With NFC phones you could make an almost crack proof system. Since the phone has a second line of communication it could use NFC to generate an an encrypted transaction with the merchant terminal and then use it's cellular connection to verify that transaction with the bank, and at last the merchant terminal would use it's network connection to the bank to finalize that transaction. Yes that means both devices need a working network connection to make the transaction work, but it would be super secure since there would be no CC number. Each transaction would be unique and unrepeatable. The bank would get verification from both the merchant and the customer for each transaction.

Not a problem. You can just pop down to your local mobile shop and they can move the card for you for a small fee and.... wait.

I use to keep better track of the moon rocks, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

After trying many options over the years I still find the tried and true paper version works the best. I recommend a small netbook + real notepad. There is just no real substitute for paper yet. I love das blinkinlights as much as anyone but when it comes to a classroom environment, a paper and pencil just works. Especially for math formulas. The only college classes where I used a computer to take notes were programming ones. A laptop or netbook works better because you can use VI or other editor of your choice to copy code examples much more quickly. Also doesn't hurt to be able to actually compile and test something right then and there.

Web hosting is one thing. What we're doing is clustering, virtualization, NAS, databases, almost everything. We're going to run the entire company backbone off of this system. If it goes down, we go down. Out of my depth? Not really. I've been doing the GNU/Linux sysadm gig for a while now and I'm RH certified, but I am the only one. Having a support contract means that not only do I have backup if I do get in over my head, the support techs could probably walk one of the junior admins through fixing a problem if I'm unreachable. You'd think that statement alone would be enough to convince someone to purchase support, but no. If I where to be hit by a truck and they had to fix a problem they would spend whatever it took to hire a consultant and get it fixed. If that meant spending more than the cost of years of a support contract then so be it. They would be fine with that because they have no choice. My issue is that, according to what my superiors tell me, if CentOS didn't exist they would gladly purchase Red Hat. The rational is that we could instead invest the software budget in more hardware, except my hardware budget didn't go up, the money just vanished.

From TFA:

Why stop at June 2010?
I’m not going to. I do think that having 15 months or so of history gives a good perspective on how a phone has been treated, but it’s also just a labor issue - it takes a while to dredge through the various sites to determine the history of each device. I plan to continue on and might also try to publish the underlying table with references. I also acknowledge that it’s possible I’ve missed something along the way.

You never know the full effect of legislation until it hits the courts. We'll see if this has any improvement. Personally I feel that new copyright law for software is needed and then limit patents to only physically producible items. No software patents, no business practice patents. If it can't be manufactured, you can't patent it. Patent infringement should be handled first by submitting documentation of a product that is actually being sold and your patent number to the patent office. If an examiner finds that the product matches your patent you may file with the court system. If not, you're out of luck.

Now that freeze dried food is more readily available (http://www.mountainhouse.com/) it isn't as much of a novelty anymore. I am surprised we don't see the heat shield tile technology more. Lining an oven with these might improve efficiency. They just need to work on manufacturing costs.

Any just how am I suppose to discern which of my clothes are good-to-go that morning? Seriously though, this could be huge for outdoor clothing used by hikers and the like. No more smelling ripe after a week in the bush. It could also allow clothing to last longer because most of the damage it takes these days is from the washing machines. We often wash clothing that has very little actual dirt on it, but a little sweat and oil with bacteria that smells.

If it weren't for the stigma surrounding porn this would just be another hacked website. I still don't understand societies taboos about sexually related things. Especially when we are so accepting of of violence and death. The number of crime scene centric shows on public TV is staggering. The number of sex centric shows? Almost non-existent. People are perfectly fine looking a images of death and dismemberment, but put naked people on TV and it's a travesty. Personally I think the world would better off if people spent more time watching pornography than watching people get killed. Remember, you can have safe sex, you cannot have safe war!