Put a (USB) keyboard and mouse connector on it - and maybe a stand to hold the screen upright. Maybe instead of "tablet" or "laptop" the could call it a "desktop"...

Did my own custom [Open Source Hardware/Software] controller/system: http://www.bradgoodman.com/dimwatt/

No - but the Market will ultimately decide that.

Damn straight! That's why I did this with my Honeywell! ;-)

http://www.bradgoodman.com/thermostat/

The next is rediculously expensive. I use a Honneywell Wifi which is better. From what I know about the Nest from a lot of my friends that have it - the "smart" and "adaptive" stuff doesn't really work too well at all. The Honewell give you a basic schedule - and lets you access it remotely - which is what and all I really need. I don't need all the fancy display, UI, bells/whistles of the Nest. I hope/assume Google will go the "chromecast" route - in delivering an inexpensive, Wifi connected product that just works.

>> The bill will require patent holders who are filing a suit to identify the specific products and claims which are being infringed

It's a good start - in the "trolls" who hold patents but don't have any actual products wouldn't be able to meet this bar. However, it still would not prevent a troll from selling said patents to someone who HAS such an infringing product - to whom violation of such a patent would be valuable, and valid for suit.

I want to just make this incredibly clear to people: Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes are two completely different diseases. They have different causes and different treatments. IMHO, they shouldn't even share the same name.

So, how do I snap the QR code - if I am logging into the website - on my phone...?

I pushed the "stupid" button as soon as I read that. You can't just compare something to "drugs" - because different drugs work differently - and have differing levels of addictive qualities for very different reasons. For example, diploids (like Heroin) jack with your dopamine levels and are highly addictive, whereas stimulants (like cocaine) or depressants (like alcohol) can have very different affects in different people due to things like genetic factors, and mechanisms for ADD (which affect how stimulants affect you) - but in general are less addictive. Then there are things like tobacco that aren't "drugs" - but are also highly addictive.

So in other words...WTF??

(P.S. I'm not really educated in any of this kind of stuff and don't really know what I'm talking about - so don't bother correcting me)

I read on the Internet that they are....

Worst idea ever. There are "computers" and there are "mobile devices". The do different things and serve different purposes. History keeps repeating this. Tablets are not laptops. Tablets are great for watching porn, but people don't use them for serious, high-end productivity. (I am at work, typing this on a workstation, not an iPad).

Just because the two may have the same CPU ( which let's say for the sake of argument - they will) - it'doesn't mean people want an "iOS experience" on a MacBook pro. Chances are if they did - they would have bought an iPad. If they want a keyboard and a mouse (which they probably do - or they'd by an iPad) - they are probably doing things that are less condicive to the iOS-type "touch" interface. They want mouse control (which is more accurate than "touch", and doesn't require lifing one's hands up or far from the keyboard for extended or repetitive sets of time) - a keyboard - and possibly a multi-windowed environment - which they can do for a lot of stuff. They might be doing a lot of word processing, layout - or running XCode. They need to install their OWN SOFTWARE (without the restrictions and complications of Apple's certificates, licensince, AppStore, etc).

So I could see them packaging it as an "iPad with a keyboard" - but it would be a different product - and not a "replacement" for the Air or any other laptop.

But people still DO use it. It may not have been a "good" solution, but it was *a* solution. Today however, (just like with Flex), it is *not* a solution, because it would yield a web site which doesn't work with a lot of popular devices. That wasn't the case before iOS.

I think much of Java's *lack* of decline is attributable solely to it's "native support" (use) in the Android platform - just as the sudden rise of Objective-C (See Tiobe index) is obviously attributable to the iPhone and iPad devices.

Outside of Android - I believe use and acceptance is waning heavily. As a client-side web tool (where it got most of it's early predominance) it has been cockblocked by iOS, and is becoming overshadowed by native HTML5 (JavaScript) stuff. As a server-side tool it has been getting taken over by Ruby/Rails, Python and the stuff mentioned in the OP.

I can (half) see using "biometric" data in something like a grocery store. You swipe your card, and have to press your finger against the scanner in the store. No fingerprint match - no groceries.

But to insist on using "biometric" data for "online" purchases - how are they expecting to receive the biometric data? Through a scanner on the *users* computer? Even if it was done by some sort of credit-card hardware - you are now relying on not *biometric* data - but just *data* - as the users' computer has to send the data - and therefore who's to say if it's really "biometric" or not. (i.e. Some sort of reply attack - or something like it). My point is - there is no way to assure that it's really the user's fingerprint - just data matching the user's fingerprint. So how is this different than a conventional password?

At least a the grocery store - if you stick a "fake" finger on the scanner - you're going to at least create some suspicion - at minimum.

The current electronic electronic insulin pump and Continuous Glucose Monitor do everything described here (and even appear physically identical to the ones in this article) - EXCEPT for the fact that they will not AUTOMATICALLY suspend insulin delivery if your blood glucose level is too low. It will detect it - and give you an alarm - it just won't AUTOMATICALLY stop it.

The only "new" thing here is that the pump can AUTOMATICALLY stop delivery. This is a very small software tweak. The only thing that's different about this than getting a new firmware update for your iPhone - is that it requires BOAT LOADS of FDA certification to simply add the trivial (and obvious) feature - because hey, it is automatically messing with medication delivery.

There are two other less obvious things about it that really makes it a non-story:

1. Blood Glucose (BG) levels can rise or fall fast for one of many reasons. (Most "short-acting") insulins that are delivered from such a device take about 2 hours to reach their peak. So if the device realizes you are low and cuts off delivery - there is a good chance you could have "active" insulin already in your body which has yet to take affect. So the fact that delviery has been cut-off doesn't buy you too much - you still need to probably get some fast-acting carbs or glucogon to deal with the low blood sugar condition - or the fact that the "active" insulin could make you go even *lower* over the next 2 hours.

2. Most people who own the "Continuous Glucose Monitor" (CGM) piece very rarely use it. It is expensive, and yet another device to wear. They use them occasionally to get an idea of long-term trends, and for help in adjusting overall insulin levels that they program into the pump. It is also very inaccurate. (Blood tests taken from fingertips are the most accurate, though not even completely accurate themselves). Blood tests taken from a CGM worn on the abdomen or back, etc. are even less-so. So it suffers an inaccuracy which is like a time-lag" - i.e. your blood glucose level might rapidly falling and low - but a measurement from that site might not indicate that - just yet.

The "Artificial Pancreas" projects that people are referring to are ones in which the pump can deliver both insulin *and* glycogen - and have the intelligence to AUTOMATICALLY deliver them both as need. This is difficult, because now you have to "tell" the pump what your eating, and things like fat, protein and carbs will raise the BG. So for a device to do this without "knowing" what your eating, and to be able to do it with CGM data which isn't very accurate and not very timley, and to adjust it by delivering insulin which has a relatively slow absorption curve (over the course of hours) - makes for a difficult and messy problem.