2)There's a lot of card companies out there. Find one that doesn't charge fees. That's trivial.

4)I've had other experiences, with a hold far greater than the rental amount placed on a debit card. It was a major rental car company- Avis? Hertz?

5)CC debt is the first thing to go in bankruptcy. So if you're really in that position you want lots of it and no extra liens on the house.

6)That doesn't help you if they decide to flag your card and shut it down. It will take a few days to get the new one, and in the meantime you can't use the old one. That's assuming you're in the right place to even get it. Would have totally sucked to not have had a backup while on my 3 month trip to Europe. Or when they flagged my card right after I moved because I used it in the same hardware store twice in an hour. Never rely on one card.

1)TO prove that you repay your debts. Car loans also help, but credit cards are the most easily acquired debt history.

3)No. Checking accounts earn interest. You can have a checking account with or without a debit card. Even if you have a credit card, you can put your money in a checking account. Having the card does not get you additional interest.

5)You can get home equity loans in the US as well. There's generally minimum loan amounts though (you can't use it for less than X amount), it puts a lien on your house, and you have to own a house. You also have to qualify. Its easier and better to have a credit card.

6)A credit card can be always on you (short of being mugged). A spouse or rich uncle, if you have one, may not be reachable.

No, it doesn't. Math just doesn't work out. I don't even know startups out here that offer that little.

In several ways

1)Debit cards don't build credit history. This makes it hard to get a car or house loan at good rates.

2)Credit cards have 0% interest if you pay at the end of the month every month.

3)Debit cards do not earn you interest. If you have an interest checking account (rare, and usually such a low rate that its a joke, sub 1% in most cases), you earn that money regardless of if you have or use a debit card.

4)In the US, many purchases such as hotel, rental car, and gas put a hold on your account for more money than the actual charge. This hold goes away once the car is returned/hotel is checked out/a few days (for gas), but in the meantime that's additional money you can't access.

5)Emergencies/hard times. Sometimes shit happens. You may lose your job and run low on cash. You may have a series of car and house repairs. Its always a good idea to have an additional emergency fun you can call on for short term cash.

6)Your bank may put a hold on your debit card for suspicious activities. In that case, your card is useless. Having a backup is always a good idea. There's been several times this has saved my ass when traveling.

First off, glassdoor isn't a representative set. Secondly, it counts salary only, not bonuses and equity that can be half of your take home. Third, it does averaging but doesn't drop out old days points- days points from 09 are horribly outdated, but included in their averages. Glassdoor is good for reviews, but it's salary numbers are junk.

Intelligence is a lot like money.

Those who've always had an abundance generally either think its no big deal, because they've never suffered the limitations of not having enough, or look down on those with less and consider them inferior.

Those in the middle have enough to see the benefits of having more, and want to improve themselves in order to get more.

At the bottom this analogy falters, but I think the point remains. It's easy to dismiss making the rest of the population smarter when you're already smart and not suffering the limitations imposed on those with less to work with. I find the notion that we shouldn't meddle and just leave those who draw the short genetic-straw to be cruel and self-serving. If the lowest common denominator is raised, chance are the whole society benefits, the world becomes a better, more thoughtful place, and the overall pie grows accordingly.

MSFT is really under the gun to show they can produce quality. This is why competition is great for us and why we should pat ourselves on the back for pushing MSFT towards anti-monopoly standards. Google's Android releases keep looking better and better. Apple has their own embarrassments. MSFT has to do the software process to get it right and they know they can't afford another Win8 / Vista / WinME. We can always use Linux which is getting better and better every day. They are giving away Win8 now for $65 WITH A TABLET. (that's how bad it is.)

I like to sew confusion into a jacket, then walk through a crowd wearing it.

In my company, we have 3 colleges, a hospital and software teams that have been using the same PCs for over 6 years now. About 800 of them.

All large companies have the same IP strategy and they behave exactly the same simply because they can.

Sorry. Google, Motorola, Samsung, etc. have used patents purely in defensive mode. Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Erricsson etc. are the litigious bastards.

If these patents would be worthless, they wouldn't pay anything in the first place.

When these patenting agreements were drawn up, Android had a much smaller marketshare. So rather than getting caught up in litgation, some large Android makers chose to pay. But not Motorola, and they are yet to pay a penny. Now that Android is the undisputed king in mobile and tablets, even Microsoft making Android devices through Nokia; there is not much compulsion to continue paying.

Phones and tablets do not replace desktops and laptops.
Agreed, they don't. However people hesitate a lot before upgrading the desktop OS. And desktops and laptops last more than 8 to 12 years, so not much revefnue for Microsoft from those markets. Hence my prediction that they are doomed.

What the large monies paid by Samsung indicates is the enormous mindshare and marketshare for Android. Windows on the mobile and tablet space is non-existent. For some years Microsoft might make money out of Android sales using these patent threats, being the litigious thugs they are.

But in a few years - say three at the max, Android makers will realise that these patents are really worthless, and back away from their agreements.

In any case a few billions in patent royalty is pocket change for Microsoft, and their bloated manpower will plunge them into the death spiral since Windows is becoming fast irrelevant in the only space it serves - viz, the desktop.

The point of the blackouts is to extort money from the fans for an overpriced live experience. If they really wanted to sell out every game, they should study basic economics and drop prices. They'll still make ridiculous amounts of money.

Android does sandbox apps. The default internal directory for each app can only be read/written by itself. Prior to version 4.2, the SD card was public and could be read/written by anyone. 4.2 and later, only parts of the SD cared are publicly readable and only parts are publicly writable.

In both cases before and after 4.2 uninstalling will remove the private directory. It will also remove any private directory on the SD card, so long as the app used the default location. Some apps don't, purposely, so their data will persist if reinstalled.

Better yet, you can look at the porn you steal, so long as you don't -