This has always been battle between academia and private sector jobs. You can get funding to research what you want... or take the golden handcuffs and research what the man requires you to.

Agreed. Not to mention, most people don't realize how even automation requires human supervision. Someone has to be there to handle general maintenance, develop optimized layouts, handle specific deviations, etc, etc.

If only the could have changed the logo just a bit more... the edge logo still brings back bad memories.

I wonder what the legal cost of even attempting this merger is above and beyond the cost of acquiring assets/debt. Though I guess it's not nearly as much as a they gain by grabbing the huge monopoly if it goes though.

Dumb phones are sort of like mechanical keyboards. Robust, archaic technology that works really well for what you need it for. However, they don't have as many flashy lights and can be a bit annoying for some around when you type on them - and in the end are going to rise in price because there isn't enough demand for them.

So really in the end, the same type of people are getting into programming/computers now as there were before. The people who see it more than just an tool, but as an instrument. Something that does more than just 'works', but can create something new and innovative.

Agreed. There is naturally still a place for proprietary software in today's business. However, it's good to see companies making their black boxes a bit smaller.

They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.

While this is very cool, I've always preferred the dot matrix music over the floppy drives. Something is just pleasant about seeing it print out on the page.

While there is plenty of hate thrown Apple's way in ./, it is always interesting to see some of the beginnings and seemingly ancient commercials for these tech companies that have been around the block. The nostalgia is strong - sort reminds me of the compaq story

... would be to have your car registered out of state so you don't pay the mileage tax, but buy gas in Oregon (where it's cheaper due to no tax). At least until the neighboring states follow this same policy.

For the average consumer it isn't that useful (while it is certainly a neat toy that can be used). I see it more at the enterprise level where if you want to VPN into your company's intranet files, they typically want more than just the normal password. That's where this comes in, it verifies it is physically you as well as your knowledge of the login password (The basis behind 2-factor authentication). Many places use an SMS or app like Duo Mobile (what my company uses). This is just another way of doing this (it works if your phone is dead).

This is simply a modern day letter. Even prisons progress with the times.

Pretty much any algorithm can be considered Applied Statistics... and even our own existence if you want to go down that rabbit hole.

... Surprise? I feel like it's kind of an obvious place for this.