For those, like yourself, that don't already know CERT is now under DHS. CERT has some pretty big credibility.

The last time I installed linux... I had only my SSD plugged in... when I connected my other drives everything was fine, then I ran updates a few days later... part of the updates included an update to grub, which after said update would no longer boot. This was a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 a couple years ago. Prior to that, my attempt for linux as my primary desktop OS was in 2006 which resulted in a lot of effort to get both 3D acceleration and multi-monitor support... prior to that, was a regression issue with intel video drivers on a laptop selected for linux back in 2004 (or so) that made it unable to watch youtube videos, or play frozen bubble... Every time I've tried linux as my primary desktop, I hit a level of frustration that is intolerable. I have a Cubox-i4-pro that was doing XBMC chores (for two months) that now won't boot, not sure why... I use linux without a GUI for servers... I am building a new version of the web apps at work targeting node (to run in linux) and find that android works pretty damned well. All of that said, I'll take my macbook or windows desktop over another attempt at using linux for my primary desktop OS... I don't have the free time or patience to deal with edge cases that seem to pile up to unusable solutions. I've tried Linux on the desktop and it failed repeatedly.

I actually appreciate Amazon's approach.. imho a business should either expand/invest or return dividends... I don't like companies that simply bank significant profits or hold onto under-utilized assets for years. Amazon uses its assets. Also, the share price has grown to reflect this overall growth in value, while not specifically paying out dividends... Good for them, this is a very small blip, and you're right, I don't think their phone is the answer.. maybe at a sub $400 out of contract price (in line with the Nexus phones from Google).

Agreed, the RDP client is decent too... been considering using a windows vps for dev work that needs VS, from my chromebook.

What OS is this $99 device you speak of going to run?

It's funny, because (starting with the smokers, which I am not), we are headed in that direction... there's already soft discrimination against smokers and increasingly with fat people. This is going to be increasingly backed under the cost to provide insurance, and will only get worse... those genetically disparaged will eventually feel the same pains.

I'm not meaning to seem like a tinfoil hat type... but I am seeing the trend, and it frankly is upsetting to say the least.

Honestly, the real name thing didn't bug me so much as the "vanity" url name they give me is "MyFullName" instead of "nickname" ... when I search for my nickname, I'm a significant portion of the results... I should have been able to get this.. with their old profile system, I had it.. now I still don't.

The problem is that a quad-core ARM isn't 40% as fast as a 6-core Intel, let alone a dual/quad 8-core AMD... Now, you can do some really cool things with ARM, if there were a decent I/O backplane for a cluster it would be awesome, but most can't even get 40mbps of throughput to a network adapter... When there are systems handling hundreds of thousands of requests per second, ARM won't handle that in its' current state, and those that have tried have been so much more expensive than x86 off the shelf, it won't save enough in power over its' lifetime. Doesn't mean it will always be that way... and yeah, I've looked, and it's cool.. but not worth it (yet).

well considering the target is android, you'll get v8 under the chrome browser.. beyond that, you can probably get node.js running in it.

There goes your ignorance... a healthy baby should float and wouldn't make a good anchor at all...

Seriously, an upbringing like that might get you a thoughtful, well adjusted child who is creative and adapts well. It also might teach you to be less of a selfish ass.

For the most part the cross browser stuff is pretty straight forward these days, and if you're building a web application (not site) you can limit yourself to modern browsers without too much trouble... depending on your browser feature needs of course. IE11 is decent, 10 isn't bad, and 9 is doable. If you use react, angular or ember as a base, it's as good as most component ui systems. It's still easier than a cross platform codebase for native apps.

Yes.. I understand that... My meaning is that the li batteries are from scarce resources, and sold in a limited market... More demand means increased prices... Barring improved methods of production or increased competition.. Which for the base materials is unlikely... Prices are likely to go up.

The problem is that going all electric for many places isn't going to help anything... Many places burn fossil fuels for electricity. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for more electric cars.. just don't think it's necessarily going to improve the environment.. let alone the cost to dispose of the batteries properly. Our electronics waste is poisoning China, and Japan is leaking nuclear waste into the larger environment. There are plenty of issues to work towards improving.

How do you figure that with increased demand li-ion batteries will cost half as much? That's simply not how economics works.

That's why I drive a V8 Challenger R/T ... If I didn't do it, how could the Prius drivers feel good about saving the world?

If brewers reduce planned production, to purchase less grain, to reduce waste, what would that do to prices?