and, Chrome so far, has a far better record on security patches and exploits than Windows. We'll see how long that holds up but if I had to choose what laptop to put into the hands of untechnical users, security would be a big factor.

I find this news of Chromebook stealing Windows market share has a "they have this coming to them" feeling. So Google has the bucks and the talent to make an OS and practically give it away. Ha Ha. For them, pushing the penetration of Internet use to the lowest strata is all they need because its the clicks, not the OS licenses that make their revenue.
I feel like its karma, like the demise of MS is deserved because, in spite of Bill Gates earlier public dismissal of the Internet as fad, MS came back with a brutal, loss-leader give-away of IE just to defend itself from its own hubris [and inadvertently polluting their own OS with "back orifices"]. Google may cut the legs from under MS but primarily because they know where their bread is buttered and they work to expand that...not because they need to damage the business model of a competitor.

Microsoft has it coming.

That is sad. Fear and ignorance have always held progress, or just plain "pleasure of finding things out" in check. But that kind of info-conservatism was one problem our supposed American freedoms banished, and we have claimed, to our enormous advantage in standard of living. What are we now? A country where fear and ignorance are institutional and pervasive. You can't go underground for your supplies either since that will clearly indicate to the bureaucracy that you had nefarious intent. *sigh*

I remember reading in the [now discontinued] "Amateur Scientist" column that used to publish in Scientific American, a guide to how one could build a medium power infrared CO2 laser. Nowadays, just buying the parts would have DHS knocking on your door[or maybe they don't bother with knocking?]

I would deny just about anything.

i set my FB acct to require 2FA if its accessed from an "unfamiliar" device. Yes, I need to be carrying my phone to make that work but the two conditions, novel device and carrying cell phone DO correlate for me. I think it worth the cost of a txt message since I wind up with a record [also event notification emails] of any attempt to break in to my account

now if I just had any social life or was someone interesting enough to be spied upon, this would all be justified and useful.

won't work if you drive a plastic car ['Vette, Saturn] but with metal bodywork your average care is already half way to being a Faraday cage. A concealed job of finishing that cage would be difficult but most openings just need a grounded hardware cloth covering of proper mesh [must study TFA to see what frequency is used].

Active jamming to cancel out the incoming waves is not likely due to the high frequency they probably use.

BTW, do they test this thing on Dick Cheney to see if it shuts down pacemakers?

A Google search on "discredited soviet era biologist" produces, as its top match, a link to info on Lysenko...who pretty much got Stalin's blessing by touting a genetic theory, reviled and rebutted ever since, that such things are as now reported in mice could be used to change organisms...like Mensheviks. Ooops!

that is nice. but here in america, we have a plan to get back into the prison of poor health for poor people.

all those years skewering the Pointy Haired Boss when in fact the Pointy Haired Doctor was on a collision course with his contentment and independence.

I agree with this position.
Allthough there are complexities in assessing ones state of health toward the end, the majority of them can be addressed with a clear DNR order and durable power of attorney granted to a trusted younger friend...with backup provisions. In an era of smaller families and highly mobile careers, many /. readers will eventually be dying alone, sorry, just a strong probability ladies and gentlemen.

My GF works in a nursing home, surrounded by a mix of abandoned, demented people and others dying but with loving visitors. She has insisted we establish enforcible living wills and "just shoot me" are to be spelled out beyond any bureaucrats ability to meddle in our last wishes.

How long before the cloud computing and storage services start charging a slight premium to have your stuff run/store on lower spots in their server racks?

so little of what news is dragged before me these days does much to make me hopeful of humanity's prospects on this planet. This story is the rare exception. We could be a great species. We could solve what looked for centuries to be impossible problems. We could...

Thanks /. This story was not in any of my regular channels today.