I use Linux (fedora/ubuntu), OS X (personal rMBP), and Windows (7 64bit ultimate at home, 32bit professional at work).

I have always wanted to "hate" windows, and "love" Linux, and in the past I have wanted to "love" mac os too.

in the past I have had plenty of reasons to hate windows, but by XP sp3, it was less, thoguh now that I am on 7, i actually HATE xp.

I was probably one of the few people that didn't hate Vista. Maybe because i used the 64bit version, I dont know, but it was stable if not particularly spectacular. It got the job done.

Windows 7 is a phenomenon in comparison. Together with the SSD, it just worked. Being able to send movies to my TV with a right click on the file, and without installing anything. Windows 7 just works, and although i do have a dual boot Ubuntu partition on my computer, i rarely use it. My chief annoyance is its inability to read any file systems on USB Mass Storage other than FAT/FAT32, and is the real remaining evilness of MS (forcing manufacturers of devices such as cameras to support FAT and pay their "tax" to MS)

OSX, is pretty, but not necessarily better than 7. It is not more easier either (keyboard shortcuts are more extreme). OSX is just different in my books. It too has some evilness such as the restriction on supporting TRIM only on Apple approved SSDs. It also has in some ways less application support (excluding BSD)

Linux is the OS i prefer to use for development, and also servers. However, I still spend way too much time configuring it than I have time for. When I was younger, and have time, it was fun. These days, I am married, a professional, and simply don't have time.

Its funny you should say "not many legitimate competitors around". To an Apple "addict" the itunes store is the only big store. But in actual fact there are plenty of other stores (that are cheaper too)... including.... amazon.

There is also other considerations for closed vs open vs active noise cancellation
Closed (including in ears)
Pros:
- reduce background noise by actually blocking the air from the outside reaching into the cup. Ideal for listening to delicate sounds with treble and mid range in relatively noisier environments.
- Good bass response

Cons:
- due to closed nature, strong bass can "reverb" around the cup, as the closed nature does not allow excess pressure to "escape", causing treble to be lost, or the sound becoming distorted. At higher volumes/bass levels, the pressures induced can cause damage to the hearing system, and in some people can affect their ability to balance (they feel dizzy).
- loss of outside sound

Open backed:
Pros:
- "natural" sound as air is free to escape
- good dynamic range
- safer for activities where you need to hear outside sounds.
- perfect for quiet environments

Cons
- poor for loud environments
- definition is lost in loud environments.

Active noise cancelling:
ANC is theoretically the best solution, as it allows an opened headphone to still be able to isolate external sounds.However, this is very much an exact science, where electirics "add" a negative phased waveform of the outside noise at the same time and volume as its passing into the ear.

Unfortunately this requires:
- High quality microphones placed as close to the ear as possible to record the outside sounds, as if your ear is picking up the sounds with as little distortion as possible, in order to create an accurate "negative sound". IT is at the moment hard to create such a "perfect" microphone, let alone one small enough to fit on the earbuds as close to the ear.

- High quality, and fast electronics to process the incoming sound wave, invert it's phase, then mix into the music fast enough for the negative sound to reach the ear drum at the same time as the outside noise. If the sound is not exactly on the same "phase" it can reduce the effectiveness the the noise cancellation, and also induce a high pitched hiss. Its relatively easy to cancel out low pitched (up to 200hz) compared to higher pitched sounds (greater than 10,000 hz), hence why current technology only really manages to filter out low constant rumbles rather than high pitched sounds, and even voices.

- Volume matching also needs to be as close as possible. Too low, and the external noise is not negated sufficiently. too high and also the noise will not only be canceled, but reinserted in the opposite phase. In addition, if there the sound is delayed, and the volume is high, it creates horrible sounding artifacts.

- The headphones themselves need to re-produce the negative sounds well enough to cancel the noise.
- Batteries/power source!

In the case of ANC, it is a case of the more you pay, usually the better the quality. Those cheap no brand phones are likely to be appalling. Even the best are only good at reducing low rumbling noise (aircraft engines, etc) rather than general noise (traffic, people etc).

Oops, My mistake, ignore that post.

The story is about DEP and ASLR effectiveness at blocking exploits. IT has nothing to do with the title or the ATI/AMD aspect.

SMS has been working in pretty much everywhere BUT the USA pretty well. I remember back in 1999 sending messages to people abroad, and getting messages sent back.

Now here in the UK we have even had SMS on our landline (send and receive) for over 5 years..... most DECT cordless phones support the scheme well.

Read my comment again, I clearly said "at the time" in regard to the German people!

