Who says you can't make a socket for a BGA chip? Just wait till Augat or someone like them gets wind of this and engineers a nice socket for the bugger.
It WILL happen. There already ARE sockets for BGA memory chips for the device programmer market. The LGA chips are very nearly BGA as it is, the only difference is the pads are gold plated instead of solder balls. Another solution might come from the guys at Smardtboards. They make BGA breadboards that are easy to solder to.

Back in the good old days of home built PC's (1980's) most motherboards were sold with CPU chips already installed in sockets. When they started selling them without CPU's people started crying about price fixing, but got over it. I wouldn't mind buying a tested motherboard with a cpu in place. There might be fewer choices such as better featured mother boards coming with the more expensive processors and visa versa..

Finally, if this gives AMD a shot in the arm, even better. The only thing I don't like about their CPU's is the higher power draw compared to Intel.

The world won't end 12/21/2012

It will RE-BOOT!

The unforgetery game.....

I agree with Linus, I'm back to KDE after the Gnome2 to Gnome3 transisiton. While the default KDE settings may not be optimal, some distros (such as Mint) have chosen more sane defaults for THEIR implementation of KDE. I'd suggest that Linus try Mint 13 KDE, but since he probably knows how to tweak things to his liking he can use any distro he likes. I've also tried Kubuntu, but Mint is closer to my desired configuration out of the box.

Most desktop monitors have stopped short of the 2560x1600 standard as most computer monitors now use the same glass as HDTV. If laptops with 14-17" screens become standard at 2560x1600, then I'd expect my desktop 23" monitor to go to at least 5000x3000 or so.

Once again Arduino has taken a nice chip and cut off it's legs while mounting it on an compatible platform. It looks like almost half of the Due CPU's available IO pins are NOT accessible on the board (unless you are good at soldering fine wire to .4mm spaced pins by hand). They did the same thing on the Arduino Mega with the atmega1280 and atmega2560 parts (leaving out at least 16 of the IO pins, including the XCK signals so you CAN'T use the usarts in SPI mode!).

If you want to go ARM, you might consider the Teensy3.0 which DOES make all of the I/O pins available (though you will have to solder some wires to pads on the bottom of the board, but at least the pads are there!). The Teensy 3.0 is also about $15 cheaper than the Due.

Actually I I'm accused and found not guilty I might consider suing the ISP for slander.

While I don't have too much trouble with my routers (I have two in my house since one can't cover the whole house) I DO have issues with my garage door opener. Most of the time I can open it from the street, but sometimes I have to hold the transmitter right next to the door before it will open. It's almost as if a phantom jamming station goes on the air at specific hours of the day! The batteries in the transmitters are up to snuff, and one transmitter is buit into our Dodge Caravan and runs off the car's electrical system. All of the transmitters have the same problem at random times.

That won't work because moset people are too stupid to change channels on thier routers, I bet 90% of all routers in residencial use are on the same channel, which ever one is selected by default in the firmware. So if YOU change channels you might be on a clear channel!

If you people want to protest like CIVILIZED HUMAN BEINGS then more power to you. However should anyone pick up a stone to throw it at another human being in anger may you be struck down by a bolt of lightning from the hevens.

The Saturn V rocket was certainly "man rated" yet it lost an engine during launch on TWO of the moon missions without aborting the flight. It's a NON-ISSUE since the possibility was designed into the rocket.

Do you still have an active Pilot's license? Myself I've never gone beyond my SEL private license and gave up flying after my daughters were born (due the the cost of insurance). Did you give up after the accident with the Beechcraft (those Bonanza's were sometimes nicknamed "twin tailed Doctor killers") or did you continue flying? Do you still follow what's going on in aviation? If so what do you think of Rutan's Spaceship One?

On this particular Romney quote Linus was wrong. However his remark was still right on the money IMHO

Why not use hydrogen for party ballons? The amount of gas in a party balloon is so small that there is really no fire danger. There would be some risk at the filling site, but a container of compressed hydrogen is not any more dangerous than the tanks of propane used for the outdoor BBQ grill.

If a judge makes a decision that is later deemed contray to the law, or a higher law, then it can be reversed. In this case the first amendment might trump the judge's decision. However, the ruling will stand until it IS reversed. I wonder if that happened, would the court owe the defendant compensation for her illegal jail time?