Hmm but I have seen a lot of comic book stores ( no personal interest, but...), model train stores (again, not much interest myself), and used book stores are all over the place. And some of the used book stores are clearly not a small mom and pop type operation either.

Well I remember there being a time, when I was in middle school or so when the local radio shack sold at least Resisters, Capacitors, Multi-Meters, LEDs, small ICs like 555 timers, Piezo-electric buzzers, battery cases, solar cells, motors, breadboards, copper circuit boards, pcb etchant, solder, soldering irons, wires, shrink-wrap tubing, etc., etc. Last time I wandered into one a few years ago I didn't even see *any* of that stuff. But they had crappy "realistic" radios. Great. As for there not being enough people doing electronics as a hobby? Well... to that I say: 1. If not, then it's the end of an era, and the chain can die a honorable death by sticking to their guns until the end. 2. I don't really believe this. Sure, people don't build computers and TVs from scratch with soldering irons anymore - but there is lots of cool stuff they could sell that is targeted as hackers/makers instead of junky consumer stuff. 3. If it's so, then it must be a US thing. We have parts stores here in Japan, and I have seen them in Germany in other places. They don't need to be as common as McDonalds, but there is normally a reasonable population to support them. If not, you're probably doing something wrong.

Because, wires and wireless transmissions aren't the same. Commonly used wireless transmissions take up certain frequencies for certain distances, and basically nobody else can use those frequencies in that area then. Two wired transmissions can be run very close together without interfering nearly as much.

Which is pretty much what I dint like about it. It looks very retro, and not in a chill kind of way. Maybe tesla could roll out a new line of cars designed to look like the Ford model t.

so about the same

There is a network block feature that allows a phone itself to be blocked from the network by an internal identifying number. (no, not based on the SIM card). This is typically done when the phone is reported stolen. Of course, the thief could still use it as an iPod touch type device. However some phones, like those from Sharp, will detect the block and prevent all use until it is removed by the carrier. It's very effective, but it sucks if you buy a phone from someone who stops paying their bill.

Well I'm in Japan, and although you can certainly get internet for around $20 per month, I'm not sure if it would be considered high speed. Basically you can get medium speed dsl for that price. Usually you're looking at 8mbps for around $30 or 100mbps for around $45.

At the time of the original incident, a lot of people were saying that NHK was TEPCO's mouthpiece or something. But they happily report stuff like this.

Because technology companies and backs are different.

Owncloud isn't really distributed. I would recommend aerofs and/or btsync.

I have to call b.s. On this one. Kanji doesn't work like you describe except for very simple concepts. A single kanji character is generally more complex than a single "English" letter, but it also carries more information. You also doubt have to memorize every kanji as a series of strokes because they are composed of common radicals. A more apt analogy would be something like this: English letters are like binary code. Ones and zeros are simple, but you need more of them. Kanji are like hexadecimal. Each unit requires more bits, but it holds more data. For example house requires 5 characters in English, but only 1 or 2 characters in Japanese, depending what word you translate it too.

Well, they wouldn't have to load android on it. They could just explain the specs well enough that people could make drivers for it, and then make it ready to load an alternative os. You know, like boot camp.

The idea that your diet should be affected by your blood type is more silly. Basically speaking, meat is bad for you. Then again, how your body reacts to food has a lot to do with what you are used to eating.

Google made it very clear last time one of their tax avoidance schemes was picked up by the press our government. They think they should pay more tax and wouldn't mind doing so, but they aren't going to be the stupid ones paying more while everyone else is avoiding paying. In fact they suggested that governments should close some of the loopholes so that everyone would have to pay.

Dude, I eat lots of bread and potatoes. I also eat lots of rice and noodles and pasta. And Im not nearly fat. But I don't eat meat, nor do I slather everything with Gravy and butter. Probably more importantly, I eat reasonable portion sizes.