This is 2013. Some people are stupid, yes. But information often gets out there even to stupid people. We live in a world where people think all kinds of things about "hackers" and identity theft, etc. They may not have a deep understanding, but they know that 20/20 did a story on it, so they should be afraid of... whatever. "Hackers".

Anecdotaly, excluding my own network, there are 14 networks within range of me as I type this from my home. All of them are secured with (mostly WPA, 1 WEP) and there is one Open "guest" network (with an identical name to one of the secure networks), which presumably is open by design, but has restrictions when connected.

Granted, only 5 of these networks have names that were obviously user-selected. So perhaps some of these networks were set up by the ISP, or the devices shipped with security on by default. But regardless, I see more secure networks than I do open ones today.

Who cares if the user selected it or not? As long as the password is unique and it works for them. They don't need to know unless they have a reason to. If the ISP or the device manufacturer has figured out a scheme to get them secured without a major hassle, it's a win-win. Those who care to know more will go out and learn more.

For what it's worth, I live in central New Jersey. Maybe things are radically different in Scranton, PA or Las Vegas or the suburbs of Atlanta, but I kind of have my doubts.

For real.

I get why that could be a problem with a PC. After all, it's not unusual to file one's taxes on one's PC, or have other records that might include one's SSN on a PC. But who the hell is doing anything like via a phone?

While I agree with you in principal (the ability to run whatever I wish is one of the reasons I use Android and avoid iOS myself), in practice, what you describe is the same on both platforms.

If I'm selling a commercial app, even on Android, the built-in store is more or less the only avenue to making money. Google's store has rules just like Apple's does.

Sure I can sell through Amazon or some of the other third parties instead. But this obviously greatly diminishes my potential market (and they will likely have similar rules too). What percent of Android users ever install a third party store? What percent are even aware they can do so?

If you're talking about commercially selling software to sideload, the problem is even worse. Most users have no idea this is possible. So in effect, if you're investing a lot of money into a project and Google says "no", the results aren't much different from Apple saying "no".

Leaving aside the fact questionable legality of your little nerd-vigilante justice fantasies and granting for a moment that the fact that what the guy is doing is technically a felony...

Ignoring the possibility that the poor sap that opens the door might have nothing to do with the attempt - could be his 15 year old kid... worse yet, it could be a zombie machine trying to connect...

Leaving all that aside and assuming that everything is as it appears on it's face. You go over and knock, assault the guy and get the right person...

This all falls under a category I like to call "things I don't want to have to explain to a judge".

TL;DR: You're being criminally stupid.

Wow, I remember when I thought those were really stylish and I wanted to buy a broken one to gut figure out a way to stuff it full of PC components.

Those have not aged well.

Regarding the accessory socket: Depends on the car. And some cars give you the option of behaving in either way.

My CTS actually has a fuse in the fuse box that serves as a jumper between two positions. In the first position, the socket is as you describe that you expect it: On only when the key is in the "run" position. In the other position, the socket is on continuously, only switching off when the key moves to the "start" position (to protect against surges).

The car also has battery rundown protection, but I don't know the details of this. All I know is that it occasionally turns to dome light off when I leave it on the "on" position overnight, presumably when the battery reached a certain threshold. I don't see any reason it couldn't govern the accessory socket in the same way, but I do not know if it does.

This drives me crazy.

First, everyone tells me this about being a game dev. Everyone. Oh, and how it's not glamorous and some companies (read: most of them) treat you poorly.
But once a week, we get a "what nobody tells you" about game devs article here or on Extra Credits or the Escapist or wherever.

Stop it.

Second, there is nothing interesting about procedurally generated anything any more. Diablo did this. The first one. In 1996. It can be a nice feature, but it's not noteworthy any more. The move from sprites to polygons was noteworthy for early titles like StarFox. But nobody is putting "polygon-based graphics" stickers on their game boxes today.

Or it's likely a differing opinion. As someone who enjoys (some) Microsoft products, and occasionally defends that position here on Slashdot, the whole "shill" thing gets tiresome.

This is fair. If it's happening. I read Slashdot daily, and either these are getting moderated down to -1 SUPER quick (I read at 0) or it's not happening enough for me to notice. Can you link to examples?

No, I don't think we all know it. I see this idea parroted a lot. I don't see examples cited, other than people saying "Hey OneNote is pretty good! You should give it a chance!" followed by ten replies calling the poster an astroturfer.

It gets really old and frankly is embarrassing to watch.