Yes, I am aware that HTTP is a protocol. People often use it for transferring HTML language.

Sure, just enter it in on the touchscreen LCD display.

HTTP Protocol? Uh-oh...better get some money out of the ATM Machine for a new NIC Card.

To be fair, 50 out of 1000 is still a 1 in 20 chance. You can't plan for everything though.

From what I understand, the people receiving the machine would be the ones hacking it in the first place. I don't think there would be a problem.

There's no need to get a condescending tone about it. There is nothing "obvious" about it.

I have worked corporate IT, small business IT, and at one time ran my own business. There are many jobs where you are expected to have your own tools, but it varies from employer to employer. Most respectable companies supply their employees with everything they need. It's usually the mom n' pops or startup companies that force employees to buy their own stuff. The shop I bring my car to supplies tools for all of their mechanics. This makes it very easy to hire new techs, and makes sure that they have everything they need to do a job properly.

When people buy their own tools it can affect the quality of work being done. If you buy cheap tools, you will undoubtedly have more problems getting things done than someone with ones that have all the bells and whistles. With computers this is especially true.

Staying on the topic though, here's an example. Let's say Bob has a new laptop with the latest processor, 6 gigs of RAM, and a solid state drive, while Bill is working on a 4 year old mid-range laptop. If they both work at the same speed, Bob will get more done. It is the best interest of the employer to put up the money for better equipment. So what is an employer going to do in this situation? Do they upgrade Bill so that he can be more productive? That's not fair to Bob who already spent a lot of money on his laptop. What happens if one of their laptops breaks and they cannot afford to fix it; are they out of a job? In grading productivity do they account for their machine's speed? There are just too many problems with this system.

It's easy to say "life isn't fair" and chalk this up as another thing that is "just the way it is", but I think that's one of the many things wrong in the world today. Everyone deserves an equal chance, and it shouldn't be about how expensive of a laptop you can buy, because then some of the best and most productive workers will be out of a job. To me, that is a completely idiotic way to run a business. Your personal equipment should not affect your chances of landing a job.

My secrets don't involve tax dollars and the welfare of a nation. If I was a public servant, I would expect my work to be public as well.

HORRAY! This will finally be the year of the Linux deskt....

aww.....

(for some reason this sounds much funnier if you imagine Zoidberg saying it)

Agreed, this is not news for nerds; it's news for end users.

Plugs on an LT1 (Camaro) is a 4 hour+ job, done mostly from under the car. I'd gladly pay someone to do it, especially since my apartment doesn't allow me to work on cars here.

I don't mind paying someone for their labor (even if they're Best Buy), but I think $30 is a bit expensive. Some geek squad kid could do 10 of these at once, and I'd imagine in under an hour (haven't done it myself.) The equates to $300+ an hour, which just isn't right. This is the kind of thing you do for free as a promotion to bring customers in.

Douchebaggery ensues...

This is kind of like saying "The average car cannot handle 400 horsepower."

Well of course not, because the average car wasn't designed to handle it. Nobody would put a transmission that can handle 400 horses into a car that only produces 100. Laptops are built to spec. There are dual, even quad core laptops out there that handle 100% load just fine. Many of the new i5 and i7 based laptops come with graphics cards powerful enough to run Crysis on high settings, and within reasonable temp ranges too. That's not to say there aren't poorly designed laptops out there that overheat, but 99% is a huge exaggeration.

There *is* a point to high end graphics in a laptop though; 3D modeling and gaming just to name a couple. Personally, I'm deeply interested in the performance of laptops, as I believe they are a huge part of what drives manufacturers to make more efficient designs.

*its

I wish Slashdot had a grace period for editing comments, because this is really bugging me now :/

I've been using Google voice as my primary number for over a year now. It has it's downsides, but for a free service it's great. I like that I'm not tied into a single phone or carrier. No matter where I am, as long as I have a phone I can set it to receive calls.

I don't know how much I would even use calling built into Gmail, but I surely won't complain about added functionality. The problem I've found with using computers as phones is that you are tied sitting down in one location, most likely stuck with a headset on since using speakers would result in lots of echo. Applications like Teamspeak and Ventrilo make sense because usually when you're using them, you're already at a computer.
 

It's a lot like Rollerblades. To some people, any other brand is just an imitation.

It wasn't the first smart phone, but it was the first one that was "cool" to own.

Only a handful by my count, most of which are not out yet. Even my "modern" Motorola Droid or a Nexus One only records at 720 x 480.