Apple has always been behind in the technology race. The only thing Steve Jobs did was put them ahead in the propaganda and marketing race.

Good Android smart phones have always been cheaper and more capable than Iphones, the only thing that has changed is the RDF is wearing off and more people are realising what many of us have known for years. Android were offering 3G and LTE phones before Apple, its a joke amongst Android users that Iphone users can have the same features in 2-3 years... If Apple lets them.

Same with their computers. The hardware is the same COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) as other manufacturers but has a higher mark up, the software is nothing special. Most people who know how to use a computer end up infuriated when trying to use a Mac.

Apple has a problem now that Steve Jobs' cult of personality is diminishing. Without that, they're just another hardware vendor in a very competitive market.

As a 20yr IT guy

As a 35 year old sysadmin I can say your inexperience is showing. (and I work in IT.. and push it pretty hard.. so No, I'm not "just surfing Facebook" with it)

Looking at the various current certifications (VCAP-DCV, VCP-NV are the ones worth mentioning) I can say there is a metric shit load that doesn't work on Safari. So I'm calling shenanigans on that.

Looking around at a room of IT specialists, the only ones with a Mac are middle managers. This is why we dislike it, it's a product designed to keep the user occupied, not to enable the user to be productive.

The F35 is meant to be a replacement for the FA18. Many countries with a small airforce tend to use one type of jet, the FA18 is the first choice in multi-role fighters for those who can afford them.

In reality, the only way to fight a war like ISIS is to do what was done to Germany -- level all cities (and all buildings in the city) that even are rumored to have insurgents. Without the commitment to do actual, yucky warfare that completely breaks all resistance... half-ass measures just creates emboldened enemies (think "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!".)

I can only assume that you're fighting for ISIS, because hundreds of thousands of martyrs to the next generation is their wet dream.

ISIS doesn't have cities. If you bomb the cities in the middle east ISIS will grow from an organisation of a few thousand to an organisation of millions because the alternative is to sit at home being slaughtered. ISIS is closer to a conventional enemy than any other terrorist organisation, they're trying to gain and hold ground, establish power using traditional means.

They say "Americans are always ready to fight the last war" but it seems you're even further back than that. You dont remember that WWII wasn't won by bombing cities, it was won because the allies were a better alternative to Nazi rule. Carpet bombing is widely considered to be one of the biggest mistakes of WWII, its value to the war was questionable for the resources it consumed.

Its your mindset that lead to the utter failures that were Vietnam and Iraq part II.

Sure it may be its secondary purpose, but it will be its primary use.

This, a thousand times this.

I was trained to drive defensively from the word go. This means keeping your eyes outside the car. You'd only need to scan your instruments (which realistically means just your speedo and maybe your rev counter if you drive a manual and cant hear or feel the engine (AKA: the most incompetent manual driver in the world)). I check my instruments every 10 to 15 seconds, about the same interval as I check my mirrors.

As such I've never understood the argument "I keep getting speeding tickets because I dont want to constantly stare at my speedo". This tells me a few things that make you a terrible driver.
1. It takes you a while to figure things out. My speed registers in my brain in a fraction of a second, if it takes you longer to read a number I'd hate to think how long it takes you to register a real hazard like a dog or cow in the road.
2. You cant keep a consistent speed. If your speed changes that drastically in 10 seconds, its time to admit you need lessons.

This. This is why when I want to get work done and not get distracted I shut down Outlook, IM, my browser and any other thing that might distract me. The difference is if I get distracted on my PC, I get distracted. If I get distracted in my car people could die.

A big popup interface on the windscreen is going to serve as a fantastic distraction. Especially as it's primary use is going to be Facebook, Twitter and so forth. People who are already terrible drivers will be staring right at the back of the car as they plough into it because their brain wont even register that the car is coming closer as their too distracted reading the latest tweet about gluten free mittens or some such.

As such, I'm filing this study under N for "No shit".

