That's usually a "DJ trying to be too cool" problem.

There are automated DJ programs, but so far, no one seems to have one that takes in video of the dance floor, tracks how many people are dancing, and adjusts the playlist accordingly. I thought of doing that 20 years ago, but now it would be both feasible and cost-effective. (Optional feature: also connects to the bar cash register system to optimize for revenue.)

The next frontier in robotics is installation and maintenance. A robot that can change parts in failed equipment is a ways off, but worth working on. Think of this as something for industrial plants, not homes. That's one of the few commercial applications that justifies a humanoid robot like Atlas. I wonder if Google is heading in that direction.

There's probably an app for that. (But not a good one; Night Club Girl only has a 1 star review.)

(Hm. Can we figure out a woman's period from her Facebook and Twitter posts? Scan text for negativism, correlate on 28 day cycle, sync to PMS period. OK, that's done. Next, check Foursquare and Twitter location for who's there. Run Anaface on the photos to decide who's hot and who's not. Check friends list to see who's attached to whom, and if their SO is present. Rank and provide list.)

I'm actually not any longer - Dish due to needing TV5 (French channel) and not trusting Comcast which is the only other place I could get that. Though I miss the UX on the Tivo. Dish DVR sucks to use.

... and no, the irony of that statement is not lost on me; much to the contrary, I find it quite amusing.

Oh, c'mon now.

No, really.

Tell you what: how about we go ahead and have that debate, and anyone who tries to argue that, say, murder laws are non-obvious, gets the word 'SOCIOPATH' hot-branded onto their foreheads?

Obvious is obvious. Now, if I'd have said something naturally subjective like 'common sense,' I'd be singing a different tune. But if a child can tell you something is wrong and why, then I shouldn't have to waste breathe explaining it to an adult.

Bad is subjective.

Ah, I see - you chose to take their post literally.

I chose to assume the caveat "Except the obvious shit" to apply.

Well, yea.

For that to happen, someone in federal government would have to admit to making a mistake, and as we all should know at this point, es ist VERBOTEN .

You know, I keep expecting the old 'Clippy' dig on MS to get old...

Hasn't yet :)

Ha, what a trip! $1500 for an LCD panel ($2400 if you opt for the 5 year anti-vandalism warranty)? Proves the old adage, 'a fool and his money are soon parted.'

Really, if you absolutely had to memorialize someone that way, you'd be better off buying one of those $20 commercial digital photo frames, wiring it to a solar panel, and drilling a couple mounting screws into the stone monument (which would have the added advantage of removable parts, since something will eventually fail).

Then you have far more faith in digital storage media than I. FWIW, to this day they're digging up perfectly preserved, 2,000 year old scrolls in Mesopotamia. Your electronics will not last that long, and one good, solid solar flare is all it would take to completely wipe out all digitally stored media the world over.

If you store them properly, then yes, the paperback books will still exist in 2,000 years. The e-books on your Kindle? Well, if you turn it off RIGHT NOW there might be a few read/write cycles left by that point in time, but the leakage from the battery will have rendered the entire thing a useless lump of minerals long before, no matter how well you store it.

I can appreciate any innovation that makes reality more like an episode of Futurama.

Huh? That makes no sense.

So, basically, you're saying that it takes more time to buy (or not buy) a car someone built than it would take for you to engineer and build a car yourself. That's nuts, yo.

No, sunset clauses are easy to deal with; it goes down like this:

Senator Bob: Hey, this law is in sunset phase. Was it a good idea, and do we want to keep it, yea or nay?

As opposed to months of 'closed doors' meetings, secret deals with lobbyists, writes and re-writes and re-re-writes, etc.

That had nothing to do with sunsetting laws, and everything to do with the fact that our Congress is made up of, essentially, narcissistic 5th graders.

I've heard similar things about hemp, with the added benefit of hemp being useful for more than 1 thing.

Huh.. so I live in a world populated mainly by insane people...

That explains a lot, actually.

A hard drive? Oh, no, you said cheap.

And there's also a good reason they aren't made of paper.

... as well as a good reason why the information plate bolted to the side of the Voyager probe isn't made of paper, either.

Look, I ain't saying that paper is the be-all-end-all of communication methods; I'm just pointing out that anyone who thinks digital electronics will be a replacement for paper anytime in the near future is dreaming of pipes.

TL;DR version: sure, paper might suck, but digital storage sucks more.