That just increases the number of cops the situation requires, it's a nuisance really.

While '1 million euros' is a big scary number(and certainly higher than evidence handling for more prosaic cases), it isn't exactly free to have a bunch of cops go around swabbing at evidence, a judge, some lawyers, a jury, etc. Processing a case, especially a serious criminal case, just isn't inexpensive. Given the existing acceptance of the relatively high cost of justice, it seems strange to wring hands about an abnormally high cost cropping up in an abnormal case.

Even if justice didn't demand it, it seems like it would be trivially sensible to just quietly pay what it costs to get the DNA analyzed properly, if only to deter others from trying to get cute.

There is 'alien' for turning RPMs into DEBs, somebody should really hack together 'predator' for turning DEBs into RPMs...

(as for shell, it isn't pretty; but the debian package format is (mostly) friendly enough that you can crack a deb open manually if you really want to.)

You might want to ask Judith Miller about how carefully the NYT protects its valuable reputation...

In this case, though, I'm not saying that the NYT is subject to the same incentive structure as a blogger; but that the writer is.

The Times obviously wants to avoid being embarrassed by its writers; but it also has no incentive to retain writers who are unproductive or uninteresting. This means that the writer(just like the blogger), is subject to a continual pressure to produce content, and content that gets read. If they don't, it's not as though there is a major shortage of aspiring writers...

Without access to the vehicle logs, there isn't anything obviously fishy about the story so no obvious reason(or ability, without going straight to the company they are writing about, which presents obvious problems) for the Times to become suspicious before running the story. If, in the end, it becomes clear that the writer was 'improving' upon the facts, I'd expect the Times to terminate him; but we haven't reached the point where we get to learn whether or not that happens yet.

Most notably, for anything small enough to fit in a car, attempting a chemical -> kinetic conversion causes Carnot's vengeful ghost to flip you the bird. This can be a bit of a drag.

Only once somebody clones the fuel cartridges.

According to their site, a fuel pod is ~55 cubic centimeters. Brookstone wants $20 for two. A liquid fuel had better be nigh-indistinguishable from magic for $180/liter.

"A dead battery means important missed calls and emails, no GPS when you’re lost, no e-reader on your train ride, no communication in an emergency, and an overall feeling of dread and anxiety."

Yes, they actually say that. May I be the first to recommend spending less on fancing charging gadgets and more on anxiolytic lifestyle aids, like benzodiazepines or heavy drinking?

Which gets yet-another-nearly-interchangeable-columnist more hits?

Option 1: 'I drove a Tesla S. It takes longer to charge than to pump gas; but is otherwise pretty ok.'

Option 2: "Electric so-called 'supercar' strands writer during epic freezing nighmare journey!"

Writing for the NYT moves at a slower pace than being a blogger and whoring for hits; but is subject to the same basic incentive structures.

" How is this any different than 30 or 40 years ago when TVs started using transistors and you were unable to easily replace out your tubes yourself?"

Well, they switched from a component that had to be easy to replace because it burned out all the damn time under normal use to a component whose lifespan is measured in decades unless unlucky or badly abused...

In this case, on the other hand, Li-ion batteries have pretty much the same time from manufacture to uselessness as they did 10 years ago. Treating it as some sort of MS-specific problem is, of course, nonsense; but transistorization was at least a reliability improvement to go along with a reduction in ease of service.

Hopefully the two tiny fans don't inhale any dust, or exhibit the reliability that tiny fans on video cards have been cursed for for years now...

At least most sealed modules aren't air-breathers with moving parts.

It's also worth mentioning that "No User Serviceable Parts Inside" is frequently code for 'There's AC power at local grid voltage and/or a beefy inverter in here, don't fuck with this unless you know enough to know that this warning isn't meant for you'.

It's much less common to see the warning on devices powered by external DC supplies, especially now that cold cathode backlights seem to be giving way to LEDs. Such devices are frequently less likely to actually be user-serviceable in any useful way(given that AC PSUs are, by necessity, frequently built from pretty chunky components that you don't even need sharp eyes to rework, while low-voltage DC gear seems to get smaller every year); but that specific phrase mostly seems to show up when there is a shocking surprise available inside.

I'm not sure why such a negative spin is being attached to these stories.

As our press release clearly stated, new Corexit Ice(tm)(r), in 'fresh blast' or 'glacial menthol' scents, works harder, longer(tm) to protect pristine arctic environments. Apparently, eco-fascists want penguins to die, oil-soaked, when our competitor's inferior dispersants break down quickly under cold weather conditions...

What is especially crazy about promoting a less secure environment for everyone, just so that you can hack your enemies, is that the US is among the more dependent on hackable IT systems...

Sure, neither computers nor good hackers are free; but they are cheap and broadly available enough that more or less any country that isn't starving to death in its own filth(and some that are) can trivially afford some. Even relatively petty gangs can run a profit by fielding a few. Vulnerability, though, is something that you accrue as your society becomes increasingly dependent on electronic communications and finance, SCADA-controlled industrial base, etc.

So, if you reduce security overall, you increase your own vulnerability to every last hellholistani intelligence service, nationalist script kiddie, and slimy pin-skimmer gang, in order to infiltrate the systems of people who probably depend less on computers than you do.

Genius, really.

You do realize that much of the world has fallen below replacement rates by the simple expedient of making people wealthy enough that they can choose whether to extrude yet another baby or not?

China has been trying to avoid the messy demographic squeeze that occurs in the intervening period(since improvements in standard of living usually slash child mortality before they slash fertility rates, you end up with ~1 generation of unsupportable boom children); but the evidence is overwhelming that people actually don't like keeping up the uterine-clown-car act once they have an option.

To say that they 'need' it would be a gross overstatement; but if they are doing their casual youtubing on a relatively recent wintel, they'll be using it anyway...