Knowing the way airports work. They'll have to spend at least 25 minutes hosing down the wings with a special machine (which is just a Karcher that costs 18 times as much) which will only result in all your luggage getting wet as the handlers will be hosed down as they go through it for anything worth stealing.

The article I read pointed it out, they pointed out the study was funded by Yelp
http://www.newsweek.com/google-search-hurting-yelp-finds-study-funded-yelp-348299

The article also points out that Yelp are launching a browser extension to "fix" search results. So it seems Yelp is trying to do exactly what its accusing Google of doing. This "study" is an exercise in astroturfing for a browser plugin that at best manipulates search results (I think that assuming it will also collect data on the user is not a paranoid delusion).

Personally I dont blame Google for demoting Yelp search results. I've never found anything useful on there and having some friends in the hospitality industry, their tactics in extorting money out of hotels and restaurants would make the Mafia blush.

There, fixed that for you.

Greece is in it's predicament because of it's endemic corruption. Tax evasion isn't just a national past time in Greece, it's considered an inalienable right. France does not have this problem.

Those of us who are old enough to remember know that SupCom was essentially a modern day remake of Total Annihilation.

TA suffered from some huge, glaring UI problems (specifically around hotkeys, which are essential when playing an RTS). However for proper stratergy you need to look beyond RTS to turn based strategy. Games like Civ make SupCom and TA look minuscule in scope.

Reality disagrees with your assertion.

Quality is the first thing that goes in a race to the bottom and that's exactly what you're proposing. I've lived in places where there was an oversupply of taxi drivers. Eventually you reach a point where there are so many taxis they start to resort to any number of dirty tricks. These range from grabbing you and manhandling you into a cab to dodgy meters to forming gangs and enforcing turf.

One thing that is consistent is that the quality of driver is very, very low. This is consistent from my experience with Phuket's Tuk Tuk drivers to the Dominican Republics Motoconchos to Filipino trike drivers. Quality always suffers when its a free for all. Its like saying that a buffet will be better quality than made to order because it's cheaper.

Every place with deregulated taxis disproves this assertion. The system does not regulate automatically, if the government does not regulate it, someone else will. Typically when regulation is left to the drivers they form gangs, establish turf and are pretty violent in enforcing it. Its not the clean, rational system you imagine.

Also, self regulation leads to higher prices, not lower prices. A taxi in well regulated Bangkok is very cheap, 400 Baht from the airport to the city centre. A taxi in unregulated Phuket is extremely expensive, they wont turn on the engine for less than 200 baht.

This, and social media is just the latest form of doing it.

For a long time this kind of manipulation has been the domain of major news agencies. They'd print inflammatory statements and headlines with the express intent of stirring up public outrage, trial by media such as the Chamberlain case is a classic example. With social media its gotten worse as a single person can fabricate enough half truths, exaggerations and outright lies to create the same kind of outrage.

On one hand, people should be more sceptical and mistrustful of random news sources, on the other hand humans are emotional and irrational creatures. The one unintended and good side effect of regular false outrage that we're experiencing is that people are developing a resistance to outrage, which explains why newspapers like the Daily Mail which relies on creating false outrage to sell hate social media outrage.

I would guess that the answer is "yes" we are too quick to act on media outrage (no matter if it is social or traditional) but that's human nature.

The thing is, ironically the Daily Mail is trying to point out that we should be more sceptical when the DM in itself is one of the publications which is most deserving of scepticism.

The DM may be having one of it's "broken clock" moments, but even then you can bet there's an agenda behind it.

Point in short, you should never take the Daily Mail at face value.

Utter bollocks.

I dont know when it became popular for people who are racist, sexist or homophobic to claim they're persecuted when someone points out their obvious flaw, but it's complete bullshit and a really poor attempt to poison the well.

I guess it's just a slightly more advanced effort than prefacing a racist statement with "I'm not racist but...". It's childish, immature and it doesn't work.