I'm a big guy too.. and I agree with most of what you're saying. I don't consider my situation as I'm disabled. I don't think anyone should ever get a better parking space because they're too big or whatever.

That being said... being fired BECAUSE you're overweight is pretty bad. It's one thing if your job requires something physical and thus the obesity prevents you from doing your job (fireman, EMT, cop, etc.)... but if you're fired from a desk job or mistreated at work due to being fat then that's crossing a line IMHO.

It's illegal (in the states) for an employer to fire or harass an employee due to a number of attributes: gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability. But it's still kosher for an employer fire someone or harass them BECAUSE they're obese. And as a result, it happens.

I'm NOT saying a person should be protected from firing in GENERAL because they're obese, but I've heard of people who've been fired and/or mistreated BECAUSE they're obese from jobs where physical fitness isn't an issue or requirement. Often from ex-athletes that are disgusted by the obese; which is fine on a personal level but not if it lets them fire someone.

But, that's just my opinion.

You don't want that.

I'm not a Microsoft hater... I'm one of the few that think Win 8.1 is alright. But I *now* am not the biggest fan of the Microsoft "MyFordTouch" on my Ford Edge.

The Navigation system is nice, I wouldn't trade that in for the world.

But outside of GPS the Microsoft MFT system is buggy and crashes, and they failed to deliver on a heavily-advertised feature for MFT. It crashes about once-per-month, during which time while driving I lose a lot of climate-control / GPS / entertainment functionality.

The failed feature was: connecting to iOS apps. They were supposed to let the MFT connect to a handful of iOS apps like Pandora and such. They couldn't get it working.

They DID get it working on the regular Ford Sync... which lacked the large touch-screen monitor. So great... people with the cheaper system got the advanced feature while those with the more expensive system were told to "go screw."

Meanwhile they were advertising how the MFT would do this that and the other thing... and failed to deliver.

Umm, my current 2011 Ford has this. Heck my older 2006 GM car had this.

On my 2011 Ford I have like 4 buttons next to both thumbs on my steering wheel. Pressing one with my right thumb will repeat the next step in the directions, with the updated distance. Including stating the street name.

On my 2006 GM, there was a button on the dash easily reachable, without needing to look at the dash, that did the same thing. Except the "dictionary" on that car wasn't as great so it wouldn't say the names of all roads outside of the obvious / easy ones like exit numbers, Main st, or other simple words.

Meanwhile, as I said, the mini next-step instructions are on my speedometer on my Ford. Arrow (left/right) street name / x miles.

I may have issues with my Ford, but I think they got it right in terms of Navigation. I have little-to-no reason to have to look at my media center. Everything is done by voice (including asking for an address) and the next-step-direction-guide is on my speedometer where I have to glance on occasion anyway.

The only improvement I can think of is a really small projection on the windshield saying "Turn right in 0.7 miles onto Main st"

All voice controlled, so I don't have to even try typing while driving (if I were so inclined). Click my tumb-button on the steering wheel and say "Destination Address" and then state the address when prompted.

The system's voice prompts me on where to turn, and when. Including the street names and exit number.

And instead of having to look too far down at my media player (which I COULD), instead there is a mini direction-reminder on my speedometer. Just saying the name of the next turn's street, distance, and a left-arrow / right-arrow / etc. Since I tend to have to glance down at that every couple of minutes anyway it's no big deal.

No fuss, no typing, no looking too far away from the windshield.

Did they change it already?

As of 11:56AM New York time (16-June) it is saying "Google Fiber Is Officially Making Its Way To Portland" and lacks the apostrophe.

Therefore, at least as of now, it is using the correct form of its. Without the apostrophe it means the possessive, with the apostrophe it means "it is"

So did they take the apostrophe out?
Or are you making an incredible blunder?

Agreed, Hulu was just a for-instance. The big issue is whatever comes "next"

This is going to be a major roadblock for any new streaming idea / service coming through... if they want access they have to pay the toll.

I guess it depends on your employer. The current tax programs will let you type in some serial number from your W2 and it will connect to some repository and download all of the W2 fields so all you have to do is eyeball the results when they're done to make sure it looks right. But I guess your employer has to opt into said service.

Personally I like the way some of the apps (like TurboTax) phrase the descriptions when asking about deductions. My living situation seems to change every 2 years so every year or so I have to see if [A] affects me or not... and they offer plenty of help to let you know whether you are affected by something or not.

