Couldn't they trace the serial number on the returned box, match that up to the iTunes account used to activate the missing iPad, and nail the perps that way?

Disclaimer: I classify myself as a libertarian and I'm an engineer by training so take this with a (very large) grain of salt. Maybe engineers tend to be libertarian because when you apply a systems analysis approach to what is wrong with government/the system/the world it just turns out that the rational common sense "solutions" all end up falling under the libertarian umbrella. How probable (or improbable) can it be that so many (supposedly/hopefully) smart and rational people can all be wrong?

As far as I can recall, the US dropped support for the Kurds after Turkey complained about the "risks" of having an independent Kurdish state. Turkey has a Kurd province bordering Iraq ands did not want to see its own internal Kurdish independence movement.

I have a (B.Eng) degree in software engineering. I started out in the R&D startup world in 2003, doing the usual CS/SE things like QA, maintenance programming, and finally ending up in requirements analysis/system design. In 2007 I decided that I didn't want to spend my life working for stock options that aren't worth the paper they're printed on and went for a career change into IT. With zero helpdesk experience I interviewed for a senior Linux sysadmin position in the IT outsourcing branch of at a major (Fortune500) telco -- got a job offer the same day. Fast forward 5 years later I'm still with the same company but I'm now a sales engineer supporting salespeople that sell the same IT services I used to run. The kicker -- I make double the money that I did doing R&D. I'd say that if you know your shit and can get shit done, then it doesn't matter if you're trying to do CS with IT experience (or vice versa). Good employers will even consider it an asset to have experience from "the other side of the fence". IMHO IT knowledge will make you a better programmer, and CS knowledge will make you a better sysadmin. You'd be surprised how many PHP/Java web developers don't understand the support consequences of their sloppy code -- they only see as far as QA. A PHP injection flaw on a web page that gets 10M+ views/day will generate a LOT of phone calls.

I had the same initial reaction when I read TFA. If I had any points I'd mod you up.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Mod parent up!

...wouldn't the certs be useless without the associated private keys?

Instead of trying to add (what I would consider) spurious features to the UI such as Ribbon, they should start by fixing all the suck that is currently Windows Explorer. There is ZERO reason it should be as single-threaded as it currently is -- network problems should NEVER freeze the GUI.

And they shouldn't. This functionality should be handled at the transport/network/data-link layers of the telecommunications stack, not in the app.