So how do we keep Flash updated, assuming that Adobe tries to keep it patched? Is there a better way than going to Adobe's website and downloading a new version and installing it manually?

I owned a Saab 900 for 20 years, and honestly it was a great car, if a bit quirky. For every weird design feature that didn't work (e.g., the famous ignition key on the floor between the seats, the gear-drive water pump on top of the engine in my model), there were others that did work (the huge hatchback, the alternator also on top of the engine).

Two of my favorite Saab stories:

Someone once described the design of the Saab 900 as "it's as if you described a 4-wheeled Earth vehicle to a bunch of Martian engineers, and they tried to replicate it from your description".

I don't know if it's true or not, but there was a news story that a bank robber tried to carjack a woman's Saab 900 as she was getting into it outside the bank, but couldn't figure out where the ignition key went in and was forced to abandon it.

Flex fuel engines are the norm for new cars in Brazil now (meaning gasoline/alcohol, not diesel). But there's a flaw in this picture: Drivers quickly discover which fuel is cheaper and offers a longer range (gasoline), and that's what they use exclusively. So in practice the advantage is more theoretical than actual.

I use Ghostery (the Firefox add-on) that shows you what trackers are loading with the page and lets you block them individually. There are plenty of other options if you want to block tracking cookies.

Yes, it's true that BMW and many other auto makers set the speedometer to read high. It provides a safety margin for inaccuracies such as tire wear, winter snow tires, changing to tires with a slightly different size/profile. It is possible to set the computer to read correct speed though - it's one of options that dealer service centers can change. I should mention that although the speed reads too high on my BMW with the factory stock tires, the odometer is dead on (both compared to GPS).

I think this raises a very good point about what's wrong with the free online news services today. A lot of the content is just wire service stories and corporate/government press releases passed along virtually unchanged by the news source you are reading. (This happens to be particularly noticeable in Canada, where the high U.S. content of the stories republished by Canadian news media tends stands to stand out more, e.g., misleadingly quoting statistics that apply to the U.S. economy rather than the Canadian economy, or mentioning a product or service that isn't available in Canada). My reaction after reading these stories is that the newspaper or reporter whose name appears on the article has done no homework or analysis at all. Even with my limited knowledge I can tell that some of the content is misleading or wrong, or that only part of the story has been told, or that it is presenting a slanted viewpoint without comment or counterpoint. What I want my news source to do is to give me the rest of the story - what wasn't said in the press release, what's the history behind it, what's the counterpoint? I would pay for that. I do pay for in-depth weekly news sources like the Economist or New Scientist because they do a whole lot better job even when the cover the same news (e.g., when New Scientist reports on the latest scientific "breakthrough", they usually add reaction comments from a couple of experts in the field, who may give cautious endorsement or mention limitations or doubts about the results which weren't in the press release reported by other media.)

This is the long-awaited phone incarnation of the N800/N810 Linux/Maemo tablets. It's similar to the N810 in having the slide-out keyboard, built-in GPS, and micro-SD slot. I've been using the N800 for the last 2 years, and while I like it as in internet tablet, I'm not sure I would like it so much as a phone. Some reasons: - The tablet is cheap and not tied to a contract, so possible to forgive many faults - Tbe tablet has a bigger screen (4.3" vs. 3.5"), which makes it more practical for browsing and ebooks - Lots of Maemo Linux software available, but mostly amateurish/undocumented/90%-complete quality - User interface is not nearly as smooth as iPhone, particularly the web browser - Most programs can't rotate, designed for landscape mode only

This whole problem has arisen because people are storing everything on a single hard drive now instead of using removable media as they did in the past, e.g., with floppy disks. Removable media makes it easy to take your sensitive data away and hide it. Removable media can be encrypted. And if you have multiple units, you can plausibly claim that you forgot the password to that old disk because you don't use it every day (a claim that's hard to make about your main hard drive).

Complex products are always going to have bugs and imperfections. That goes for cars, consumer electronics, etc.. There should be nothing special about software. Most products are sold with a disclaimer of liability for consequential damages, such as business losses due to product not working. In most cases the liability for "product not suitable for intended purpose" is limited to refund of the purchase price, which seems fair and reasonable to me, and offers adequate protection for free software. The problem is that in most jurisdictions liability disclaimers cannot protect you from consequential damages arising from safety defects, such as a software product which accidentally kills people by adjusting medical radiation dose too high in cancer therapy. In such cases you might be held liable unless you have made very clear disclaimers limiting how your software should be used. What about less serious cases such as your software product malfunctions and erases the user's hard drive, or fries a device connected to the computer? That's a tough one. Maybe the seller, distributor, and/or developer of the software could be found liable. I sure hope not, because the reality is that if such a thing is even possible, insurers are going to slap us commercial software sellers with a huge increase in liability insurance. This already happened once about 5 years ago, but fortunately the fuss died down and insurance rates went back down again.

Hilarious, and plausible - but has anyone verified that this is a real NYT article and not a mock-up?

You make a very good point. I think U.S. companies are often culturally naive about the rest of the world, and fail to exploit the international market because they simply don't understand it. I sell software online, and while the U.S. is certainly my biggest market, my sales also do very while in countries where I have been able to "localize". That means translating everything to the local language, pricing and marketing the product appropriately for the country, and not making it difficult to buy. If you sell a product or service from the U.S., with all information in English only, priced for the U.S. market in US$, accepting only U.S. credit cards for payment etc., your international sales might be limited - duh!

Whenever you list online media sources like Hulu, you should remember they are available in the USA only due to restrictive regional licensing agreements by the major media cartels. The rest of the world can only download the same content illegally.

The Canadarm has been an example of successful cooperation in space. Let's hope the Canadian astronauts can use the U.S. toilets when they're up there, unlike the Russians: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7973747.stm

Same for Canada, "The video you have requested is unavailable..." This is true of almost all online video, music, book and magazine offerings due to restrictive regional licensing agreements. And they wonder why the unofficial alternatives are popular outside the USA?

I had exactly the same experience with my Panasonic TV. I put a power meter on it shortly after I bought it and discovered that it was drawing 20 watts when off instead of the promised 0.1 watts. I figured that the problem might be the EPG, and discovered with experimentation that the undocumented method of putting in a Zip code of 000000 disabled it and solved the problem.