Are you referring to the table that is titled "Non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units"?

Metric Time != Acceptable non-SI units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_time
"Metric time is the measure of time interval using the metric system, which defines the second as the base unit of time, and multiple and submultiple units formed with metric prefixes, such as kiloseconds and milliseconds. It does not define the time of day, as this is defined by various time scales, which may be based upon the metric definition of the second. Other units of time, the minute, hour, and day, are accepted for use with the modern metric system, but are not part of it."

Now, not disputing that you can use them as a SI-style base, but wasn't the point of SI was easier math? No crazy unit conversions, just move a decimal point around. Diving by 60, 24 and 365 and etc. is ugly and on top of that, things don't exactly line up either. How long do you consider a year (Hint, there are several acceptable lengths of time as an answer)

I guess computers *do* use SI in the aspect that time is generally done in 10ms quantum's, or whatever your particular OS uses.

Stupid side note to this; The startup screen was a .rle file that was on the install disks. When you ran setup it copied this file, along with the code section and the string file into Win.com. You could do the same with a "copy /b win.bin+win.str+winlogo.rle win.com" from a DOS prompt.

It's not considered export. US military bases are much like embassies in that they are considered US territory. And the fact that your giving it to a US national overseas also doesn't count as export.

I have an Android phone and a Windows Mobile 6 phone. Granted, I don't run many things on the WMP6 device, but I can tell you that when I need to make a call, it is the phone I reach for 100% of the time. Better call quality, less random reboots, and overall it works better as a phone. I sync it automatically so I have no fear of losing it besides getting stuck buying a newer phone.

I did quite a bit of travel with it and loved it. Since I am with a non-national carrier, when I am away from my home state I don't have a preferred tower, I grab whatever I can get from at&t, us cellular or T-Mobile. I loved being able to walk into the NYC or Boston subway system talking on my phone while getting angry glances from iPhone/Android users with their nice shiny brick.

Now, I've had this phone since mid 2007, and have never once deleted a text message (minus spam) and my pm.vol file (backing store for text messages) was somewhere around 120MB last I looked. Text messaging functionality sometimes gets slow and can take 30 seconds or so for the message to open. Having been through two long term relationships over the life of the phone with women who loved to text has a lot to do with that, but I place the same value in the old messages as I do photos.

Net of it is that I really want a new WM7 phone because I think the interface is better (I use a 360 and have Win8 preview running on my laptop) and want the connectivity it gives me to my other entertainment devices (phone, Xbox , PC). I'm sure the SmartGlass feature will work on my Android device at some point, but also am sure that it will be flakey, inconsistent and overall useless. I hate my touch keyboard on it, and honestly would use the keypad for the 360 before my phone to input text.

Long term, any bets on if Nokia becomes the vendor of choice for Windows 8 tablets? I can see the WM7 app market growing rapidly with the cross development from the PC market and Nokia is really positioned nicely right now for the benefits of that.

Because the last time someone hacked a Sony product it ended up swell for him...

No, wait, it was a horrible, horrible mess that paved the way to having such a bad public image that when your network is pwned the collective response wasn't of outrage, but of a giant "Ha-Haa!!!" (in Nelson's voice, of course).

The issue is that consumers have a stupidly short memory when it comes to pain. How many times have you gotten called to fix a computer for someone, clean out the massive amount of porn related viruses/Trojans and get called back a week later for the same issue? Doesn't matter how many times you tell someone don't go to those sites, they still do. Why? It's because they forget the pain of losing all their crap and want the rewards of porn. Doesn't help there that it's related to a biological urge, but still.

Long term the whole PSN hacking issue will probably end up making Sony money. If anything, it brought them into the news and made them seem relevant at the time Apple and Nintendo were still getting a lot of press on their products.

People don't care. I myself have a Sony HD TV. Got it as a throw away from a friend who got it replaced due to Sony's faulty 3LCD projection light engine. A little cleaning and a replacement with some optical filter glass and its good as new. Same with the PS3 I have. The Blu-ray drive is dead, but works awesomely as a media player. Since it's on a private network dedicated to just media systems at home, it never gets on PSN. I have avoided updating it so it still runs Linux if I want, but generally I have such a low tolerance of their products that I really don't mess with it. I stream video using PS3Media Server and it works well doing what I want it to do.

I've had 3 Sony receivers. All died in a time frame that I consider short (but of course longer then the warranty period). I had a Sony stereo in my car. Even after having it replaced by Best Buy, it still skipped and had a 'tinny' sound to the music. MP3 playback was garbage. Add the TV, the 100% of my friends who had to replace their PS3 (ok, it's only 3 friends who own one, and all 3 had to replace, but still; compared to the 30% of my friends who have 360's and had to replace them, but on Microsoft's dime, not theirs) and you start seeing a trend of declining quality. I grew up with a father who told me "You can buy better, but you at least got a Sony". It probably is the reason that I have taken the abuse as long as I have. I'm sure I will have Sony products in my house and will continue to consume media/entertainment made in part by them, but will never choose a Sony product over a comparable product again.

They are now "Oh man, I had to get a Sony".

