I found the Google+ app on my Android (Gingerbread) to be rather unstable. It freezes and crashes frequently. Talk works great, and I use it frequently. I hope the app itself doesn't go away.

Exactly.

I've always seen the "Safe Harbor" provisions as more of a threat than a protection. If ISPs and Hosts don't respond to the take downs, then they become complicit and liable for damages.

Ability does not mean requirement. Many steam games allow you to save to the cloud, but still allow for local saving of games additionally.

Though, I honestly expect that they are pushing to make it a requirement.. and yes, it will be a deal-breaker for me.

Honestly, right now I don't even have home internet access aside from limited mobile tethering. I canceled in anticipation of moving (which got unexpectedly delayed) a month ago and because ComCast (only 1 of 2 carriers available to me in a city of population density of over 2,000/sq.mile) was being ridiculous.

I rarely play on my 360, but if my cable TV and internet was out, playing single-player console video games would be among the things I might I might want to do during the outage.

I guess that means Microsoft will just encourage me to read more rather than buy their console. Not so bad I suppose.

And science.

Ratios, dimensions, vectors, interaction with light, and affecting biochemical responses.

Won't someone think of the sperm? Millions of those guys die even when there is a successful pregnancy!

Surely you must be upset about the million of potential individuals being destroyed there!

I'm in neither group, but I've seen my share of Star Trek and was at least curious enough to watch an episode of MLP to see what the fuss was about.

I think that many people find the Idealism of Star Trek appealing. It's not just about spacemen and phasers, and it's not just about exploring space. It carries a lot of idealism about what humans can overcome and become culturally (not just technologically). The idealism resonates with many of the fans.

Likewise, My Little Pony seems to convey a certain optimism and promotes compassion and empathy (and it was at least mildly amusing).

I wouldn't go to conventions or anything, but people who are fans of things that are pretty benign and encourage empathy, compassion, idealism, and the bettering of humanity aren't really a bad thing.

So, when people want to shit on them because the fans don't conform to societal norms of being aggressive, self-serving, materialistic, dominating people kind of come off seeming like assholes to me.

Maybe they are weird or eccentric, but it a lot more harmless than a lot of things we idolize in this culture.

Absolutely true. I once downloaded some Techno MP3s onto a hard drive with plenty of space and left the PC running while I went on vacation for a month. I came back to discover that not only had my hardrive been filled with self-replicating copies of those techno tracks, they also mixed with my other tunes and so now I have a collection of Beatles electronica.

Digital content is exactly the same as seeds.

I felt the same way about Windows 7 and Vista searching, but I learned that all of the searching options available in XP are still there (and then some), it's just that they aren't all reflected in the UI. They weren't removed, they were just hidden. However, that is really annoying that they made it less user-friendly.

On the other hand, Windows 8 *mostly* had far better searching than Vista/Win7 had. Searching for documents and programs has become even faster and more keyboard friendly than ever. Though, there are a few dumb quirks, such as if you are searching your Documents folder, search won't pick up folder names (unless you have them pinned or set as a 'Library').

However, I think it's rather silly that you are too lazy to learn how to do the kinds of searching that you want to do in Windows by entering in extra search term options, but yet are willing to swap to Linux which probably is going to mean you are going to have to learn how to do those things there.

When I first started using Win8, I tried to use just keyboard alone as much as possible. If I couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted to do by keyboard, I Googled it. I found that there were more useful things I could do by keyboard and faster in Win8 than there were in Win7 when I spent the time to learn instead of just bitching about the changes.

Though... I'm still pissed that I have to do a sequence of "Alt, F" to open the file menu instead of "Alt+F"...

There already is one. Obviously it needs more awareness... Perhaps we can make a day for that too.

Original? Like the House of Cards series that you referenced, which is a remake of a 90's BBC series? That's not a criticism, the Netflix version did a good job of Localizing it to America and modernizing, and it was well produced, but it isn't entirely original.

Like the upcoming release of Arrested Development on Netflix?

I'm actually ok with letting the series die, and appreciating the show for what it was, but I think Netflix is probably an even better fit than Comedy Central. However, it does have a strong geek, and many of these geeks are more likely to consume most (or even all) of their TV show media through streaming.

Maybe folks can petition asking Netflix to pick it up?

Or... we can just let the show die and make room for new ideas and shows. I loved Futurama, but it's OK for shows to end, even good shows. It's better to die out than to see a show that drag on way too long.

People who say that 1 person ever dying from something is too many is absurd thinking. If it happened once in a population of 300 million, it is a danger that is so rare that it just isn't significant, regardless of the benefit provided. It is just overreacting.

It is a tragedy, but you just can't reasonably remove every single danger out there.

You said that you will use paperclips instead of magnets, but a quick Google found safety concerns for paperclips too! At the risk of sounding callous to the death of innocents, there is a certain amount of reasonable risk that we simply need to learn to accept or we simply can't function as a society.

Bicycles kill kids. Slides kill kids. Other playground equipment kill kids. Tables and furniture can kill kids. The ground can kill kids.

Living is fatal.

Is that really a Chrome issue, or a Google eco system issue? Or maybe even cloud services in general? Should we not use Google services at all? Isn't any "cloud" services vulnerable to shutting down? At the very least, isn't Google good about giving you sufficient warning to migrate off their service? Have they not also grandfathered in many services so those on them could continue still using them, just unsupported? In other instances, haven't they passed on some of their projects to other groups to allow them to take over?

I do understand a little of what you mean though, because I feel similarly about digital content purchases. I dislike having media that I've purchased being subject to being lost because a company goes under.

We must continue building more Malware Hosts!

We must not allow a Malware Host gap!

Let me start by saying that I believe in reasonable limits and a exercising reasonable responsibility. Companies and industries that knowingly endanger people, don't provide reasonable warning (or hide the dangers), and don't take reasonable precautions in order to reasonably mitigate these dangers should be severely punished. I don't really object to some guy shining a laser at planes being charged with reckless endangerment, or even with manslaughter if it resulted in deaths.

However, that doesn't change the fact that we've turned into culture that is obsessed with laying blame on someone and making excessive limitations for questionable or extremely limited benefit.

I'm not heartless, but we have to face the fact that sometimes shit happens, and isn't always someone's fault. I don't have kids, but yet I'm still aware of their uncanny knack for getting into some weird stuff and do a lot of things that can get themselves hurt. It's their nature, and you try to do the best you can do but sometimes it's going to turn out bad. It's tragic, but inevitable. It isn't necessarily the fault of Bucky Balls, Clorox, the parents, or Planter's. Sometimes these things happen. It's no reason to go crazy with litigation and regulation.

Also, for perspective...

1 death and 33 emergency room surgeries due to swallowing magnets for children
40 U.S. Deaths a year, and 360 injuries from being struck by lightning
An average of about 87 babies and toddlers a year drowned in bathtubs between 2006 and 20010
160 Americans die from Peanuts (I didn't find a stat on children specifically)
2,136 Children were killed in Automobile accidents in the year 2003
2,811 Children were killed by gun violence in 2009

There are dangers out there, I'm not denying it. However, I'm not sure we prioritize them properly, and we're certainly too unwilling to admit that just being alive carries a certain amount of risk.

Either that, or we should ban magnets, peanuts, transportation, bathtubs and lightning, and of course lasers...