Rest assured, they are using it to sell to marketing.

Actually, no. Currently, the cost of the Windows license for an OEM is (more than) offset by the kickback that OEMs receive for pre-installing crap/bloatware on the new machine.
It has actually gotten so bad that some machines without Windows are actually -more expensive- because they can't pre-install bloatware on it.

Actually, if you read the article mentioned in the summary, you'll see that the film also acts as a sunshade, and is initially meant for official buildings. Imagine all those glass towers that modern architecture is all about, having as a double function also electricity production.

Provided the film can be made cheap enough, you don't need to worry about the ideal angle, since the prime purpose of this invention is not power generation, but is adding power generation as an additional feature to the normal function of glass (providing a way to look outside).

So in that light, yes, the previous poster did make a valid remark.

Well, lets put this in an example that would also apply to the average person:

You live on mainland North America and have a wedding in Hawaii. You hire a band, and pay for their airfare and hotel for two nights to come over and play there.
I think you would be pissed off if they used the trip you payed for to get an adjoining gig on the island.

You wouldn't mind if they used their free time to see a bit of the island, but you'd be annoyed if they used it for commercial purposes.

I thought even more though provoking was the little alt-text that accompanied the comic:

'The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space -- each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.'

Ohh, that's so cute. I remember when I was young and naive...

Nice example of this way of thinking in the news as well:

This morning they were telling how a 12 year old kid blew himself up in Afghanistan, and how it showed what monsters these terrorists are to recruit a 12-year old.

I was just wondering about the level of desperation people needed to reach before they think blowing themselves up is a good idea.

Actually, you can be fairly sure that by data amount, your DNA still wins over the magnetic disks.
Your neurons might store more, so that's still in the wet-works.

Uhmm... sorry? Isn't that what we have all been buying smartphones for? I didn't plan to carry a tablet around with me to take pictures, and augmented reality works just fine on a smartphone too. Those are applications I want to have when I am moving around. When I have a tablet, I'd prefer to be sitting down, or lying on the couch.

Once again, I don't see myself cramming a 7" tablet in my pocket, just because every possible device was crammed into one. Let alone some brands who don't want to go below 10".
10" is not portable as in, have in your hands and working with it while walking. It's a laptop without the keyboard.

Great closing argument...

Actually, this system is already in place, in Europe. Tomtom has an agreement with a large european mobile phone company, and receives anonymized information about the speed and location of mobile phones of this provider. This enables them to indicate traffic jams even on minor roads.
Their navigation system receives both the official TMC signals, as this data, and uses it to calculate the most efficient route to destination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TomTom#HD_Traffic

I would say it is partly due to their bad OS design (administrator by default), partly due to third party software (doesn't work if user doesn't have administrative rights, often not for valid reasons) and partly due to their success (a massive amount of relatively clueless users, who click on any [OK]/[Yes] button that is presented to them).

If some of these clueless users were to move to Debian and Ubuntu, the same problem might happen there. (Popup to fill in sudo password, user gives admin rights to 'that funny animation' they just got from their uncle they hadn't spoken to in years)

So while Microsoft sure has large part in the problem (user-friendliness over security), much of the problem is also to blame on third party developers and the clueless masses that use Windows.

Fortunately, they do something about it now, although I assume that for every user that is now better protected for free, there will be another anti-virus company that will be complaining about unfair competition.

I hate to break it to you, but more expensive equipment doesn't make you a better photographer.
What will make you a better photographer is getting a sense for composition, light, colours. It is about -what- you put in your picture, not about what equipment you used to do it.
Yes, there might be some technical tricks you can do with a more expensive camera, but that is not the essence of photography.
Ohh, and talking about cell phone vs DSLR:
http://www.16-9.net/lens_tests/k800i/index.html

Lets do a quick calculation:
1000 computers, in 5 years, would average 200 computers a year. Working 5 days a week, holidays and vacations gives you a bit over 200 workable days a year, so on average, you would be building one computer per day.
Let's assume you are very quick, so with ordering parts, unpacking, assembling and all, you have that computer build in an hour. (Building and imaging the system. I'm not even taking into account the work in preparing the correct image, and everything that needs to be done to make this work possible in your office, like workbench and tools. Or the rent of storage to keep all those components you are going to need over five years time)

So now your boss is paying one eight of your year salary, for 5 years, for you to build those machines. Unless you build them during your lunch break or during your own time after office hours (as another poster suggested by saying how he build the office computers during his weekend. Those would be fun weekends, building five computers each weekend, for five years)

Please do not underestimate the cost of labor. There is a reason why all the major computer brands have their boxes assembled in China.

There's a reason they didn't want to have that footage released. Apart from the fact that it hurts their reputation, it also suddenly paints war in a completely different way. If you remember around the first Gulf war, all the people got to see were these 'neat' camera shots made from the nose of a missile.
No dying people, no bodies lying strewn around.
All we saw was a cross-hair on a building that got bigger and bigger, followed by a breakup in communication, and a 'hilarious' comment about not wanting to be the guy in that bunker.

War was changed from a dirty business into something neat, without (at least to the perception of the CNN viewers) the hurt and suffering.
And that's exactly the same way they have been painting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. When was the last time you saw a firefight with someone getting shot on TV? They have created an image of war that they are desperate to keep.
Because if people start thinking about 'the enemy' as actual human beings, it suddenly becomes a lot more difficult to swear blind obedience to a government that goes overseas to kill people.