In my experience the funds aren't actually "whisked out" of my checking account. They (surprisingly) charge the bill to my CC very near the due date, which gives me plenty of time to review the bill that gets emailed to me and resolve any charges before I let the auto payment go through.

You can, but it adds another step (more $$) to the manufacturing process if all you don't have homogeneous component type (e.g. all SMD or all through hole).

I've never had a problem with mini USB SMD connectors that come with two through-hole mechanical support posts (not soldered to anything - just snugly fit through holes you provide) plus four tabs that are soldered to big pads to provide the strong board attachment. Inside most consumer products this is how the mini and micro USB connectors are attached and it doesn't seem to be an issue.

The 300 million people living in the U.S.

Pirating music is definitely NOT easier than Google Music.

If a security vulnerability is discovered, then that piece of software is decidedly no longer working. A good update system allows you to choose whether you want minimal updates to fix just security updates, just bug fixes, or new features. In Ubuntu these channels are -security, -updates, and -backports. By default -security and -updates are enabled, but you are in control based on your needs. For example, you might choose to disable -updates (though I've personally had nothing but good come from the -updates channel)

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a cool project that definitely fills a need.

Good point. However, don't forget the downside of this system - software updates are a pain with each vendor adding their own software update daemon that nags you about updates. Or (for better or worse) no update system at all. Mac users have the same problem but it's not as bad because typically almost all their applications come from the same vendor - the same vendor that makes their OS.

The software repository system is part of the reason Linux distributions (Debian, in particular) have a reputation for better security.

I agree that Linux could use some more stability - and I think the LTS releases from Ubuntu are a good step in the right direction. Simply enable the "backports" software channel in these releases and you'll get fairly up-to-date versions of all the big name applications while keeping the core something stable that proprietary software vendors can target.

If I saw this hypothetical post, my reaction would be "Hm, since Microsoft knows exactly how many copies/licenses of Windows it has sold, so this must be a tactic to count how many *stolen* copies there are (and possibly pursue prosecutions)"

When I read the real article about canonical-census, my reaction was "Hm, it must be really difficult to track usage of this operating system that they are distributing free of charge without a tool like this"

Not just free calls to Canada, but cheap international calls. There are lots of ways to save money on international calls, but GV on an Android phone is by far the easiest I have found. Wife tested. Geek approved.

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I assumed the GP was referring to the ability to move sound from between output devices on different computers. In the middle of playing. (Both machines running PulseAudio, of course) This is what makes PulseAudio worth the growing pains that it has been.

WAF

?

This is largely due to the poor sound quality of voices over phone networks. My experience with my Droid is that if it gets good voice input, I get good text output. The dual-mic hardware on this thing should be very helpful with input filtering.

It can be easily explained. Whenever you buy an iPod/iPhone/MacBook you are paying a premium to fund the massive Apple ad campaign.