Yeah, but the problem is that once it passes in California, if and when there is a drop in crime you will see every other state use that as a reason to pass it. California generally does what it wants on its own and others follow. See CARB for an example of California regulations basically becoming federal (most aftermarket car parts are either CARB compliant , or not street legal anywhere.)

Now if this law primarily acts as a multiplier to other crimes (such as how weapons in robberies adds mandatory time to it) instead of using it to harass legal owners I'd support it.

And, just to be fair, things like airbags in cars could be a drop in for your complaint (minus the NRA link). It has added expense to cars, makes repairs more expensive (generally if the airbags deployed is the cutoff for repair/replacement from insurance), makes modifications harder (aftermarket steering wheels, issues w/ where the sensors are located for replacing front ends, etc.). It has made car ownership harder, but how has this impacted the used car market? 10 years from now it will be almost impossible to find a used car without airbags. Now granted you can own a car without airbags, but it is also prohibited in some areas from selling a car that came with airbags without them.

Now the serial number might add overhead to gun sellers. But as with almost every other manufacturing process, there will be improvements in the process, and I'd be surprised if 10 years from now if this adds even 1% to the overall cost of manufacturing.

Agreed. Criminals are generally stupid and have zero forethought. But any law is practically worthless to anyone with either a) Brains, or b) Money.

Fingerprints are much the same way. Painfully simple to work around (gloves? Even O.J. knew that) but still a ton of criminals fail to wear them. Personally, if something like this only adds time to a criminals punishment, it would help to keep violent offenders behind bars longer.

Well, for one, defacing the firearm you use to kill someone would show prior intent, and intent is the difference between 2nd degree murder and 1st (in most jurisdictions).

For an example of my concern, take this example:
Douchebag husband beats wife. He also, being a paranoid %#@$, replaced the legal firing pin with an unmarked one (or filed it down). Now, wife is afraid for life, uses gun on husband and kills him. Should be a case of self defense, but the question of who changed the firing pin now makes it a criminal case, and the poor woman now has more drama to deal with before trying to get her life back.

I guess my concern isn't the cost. Who cares, you can pick up a shotgun for next to nothing at a pawn shop.
And generally criminals are dumb and get caught.

Now, if the technology allows, I'd support the way guns worked in Judge Dread. If the gun could take a DNA sample and imbed it in the round to have an actual one-to-one matching of a spent round and a shooter, that would be a different issue.

Add in Windows Key + Number to start apps. IE, My second icon is for Windows Explorer, I can hit "Windows + 2" and it switches to it. Holding WinKey and hitting '2' repeatedly will cycle through all that applications windows.

Exactly. She was stupid for having a single account for things that should have been separated. Not really sure how using assets for a charity being tied to a professional/personal site is, but I think the Texas/Federal IRS should be taking a look at this charity

Ok, so if you wrote a game/app and it was on TPB, you don't get to complain because a lot of people have it already?

I've done support work for charities before, and the few times I needed images I was able to get a photographer friend of mine to do it for free since it was for a charity. In a city as large as Houston, are you saying there is *no one* that could have taken that picture for her? It's not like where he did it was restricted or anything.

It's not his responsibility to know all the ends and outs of the hosting companies TOS. She knew it when she signed up for the service. The issue here is that she tied charitable sites in with commercial/personal. If she had separated them into different accounts, then when the DCMA hit, it would have only impacted her sites in that account. I deal w/ clients, and although it would be easier on me to have all of them under a single account on GoDaddy, I'd rather keep each separate for reasons such as this.

Was he a douche for using DCMA? No, if he wanted to be a dick about it, he's perfectly able to file a small claims suit against her over it. She was wrong in every way possible here.

Going with the logic that she was doing charitable work and should be given some leeway, then why does /. bash Microsoft so much when the Gates Foundation does so much aide work worldwide?

Wait, so are you saying that a Windows derivative is more secure then a Linux derivative?
*runs to look outside*
HOLY F^$K THERE ARE PIGS FLYING!

One problem I have read about on Android is that some 3rd party apps and even shovel-ware put on the phone by vendors is weak. Basically I could install a totally legit text messaging app and another app could invoke it to send messages on its behalf. So from a user standpoint, I approve the text messaging app to send SMS (legit) and later I install Uno. It could wait some random period of time and then start sending messages. This is actually preferred for the malware creators because then it also has another variable as when it would work (say its dependent on a carrier branded dialer, or some other 3rd party app).

http://www.ei.rub.de/media/trust/veroeffentlichungen/2010/11/13/DDSW2010_Privilege_Escalation_Attacks_on_Android.pdf
(Sorry, PDF)
This has a pretty good explanation of the problem, and honestly I'm not sure if this could also work on an iOS device. (Can apps on iOS invoke another app?)

Interesting people have not noticed that Sony Music is still on the list.
Also, I noticed the National Sheriff's Association is also on the list. Guess my yearly donation will now be going to a better org.

Now the question I have is that if SOPA passes, how long do you think it will take for every business that supports it to have some sort of infringing material?
"Oh look Sony, I can tell by the metadata in your websites header image that some intern you hired years ago used a pirated version of Photoshop....**OFFLINE**"

Oh, I forgot to add their issues with CCD's in the past as well.