More like every DVD player that's been manufactured(1995 onward). It's the programming for user operation prohibition flag, inside the player, (rom/pc software), that prevents the skipping of the FBI warning/commercial previews prior to viewing the content.

But, if the license is for x% of unit cost and the Qualcomm chips represent a small fraction of the overall cost, then Samsung is getting ripped off.

Meanwhile, I find it odd that Apple is getting ready to release an Iphone(5) with a larger(4") screen, in effect, copying Samsung's trend toward larger screens, so much for those trade and dress claims.

As for the tablets.. Sumsung uses 16x9 aspect ratio screens while Apple is still using 4x3.. Additionally Samsung has added a microSD slot to their new tablet line.

I wonder just how much longer Apple customers will tolerate the lack of battery replacement/expansion/lock-in in their purchases.

I count three authoritative references in my qoute..

  Just because they're not clickable doesn't mean their not true.

I'm posting another copy of my first post in this thread, because the first one got modded down to flamebait.. Slashdot has got to stop given mod points to these industry trolls, whom are subverting this forum to their will by suppressing alternative views. By the time the metamod mechanism kicks in, it too late, they've accomplished their goal of suppression.

.

Any work published by UNSCEAR, a branch of the IAEA should be treated as trash..

I quote a few paragraphs from an op-ed written by Joe Giambone, since I couldn't express my disgust any better than he has done already, Nuclear Nightmare Worsens - By Joe Giambrone (22/6/11) [futurefastforward.com]

"Send in the Clowns

The United Nations has already ramped up its UNSCEAR ostrich team. Its chairman Wolfgang Weiss was asked what health effects Japan would suffer, after the numerous Terabequerels discharged. Weiss replied, "From what I know now, nothing, because levels are so low."

Weiss and UNSCEAR have discredited themselves before they even got started. Their goal is to collect reams of data in the first two years, long before the cancers begin to metastasize, then claim victory for the atom and move on.

Weiss openly lied when he said, "The only proven effect after Chernobyl was thyroid cancer in children." Anyone who's even glanced at the Chernobyl disaster knows numerous people died, including thousands of "liquidators" the Soviet conscripts who cleaned up the mess. Independent research flies in the face of the UN cover-ups and places mortality at approximately one million casualties (Yablokov, 2009).

Weiss, the current UNSCEAR head, claimed:
"In Fukushima, the people were evacuated before any [radioactive] release took place..." (Reuters)
What? Another lie! What nonsense is this man floating as trial balloons? Nothing of the sort happened. Hundreds of thousands are still there, now, living in contaminated regions blanketed with Cesium 137.

Have no illusions about UNSCEAR and the IAEA. It is their job to make this go away, pretend all is fine. Cancers can take decades to form, and cancers are not counted by UNSCEAR, excepting the glaringly undeniable childhood thyroid variety. Here's an aside: If UNSCEAR admits that radiation releases cause thyroid cancers, is it not at least conceivable to them that the absorbed radiation is also causing other illnesses as well?

Numerous other maladies: birth defects, stillbirths, heart, lung, brain, organ diseases will certainly not be counted, and their victims will be ignored by the UN agencies. That means they never happened, right?

UNSCEAR and IAEA have turned science on its head with a logical fallacy that seems to pass unnoticed in the media. They claim that because there are "no biomarkers specific to radiation, it is not possible to state scientifically that radiation caused a particular cancer in an individual." (UNSCEAR, 2008) And they use this as some kind of insane proof that the cancers were not caused by radiation.

The UN then prepares faulty, fraudulent "death toll" counts that omit cancers when there is no scientific basis for omitting them. The "no biomarkers" logic cannot be used to rule out that radiation caused cancers: it's then an unknown. Radiation doesn't just magically lose its carcinogenic properties because of a faulty screening condition that disqualifies people from being counted. These are gradeschool shenanigans gone global."

Any work published by UNSCEAR, a branch of the IAEA should be treated as trash..

I quote a few paragraphs from an op-ed written by Joe Giambone, since I couldn't express my disgust any better than he has done already, Nuclear Nightmare Worsens - By Joe Giambrone (22/6/11)

"Send in the Clowns

The United Nations has already ramped up its UNSCEAR ostrich team. Its chairman Wolfgang Weiss was asked what health effects Japan would suffer, after the numerous Terabequerels discharged. Weiss replied, "From what I know now, nothing, because levels are so low."

Weiss and UNSCEAR have discredited themselves before they even got started. Their goal is to collect reams of data in the first two years, long before the cancers begin to metastasize, then claim victory for the atom and move on.

Weiss openly lied when he said, "The only proven effect after Chernobyl was thyroid cancer in children." Anyone who's even glanced at the Chernobyl disaster knows numerous people died, including thousands of "liquidators" the Soviet conscripts who cleaned up the mess. Independent research flies in the face of the UN cover-ups and places mortality at approximately one million casualties (Yablokov, 2009).

