Couldn't they just compile the 32 bit version with gcc on windows, and accept that it may not be quite as optimally built?

Why not a kindle or nook? Because they suck at reading PDFs. Yes, they can technically show a PDF on the screen. But unless that PDF is formatted for a small screen size, the experience is going to be awful. The more expensive devices (iPad, color-screen-glossy nook-kindle-whatever, $400+) have solved this with better multi-touch zoom and pan options, but then you're going to pick the iPad if they're in the same price arena. Just go on youtube and look for "kindle touch pdf reading" and you'll see how awful it is.

For someone trying to study, you need the ability to quickly browse material and annotate, and the cheaper devices don't offer this in any reasonable way.

So why not a netbook? Sure, a netbook can display PDFs quickly. But if your input is limited to mouse and keyboard, you're ten times less likely to annotate. Which is the function you would normally perform on a real paper textbook. So the iPad and other stylus-bearing devices come out on top, due to their size, advanced software, and input methods.

Here's the problem: You can block "Lightspeed" from deploying devices known to cause harmful interference to GPS signals. Big deal. What you can't do is make it "illegal" to jam GPS. Well, you can make it illegal, but it's a matter of enforcement. Expecting it to work 100%, especially in a battle field, is stupid. Your enemy will build GPS jammers by the dozen and hide them all over the place once they realize this is how you guide your missiles.

All I'm saying, is that this is a symptom of a larger problem: depending on easily jammed GPS.

I realize the military will just triangulate and find the jammers. But a jammer just has to hide their equipment in nearby hospitals and grocery stores, and use intelligent timing and antenna arrangements.... they can make triangulation a very difficult and time-consuming operation. And once the devices are found and destroyed, it's another $15 to deploy another one somewhere else.

I think it's a good idea to try and prevent what you can, such as by not certifying equipment that causes harmful interference. But let's not think this is the real problem with GPS...

It's not surprising that an RF signal can be interfered with remotely. Whether the signal was for a baby monitor, an emergency room health computer system, remote aircraft control, etc, people will always be astonished that they were susceptible to interference.

But honestly, it's an RF signal. Blocking the signal is about the same for any given service. Some are a little more robust than others, but it's the same mathematical game.

Let's get over the sensationalism and realize the real problem: We had false expectations of GPS and therefore should not have depended on this technology in defense systems.

Adblock plus in google chrome works fine for me -- but I don't think most people make decisions based on adblocking extensions, so this is not a reason for market dominance.

What can I say, this is the result of the wrong focus. Software engineers made decisions about the direction this company went, and drove it into the ground.

It began as a beautiful thing, something that was needed in a world of terrible browsers. Netscape was over-bloated, IE was, well, IE. Firefox took it by storm because it provided what wasn't available. It was fast, slick, and most of all, capable. I remember being one of the first to compile Mozilla on Mac OS X as a mach-o binary, so I've been there and I remember watching it as it grew up, matured, and then began complaining about the neighbors.

These days, it's an enormous pig of an application. The folks running the show at FF continue to drive focus into stupid areas. There have been massive UI shifts that alienate users. The version number thing is just stupid, everyone knows that. Why did they do it? To compete with Chrome -- can you believe that? They thought Chrome's success was because of version numbers?! Oh wait, let's add bing as a default search engine. That ought to help. How about we get some more broken-UI themes while we're at it. Firefox, your browser, your way. How about we move the tabs over here, do this with the menu bar.. that should help us compete with Chrome. Right...

So I hope it dies. And I hope it dies fast, rather than dragging everyone down, kicking and screaming. "Waaa, competitors, we want your money." Good luck with that. Get real, Chrome has shown innovation far above and beyond the old Mozilla codebase. Firefox is practically windows in this sense -- old code, old technology, new "looks", stupid versioning (NT, 98, 2000 ME, XP, V, 7, 8... excuse me if I got it out of order as I really don't use windows any more than is necessary, which is essentially zero). And stupid management.

To the FF developers that wrote good awesome code, please find a project more deserving of your talent, and let this one die. Software has to evolve with the trends and overall fitness of the software to the environment. In this case, it's time to embrace the new species.

Depending on how large your dataset is, you may have luck using Matlab (or the opensource gnu octave). These programs will let you do *whatever* you want with the data (plotting, correlation, fft, etc).

With at least Matlab, there are some MySQL plugins available that will let you get data out of your database and into arrays rather quickly. And of course, both matlab and gnu octave let you import csv and plaintext datafiles.

Here is the matlab plugin I have used very successfully (and it's open source. No idea if it would work with octave):
http://www.cims.nyu.edu/~almgren/mysql/

You will need some background with math, statistics, and programming to effectively do this. If you don't have the skills, learn them or pay up for some overpriced commercial product...

While I can't comment on the latest GNOME and KDE interfaces, I can say that when Apple gave us Aqua and Mac OS X, it was a real breath of fresh air. With a few exceptions, every version has added new and useful features to the GUI that make my work more productive.

When I try and use a windows pc with 7 or vista, it is really painful. I still can't get over how they botched the task bar. So I will agree with y'all there that windows has taken a turn for the worst. The PC next to me has an icon in the task bar for firefox. Every time I click it I get a new window with an identical firefox icon in the taskbar. It's just maddening. I'm sure I can right-click and choose properties and click some other tab and then click options and then turn it off and press apply... but it's a shame to have to tweak something so obvious.

As for linux, I used to like xfce and blackbox. When I'm using linux as a desktop, I have totally different expectations. I don't expect drag-and-drop to work, I don't need a "Finder", and I usually am only interested in one or two specialized applications.

Overall, I believe the GUI should stay out of the way of the user. Think of a typical work day -- you're using applications. Concepts like the "taskbar" (or whatever it's called in KDE and GNOME) really are not programs the user uses except as a utility to switch applications and windows. Thus, they ought not be so prominently visible. Except when you need them. Hence auto-hide, which I find doesn't always work out on windows. Heck, for some users all they need is a giant "the internet" button.

I appreciate Apple's Mac OS X interface because it manages to stay out of the way and yet be incredibly useful and (excuse the use of this word if you develop AI) thoughtful.

Since the devices would likely be donated anyway (the same folks don't typically carry any sort of currency), I think it's reasonable to assume the final product will include a daytime solar cell and a battery. My guess is the device doesn't use much current so the solar cell and battery need-not be the expensive type we typically associated with these devices in home-power applications.

Is it a "boat-load" or a "bit"?

See, this is what matters. I agree, it's not a surprise that keeping the TV on all day is detrimental to developing minds. Common sense? That sounds fine.

So why do we need a "huge grain" of salt? Your quantities are very confusing.