I might just be cynical [har har har], but there is something about a group saying "hey, if you don't just trust what people are telling you, you will one day become crazy". I would rather end up a little crazy in my later life than become too optimistic. A little bit of cynicism keeps you from being taken advantage of too much.

It's like the government funding a study that finds that if you question what the government says or does, you're more likely to end up with Alzheimers. So you better stop complaining and believe everything we say.

Every week I find out a new horrible thing I am and things that I didn't know I believed. As a man, I hate women. As a Caucasian, I hate minorities. As someone with a job, I hate those without jobs. As middle class, I hate the poor.

There must be groups out there that I can give my money to or a bunch of canned statements I can make to minimize the horrible things I'm learning about my self, right?

Forgot one! By posting this, I'm ignorant, unwilling to change and I have just amplified all of the things above, regardless of anything else I have ever said or done. I really need to start accepting the evil that is me deep within ...

I fail to see how the "features" discussed would make for a Kindle Killer. They sound like features that would cater to a niche of the population but little more than that. A Kindle Killer would need to find some sort of feature that when added to a book, makes it amazingly better. Not to mention, you've got to be able to do it for a price that makes it worthwhile.

If note taking in books was such a massively popular thing, we'd see more books with large margins for doing just that. Reading is a largely relaxing activity ... talking to your book to get it to do anything isn't likely to improve that.

What is being described here is more of a "goto E-reader" for research and/or students. Those aren't features I need when reading the latest novel. The notes or highlights I do take are minimal enough that I don't need anything too special, and certainly nothing that makes this the central aspect of my E-reader. Amazon did a pretty good job of understanding that people (the majority of readers at least) didn't want or need a ton of bells and whistles out of an e-reader. They needed something as similar to a book as possible. The book has been around for centuries and done a pretty good job, after all.

"if you add a few hundred million Chinese users, and only a few of them develop some universally useful GPL'd software, or contribute back to the kernel, it's still a net win" And if a few of them also decide to make a minor modification, close the source and then sell it to a few million of those hundred million for a tidy profit? Still a net win?

I would urge you to find work, if for any reason to start to understand how work contrasts with school, but it's one of those things you need to be careful about giving you too much focus. One of the benefits of your college program is the ability to try out many different things, even within the confines of computer science, and grow a breadth of knowledge. With a job in programming, it would become all too easy to have your focus be on that which will help you with the job you have at the moment and pay less attention to learning anything else. It already appears like you've allowed yourself to get focused into a corner already in your freshmen year, and that's dangerous enough. And if you have trouble finding a job in the area you want, and trust me, you will, just join some open source projects or create something that gives you visibility, however minor it might be. Don't forget that you're competing with a bunch of people that already have degrees AND work experience who don't have a mountain of coursework to compete with the job. You'll have plenty of time to stress out about a job your senior year. Just find something if you can, but work on side projects in the meantime that highlight your skills.

By transparency, he meant only AFTER the opaque wall is broken down, and then only in the areas where you are directed, and only until you forget about the entire fiasco. At which point, we can turn off the transparencies and go back to business as usual.