If you ask me the big scandal here is that we're assuming the ISPs have any ability whatsoever to tell streaming video from VOIP, web traffic or email. That they can, tells us the internet is fundamentally insecure which is the problem at its core.

Yes, It's looking like we're doomed. I keep wondering just how screwed up the government has to be to get the non-voters to wake up and vote third parties. The problem is, as things get more screwed up, people are less motivated to vote in response instead of more. So it gets even easier and cheaper to manipulate those who still vote and it gets even worse. It now looks that the government could go around herding people into concentration camps and gassing them and too few would actually rise up against them to make much of any difference. The electorate is so completely delusional the majority would probably just think it's a good thing and would only have a negative impact on "someone else" who probably deserves it.

When I started the lead programmer had a degree in Nuclear Physics and insisted on coding his own text editor and assembler from scratch-- the assembler using his own mnemonics. Consequently, it was incompatible with any commercial product we might consider moving to later. The guy never dealt with ANY other code written by anyone. He also didn't have any error handling, which as a user, HE didn't need. My first project was to add error handling so someone could use the stuff besides him. He never used that error checking version tho. There are still apps out there running today written in the higher level language the guy designed at the time. It could run business apps in as little as 4K RAM per user. When we finally hosted it on Unix it scaled up really well...

Of course they want Net Neutrality. Without it, the NSA would have to impose an override, something they'd just as soon not have to do because word would get out and it would be unpopular. I mean, throttling NSA packets just wouldn't do. And an override could be exploitable, before long every network packet would have the NSA signature on it. Net Neutrality solves all that. Plus, they wouldn't want ISPs to do anything to impede nefarious character's ability to freely surf the internet and hang themselves...

So they've figured out that conservatives are more chickenshit than liberals. This is news?

The site's comments are driven by a Facebook login, I won't touch those with a 10-ft pole. Any site so brain dead as to think that would ever be appropriate has got nothing to say I want to hear.

I wish we could say the same about social networking and get it out of the hands of Facebook...

Since a Kickstarter project doesn't usually have the benefit of a reputation, they're ripe for scam artists and huckster/hype factories. Then again, that HAS actually established a reputation. For Kickstarter/Indiegogo/etc. projects in general. Even ones that do what they say they're going to do can boil down to overhyped junk. Take the Om One, Leap Motion, or Midi PUC for example. They do what they say they can do. But it's like, so what, what they say they can do turns out to be pretty lame, it's just their marketing made it seem like something really hot.

Managers aren't scientists. They're bureaucrats, or politicians, or bean counters or some combination of those. And they're in charge because they dispense the paychecks. If a methodology takes any significant understanding to make it work, it's too complex for its target audience. That is why every few years a new fad methodology with a new set of buzzwords sweeps through, sold by the latest round of salesmen who make a killing on it. But when it boils down to it, it's just another bit of voodoo ritual that the managers are expecting will solve all their problems-- because before that, the problem was-- "you're doing it wrong."

Agile is just another ritual. And what is ritual? Abandoning the ends and embracing the means. Someone claims Agile is the way to go and the suits have found their latest ritual. There is no comprehension, it's just a superstitious cargo cult.

My experience with Agile has been the bureaucrats transformed it into just another vehicle for micromanagement. In some ways, an even better vehicle for that than ever before. Daily standups? Sprints? Grooming? Burndown charts? Perfect for micromanagers.

You mean Agile development, like the free market, isn't the answer to the world's problems? How can that be? Just wait until I bring that up at today's standup. The scrum master will be aghast...

Yes, I'm still trying to figure out if it would be better to cover my roof with solar cells, or to just paint it white.

If Microsoft decides to ping BofA to determine if the internet is alive, that'd be just about right.

If American tech companies DON'T put effective encryption on their devices, we'll all be buying tech products from foreign companies that do. GET USED TO IT.