That would be true. However, the computer itself and the means of producing it can be patented, but only for new designs and new production means. Wiring components together on stripboards would not count, for example, but building a new type of lithography machine might. A working quantum computer most likely would, as well as usher in a whole slew of new and patentable ideas, since it should work very differently from current computer designs.

You'll note that it isn't the concept of microprocessors that is patented currently. It is the processes that allow them to shrink that are currently patented.

Not quite, all the other runners can wear $500 shoes too. The wind tunnel is used to design better bobsleds, not train in. Unless all competitors can utilize similar "appendages", yes, it's not fair.

But you will need it, should you be in a car wreck, fall off a bridge or cliff, or even do something as silly as slip on the sidewalk and bang your head. There's all sorts of things that might happen. Hell, you might even suffer one of the many potential massive coronary type events, including those that have nothing to do with how you live (John Ritter ring a bell?) So yes, you should pay in, or have a magnetic tattoo stamped on your forehead that you are uninsured, so when the medics arrive at the scene with your prostrate body, a quick scan will be all the time they need to determine they can leave you there for the coroner, and also bill you for the $1K+ for their trip out to read that fact. (magnetic forehead tattoo that penetrates your skull, so a mere scalping via a motorcycle wreck won't remove the ability to read said tattoo, in case any one is wondering)

I don't think that was the issue here. The real issue was that an opinion about a gate agent on twitter resulted in SWA publicly humiliating and inconveniencing him and his family over something he posted online. Something that couldn't even be taken as a threat by the most hyper-sensitive TSA agent. That's the real story here.

Well, you have to start with Gb somewhere, and the most profitable areas seem logical. If the telecos won't, then someone else has to. And, TBH, the telco's (and cable) have been doing everything they can to move away from common carrier rules. If the telcos stop serving the rest of the community (hint - the major cost was in laying copper, not in running it) then I suppose the municipality can go ahead and pick that service up too. It wouldn't be a bad thing. Don't forget that fed universal fee, the municipalities may be better off running it themselves if they want decent service.

You don't move to AWS if you care about budget, uptime, control, security, nor ownership of your data and software.

* Budget - cheap to free to develop on, rapidly escalating costs for enterprise usage.
* uptime - AWS has had notable outages with relatively long recovery times. It's happened more than once.
* control - see uptime - you had no options when that happened.
* security - ultimately, you cannot control security if you don't have the hardware, or even software, under your control
* ownership - since you don't own the hardware nor software, all your data and software placed on the server is there for anyone with access to see. And there are people with access.

No you can't. A virus is not affected by antibiotics.

Epic

Fail

Who needs a warrant? Just a couple of bucks for our "anonymized" (wink wink) data.

You are wrong.

It bugs me that my more expensive LED can't render dark scenes without blocking, on any content, BD or otherwise. In fact, any relatively lightly varying gradient has blockiness to it. It also bugs me that contrast is far too high, even dialed down to the point it starts to degrade lesser contrasting images. And then there's the ghosting, even on a 240Hz (claimed) refresh. Didn't notice it at first, but it got worse as I watched it more, and in comparison to the plasma, it's now almost unwatchable except for maybe cartoons and the like. Maybe kids will like it while they're young, but once you notice these things, you just can't get away from it. It's like that bug bite you discovered itches when you touched it by accident, and now it is the worst itchy bug bite ever. What's worse is the 4K LEDs have these same issues, the color depth just isn't there. It remains to be seen if OLED is any better, but at 10-20K for a screen, I think I'll be watching my plasma for a while longer, and maybe pick up a Samsung before they sell out as a backup.

That's a false premise. You can build large cisterns that store excess energy by pumping in water, then using that during peak periods to meet demand. It's 100% solar. These could be built on the coast or even slightly in the sea, so there's no shortage of water until we run out of sea water. It also serves to level demand, since all excess demand can always go to the cisterns, even if they're full, since they'd just overflow and form a nice waterfall or similar water feature. The same could be used to store excess wind generated power, completing removing the need for fossil fuel or nuclear energy. Maybe keep one plant as a museum piece.

I have a 2013 plasma, and can pause a picture for an hour without a problem. Yes, sometimes people leave something on pause instead of turning it off when leaving for a while. No burn in issues at all, and I checked. Again, this is not a problem with new modern plasmas. Cheap or old, yes, they probably have problems. So do LCD/LED/OLEDS. CRTs do too. So it's not a unique problem for plasmas.

That said, as CRTs are dead, I do love the plasma's picture. In comparison, my 2010 top rated LED looks cheap, flat, lacking in depth, the criticisms could go on. As soon as you scale up to larger screens, the flaws for each become more obvious. The plasma generates more heat. I'll accept that for a picture I can actually watch.

So it is a myth, for a new modern screen. If you look for the cheapest you can buy, you'll succeed in getting less than you want. Or, you get what you pay for, really.