Google seems to keep making bone-headed moves it thinks will drive people to actually start using its moribund Google+ network; and, like all the past moves, it almost certainly will not work.

I say this somewhat - but not completely - tongue in cheek: Will we see a day when Google decides Android phones can no longer do SMS, because "our new GMS (Google Messaging Service) provides a superior messaging platform through integration with your Google+ circles"?

At first glance, I thought it said "Mice, Nerds Retrieved After a Month Orbiting Earth"...

Or a Series 4000 mechanoid.

Anytime you use Visual Basic, you are incrementing the counter keeping track of exactly which Circle of Hell you'll eventually be deposited into.

Not to mention a mean developer age of 73...

That would make a lot of sense - a more or less Stock Android TV box.

Heck, I've been wondering why Apple hasn't opened the Apple TV up to developers, given its already running iOS.

Roku boxes and Apple TVs can already do this AND offer access to external services like Netflix and Hulu - for under a hundred bucks. Heck, my LG television has a Plex client built in - no extra box is even needed to get at my own stuff.

So I'm not sure why most people would be interested in a box that only handles local content - but maybe you mean "local" differently than I'm interpreting it.

That thing died faster than the Kin - can we really refer to it as "discontinued" when it was pretty much stillborn?

On the plus side, its successor has a very, very low bar to clear...

I was gonna go with "not if I can help it"; but the sentiment's the same.

I imagine this might happen just often enough to have a chilling effect on their adoption amongst geeks.

I'm not particularly worried they will ever take off with the mainstream public.

Yeah, you're making two claims here, neither of which I believe.

Yes, this is how the system is designed to work. But it's a very complicated system that was designed by humans. People make mistakes in implementation, and tomorrow people will know things they don't know today. I've seen too many claims similar to yours fail in the past to really believe the designers of NFC thought of everything.

Wait... You keep your phone in a holster? And off?

Your issues with the payment app system aren't really anything that affects most other people. My phone, for example, is in my pocket - and on. Getting at it isn't any more work than pulling my wallet out of a pocket, and launching an app is as fast as finding the correct card somewhere in my wallet.

Heck, my wallet isn't even in my pocket, more often than not. It's usually buried in my computer bag.

Sure they were... and I suppose next you're going to blame the Belgians for Morris Dancing?

So I assume you're on Microsoft's side, not Google's, when it comes to the YouTube app on the Surface?

No kidding. Last year he wouldn't talk; this year he won't shut up.

I think I preferred 2012 Larry.