That's the box - it will make you a Google+ profile if you're not careful (perhaps I'm blind but I didn't find that was clearly stated)

It also won't allow anonymous names. I try to stick with just my initials - but no luck.
Problem is if you make your name "Anonymous Dude" then your google+ profile (and possibly your gmail reply name?) will also be "Anonymous Dude" for example,.........

Google Plus, Facebook, Foursquare - a lot of services are really pushing the boundaries at the moment. I suspect the social media backlash is going to begin pretty damn soon.

On a similar, on topic note: Did anyone who does sign in to youtube recently get 'tricked' by a box popping up, offering them the option to change their first / last name on the service? I got it and thought, "fantastic! I can finally login with a name other than my gmail mail alias" and attempted setting up a different name. BAM - it made me a Google+ profile which I didn't want.
Upon removing the profile, my videos are now tied to my "Google+ youtube account" - so anything I uploaded, any favourites, any comments are not available unless I re-create the account.

Heavy handed indeed and from the musings on the web, I'd say I'm not the only one who got stung by this.

I pretty much agree with most of your post, despite being more of an Xbox 1 over PS2 gamer (my first consoles and coming from PC, I liked the more PC-centric stuff on the Xbox)

That being said, I now love my PS3, so many good games for it and more importantly so many good exclusive games for it, often unique ones to boot.

I'm curious if you'd agree (and suspect so) that the PS3 and 360 are about to also be retired too early. The replacements for both systems are heavily rumoured to come out next year before Xmas and I'm not sure they are needed yet. The law of diminishing returns has the PS3 and 360's best games still (in my opinion) looking really quite good (See: Uncharted 2/3, Journey, Halo 4 and so on) these are quality graphics on 6 year old systems. I personally don't think we need those new consoles for at least 24 months.
Since I wasn't a hardcore console player last gen (I got in mid way and was new to consoles in general) the PS2 doesn't hold as much memories for me - but the PS3 is definitely the best console I've ever owned. Very happy with it.

I have well over that.
However /actual important data/ which is effectively priceless or irreplacable?

I believe it's somewhere around 20gb.

I could previously answer this poll with something along the lines of "yearly" or "twice yearly" as someone who can get depressed and "eat away the pain" (it doesn't work, I've tried for over 30 years, I've not found a recipe for long term happyness at the bottom of any comfort food)

Now, while still overweight, I am monitoring it weekly and finding the healthier I eat the better I feel. Sure a pizza and beer or chocolate / sugar definitely can cheer one up but it's quite brief and cyclical too.

My weight has fluctuated from about 75kg to 115kg over the past 15 adult years and it's not just up, it's been up, down, up down many times. If I can give any advice regarding food at all, avoid sugar at all costs. (Youtube: Sugar, the bitter truth)
Oh and I weigh myself about weekly now, I can still fluctuate 2 or 3 lbs a week but it's better than it used to be.

I can't tell if this post is a joke, sarcastic or epically stupid?? I guess excellent troll?

This is slashdot, you know a modern open minded website which is used by people all around the world,... no?

First, you've got some people who don't celebrate xmas posting here due to religion.
You've got those not celebrating due to apathy or lazyness.
You've got those not celebrating due to loneliness or misfortune.

I fit into the second category, I'm in my 30's, I'm single - I have no interest whatsoever in the event. I don't hate it like a scrooge like I used to but it's really pretty meaningless after a certain age for some of us. If you've not got kids in the family to push it on, you just end up not caring.

I'm male, single, in a western country - I live xmas every single day to be honest. If I want something, the internet provides, normally pretty quick.

I couldn't care less about 60 fps unless I was playing a twitchy FPS or a racing game - both of which I play very, very rarely.

Uncharted, God of War, Okami HD, Darksiders, Journey, Mass Effect, Enslaved, Pixel Junk Monsters, Heavy Rain, LA Noire, GTA4 / 5, Half Life, Ico and SOTC HD, Portal.

None of these games NEED 60fps - they all look nice with a consistent 30 and 60 wouldn't hurt but I'd rather graphical fidelity than frame rate. ESPECIALLY with the law of diminishing returns kicking in to full effect this generation.
You fire up the top 10 graphical powerhouse games onthe PS3 and 360 right now and guess what? They still look pretty damn good. Some of them exceptionally good.
I'm convinced these new consoles are still coming 12 to 24 months too soon. So the last thing we need is only a mild bump in graphical fidelity and more frames. We need all the fidelity we can get.

Why is this insightful?
You obviously don't know what twitter is, or how it works.

People make general comments certainly but if you follow /actual friends/ or people who have an interest in your opinion or are receptive to at least hearing it. You can engage in many conversations through twitter and include images, attach your location and so on. You can also easily "cc" friends - and friends who are following can observe and join in as well.

Yep, completely agreed. HEY APPLE, HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Glorious stuff. Also, Sony has made many many dumb mistakes but they do produce some good stuff. Considering their financials, this is just a positive for them really.
Any company which introduces a region free game console is fine by me, it's prompted me to feel comfortable purchasing many many games more than I normally would, due to the ability to get much more reasonable prices.

Yours is the second post I've seen about this combined sick and vacation days PTO thing.
As an Australian, that is madness just MADNESS plus you guys get 2 weeks instead of 4 a year right?!

I would absoloutely work while sick in that case, no question of it.
We are legally entitled to 5 sick days with doctors certificate and 20 vacation days per year here. I'm allowed to talk my vacation time at half pay and I don't need the money so I basically get 40 days off a year.

You poor bastards.

Sure the mail is relatively reliable the the control tools fairly simple to use. A lot of hassles are taken out of my hands definitely.

However when there is an actual genuine issue, getting them to look at it, it's not a quick fix. It took a 50-> 100 reply thread, nearly a year before they finally fixed up the 'last logged in' display time in the console so you could actually identify when users were using the system or not. It was set to a US based time if I recall, despite Googles other services supporting international time zones relatively fine.

A lot of whining was needed to finally get a response. I dread to think how long it would take a very nasty issue to be ironed out? Perhaps only a 500 reply thread and 12 weeks?
Also, the latency from Google to Australia for hosted mail? Yeah, not really making for responsive mailboxes. Admitedly not their fault directly, I made the choice to use it.

Cost of mobile calls even on a big business plan is far too expensive to always use the mobile phone compared to the desk phone. As much as your idea about saving the desk space is fantastic (never even occured to me) - every now and then I make an extremely long phone call in the office and on a cell - that would really add up.

I'm really low on porn at the moment and hit my monthly internet quota!

The washing the car on Sunday thing, what's the deal with that? I've never heard of this? (I'm from Australia - we seem to have a lot less religion here)
What would happen if you wash your car on a Sunday in a bible belt area? Nasty looks? Egged car? Is the expectation you should be at church?

I do admit, I found it fascinating some stores in the US won't sell liquor on Sundays or Saturdays or after 9:00pm or some such due to church run states, what a disgusting joke.