Dependent -> renter -> home owner -> etc.

I've been called out for being an MS astro-turfer once or twice. Because when someone was posting "LOLZ BING IS SO HORRIBLE" last year I responded "It's not that bad." That's hardly a ringing endorsement of Bing.

And another instance mentioning a single feature I liked in Bing maps more than a competing Google Maps feature being described in an article... even though I prefer Google maps more.

Sure, there are bots and astroturfers out there and they should be stamped out.

But not everyone with an opinion different than the majority of the slashdot crowd is some nefarious plant working for Microsoft/Samsung/etc. Believe it or not, MS and Samsung do have legitimate fans who might like their products more than they hate them.

The same way how if a user honestly posted something nice about Ubuntu in a Microsoft-focused forum isn't necessarily some plant trying to win people over to Linux. Maybe they're honestly commenting in response to something.

Nope, you can have 1 face look a specific way but the "back" face look any number of ways. Heck you can solve for multiple sides and have the rest of a sides still be a mess.

The guy is being accused of doing something that many countries' government leaders would love to make into a crime. Add to the fact that he's done sensitive government work in the past... and even if they can't get it considered a crime regularly they can say it's treason or something.

When being accused of something in a major way, you go to a lawyer. I don't care if it's something small like some reported to the police that you stole their stuff... you go see a lawyer. Because as much as we want to believe the system is there to protect the little guy and common sense will prevail, too often the little guy gets squished.

So when a flippin' newspaper is shouting from the rooftops "This guy did that thing that you politicians would LOVE to call treason" then it's time to see a lawyer.

If for no other reason than to make sure your statement isn't going to shoot yourself in the foot later.

Officially, sure. But I've read some articles in the past like 1-2 weeks ago where he said he denied it when asked.

He was probably hoping that denying it that much would be enough for the paper to admit it made a mistake, but now has to make a formal denial. Besides, a formal denial probably needs to go through a lawyer first of something just to make sure everything you're saying is kosher.

I have to admit, I like the UI on the Windows 8 phones. While Windows 8 doesn't exactly translate well on the desktop... it works fine on the phone as far as I could see. It's at least drawn nicely and has a different design than iOS and Android.

Unfortunately there are just too few apps available. I went to their app store and only a small handful of my apps had a presence there... and Google's stuff was all third-party wrappers to offer some Google stuff. Honestly, that was enough to turn me off.

I guess it's circular... people won't want it if the app selection stinks, but the devs won't make apps because it's not popular.

Note: I got an Android instead.

LOL, obviously there are ways. And honestly, I've always wondered why they didn't go the cart method.

I guess everyone just wants in on that "one click shopping" mechanic.

But even some websites still suffer the same issue. If you put stuff in the cart, log in, and click "purchase" and don't log-off afterwards and walk away... then if your session is still live then your child could start clicking stuff and buy a whole bunch of stuff from the site.

I believe the issue in questions is NOT that the child can just type in the password and buy stuff. As you say, there's nothing Google can do about that outside of forced fingerprint reading.

BUT that after the parent types in the password to buy the child Angry Birds or whatever... that password is active / cached for another 30 minutes. So when they hand the phone back to the child, he/she can start buying whatever they want for the next half hour. Cartoons, games, music, etc.

Apple does something similar, I believe it's a 15 minute window now. At least it's shorter, but that window still exists.

Ultimately there has to be a compromise: security vs ease of use. Many would be annoyed if they have to type in their password over and over to buy something each time. Sure you're only buying one or two apps at a time... but what about music? What about comics and books? etc. Just last night I bought 10 comics through Comixology on my iPad... it only prompted me for password once.

Personally my password is over 20 characters, a mix of upper/lower case and numbers. I'd probably be annoyed having to type that into my phone over and over.

Agreed.

Time length in particular: maybe it was a short-tern Comcast glitch that just occurred for a few hours or even a few days. I would have the occasional short-term SNAFU with the Verizon FIOS DNS servers until I just decided to switch to Google's.

Then again, considering my past experience with Comcast and Verizon I wouldn't be surprised if this was a long-term issue. The problem is depending on who you get, it's a LONG time before you finally get routed to the correct person who actually knows more than "have you tried rebooting your router"