's been criticized by some watchdog groups who say NASA gave the executives a sweetheart deal.

Because they are essentially renting the space next door to their new campus, and hanger space?

and part of the settlement was that Apple Computer Corp agreed to stay out of the Music business ... until a bunch of years later when they renegotiated.

Now you know how the Mars Orbiter felt ... is it any wonder it crashed itself?

Synology has some nice RAID enclosures.

Get two with multiple drives and they can also be set up to sync with each, creating your own little data cloud (multiple locations, w/RAID 5 per location, sync with each other via internet). Only problem is making sure there is sufficient bandwidth between them.

Thanks for the links. Was an interesting listen.

No. They'll just switch to shorter support life cycles so consumers will have fewer choices.

"Do you want 8 or 9?"
"I want 7!"
"I'm sorry, we officially supporting 7 last month. Your choices are 8 or 9."

So they're throwing out the new Chair interface?

... Tape to Tape

If you're looking purely at longevity of storage and reliability, Tape backup is still the way to go.

Baring that, spread backup copies around, and make sure to keep redundant copies on several flash drives?

Just send me your bank account and routing numbers and I'll deduct it and any other outstanding tithes as needed.

And surprise, surprise, it looks like Uber and New York aren't playing nicely ...

http://betabeat.com/2014/04/now-its-uber-in-attorney-generals-sights/

Try ~$1m.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/average_medallion_price.shtml

Granted, thats for a yellow medallion.
For an "Outer Borough Taxi" permit (all of NYC except Manhattan below 110th St on the west side and 96th St on the east side), it costs $1500 for three years (in addition to already being a licensed TLC Operator).

You're a little off in your analogy though, If you want to compare buying a taxi medallion to something in the programming world, then its equivalent to running your own Start Up. In that case financing and business models apply.

Programmers would be equivalent to the drivers that work for the TLC licensed shops (including those that hold medallions). Trust me, if you want to drive, you can, of course you might need to actually get a hack license (which Ironically you don't need to program).

I think its a case of German law makers thinking: If it looks like a taxi, and acts like a taxi, then it should be regulated like a taxi. Can't really fault them on this.

The bigger issue is that Uber, Lyft, etc. are trying to take advantage of the lag between what is available (Hail a taxi via an app), and what the current incumbent do now, by bypassing the current laws. This is admirable from a competition perspective, but not by sacrificing all laws to get there and compete.

Uber is notorious at this point for operating full steam ahead, against regulation, and even court rulings, to get into place. I am not surprised Germany took a dim view of their antics and slapped them.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft

Some regulations are in place to protect drivers, others are in place to protect passengers. To declare yourself immune to them all is lovely, but its as effective as me declaring myself King of the Internet and demanding all my subjects to send me $5.

Adding "with the help of a mobile app" to the end of your business plan, does not suddenly make a brand new industry and to pretend otherwise is delusional (except to shareholders or venture capitalists).

Considering the "competitive" practices Uber has been using in the USA ( http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft ), I feel compelled to partake of another German word: schadenfreude