Yes, we should all read the permissions that an app requires. But, recently, a lot of free apps are advertisement supported. And those ask for full Internet access to fetch the ads. This seems a hole that is hard to block.

Is it possible for a security app to check the sending of SMS and outgoing phone calls and ask for confirmation?

ASpotCat is the one I use. There are possible alternatives listed on the right of that page -- one is called Permission Viewer.

There is a very fuzzy border between "-1 Disagree" and "-1 Actively Misleading". We do need some way to signal that the poster is playing fast and loose with objective fact. On Digg or Reddit without downvotes you could simply add a comment explaining your doubts -- though I would do that a lot less often than I downvote on those grounds, would we get a lot of one rude word comments? -- but on Slashdot a moderator with expert knowledge in a topic would have to choose whether to abandon all his mods for that thread just to make a correction of fact for one comment.

It is definitely worth looking again.

Just because the US has the world's most advanced system for suing random people, that will stop the development of a useful tool for people living far from medical help?

LOL! Some wonderful comments here. Your concern for the employers hiring programmers of below average intelligence on the basis of their school qualifications alone is admirable, but there are few organisations in the UK doing that.

Or maybe people are not noticing that this is a school qualification in a country where there is a stated aim of 50% of young people going on to university? So, OK, it is more like 40% in practice. But do employers really employ school-leavers as programmers expecting them to be ready for work without further training? Not unless the kids have substantial extra experience.

Also, this is about a school-level academic qualification with the assessment set nationally -- but there are other similarly national qualifications for the age group that are designed to be vocational, more closely adapted to the needs of work. This one is not what a schoolkid would take if they wanted to go straight into a job.

The other way round for me. I registered my Android in the UK to a new gmail address last summer. All fine until the last couple of weeks, when Google seemed to be aggressively editing my login to googlemail on my desktop -- not helpful for those apps which sync to the cloud. Fortunately I didn't run into obvious problems on the phone itself.

So today I have had to positively fix that account back to gmail, whereas the old, old account I use for Reader has stayed gmail throughout. But I made a new one about 3 years back for an organisation, and that has been googlemail, despite being registered as gmail. Very odd.

I suspect the story is not very enthusiastic enforcement by Google, with a demonstration of "good faith" in the last few weeks.

Dead bodies are not such a hygiene problem as is generally thought. In disaster situations digging latrines is more important than digging graves.

Yes. I dropped in quickly to say the same thing. Children's computers should always be located where adults will walk behind them as they go about their daily living. Occasionally discuss what is on their screen.

Well, I would gladly test this. But "automatically updated to a future version of Firefox 3.6"? I normally wait about a week for my critical extensions to catch up to a new release. Potentially a week without Tab Mix Plus? No thanks.

Go for it! Learning as an adult is surprisingly easy -- don't think you are desperately disadvantaged by your age. Actually, adult learners do remarkably well at academic courses. I guess it is about being better able to identify what matters, to focus, and to stick to things.

You need to use a method that works for you -- some people can really only learn from other people, some people can learn from standard textbooks. Good self-paced materials are great, but you have to find one with your sort of pace. So think about what has worked for you in the past, and look around you now. If what you are trying doesn't work, try something else.

And try to control a yearning for perfection -- you don't need a deep understanding of every detail, Good enough is good enough. Whichever bits you actually need in your career will get developed fully then.

Great if it works for you. From other forums, I am not the only one suffering from it expanding and bogging everything down. I am now back with Avast.

This sounds really good teaching advice.

I guess you are going to have several parents along on an evening activity. I would ask if any of them have a laptop or smartphone they can put Google Sky/other star maps on, so that there is plenty of accurate info floating around.

If people are bringing binoculars, encourage them to attach a neckstrap, and tell the kids that if there is one they _must_ put it on as soon as they are handed the binoculars.

You do know the story of the F16 guidance system? Allegedly, as originally designed, crossing the equator would lead to the plane doing an instant flip and carrying on upside down. http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/3.44.html