The problem is not that the post isn't about a relevant topic, it is that the information is almost 30 days old. We are talking about technology and not just any technology. This is a web application that affects thousands of people. There has been new information regarding this topic released almost every day. Slashdot touts itself as a news aggregator. "News for Nerds", right? Nobody is saying that the contractors or the IT folks. I think that those of us in this community that are developers have a pretty good understanding of how the government handles buying and implementing tech. What that means, is that we want to understand the meat of the issue. To hell with your politics, talk to me about the tech and how I can help fix it. Just remember that 30 days in tech is like a year in government.

I think this is way over due. Although, I like getting mail on Saturday, I don't see a point. It isn't like we can do business on Saturdays.

Now if only Amazon would start letting us choose USPS over UPS for package delivery. As an apartment dweller, this would make my life much easier.

Did the interns take over polls?
What is up with all these youth-oriented poll questions?

Let's get back to questions that matter like "How many languages can you code in?" or "Can Cowboy Neal tango?"

Really, who is doing the surveys these days? They miss all the fun stuff.

This is actually welcome news. I had a problem with actually ordering. I accidentally put my billing address in as the shipping address. I realized my mistake the moment I clicked confirm. Not a big deal but a real fricken hassle as I live in an apartment. As I preordered the first day available, I thought this wouldn't be an issue. I could contact customer service and fix the shipping address and all would be fine. I sent several messages through their customer service page and tried calling for 3 weeks to make this change happen but it shipped to my apartment anyway. I still had not heard from Google and was using the tracking information as my guide. I paid one of my neighbors to work from home that day to receive the tablet only to find that it got yanked while on delivery. Apparently, Google contacted the shipping company without telling me and forced a change of address while it was out on delivery. This meant it had to go back to the hub and get re-routed, forcing a delay of another 48 hours.

I had something similar happen to me with Amazon (these autofill boxes are not my friend) but the results were drastically different. I sent a message to customer service and had a response within a couple hours. They verified the address I wanted it shipped to and did not delay the package at all. Then, they called me (yes, I was asked if this was ok) the day it was supposed to be delivered to make sure it was delivered and in the condition it was intended to be.

I love google and their products, software and hardware. I really wish they had customer service to back up their products though. Because of my experience, I won't try their hardware again until I see proof of a change in the way they deal with customers. This article is a sign of them moving in the right direction. As long as they have solid SLAs with this call center, I have no problem with google farming out customer service to the people that do it right every day.

ARGH!
I hate that this is on a Tuesday. I live in Cincinnati now but would rather go to a Columbus party.
insert gratuitous hip hop party reference here
I hope you all have a good time.
Have some spectacularly hoppy ales for me.

I actually really liked the Windows 7 UI from the beginning. I love the quick keys for moving windows around and pinning apps to the taskbar is pretty awesome.

Like shotput but different

Where is Epiphyte corp when you need them?

Gratuitous, I know

This series was written by Douglas E. Richards specifically because he was looking to interest his children in science. Though, the books are about an alien race visiting Earth, the science is real (at least the explanations are) and the action is fast paced. He writes in the voice of children very well.

All that said, I got hooked on this author for his Wired series and I recommend that as well.

I also think the Ender's series has been spectacular, but probably not for pre-teen.