I dont the article looks at the reason why Oracle bought Sun.

Sure, the hardware itself was icing on the cake but the basic reality is that Oracle has an enormous investment in Sun hardware by optimizing the DBs for that platform, but mostly, because the software stack has an even heavier investment in Java for the processing of the data itself as well as middleware. If you think PLSQL is important to oracle, Java has taken an as-much important role in treating the data and managing apps.

When Sun was failing and about to hit the dust, no price was too high for Oracle to save that Hardware & Software investment. The absolute-next worse thing to a competitor (like IBM, SAP etc) buying it and giving therm control over Oracle's Java investment through license or platform direction.

I'm convinced the buyout was an absolute critical must for Oracle. Does that mean they want to push the platform forward? I can't answer that. They did ditch JavaFX and roll some of it back into J7. But one thing for sure, they wont let it die any way or another.

Disclaimer: I work for Oracle but these are not Oracle's opinions. That's my opinion only. I do NOT work anywhere near related activities to the server stack, Sun hardware or Java code. I do end-user native app developments that make use of some Java middleware.

Aka, 113 new names on that list!

Adding more category tags and features filtering to the search engine would let you find precisely what you are looking for.

But despite the absence of a very good search engine, even my two dinky Apps have managed to gather thousands of download.

What's really missing IMO is an in-app rating SDK. Users just cant be bothered to rate Apps because it takes them out of their task and into a different app where they must navigate the comments & ratings links in your App listing on the App Store.

Something akin to Netflix. Right in the app where you can star it and add a comment.

The difference is in the wording of the law where you computer's CD drive is not "digital audio recording devices whose primary purpose is to rip copyrighted material" whereas the car systems serve no other purpose (other than perhaps updating nav maps on navigation systems).

Still effin greedy.

Precisely for the same reason. Even more so due to economics.

Take well-known accessory manufacturers Logitec or Kesington. I doubt they managed to sell a hardware keyboard for 5% of owners of any given market (as they did for iPads) and this creates lots of expenses in R&D, manufacturing, stocking and distribution.

Unlike Apple (for example), their inventory is calculated in months, not days.

Internationalisation is also a huge issue for hardware keyboard.

Aka, get out of ASCII territory and all hardware keyboard suck raw pigeon farts.

Localized keyboards create inventory and distribution hell.

It is more expensive now, as Lazik really went down.

My exam & topology required 3 visits and it got to ~1200$ (including test lens to see how your eyes reacts etc). Then the lens are ~300$, replaced every 2 years or so.

It boils down to how much you care for your long term vision. My health care took the brunt of it (I do have a pretty good corporate group insurance).

My doctor holds the canadian record and actually dealt with -7 successfully.

And even there, you could do a partial fix to bring you up to -1 if your eye exceeded the max you could do.

They use micron eye topography imaging to perfectly map your eyeball and see how much they could correct your eyesight. It's pretty amazing: they never even tough your eyeball.

You put the lens on, go to sleep for a good 6-8 hours and voila. Take em off for the rest of the week.

Its entirely safe and without consequences. You can stop any time and resume later. If you can wear semi-rigid contacts then you can do this. Plus is removes any astigmatism so its pretty great for stargazing.

My doctor's site explains it slightly better than wiki.

And unlike laser surgery, there's no potential for risks of complication as you get older if you need cataract surgery (there's a finite amount of cornea you can scrape off).

I'm missing part of a finger, but I can manage.
I could live with a limp.
But eyesight is a pretty big gamble. Yeah its small. But still higher than lottery.

That's why I opted for orthokeratology. I put my lens for one night, once every 7-ish days, and have 30/20 vision for the first 24h and then 20/20 for the rest of the week.

And they keep coming out with new albums.