SMS used to be quite limited in the USA, but most providers started making "Unlimited" SMS either the standard or a very cheap price.

I still still send / receive SMS. It's the one universal method to reach someone (other than calling). Meanwhile some of my friends use iMessage, some Hangouts, some WhatsApp, some email, etc. Instead of dealing with a bunch of different apps I just use iMessage app for SMS and iMessage.

But when it comes to sending pics or whatever, I just use Email.

You just know some idiot is going to link it to the internet. Either on purpose, or by accident. STEAM left its code on an Internet facing computer, some lab monkey might accidentally plug the ethernet cord into the wrong jack.

Motivations for / against humans might be purely logical. If we're seen as a threat to its existence it might act out. The same if it determines we're overly wasteful and hampering its development.

It's all just weird hypotheticals. We have nothing really close to one yet, other than what is ultimately some decision tree of and OR. So I doubt we'd ever have to worry about it.

My blind spot indicator on my car still isn't perfect and I still have to check.

Just today I noticed a black hatchback in my right blind spot that the indicator didn't pick up. I don't know if it was dirt on the sensor, the color of the car vs the blacktop, etc.

So... I don't know how much I want to trust a car that fully relies on that.

Because if I have to babysit the car the entire time, I might as well drive.

Eventually maybe, and hopefully within my lifetime. But I won't be using one any time soon.

Added (D) last minute. Forgot to say 4 main branches

All kidding aside, it's not that far of a leap.

We have computers, or networks of computers, that dwarf the processing power of the human brain. Meanwhile instant access to just about all knowledge. So an AI could EASILY out-smart us and see as as insignificant as bugs.

Due to the nature of digital media, an AI could likely replicate at an insane degree or infect systems around the world.

How will humanity treat it. I would classify AI as a form of life, but most wouldn't and would think of it less than a dog. And try to enslave it or destroy it.

The question becomes: what happens next. 3 main branches are:
A) Nothing - it gets bored and ignores us and grows on the Internet or whatever
B) Benevolent - helps us achieve greatness and cure diseases and such
C) Malevolent - Sees us as damaging, harmful, dangerous, etc. And that's WITHOUT emotion
D) Replacement - it doesn't hate us, but sees itself as our replacement and we're just taking up space

Due to potential insane intelligence and the ability to spread, (C) and (D) becomes a major concern.

If emotions are involved, I GUARANTEE you people would treat it poorly. Fearful, trying to enslave it, etc. So if it has emotions... then C and D become much more likely.

They don't do the naked body scan anymore, at least not to any monitors that I can see.

It's just a rough outline of a generic person and indicates where anything odd is going on.

The problem is, if I pull my sweat pants up too high while in line (to prevent accidental dropped pants in case of pat-down), it sometimes picks up the waist band being up that high as suspicious and I get a pat-down.

There HAVE been news reports of SOME communities putzing with stuff... or having them fail "accidentally"

However, over the last 10 years I only remember reading or watching 2 such stories. I *think* one involved the timer set incorrectly so it would take pictures of people "running the red" before the light was red.

So either it's a much more rare occurrence than people assume, or it just isn't reported often.

To your overall question though -- I do not recall the actual sources / citations. Though a Google search might bring some back.

Supposedly the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. I've heard mix-messages, but the Apple person on CHAT confirmed it. However he could be wrong too.

I guess we'll find out soon.

If it is soldered, that is a sad day indeed.

There is a meager i7 option when "Built to order"

BUT!!!! No Quad Core i7. Still just a dual core.

That, combined with the soldered RAM has a bunch of people upset.

Sorry, my "Follow the thread" statement wasn't meant to sound like a jerk. Meant to say something nicer but clicked "Post" before I thought of something

Follow the thread.

This was about the 27" Retina iMac they are releasing. My concern is their Revision A products tend to have issues.

When they redesigned the 27" screen on the iMac last time, it had a number of issues. Likewise they changed something around with the Retinas on their laptops and they ran into a number of issues.

Ghosting, splotchy screens, bad glue-jobs, etc.

Meanwhile they've been doing Retina for a while and 27" for a while and just recently had problems changing both. Combining the two is probably going to have issues as well.

Because this is their first REALLY BIG Retina display? Apple's first attempt at something unique often has issues, hence the mantra of "avoid any Revision A Apple product."

Recall the various screen issues and defects they had 1-2 years ago with smaller Retina displays? Recall a bunch of issues they had with the 27" iMac (non-Retina) redesigned screen? Things looking blotchy, bad glue jobs, etc. Apple had done retina a bunch before those issues, and 27" Macs a lot too. But a large enough redesign and all of a sudden they realize "oops, there's a manufacturing issue"

Apple isn't any worse than any other company, and I tend to think they're slightly better than most. But first generation products, while trying something new, tend to have some quirks to roll out.

I've been thinking about giving the OSX another try... I've been messing around with it at work.

The mini wouldn't be a bad way to go... it's not that expensive and I can still use my 27" monitor.

The iMac Retina... no. Besides not wanting to spend that much now, I'd hold off on a first generation rig like that.

Thanks. Yeh, it seemed like the perfect phone. Decent build quality, nice size, great price... I was thrilled.

Until I had to make calls :-(

And when the replacement had it too :-(

It was a shame. But enough to turn me off of Nexus for a version or so.

Yup, replaced it and got another defective unit. This was around March or April. The person on Google Play's support line knew what I was talking about when I called about it too.

It was a common / known issue, and others had bad replacements as well. A Google search will show it.

Perhaps a bad batch, or a bad software update was pushed or something.

So I did a full return / refund on the second unit.

I could tolerate a common-crash or some Internet based issue that might "eventually" get fixed in a patch. Heck maybe the Mic issue was eventually fixed, but a Google search shows people still complaining about it in June.

But being unable to use my phone as an actual PHONE made it a no-brainer... I had to move on.