I do the same and I consider it fun. I guess that's why I like what I do. Does it benefit my employer? Well certainly, but it benefits me too in terms of job performance, confidence, and job satisfaction. I tinker with things that I think are fun. The experience that you gain will take your career in that direction.

There are a lot things you can do with "small tweaks to firmware".

That's exactly what I proposed. But can you selectively reject any permission on an IOS app? I honestly don't know. Its a pain in the ass for an internet browser app to have to handle the case where the user has rejected internet access to the app. That's something that should be opted into before installing the app. If the user doesn't trust the app, they can install something else.

It would be great for an App maker to be able to selectively ask for permissions from a user. But letting the user pick and choose what permissions they want ANY app to have creates a giant headache for app makers. Think about all of the permutations you have to test for if a user selectively grants permissions. Think about the intelligence of half the people who use smart phones. A user disables a critical permission, app fails to function, and user rates the app 1 star. And don't tell me its the dumb user's fault, cause you know the app maker is going to have to deal with it regardless.

Due to inefficiencies in electricity storage, wouldn't this result in more electric consumption? How is this not counterproductive?

Ok, so extend it to small business. Small landscaping company owner. One of his employees starts stealing from the property owners. Should the owner be liable for the loss? Absolutely. Should he be sent to jail? Absolutely not. What would be the point? He's not a criminal. This is a slippery slope, one that leads society into constant fear, with everyone assuming unavoidable liability.

I hear people say the exact same thing all the time and it scares me that people believe this. Do you really want to live in a society where you can be thrown in jail because someone, that you have limited control over, does something illegal without your knowledge? Yes, as a CEO you have a responsibility to know what your company is doing, but anyone who has ever worked for a large company knows the CEO has very little visibility into what most of a company's individual parts are doing, other than what his/her direct reports tell them.

Given what we know about the US government, I think I'd have more faith in a laser printer bought from Walmart than one imported from a "secure" source.

"If your site doesn't work with JavaScript disabled, then it's a bad site" No its not. Its just a site that has accepted that it may have alienated a certain percentage of potential users. For many websites, that percentage of their customer base can be extremely small and have decided a degraded experience isn't worth it. The rest potentially benefit from a better user experience.

I thought the GOP stood for smaller government?

Fair enough. I agree there are numerous cyclists that don't follow the rules of the road. There are still a lot of people that do. I hope you aren't blowing smoke in their faces. I bet if you sat down and had a beer with us after our group ride you would find out that we aren't much different than you.

What you are saying is true, but the vast majority of this is due to the bigger is better mentality and the rednecks that subscribe this usually aren't responsible enough to take care of their shit.

And when I see you in your diesel truck blowing by me on the road, the one that we all know you really don't need and is blowing all that smoke because you haven't changed your oil in two years...we all know that you are compensating...

Windows couldn't make Windows Live Mesh run on their own platform. What makes you think they can make Windows SkyDrive work on someone else's?

Agreed, I'm paying $70 + tax for 20 MB, internet only.