I can always rely on Slashdot to crap on anything Microsoft does, even when it's actually a good product. Not that it's unique to this site, but at least others have the decency to just not bother mentioning it at all. Early reports already indicate that the Band is a hit; it's sold out online and apparently people have seen lines in the stores. That one is a first as every Microsoft store I've ever seen has been a ghost town.

Anyway, as a fitness band Microsoft's implementation seems to get the essentials right. It's packed full of features, works with all mobile platforms, and everything seems integrated quite nicely. That's a far cry from anything else currently on the market. It looks like it's obsoleted the more expensive FitBit Surge before it even hits the market.

I guess we'll see how it stacks up against the Apple Watch and Android's various smartwatches. They definitely offer a lot more utility, but they're also more expensive and relatively bulky. At this point I also think they suffer from being a solution in search of a problem. The utility of a fitness band is a bit more clearly defined.

I think the question here will be how much of a niche Microsoft manages to carve for itself. I expect the Apple Watch will be a big success no matter what, if for no other reason than because it's Apple and they're playing up the luxury angle. You can't really underestimate how irrational consumers get with luxury products. On the other hand, I don't really see people wearing those watches while exercising and that's where Microsoft could make inroads.

He might indeed be a stupid hick, but imposing taxes on every little thing is not something right-wingers typically do. That's primarily the purview of left-wing "progressives".

Europe, or the rest of the world for that matter, doesn't share the all-or-nothing approach of American politics. Over there it's typical for political parties and politicians to be staunchly conservative on some policies and hard-left socialist on others.

I upgraded my iPad 2 to iOS 8.1. There are occasional glitches and some things seem to take slightly longer to respond, but all in all it's not too bad.

Safari, unfortunately, is next to useless if you're using more than a single tab. Crashes don't seem quite as frequent as they were in iOS 7, but switch back to the other tab and the page reloads, every single time. I've switched to Chrome because this was getting too frustrating.

One interesting thing is how there is some framerate drop in transitions and overall things don't feel as snappy as they used to. Sometimes you do something, in settings, and it just sits there with no indication that it's working. It's something I've observed even on the iPad Air, although it's obviously less prevalent. I find it ironic considering Apple devotes have long been critical of the same thing in Android. In fact, in terms of overall performance my iPad 2 feels a bit like old Android devices. Serviceable, but not great.

It seems you're living in the UK. Windows Phone has had more success there than in the US. American consumers are fairly close-minded; they, by and large, follow the herd and refuse to consider alternatives. Android is gaining traction, but I still come across people who chose that platform only grudgingly; they prefer the iPhone but aren't willing to pay the premium to get one. They're painfully ignorant of other platforms, as evidenced by all the fanfare over ApplePay and the way people talk like Apple has invented NFC payments.

The problems for Windows Phone are exacerbated by atrocious retail and carrier support. Microsoft talks extensively about partnerships but carriers do little to promote the platform and most retailers don't care their phones at all. The only place you'll find them are carrier stories and there employees, either due to ignorance or pressure from management, actively steer consumers way from Windows Phone.

Conceptually, it seems similar to the kinds of rigs the movie industry uses to support cameras. I'm a bit surprised they haven't done this sooner considering I don't see anything here that's particularly exotic.

Just because socialized healthcare doesn't exist at a national level doesn't mean it doesn't exist at all. At the state level there are tons of programs for the poor that pretty much guarantee that all healthcare is free.

It looks to me like that was the best possible outcome. Too many people have an all-or-nothing mentality which, in this case, would have resulted in the work all being outsourced. In other cases the company just goes out of business, period.

I noticed performance improvements upgrading from Vista to Windows 8. I can't say the same about OSX or iOS.

Not to be pedantic, but I'm almost positive plastic pistons are not used in F1. They wouldn't be able to withstand neither the heat nor the forces. They do incorporate special designs to allow the engines to operate high RPMs. The valves, for example, don't have springs, they're pneumatic. With springs they'd be subject to valve flutter.

The days of 18k RPM are over. Maximum is about 15k RPM but the cars shift at 10k to 11k.

You must have gotten your Mac right on the cusp where they went fully 64-bit. Or maybe it's a Mac Pro? I got my iMac at about the same time and I'm stuck 2 versions behind now.

My iMac is stuck at 10.7 despite being a 64-bit Intel machine. Some random component inside that machine, related to the BIOS if I remember correctly, is not 64-bit and so I'm locked out of future updates. It sucks, but then OSX and specifically browser performance has degraded with every update. I have a PC that's about the same age, maybe a bit older, running Windows 8.1 flawlessly.

It's not really surprising at all considering that this reality is demonstrated in Europe and Asia on a daily basis. Once you accept that the government is responsible for the overarching welfare of society it's natural that they would adopt an authoritarian stance and intervene in corporate and economic affairs, all for the greater good.

That both ends of the political spectrum end up adopting similar approaches is probably inevitable. It may violate the original ideology, but bureaucracy makes it inevitable that both sides adopt the same strategy. It's how they market themselves that varies, but what they want is to secure their power base. That their decisions may or may not benefit the people is a side effect.

Too late... I saw it mentioned on one of the popular morning shows today.

I'm not sure what rock you've been living under if you believe Minecraft is last week's news. I might have thought so too until I started noticing that kids are more into Minecraft than at any point in the past. I think the cultural impact of that game has thus far been underestimated.

Outside of Farmville, Candy Crush and that class of social games I've never seen a game cross gender lines like Minecraft. I can't recall every seeing a game with such widespread, universal appeal, period. Super Mario Bros doesn't even come close. Walk through any store with a Minecraft book or toy in hand and you'll have a half-dozen kids comment on it. Every boy I've met under 14 plays the game and seems to do so on a regular basis.

It's possible Minecraft is peaking, but I personally think this is uncharted territory for any game. It's on the level of a Facebook in it's ubiquity. Someone will eventually unseat both, but it won't be easy. In the meantime there's so much that can be added to Minecraft to sustain that popularity, and significant updates still come on a regular basis.

Not that Microsoft couldn't kill the game by sticking everything behind pay walls but hopefully they'll be smarter than that.

I suppose in your universe cars would come without tires so that they can't force you to go with Pirelli over Michelin.

People want convenience. They don't want the pain in the ass of having to choose and then install their own OS, or worse, paying someone else to do so. I can't imagine a PC would be any cheaper without Windows, and if so, how much cheaper would it be? $20? $50? But the alternative is paying $80+ for a copy of Windows, which most consumers would inevitably buy. Many would then be forced to spend another $50-$100 to pay someone to install it.

For those who really don't want Windows, there are already countless avenues for purchasing a Windows-free machine.