To those of you making light of this mishap. IT IS NOT FUNNY. Thankfully no one was hurt. The space program takes enough crap already. Let them figure it out and move on.

Hmmm, CurrentC works with my Debit Card or Checking account, Apple Pay works with my credit cards. CurrentC makes me liable for any fraud, Apple Pay leaves my credit card fraud protection in place. CurrentC will be harder to use and give all sorts of info to merchants, Apple Pay is easy and nearly anonymous. The only way I ever sign up for CurrentC is if the government withdraws cash from circulation and makes CurrentC mandatory. I am not handing over keys to my debit card / checking account to anyone. As it is, I use my debit card sparingly and watch my account closely. I am sure CurrentC will gain some traction because of WalMart but we'll see. QR codes really caught on, didn't they?

As I understand it Intel is doing everything they can to make all the Google Play apps work on their Android implementation. How is that working out?

Yes, it is time to end software patents altogether! "Slide to Unlock" being worthy of a patent is all the argument needed!!

I vote that we force these corporations to take data security and IT in general more seriously. First, cut off their online credit card processing. They can use the old mechanical card swipers for a while. Once they have seriously upgraded their systems, and been independently audited, they can go back online. Require them to submit to thorough systems audits and spot checks for 5 years or so. Perhaps corporate management will get the message that IT may not be a profit center but it is necessary to continued operations.

I know, right! Fusion has been about 50 years out for at least the last 50 years now.

Still on the gubment and Obamacare I see. Don't we need a new dead horse to beat already? I am against Obamacare but not for the usual reasons. I believe that the for-profit health care industry is the root of the problem and that insurance in all forms private and "Obamacare" are just the trough from which the industry feeds. The sooner everyone loses their insurance and has to pay the ridiculous prices the health industry charges themselves the better. A lot of people will stop taking their kid with the sniffles to the urgent care. Plus, the health system will collapse under its own weight. Perhaps then we can get back to some common sense medical care. Anyways... Employers have long been a convenient place to mandate social spending and taxing. But what to do now? Trust that if we shift all of the social security taxes from the employer to the employee that the employer will give the employees a matching raise? Fat chance. Shift the cost of health care from the employer and let the worker pay for it? Already happening through higher deductible/copay plans. Employers are pocketing the savings from the lower premiums or avoiding premium increases. No reimbursement for the higher employee costs, though. Employees are expensive to have and it is always the first thing that business cut when the bottom line needs improving. So, any surprise that in the Brave New World (or was it the New World Order) that we're going to lose 33% of our jobs? Sounds like a capitalist heaven to me. The billionaires soon become trillionaires and the rest of us become more and more afraid to fight for better working conditions, pay, etc. as we're just happy to still even have a job. Don't believe for a minute that all that increase in wealth is going to go for providing a safety net for the redundant employees who will join the ranks of homeless. But i rant on too long...

Yeah, I understand that Comcast paid a huge bribe...ahem...made large campaign contributions to the president, is that why AT&T was blocked from buying T-Mobile? They didn't donate to the right party or candidates?? The thing is the Comcast's outrageous behavior vis-a-vis Netflix is out in the open now. I think FCC wants more information to use against these jackals. Can you imagine if one company has a majority of the ISP business in the country? No online service will be able to function without Comcast's blessing and a cut of the action. The point is not that Comcast and TWC don't serve the same end users so it's all OK. The point is that they will control the internet access to too many people and businesses to be allowed.

There are still instances where some old 32 bit business program, that can't be updated or replaced, works nicely in a 32 bit environment and not so much in 64 bit WIndows.

Oh, please, couldn't think of anything better to say? So you just fell back on the completely irrelevant "blame Obama" cliche? You know that FBI Director Comer, the guy that started this BS a couple of days ago is a Republican, right?? The only thing I blame Obama for is appointing Republicans, as cover, to defense, security and law enforcement posts.

Zothecula writes: "The internet has become a critical means of communication during humanitarian crises and a crucial everyday tool for people around the world." Very well put. I am not sure about all these schemes you read about to distribute Internet via balloon and now UAV. But the need is there. I suspect that some sort of distributed access scheme would help out in other situations. Many countries have segmented off "their" Internet from the rest of the world. I hear the Iranians have their own version of YouTube (Mullah approved) and everything. Looks like the Russians are following suit. Meanwhile in the good 'ol U.S. of A. you get the Internet that your corporate overlords say you get and anything they don't like is throttled or blocked. Perhaps a well thought out ad hoc Internet distribution scheme might help get around some of the censorship and interference that even first world countries currently enjoy.

ROTFLMAO!!!! I rarely use that acronym. Well done sir!

Indeed, someone *COUGH*..tsarkon..*COUGH* might be smoking dust.

As I recall, in the case of a recent Google Nexus phone, Samsung and Verizon at least insisted upon...ahem...were graciously allowed to pollute the pure Android experience with some of their own crap. I do hope HTC does something cool, like an 8 or 9 inch M8 style tablet. The Nexus flagship device deserves Aluminum clad love!

Thanks for allowing that those of us choosing an Apple phone might have valid reasons!