Weiss, the current UNSCEAR head, claimed:
"In Fukushima, the people were evacuated before any [radioactive] release took place..." (Reuters)
What? Another lie! What nonsense is this man floating as trial balloons? Nothing of the sort happened. Hundreds of thousands are still there, now, living in contaminated regions blanketed with Cesium 137.

Have no illusions about UNSCEAR and the IAEA. It is their job to make this go away, pretend all is fine. Cancers can take decades to form, and cancers are not counted by UNSCEAR, excepting the glaringly undeniable childhood thyroid variety. Here's an aside: If UNSCEAR admits that radiation releases cause thyroid cancers, is it not at least conceivable to them that the absorbed radiation is also causing other illnesses as well?

Numerous other maladies: birth defects, stillbirths, heart, lung, brain, organ diseases will certainly not be counted, and their victims will be ignored by the UN agencies. That means they never happened, right?

UNSCEAR and IAEA have turned science on its head with a logical fallacy that seems to pass unnoticed in the media. They claim that because there are "no biomarkers specific to radiation, it is not possible to state scientifically that radiation caused a particular cancer in an individual." (UNSCEAR, 2008) And they use this as some kind of insane proof that the cancers were not caused by radiation.

The UN then prepares faulty, fraudulent "death toll" counts that omit cancers when there is no scientific basis for omitting them. The "no biomarkers" logic cannot be used to rule out that radiation caused cancers: it's then an unknown. Radiation doesn't just magically lose its carcinogenic properties because of a faulty screening condition that disqualifies people from being counted. These are gradeschool shenanigans gone global."

"but the quality of your lines do not tend to change based time of day"

Are you kidding??Have you never heard of NEXT and FEXT (Near/Far End Cross Talk). DSL Line conditions change all the time, it's function of how may xDSL users are activity using separate wire pairs in the same cable bundles.

P.S. I recently dumped my ten+ year old DSL line, because it had been significantly degraded by some double pair Uverse (vDSL) installs just down the street.

Initially, I had a solid 1.5Mb down for about 5 years, but as the number of the AT&T aDSL deployments increased my rates dropped, A few years ago, AT&T dug up the underground wire taps at each pole and removed all the bridge taps, that improved my downstream S/N by 8db and restored my 1.5 Mbit/sec download speeds.

But in the end.. It was At&t's Uverse (vDSL) double pair deployments that finished off my long running DSL service. Even with Covad's max noise profile settings, FEC+Interleave @928K down, there was a reoccurring daily pattern, where my aDSL2+ modem would train down to 384K down with very high error rates.

"Would these locations prefer a windmill farm or coal fired plant. "

Wind farms are very efficient, converting 85 to 93% of the wind energy directly to electricity. Now compare that to a conventional thermal power plant.

The 60 to 65% waste Heat from 600MW(e) coal plant would be more enough to double the effective average solar flux (3 to 4kWh/m^2/day) over an area of 8 to 9 square kilometers. Note: Not including the indirect effects of CO2 and soot emissions, a doubling the effective solar flux is more than enough to transform the affected area into desert.

If one were to spread out that excess waste energy to match a typical 1 to 2C AGW forcing(1W/m^2) (0.72C by this study). It would work out to an 1 watt thermal forcing over an area of 900 to 1,114 km^2.

It should be obvious to all, that putting up some wind turbines is by far the most environmentally friendly solution to our energy needs.

"It's a shame it has to be dismantled."

Agreed.. I would have loved to spent some time behind the controls of this baby, see 16 page article on Sea Shadow layout/design, interior photos and other goodies

The companion Huges built Mining Barge(HMB-1), displacement floating dry dock, (with a retractable roof no less), should have kept the Sea Shadow in great shape while it was in storage.

"Theoreticaly, the worse failure modes are less likely, even when weighted by produced power. And, also theoreticaly, they should reduce faster than with big sized reactors."

Hmmm, 225MW(electric) let's see, what other nuclear power plants are in the same output range.. Assuming 30% efficiency.. 225MWh(e) /3 *10 == 750MWh Thermal.

Oh were did I see similar numbers recently?? FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI-2 760MWh thermal, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI-3 760MWh thermal

Ring a bell anyone?? There goes the safe size argument right out the window,.

Also with regards to SNR you can't increase S, at least not in the US. Power limits are set by the FCC. Never mind any technical problems (and there are many with trying to use powerful transmissions) you just aren't allowed to do so for cell networks.

There is a way to increase apparent S and reduce N simultaneously by using a directional antenna , thus increasing effective cell network capacity several fold by vectoring rf signals.

My dedicated t-mobile hotspot, (like many others), has a provision for an external antenna. I would gladly connect it up to a directional external antenna, increasing my throughput and reducing spectrum utilization. But the current downfall of that solution is that T-mobile charges substantially more for the hotspot service and requires a 2nd monthly subscription, thus negating any advantage for me. Instead, I'll continue to use an ordinary tethered smart phone for most of my data requirements.