I'm curious. I've always thought that encrypting a lot of files individually (as opposed to as a block) would open you to attacks based on the content of well known files (example configuration files, etc.) that you may add to the lot. That is, if the attacker has knowledge of the content of a couple of files, could he derive the keys for unencrypting the rest?

I wish for a mounted Death Ray, or better, a Disintegrator, or better, (as both of them could be too silent for my taste) some sort of space-time-cruncher that throws everything ahead of me into a vortex of doom. For the rush hour.

Rather, he emphasized that because the patent in question was now a widely held technology standard, banning the products in question would be too disruptive to consumers and the economy

That argument could be used to sooooo many other patent litigations, and somehow never is, except when the affected part is a big American company.

You could try the Samsung Note tablet, with pencil. In the Notes app you can write formulae (although mainly math, which can be even resolved), squares, etc, and be recognized (mostly) by the software. Probably it won't be yet useful for you, but perhaps you want to keep an eye on it.

I used to think like you. Then I thought about what the Pharma industry would do if drugs were free ("Buy Kudkerless, won't cure your cancer, but sure will make you forget about it"), and now I'm for prohibition. I've thought about a middle ground and cannot find it. If you legalize, billions of research dollars would go to devise ways of addicting us to some chemical. You have to put the line somewhere or face a dystopian future.

Fuel efficiency tests are for comparison purposes. If all makers cheat equally, comparisons are still meaningful. When legislators set an standard, they'll probably take that into account and make the standard a bit tighter.

as important a superpower as slinging webs

That's pure trolling, baiting us to come shouting that the webs of Spiderman ain't no superpower, but a device. I for one won't fall into the trap. At least I won't shout.

Reporting from Europe. Can confirm life.

And about how long will take them, between Office file format changes that render them incompatible with previous versions? That's the most exciting feature of Office updates, and all customers look forward to these special moments. That's the thing that should happen every quarter to keep people involved in Office and shouting: For Innovation!

Now the weakest link will be the comm link. Not sure which one I prefer.

However, I suppose the future points that way. Next step, as a further method of savings, I suggest outsourcing of piloting to India. Then, after a time, when everybody has unmanned fighters, it'll be seen as a waste to really go to the cost of building the fighters. Wars will be fought virtually in probably the same Indian subcontractor war room, elbowing telecom service personnel and telemarketers. The loser will demolish some buildings and bridges in its own country, and promptly surrender to the winner.

...till the first foggy day.

It takes a week for a programmer to learn COBOL. A month at most to be proficient. Of course depending on dialect and environment, it can take more to be productive, but that's true also for COBOL programmers coming from other backgrounds. That means there will be no big shortage of programmers as big companies can train in-house in a matter of days.

The problem with COBOL is that it will erode your sanity with mindless repetition and superfluous verbosity. If you are put to make COBOL programs, make a generator for the most common tasks. It won't save you perhaps such a big amount of time, but it'll make life more interesting.

And Nexus 10 too. How long is it to be "Temporarily" out of stock? I guess until there are better options on the market and nobody is interested anymore. It seems like a curious marketing system, but hey! I'm no MBA.

If they detect that you are a woman, a much higher percentage of tampons ads appear. Simply insulting! If they detect that you are old (by having a name like Grover, for example) they will bomb you with ads for nursery homes. There is no end to it! It's almost like if they were targeting the ads to what their databases say your interests will be. They should call it targeted advertising then!

...your new serfdom.