I have never given that much thought, but why wouldn't they fit them with a wearable defibrillator? That would at least help with V-tach and V-Fib situations. Though I'm not sure those operate in zero gravity either.

I agree with you on both counts. Windows 8.1 is trying to hard to become a mobile OS, and it's silly. It's not what the market wants. I also agree that Android is annoying, but for many people it's familiar and that's what is key to them. You're forgetting the PC had it's heyday, and we have a whole generation of people coming up that are again detached from PCs and think it's just some confusing video game console.

Yep, SteamOS is actually useful. This is why people buy these things. Even better would be an Ubuntu offering. Once it catches on, we all benefit.

Laptops and Desktops don't need "apps" and people aren't going to buy them to play Angry Birds and Snapchat all day.

If you want to make a move away from Windows give them an OS that can actually do something useful. Nobody is trying to replace their phone with a laptop.

I think it's just a case of "because different" and "not developed here". I don't see how they could make any significant improvements over apt, but it doesn't surprise me from this group of hipsters.

Stop pissing in the pool Ubuntu.

Microsoft doesn't give up that easy. Remember they were also late to this game, by a lot and that's a big reason for slow adoption. Enough people are happy with their Iphones and Androids and MS hasn't put forth anything to disrupt the market yet But one thing they have done is create a great environment for developers, with tons of tools and a marketplace that takes care of vendors. It appears they learned the from Linux, take care of the developers and they'll build more stuff. With more applications your platform will flourish.

I am certain MS is going to wait at least a year or two to see how the market does when the apps roll in. By then they may also come up with something that really compels people to switch. I know this isn't the site to talk about faith in MS, but there you have it.

But I would argue that the type of person who would try recreational drugs is also the type of person that might get into programming. Curious, risk taking and someone who doesn't want to be told what to do or fit into a mold? Yeah sounds about right.

Appfog is also offering free accounts, with 2 gig of RAM to use as long as you want. This seems like a great way to build your app and get it started, then once you grow you can fund the required expansion. Very startup friendly.

Yup, back then it was faster. Now, it might be in our heads?

Yeah in the middle ages I was one of those rushing to the source and building it, but not as much anymore. I still rebuild it on my personal machine if I know I'll be using it a while, just to squeeze every last bit I can, but I'll readily admit I don't notice the difference in performance at all. I doubt I'll rebuild for this one as I don't see any features that really apply to me.

As a personal user, I see fewer reasons to spend a lot of time on kernel tweaking and building, not like it was 10 years ago.

Since when do they post craigslist ads on the front page of slashdot?

I was thinking the same thing, as a current volunteer firefighter and techie I've thought about firefighting robots for years.

There are some huge obstacles aside from the most obvious which is heat.

- Terrain, as you said is a big one. I have been in a house with 2 feet of trash and laundry through the whole house. We could not see the floor while we were there. For humans it was a challenge, but for a robot it could make it impossible.

- Strength - As you know shagging hose takes strength, and that comes at a price for robots (weight and power usage).

- Victim Removal - While it's not an everyday occurrence its definitely a factor. What if someone is in the house and needs to be removed? Can a robot do this without further injuring the person? Does it have the dexterity to maneuver out of there towing someone?

- Deployment time has always been a big one. Can a robot do a scene size up? Not really. Can it do a 360 across any type of terrain that the house might be on?

I have no doubts that someday robots will be fighting fire, but we're such a long ways away from it still.

Just the company developing the most products.

So what's the point of all these "blackouts"? Most sites, like Reddit and Slash are full of people already aware of SOPA. Do you honestly think a group of congressmen are going to be like "wow, reddit went down today, we better clean up our act"?

Just like with Netflix, I understand there is a cost of doing business. The costs for these companies to pay for content is rising, and the means to deliver it is getting more expensive. I am willing to pay for it until it reaches a price I feel is too high, then I'm free to cancel. Why get angry?

It's a luxury item, if you can't afford it don't do it. That simple.