If that's true then maybe Intel is making this move so they can sell more product: Power breakdowns to stand in as a replacement for technological obsolescence (which has been petering out in recent years).

And before anyone calls me cynical, I know for a fact that Intel is concerned about keeping the replacement cycle going. They have stated it at times when investors were getting jittery, and they even had a TV ad in plain view that admitted they wanted to entice people who "thought" they were perfectly happy with their existing PCs.

Check out the Lenovo forums regarding the "stop code" problem on the T430s model. They rectified the production problems in early September.

Incidentally, coming from Macbooks I have to say that press coverage of Windows/Linux systems and their performance issues is very scanty. It feels like no single model sells enough units to garner a critical mass of attention. With Apple stuff, every model has 3rd party teardown videos, other online guides and press attention just days after hitting the shelves. Maybe the difference is the typical Apple user cares more... I can't figure it out but wouldn't be surprised if the non-Apple segment was suffering from fragmentation.

Thinkpad quality is still some of the best in the business, and I think their low extended warranty prices are proof of that. But it does appear that the ideapad consumer focus has pulled them off track a bit; The 'Thinkpad' brand is being spun off into a separate division to address that problem.

Early last year some Lenovo Thinkpads had issues with lockups due to a voltage regulator being off spec.

Not terribly on-topic, but it was either that or scream: "I just bought an Ivy Brigde laptop dammit, Dammit, DAAAMMMIT!!!"

Corporations are primarily a liability-limitation scheme for executives and shareholders, structured so that profit and growth must push aside other considerations. Corporate personhood or not, there's little reason to create one otherwise.

Indeed, it is libertarians all the way down in corporate thinking, and the corporate class are free to do what they want as long they have reached that stage of critical mass and minimal competition. We are supposed to ignore that the producers are free to affect the testing business through purchase of stock, etc. At least with government testing and standards, the regulatory capture should be readily apparent (Citizens United is an attempt to circumvent this, however).

This is priceless libertarian pro-corporate agita :D

How about saving people from the endless screaming via ads about having to use whatever new chemicals that will make us shiny, youthful and lovable? People are bombarded with advertising crap every day, sometimes all day non-stop. It is absolutely essential to push back on the worst of their getting rich through innovative chemistry schemes. Corporations do not have a right to propagandize (and even force) us into using their products in the absence of skepticism.

If you want a long-term antibiotic type effect in your mouth, eat foods or supplements that are rich in vitamin K2. It is chemically/structurally similar to vitamin K, but the 'small' difference makes it play an almost entirely different role in the body. K2 (especially the MK4 and MK7 variants, used with vitamin A/cod liver oil) has a moderating/managing effect on calcium uptake and tooth/bone health and somehow prevents plaque buildup (to the point where I wonder sometimes if I should bother brushing my teeth). More calcium ends up in your bones and less clinging to your arteries.

Some fermented bean products (like Japanese natto) have tons of K2, and this is where a lot of supplements get their source.

But the Brookstone one costs 4X as much, true to form...

Watergate whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg:
“Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life. (And his aide Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.)

He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me–which forced his resignation facing impeachment–are now legal.

That includes burglarizing my former psychoanalyst’s office (for material to blackmail me into silence), warrantless wiretapping, using the CIA against an American citizen in the US, and authorizing a White House hit squad to “incapacitate me totally” (on the steps of the Capitol on May 3, 1971). All the above were to prevent me from exposing guilty secrets of his own administration that went beyond the Pentagon Papers. But under George W. Bush and Barack Obama,with the PATRIOT Act, the FISA Amendment Act, and (for the hit squad) President Obama’s executive orders. they have all become legal.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/ellsberg-all-nixons-crimes-against-me-now-legal.html

To have the possiblity of secure communications, I suggest buying a recently manufactured PC with VTx and VTd/IOMMU capabilities and get used to running a minimally exploitable OS on it.

For portable devices, I recommend something that can have all the firmware flashed to something like Android or Firefox OS, has a removable battery, and no cellular radio. Also, re-flash on a regular basis.

And finally Slashdot is getting past its kneejerk response on stories like this: 'Get over yourself... the government isn't interested in your boring life'.

Not only are they interested (in filling up prisons, at least) but their corporate masters still remember what dealing with a powerful citizenry was like and it gives them nightmares.

Do you think millions of people who signed up for the service last decade read the changes in the EULA that show communications are centralized?

They seem to be trampling on peoples' expectations here.

At some point Skype was changed to allow a MITM situation.