You make good points... Encryption hopefully works as I've implemented for me :) I went to a wifi radio mfg event for resellers recently and some of the resellers were really concerned that Apple's MAC randomization (which doesn't really work yet) was going to hurt their location tracking abilities... It's not terribly hard to figure out I surf with a device with a certain mac address... and many of these muni wifi systems require you to login... directly, thru google, thru Facebook, etc before you get access... I love free WiFi but I'm cynical, and I think some muni's are doing bad things; I wouldn't be surprised if some are doing automated MITM attacks.

Can be a lot cheaper than other ways of spying; Associate a person with wireless MAC's or shudder their Facebook account and you've got NSA class intel, and better location data.

Hypothetically, let's say the NSA captures everything they can about the members of the 3 branches of the federal government, and analyzes it well... wouldn't it be pretty easy to control them?

Here ya go :) I think it's limited to 4 digit pass codes though. A snipped from their FAQ: How can I get a list of what devices you support? We will gladly supply a full list of supported devices and also specifically what can and cannot be recovered from each one to any legitimate enquiry. Just email us, explaining your business need for the information and we will be delighted to assist you once we have verified your identity.

Damn regulators.

Yea I've had iOS7 on a couple devices since WWDC; it wasn't painful on an iPhone 4S IMO... and it's no longer painful on a mini IMO... battery life was terrible; battery's better now that they've removed a lot of debugging stuff but still significantly worse than 6 on older devices.... I got a new iPhone, and the battery's better with iOS7 than my 4S was with iOS6... maybe some of the battery saving measures they took only work on the new chip.

I'm kind've a MS hater, but for some reasons I'll omit I needed a Surface Pro... I assumed it would really suck. I don't really like Windows 8 or 8.1 yet. IMO it's a nice device, and the future for some windows users. Too expensive for many today, the hardware is nice; battery life sucks, but for most executive types who use MS Office, it's pretty awesome to be able to plug it into a usb3 hub and big monitor at your office/home, and bring the thing minus the externals with you wherever.

I'm surprised Apple & Google gave them full access. I guess it's not 'direct' because it's running via fibre or ethernet :)

So here's a business plan for pandora:

- I sign up for $x/year, pay up-front
- They record many radio channels for me, and index them by song
- After a month of recording the many channels, the amount of music they have available for me is good enough and they can just plug my library into their old algorithms and everything works fine and it's a private performance so no royalties are due.
- Profit!!

I think as law currently stands they could record the broadcasts and give the users a nifty tool that skips over the commercials, and generally behaves as pandora does today. Maybe they need to make sure the song they think you want to listen to has actually been broadcasted since you subscribed to them.

mmm no... If this ruling stands, all Pandora needs to do is copy Aereo... rent antennas to pandora users for $x/year, and allow them to play live radio or previously recorded live radio, and save their massive licensing expenses.

It could make sense for Apple users (I am one).

+ Locate your other iDevices via findMyiThing and/or Low Energy Bluetooth
+ See info that you want to see on your wrist
+ Tough device (waterproof?) that can make a call or text or something

I'd buy a $100 tough watch to use as a 'backup smartphone' if it was done well.

"So, what is this watch going to *DO* that will garner more than a yawn from the general population"

It'll find your phone, dude! :) Go low energy bluetooth, go! It might find your keys and other junk too :)

"it doesn't ask you to confirm your password by typing it twice"

I like this; it irritates me when sites ask for confirmation.

This should meet your needs; just plug in a USB hub!