... not because of government.

There is a nagging feeling of nihilism today. That nothing we do as an individual matters - including voting. That is a HUGE problem. People, in general, are busy going about their lives. When we do vote, we try to make good decisions. But it doesn't seem to make any difference. Time and time again, politicians have shown that any trust the public puts in them is horribly misplaced.

Like the old adage says: Anyone who actually wants to be President, should not be elected.

I work for a company big enough that my CEO could get the ear of Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs told him that he did not care about our corporate purchases. That was nearly 2 years ago. The market and the strategy have proved him correct.

Businesses of almost any decent size always seem to think that their "buying power" entitles them to discounts. As Apple has proven, if you make a product that everyone wants, it will find its way into the corporate world. Not only did Apple not give any discounts, they charge a premium for their products and got one of the largest corporate quarterly profits in history as a result. Kudos.

Everyone wants their iGadgets to be usable in the corporate world. But allowing corporate data onto those devices is a nightmare in the making. Because they are owned by the individual, not the company, pushing policy to them is not acceptable. Allowing unfettered, unencrypted access to the corporate network is just not possible. How many unencrypted lost devices with GBs of customer data have to be lost/stolen before everyone accepts that as fact?!

Along comes portable device virtualization. This is coming soon for Android devices. I don't know about iOS. When robust enough, users can opt to allow a virtual corporate "machine" to be created on their own device. That virtual device within the physical device is then given the necessary access. Pushing policy (like forced encryption, 30-second screen-lock timeouts, etc.) can be done. If the device is lost, then that virtual portion can be remotely wiped. No harm.

That's the future of personal portable devices. I don't want corporate control over my personal devices, so I have both a company phone and a personal phone. Clunky because I carry them both around. Once I can go corporate-virtual, I will ditch the company physical device and be that much happier. Consumers will be that much happier too since they can get a new personal device whenever they want, rather than being limited by company policy (or politics) as to when they can upgrade.

So MS (and any other company) will be forced to compete with Apple at the same level. There is no providing the functionality that Apple doesn't. The market does NOT want another device. They want ONE device - And one device only - that gives me corporate and personal capabilities, but also keeps them separate. And companies want to know that their data is secure.

After a record-breaking 6-1/2 FEET of rain in 2011, water is more than plentiful in the Cleveland area. Please take some. Actually, take a lot. We're drowning over here!

I installed on my Android tablet (Acer Iconia, btw). I have not played games since Quake II - yeah, I'm old(er). But I thought I'd try it out just to see what all the hype was about.

Here's why I keep playing it: Learning the game was fast and the controls are intuitive. I can fire it up in seconds, play a few levels and be done. I don't feel like I need to invest hours in it just to get good at it. But the game itself is actually enjoyable and satisfying to play. Look, after a day of stress at work, I don't really want to "work" at playing a game. I want to relax and have some fun. The graphics are well done and the sounds made by the birds and pigs are humorous. Even after playing it for weeks, I still giggle a little at the sound effects.

But really, the biggest thing is that the game is good for time-fill rather than time-suck. Also, let's face it: There are millions (billions?) more people who are not "gamers" than there are "gamers". (Too many quotes? Possibly.)

Uh ... That's my point exactly.

This is not surprising given that the U.S. military spends more annually on air-conditioning than the entirety of NASA's budget.

When talking trillions of $ in government spending, it's thoroughly and completely embarrassing that an accomplished org like NASA has to scrap for a few billion

The problem is that the vast majority of users have no idea the BIOS even exists, let alone how to change a setting within the BIOS.

Meaning that if that if "Secure Boot" is enabled by default, then it will never be changed by the end user. Linux users and computer enthusiasts in general will not have a problem with it. But, honestly, MS doesn't care about that 0.5%.

Perhaps Netflix, whose price hikes were the subject of another Slashdot story; about three stories ago; could be in a position to buy Cisco out and then use them as their in-house infrastructure provider?

Netflix did not raise their prices that much.

Finding people that you want to follow on G+ is not very easy. But this site seems to work pretty well at making is somewhat easier: http://www.findpeopleonplus.com/

No. But you can get a "nifty" bluetooth keyboard, docking station and protective cover that doubles as a stand.

It's a touchscreen, why would you need a trackball for navigation?