Although Hitler was a human, indeed he was a monster. It is human to unfairly dislike something sometime in your life. I am sure most of us may have at one point in our past had a muttering of dislike for a particular race/religion/etc. However, what makes a monster is taking that dislike, then acting on it and killing over a million Jews and other undesirables in the clinical and orchestrated manner he and his cronies did it in.

AS for the German people, yes they need to shoulder some of the blame for supporting him at the time, but weigh in the fact that they were at the time suffering the effects of the Allies excessive sanctions and punishments of World War 1, and the failure of the Wiemar Republic. A form of Stockholm Syndrome occurred, and they saw Hitler as a savior. It is the mark of most "popular" monsters to be able to convince their citizens to follow their madcap means. Also remember many Germans did see through Hitler and tried to fight back, and most paid with their lives (see the white rose group).

Going back to the topic, I agree that this book should be published, so that people can see how a monster is formed, and with the disturbances currently going on in Europe and the world, maybe its a warning to prevent the same thing that happened in the past happening again. We do not know* of any monsters on the scale of Hilter since he died, but that doesn't mean we will never see one again, and maybe the next one will be worse.

*Note i said "know of" rather than outright say that such a monster does not exist. The reason is, even in the case of Hitler, the world in general only knew how much of a monster he was AFTER he was defeated.

No....

I am no fan of Apple, and really wish that Apple meets its comeuppance for the way they are being absolute douches with their lawsuits....

However, this lawsuit is not something to jump with joy about either, because IF they are successful against Apple, they will hammer the rest of the industry....

Therefore, I think this guy is a bigger douchebag than Apple, and he SHOULD loose.

The Apple TV is a different type of product to a console, try not to compare them for power usage.

And a Raspberry PI consumes max 500ma @ 5V = 2.5Watts for the Model A, and for the model B with Ethernet: max 700ma @ 5V = 3.5W, and at least the PI can be connected to a keyboard and mouse, and run a real OS (linux).

You are both right to an extent.

Disclaimer: I DO buy Nike Trainers, and do not get along with most other brands.

Nike does make some great trainers based on science. Their "Air Bubble" trainers were unique and were engineered. Sure they were NOT the first trainers with an "air sole" per se, but they were the first to do it in a manner that actually worked well.

The BRS sole is pretty hard wearing, yet flexible enough to work.

Likewise, I had bought a pair of Nike boots that I bought in 2005. I am still able to wear them today. At the time, Nike was trying to compete with Timberland, CAT, etc, and ended up making a very hard wearing boot. Probably they did a little too well! Compared to some of the recent "UGGs" they are certainly more "value for money".

However, the GP is also correct. Most Nikes ARE overpriced for what they are. They are better, but not by the amount charged. The problem is they are best of a bad bunch. I find Adidas, etc are overpriced by a greater amount for what they are, and cheap trainers are rubbish.

Every time I go to buy trainers (sneakers), I try others, but I always end up getting a Nike simply because they work for me. But I wish they were cheaper, and in the end tend to buy older models to get a better "bang for buck", which unlike computers is not a bad thing to get last years model, unless you are looking for being in the latest styles.

I hear you! my analogy is an idealistic view of the roles. However, like any other professional, even developers have to switch roles and wear different hats.

A "programmer/assembler" hat to sometimes save his/her ass if something totally impossible is asked for, and even attempting can lead to trouble. Saying it cannot be done with reasons can sometimes have less risk attached.

An "engineer" hat ideally. However, needs to be done well, transparent and documented to save from further ass chewing in the cases where others may see it as "too complex"

A "hacker" hat if the product owner needs something yesterday and the hacking option is the only option. However, make sure that you document the hack well, and why it was done, so that further ass chewing doesnt happen.

This is my difference between a programmer, engineer and a hacker. When faced with a round hole and square peg, the programmer saus it does not fit. The engineer will modify one or both to perfectly fit each other. The hacker uses a hammer.

Over here in the UK they got stuck between a rock and a hard place. Blackberrys initially became popular due to American companies fitting out their troops with the same tech used stateside. It quickly moved to UK based industries.

However, in terms of web, the crackberries were hard to develop for. The iPhone pulled a lot of custom after that. Then there was a slight reassurance as teenagers and social animals started using it for BBM messaging. And again, it earned a bad rap in facilitating last years riots in the UK, causing people to turn away from it further.

that is assuming Samsung USES the same chips and technology as Apple does in their phones.....

APPL uses custom design processors (including the A4/A5), Samsung uses totally difference processor in their phones.

Even display is different, Apple focus on IPS LCD displays, while Samsung has its own Super Amoled for its high end.