What are the significant differences, if any?

What a stupid question! Obviously, there aren't any differences at all!

they will act like any other local utility and tell you to wait 5 years until they gather enough data that there is a demand for it, then take another few years to study the problem, then spend another 5 years begging for money in the budget and finally upgrading the network

Actually, go check out Wilson, North Carolina. They embarrassed Time Warner so badly, Time Warner strongarmed the state into making municipal broadband illegal. It creates a lot of cognitive dissonance with the "government can't do anything right" crowd.

Which is hilarious considering the current system is just government-granted monopoly anyway, yet they defend it voraciously because, uh...privatization!

Netflix is better because they'll stream you 4K video if your TV (and connection) will support it. That's roughly 4x the resolution of 1080p, which I think is as high as standard Blu-Ray will go.

OK, so Netflix has "4k" streams just like VHS-sourced garbage on Youtube is "720p". The source of the video, and the encoding itself, is much more important than the final resolution.

That 12 megapixel smartphone with the tiny lens isn't going to be taking front-page photos for the Boston Globe for the same reason.

Blu-ray is still the best quality consumer format out there, period. Netflix is focused on the smallest files, and the "HD" streams turn into a chunky mess during high-motion scenes.

I hate defending Blu-ray for numerous reasons (DRM, 'standard' that actually wasn't for the first few years, slow menus, etc) but the video and audio quality really is the best we have.

...and now video stores are all out of business! I hope you're proud of yourself, Mopps!

But... Our system right now is so paranoid against executing the falsely convicted, that stays of execution are granted when there is the faintest whiff of innocence. Prisoners are kept for decades, just to avoid wrongful execution.

Hahaha. In the United States? No. Ever heard of the Innocence Project?

In Texas? Hell no! We still have a guy on death row even though the judge who sentenced him was sleeping with the prosecutor (Charles Hood).

Until there are consequences/punishments for prosecutorial overreach, we can't even think about executing convicts.

Only strip mining and Microsoft Office creates wealth. Down with these debauched entertainers! Throw them into Re-Education Camp and let them learn how to graph their salt mine output in Excel!

Ironically enough, your post is the most entertaining thing I've read all day, you worthless leech! Share some more economic theories with us, and you may get your Microsoft Salt Mine hours cut back from 16 to 14, plebe!

So, it's the NASDAQ website. Who goes the NASDAQ website? You can't trade stocks there. Financial information was not leaked, so BFD. This is fairly common on any website. Sounds to me like a single security research got butthurt because they didn't acknowledge his finding quickly enough.

As far as I can tell, what's coming out the wrong end of a thorium reactor will be a molten salt soup of toxic, possibly very corrosive, and VERY radioactive materials

As opposed to what comes out of the "wrong end" of any coal-fired plant?

In any case, the above does not sound very pleasant. It sounds expensive and dangerous and potentially hazardous, a lot like how we store spent fuel rods now.

Dangerous *and* potentially hazardous? Well, let's give up and start living in caves then.

There's plenty of info on thorium reactors. Google can help you there. But you're not really interested in anything but spreading FUD. Carry on, then.

Why would I want to buy a 720? I don't like the idea of always-on DRM, because it adds an unnecessary point of failure to the gaming experience. Microsoft's dashboard is designed to serve ads, not to navigate around games. And I imagine it will only get worse.

At least Sony is spending a ton of money on indie game developers...MS doesn't seem to have a plan except "the same stuff, only even more customer-hostile!" I've never been so unimpressed by nextgen offerings.

You realize we're talking about the Mike Rogers representing Alabama, right? Also, why would I let my patents vote? They have enough rights as it is!

They used to solve problems. How do you think we got our country-wide telephone network? Our highway system?

Back then, government wasn't reviled as evil, and we didn't elect people who depowered government to further enrich their rich buddies. Now the expectations are set: government can do no right, so let's deregulate and let the private sector solve the problem (aka enrich themselves at our expense).

I guarantee you that if the Internet had been around in the 50's, we'd have a nationwide fiber network better than any other in the first world. But that kind of coordinated national movement is passe now. The best we can hope for is a little Google Fiber here and there.

Check out the cell phone prices and broadband infrastructure in those Eurosocialist countries compared to the US. You may teach YOURSELF something.

Your life is a whorefest? All I can say is, make sure you get tested regularly!

Condescending moron,

That doesn't change the dictionary definition of censorship. Not to mention " you can choose not to consume a company's products/services" is a rose-tinted view of the world that is generally untrue throughout history.

Any entity can censor...which is not a bad thing in and of itself. The debate is, as always, whether or not they (Apple) should.

Hey there Microsoft,

I'll accept your always-on DRM if you can guarantee 5 nines of uptime for your DRM servers for the next 60 years. After all, I have 30-year-old Atari games that work just fine.

Your modern games should be at least twice as reliable, right?