You don't use adb to downgrade, you use fastboot. Are you sure you know how the flashing stuff works?
Anyway, if you have the multi-mode drivers installed, you may need to switch your usb cable to a different usb port on your pc for the drivers to recognize it in the right mode.

Have you tried changing the usb connector? It's a known failure in the Nexus 7 2012, that after some time the connector becomes loose and won't make contact. You can find replacements on ebay from $3 (need to solder) to $12 (no soldering required), or you can do what I did: carefully pry the metal of the connector so it becomes a bit tighter.

Outsmarted, right. Go ahead, pre-order one, and when they run with your money we'll see who outsmarted whom.

If they fall into the ocean when the gears open, many dead may have not been discovered either.

What about falling out when the gears open, at over 200mph and more than 500ft high. I'm surprised the survival rate reaches even as much as 25%.

Fun fact: in swedish they call jar files, as in java .jar files... "jar-fil".

Oh well, I'm not changing my username just because some people think I'm honey with coffee :-P

Maybe they should just export this peanut butter to Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, or any other country we hate. Let THEM die from food poisoning... amirite?

They may not lose the sales of 950,000 jars but only 100,000... yet it still would be a loss of (some) sales. It may not be ethically sound, but I bet it is a financially sound move to destroy them.

You can run whatever you want on Chrome OS, it's just a Linux with Chrome and some extra stuff to allow management through the browser. It wouldn't really be "Chrome" OS anymore, but whatever floats your boat.

I guess it depends on where you consider the "end" to be.

If it's at the user's computer, and all software inside is considered to be trusted, having one of these proxies to scan for malware on the "end computer" could actually improve security.
Or if it's at the user's company, then being able to scan all traffic incoming/outgoing might increase (the company's) security.
On the other hand, if you consider the "end" to actually be a person, with software in the computer not being 100% trusted, then you're right, this could only reduce the amount of security.

Personally, I'm not that sure about any of these two to be right. Maybe a better way would be to have some traffic proxy-able, some marked as "don't proxy", and running your browser/tabs in a VM... but there might be several different scenarios with different requirements.

Any code can have backdoors. Any open-source code can be checked in the same way for backdoors. So what's the difference?

If they were to spend all that focus, concentration and planning on... like starting WWIII, I'd say better do it in a game ;)

You forgot about leaving a MMO like WoW after having done all there was you found fun to do during the las several years, and just not willing to do it all over and over again with the rest of your toons. So you stop playing until the next expansion that will change some of the gameplay and add new stuff.

No need to blame cheating/hacking. Even with the best MMOs you can simply have enough of them.