Some minor problems:
In general: laptop speakers and microphones are optimized for recording and producing sounds the human ear can detect. Lousy for networking.
Laptop speakers and microphones are also not calibrated with a high degree of precision.
You would need access to the boot loader which would have to come from a different "virus" or at the factory -- in which case, you already "own" the computer.

Recommendations:
Decent anti-virus software and a reasonable security policy.
Tin Foil lined Laptop Bag.

  -Dan

How is that much different than this:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE pattern;

Not sure how long I've been using LIKE in SQL, but it's been a while. Anyone know when it was introduced?

  -Dan

For the most part, replacing glass, lcd panels or case parts isn't hard in most smart phones. There are many video walk-troughs on Youtube for almost any model. Parts are available on eBay and several web sites for nearly all smart phones and tablets.

I've fixed *many* broken smart phones for my wife, friends, and "the person at the office next door who heard I can do it."

If you have steady hands and can follow instructions, basic smart phone repair is pretty simple.

When iFixit says "might be hard to repair," they probably mean it.

A few months ago, I ran across a problem with an Airport Extreme (Dual Band) where it will not run IPv6 at all if you have IPv4 running inside via NAT and/or DHCP.

I posted a detailed question to Apple's airport support forum and got no response.

I posted a *short* question and got no response.

In the end, I wound up using an expensive airport as a simple a bridge, and a MikroTik based router to solve the problem.

  _Dan

In 1999:

  Most people didn't have -- a smartphone with an expensive data plan -- an Internet connection, Cable, DSL, Dial-Up, -- and much to spend on video games

But did have -- the same (inflation adjusted) amount to spend on entertainment

All else being equal, has anyone done a study to see how people are spending their entertainment dollar and how it's changed over time?

  -Dan

In fact, a few years ago in Arizona, they had a problem designing the interchange between the US 60 and Loop 101. A Motorola programmer submitted a suggestion to Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) that was brilliant... ADOT gave him a plaque and named him an honorary traffic engineer.... They didn't use his design to plan the new interchange, but used his ideas to base their analysis and design on.

You know, it's about time somebody made that link. Everyone who buys servers has at least one piercing or ten... Don't they? I don't go out much. I'll take the word of my cubicle-mate.

So on with it. This is the best marketing campaign I've seen since the classic "Buy an AppleII and get a free Yeti," or the most famous ever, "Get a new IBM PC and we will kill Charlie Chaplin's Ghost!"

Body piercings and servers. Brilliant!

  -Dan

"Well, I have a friend who heard from a really smart person/person on the Internet(s) that when he took it he was finally able to almost pass his GED."

Ok, brevity aside, wikipedia "Placebo Effect" and you will see that suggestion can be a cure in it's self.

Viral marketing gone bad?

Here's a hypothesis, let's see if we can flesh this one out:

1: The peak of the Music Industry was in 1999, with approximate 16.4 billion dollars in sales of CD's alone.
2: It's less than half that now.
3: On-line Music sales have only made up for less than 3 billion dollars of the short fall.
4: The video Game industry has grown vastly in the last ten years. See below. It might even be /directly/ affecting the amount spent on music.
5: The Internet also provides competition for people's time and limited money.
6: Other minor factors in the loss of revenue seem to include unauthorized distribution of music, and the wide availability of "singles" via on-line stores that compete with traditional album sales.

Other thoughts:

1: There is a finite amount that people spend on Entertainment.
2: The Music Industry simply has a slice of the pie. It doesn't have a whole one to it's self.

Here's what seems to currently be happening to counter this problem:

1: The Music Industry (RIAA) view it as a problem in /only their/ part of the entertainment industry. They don't seem to be addressing the industry as a whole.
    - In 1995, Guy Kawasaki gave a speech to a graduating class. I'm not going to repeat it, but see the link below. Specifically, see Number 8, about the Ice Cutters. A quick summary for the impatient is: If you don't embrace change, then it will happen without you. If that happens, you may find yourself quite lonely one day.
2: They think that if they can charge fees for items/services they didn't in the past, then they will make up for some of that lost revenue.
3: They seem to be distracting themselves by pursuing the symptoms of the illness, not the root cause. (Think: RIAA Lawsuits)
4: By pursuing the symptoms, they are diminishing the "good faith" value of their part of the industry, thus making their slice even smaller.

Ok, background's done.

Here's my thoughts:

  If the Music Industry charges for things they haven't in the past, such as Boy Scout Campfire Songs, iTunes Previews, and Royalties on Fair Use items, they won't increase their share of the pie.

  If they continue to pursue the "Bigger Stick" tactics they are using, they will continue to tarnish their reputation, and devalue their "brand."

People will probably not spend more money on Music as a whole now that there are different things competing for their dollars.

Additional cost/charges will make the final product more expensive to customers, therefore reducing both the value to them, and the amount they are able to purchase.

Your Thoughts?

    - Dan Schnur
      (No, not that one.)

See:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/08/01/opinion/01blow.ready.html
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/01/growth-of-gaming-in-2007-far-outpaces-movies-music.ars - Older, but insightful.
http://stuff.mit.edu/people/amlau/clarity/kawasaki.htm