You're not going back far enough. I'm referring to the Steve Wozniak days at Apple.

I'm also referring to the hardware lockdown in Apple products over the past decade.

Slashdot has fallen quite a bit for such a misinformed, rambling post gets modded insightful.

You're projecting a lot of MS's business practices onto Bill Gates, conveniently ignoring the other players. Someone who lacks imagination does not drop out of Harvard to start a new company that managed to revolutionize desktop computing.

Someone who cares more about money than good products would not start the Buffets-Gate Giving Pledge, and contribute significant portion of their wealth via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

OTOH, Steve Jobs cut all corporate charity programs after taking over in 1997.

While the original Apple products where hacker friendly, that certainly was not the case after Steve Jobs returned.

This is a load of fanboy horseshit I'm not going to even bother debunking.

This is what's great about LBE Privacy Guard (requires root).

When an app requests contact info, location data, etc. LBE gives the usual warning up. The difference is when you say no, LBE feeds the app dummy information rather than directly block thus avoiding the force close issues that plague other implementations.

It's not in the OP, but the engineer provides more information in his blog post.

Server room pics

I'm surprised that this question came up on Slashdot, but I regularly see and answer this question in other photography communities.

Use these two links to determine which camera to buy:
Snapsort
DPReview

There are a few things you need to decide:

• budget: DSLRs and lenses are a huge money sink.
• portability: Are you OK with carrying a bag of lenses? Do you want something to throw into your backpack / purse?
• subject material: People? Sports? Landscapes? Events? Macro?
• movie mode: 1080p @ 30fps a must?
• durability: Do you plan on shooting in the rain? In sandy conditions?

(emphasis mine)

You state that you don't want to get into photography as a hobby or profession, but you just want to take good family portraits? Good portrait photography is not really that subjective and is a combination of good lighting, subject isolation, and timing (for non-posed shots). A camera is just a tool, you have to gain some basic mastery of the tool in order to use it well. Dropping a few hundred dollars on a camera and leaving it in Auto / Program mode will not get you the photographs you're looking for.

Without more information, these are the suggestions I'd offer:

Non-DSLR, non-superzoom route:
- Canon S100 or S95
- Panasonic LX-5 or LX-3

Canon if you want more zoom range, Panasonic if you want better low light capabilities.

DSLR route:
- used Canon Ti1 or Ti2
- used Nikon D90

Pick up a 50mm f1/.8 when you feel limited with the kit lens.

One drawback is Amazon allows you to download and install the app even if your phone is not compatible. This is because Amazon wants you to get a free copy of the app if you upgrade your phone or Android OS in the future.

However there is no warning of this to end users, so what ends up happening is random bugs or FC's which lead to poor reviews by uneducated users.

I forgot to mention this in my original post, but a company has already been doing this for the past 5 years called HomeAway.

I don't have any experience with them, but they've managed to avoid AirBNB PR disasters for 5 years running . . .

Ideally centralizing payment and identity verification to a 3rd party is a step up from Craigslist where you have to do it all yourself. EJ stated that AirBNB does not give out contact information until after someone's rented the place, preventing screening applicants.

However from the terms (keep in mind they may have changed it since EJ's case):

"1.2 Identity Verification. We make no attempt to confirm, and do not confirm, any user's purported identity. You are responsible for determining the identity and suitability of others who you may contact by means of this Site. We do not endorse any persons who use or register for our Services, whether as guests or hosts. We do not investigate any user's reputation, conduct, morality, criminal background, or verify the information that any user submits to the Site. We encourage you to communicate directly with potential hosts and guests through the tools available on the Site and to review your hosts’ and guests’ profile pages for feedback from other users.

13.1 IF YOU USE OUR SERVICES, YOU DO SO AT YOUR SOLE RISK. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT Airbnb DOES NOT CHECK ANY GUEST, HOST, OR OTHER USER’S BACKGROUND OR RECORD. Airbnb IS A REPUTATION-BASED SYSTEM. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OTHER USER’S COMMENTS AND THIRD-PARTY REFERRALS ON HOSTS AND GUESTS. USE COMMON SENSE. BE AWARE AND BE SAFE. OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM, AND YOU WAIVE, ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

14.1 WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, GENERAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES) EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO: (A) THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE OUR SERVICES; (B) HARM OR DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY AS A RESULT OF USING OUR SERVICES; (C) DISCLOSURE OF, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR CONTENT; (D) ANY HARM TO YOU CAUSED IN WHOLE OR PART BY A THIRD PARTY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANOTHER USER OF THE SERVICES; (E) STATEMENTS, CONDUCT OR OMISSIONS OF ANY GUEST, HOST, OR OTHER THIRD PARTIES ON OUR SERVICES; OR (F) YOUR OR ANYONE ELSE'S CONDUCT OR ACTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FROM INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS OF OUR SERVICES OR PERSONS INTRODUCED TO YOU BY OUR SERVICES, WHETHER ON-LINE OR OFF-LINE."

In essence, I find it hard to understand what added value AirBNB provides over either Craigslist (pay) or Couch Surfing (free, reputation-based).

Automatic face recognition already exists within Google's Picasa (web and desktop client). However the main differences are:

- You need to train the face recognition yourself (very time consuming).
- There is no centralized database. If you lose your Picasa database, you have to retag / retrain Picasa engine.
- It is opt in (by virtue of work required) rather than Facebook's version where you can't opt out.

On the other hand, there are security and privacy implications of Facebook storing my facial likeness.

Google Plus could have easily enabled facial recognition on launch, but one of the advantages of being late to the party is get to learn from everyone else's mistakes (and their own with Buzz, Wave, etc).

The 2048x2048 freebies only applies to G+ users, normal user freebie is 800x800. Also you can just upload using Picasa desktop app to share on Plus if you hate web uploaders.

Also G+ will not be invite only in the long run. However there will be better signal:noise feeds because of asymmetrical relationships vs Facebook's mutual relationships. Most people (myself included) seem content with starting over and keeping their G+ circles intentionally small.