I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to choose one? That opens up all kinds of possibilities.

And the huge volumes of crappy code upon which the entire shaky foundation of internet is built.

People would still want to know how it all works so they aren't stuck going to the dealer for service. So how do you reconcile the two?

One fragment leaves.

Apple has never been a commodity computer company. Herd mentality always seems to head in the direction of the cheapest tech out there even though there are far superior offerings out there. Just look at how VHS won out over Beta. That's video tape for those of you too young to know or care how we got where we are.

Things were so much simpler 25 years ago. If you knew C, C++, and/or Pascal and were willing to relocate, you could find a job fairly easily. Nowadays, there are so many niche tools, APIs, and languages that universities can't teach a broad enough curriculum to allow graduates options.

It's all the hot air coming out of Sacramento. Ironically, they keep yammering on about climate change so they really only have themselves to blame.

At least western sci-fi writers make a little effort to conceal their socialistic beliefs.

Puhleeze.... With all the money they government takes in in legal settlements for violation of the do-not-call list, they can surely afford a few million dollars.

Should be mandatory reading for...well...everyone.

There's an interesting article in today's WSJ (03/06/15) about a current DARPA contest involving humanoid robots. A Tokyo-based company lead the early trial run. That company was just bought by Google who then withdrew that robot from the competition. Google has been quietly acquiring similar companies including Boston Dynamics. It appears that Google is trying to flex some moral muscle to keep robots out of military hands. Sure, there will be other companies that will fill the void but I'd venture to say that Google is going to try to sue them all for patent infringement.

It means that the company gets screwed for millions of dollars all of which magically disappears into the black hole of the federal government general fund. Meanwhile, you, dear victim, will get discount coupons for cellphone accessories for obsolete phones. It's a little bit like the government promising you a tax "credit" in return for actual money paid by some private entity. You can only make use of this "credit" if you meet certain specific criteria e.g. tax bracket and taxes owed combined with astrological sign and body mass index which most people don't meet.

With the rapidly increasing volume of 3D printers, all that's needed is for somebody to come up with an extruder and latex filament. Which sounds dirty but I didn't mean it that way.

Switching from "first to invent" to "first to file" makes no sense to me. If you're working on something for several years and some asshat hacks your computer, copies all the data, then files the patent, why should they get credit for it? Beyond that, I don't understand how some filers seem to be able to get patents in a few months while others take YEARS to even get reviewed. Something doesn't smell right here. And then there's the patent troll problem. Why has nobody put forth legislation that requires the patent holder to also be the applier of the technology? Nobody likes campers in a MMO game. IMHO, if you own a patent, you should be required to create a real product with it and sell it in order to benefit from the patent protection.

Yellow journalism has infected most of media these days particularly in Hollywood who has figured out that they have a one-side, one-directional soapbox from which to preach their beliefs. I'm not just talking about what passes for a documentary these days but even in screenwriting for fictional shows. The writer or rather whoever ends up creating the dialog that a character utters or whoever comes up with the plot has the ability to make statements knowing that there is no opportunity for debate. Quite often, once the hero character of a series has won the hearts and minds of the audience, that character is used as the conduit. People believe it because of their adoration of the character.