A bit off topic, but telling people they're part of the problem is counterproductive. You're not going to convince anyone they're wrong by slapping them in the face like that. Moreover, the problem is absolutely not people who are anti-nuclear or pro-renewables. The problem is caused by a number of greedy individuals who get rich off of externalized costs, and a lot of apathetic individuals.

If the earth were all populated with people concerned as pla, we would be in other messes I'm sure (no offense pla but I'm sure you're not perfect) but we would NOT be facing the fallout of climate change. We'd have invested heavily in renewable energies, if they were viable we'd be using them. Instead we're populated with people who prefer to say "Well, that's just like a HYPOTHESIS so I'm not going to change or pay more."

I go to scientific seminars. It's considered rude to be checking facebook or playing angry birds, yet falling asleep is totally acceptable. You can check facebook during a boring part to keep yourself awake and then start paying attention again if something later catches your interest. This is not true for falling asleep, you're out of it until people start clapping. But all the senior scientists have fallen asleep in a lecture while few of them bother bringing a laptop in, so it's abnormal and rude.

It probably shouldn't be any wonder that we haven't cured cancer yet.

The incompetent ones are the tea partier and the teacher. The defense contractor is EXTREMELY competent. That's ONE problem with the budget.

Two straw man arguments and a spelling mistake all in one line. Expert trolling. (golf clap)

Advanced compared to where we would be if we were still in an arms race with a superpower? Definitely we're behind. But we're mainly fighting the rednecks of the middle east. They have pipe bombs and decades-old rifles. I'd argue we should be considered "extremely advanced" as of a decade ago.

Except that we're more likely to invade Syria if they renege on their promises. They don't have nukes, which genuinely scare us away. And we'd be adding a friendly puppet government in a region that is up for grabs, which would be a gain for us (polititically, and by us I don't mean we the citizens.) Making North Korea into a puppet would have pretty harsh consequences from China, one of our biggest economic partners. We'd be nuking ourselves twice.

Actions are usually never all good or all bad. Sure, consumers will pay more for their phones, but they're already paying more than I'd consider sane, both for the data and the phones themselves. I mean, changing smartphones every year is absurd. And it's worth noting that we're not talking about a necessity.

If this results in end of software patents at the price of smartphones being, say, $50 more expensive for a while, that could be a fair trade.

I make no comment on how likely I think this is, since I really don't know, just that it's not all doom and gloom.

It's an innovative legal strategy!

In general, sure, but I think this is a pretty clear example of the contrary. This is the guys at the top actually clashing. Well, some of them.

Unfortunately, the competition is not the healthy kind that drives innovation, it's the kind that makes some lawyers and lobbyists richer.

So you're on t-mobile? Last time I checked, all the other phone companies charged you the same whether you got a phone through them or not. In other words, if you don't get AT&T to subsidize your phone, you're paying monthly for a phone you didn't get. You might be thinking of the recent scams AT&T and verizon both came out with where you pay more per month to upgrade faster. You're still getting ripped off though even if you're not on those plans. Again, aside from T-mo, and perhaps they've changed it recently.

It's idiotic of course, but of course it's due to the fact that there are so few choices.

Names are meant to be memorable, and version names are supposed to denote sequence. This does both and actually works better, I can't remember numbers easily. What's cheesy about it? And there is still a number. If you really hate it, you can just call it android 4.4.

I'm surprised there's still nothing about google wallet. I heard some speculation that with kitkat, they were going to announce a way to use it on any phone with NFC (without the secure element the carriers refuse to allow).

Indeed. Acting pissy because someone is legally obligated to tell you to turn off your phone is immature and stupid. If AC is calling them "air bitches," I have a theory on why they're acting bitchy around him.

Be thankful it's only a war on water. If TSA and the public realize one could hide explosives in body cavities, it would be a war on your anus.

Too much? You drown and die. Too little? You dehydrate and die. We clearly are the problem here, having a love-hate relationship with it. The TSA can hardly be faulted for that. We just need to make up our mind on it. Besides, if you want water, take a fucking boat! AIR plane, not waterplane!

Indeed. I was trying to research which phone to get this morning on my ipad. Click farms, popup ads, articles which are clearly nothing more than ads. And a few reviews by people who spend wayyyyy too much time thinking about mobile phones. "The bevel was UNACCEPTABLY bumpy, but the WORST PART was the PURELY DECORATIVE SCREWS! Negative a billion points out of five!"

I guess if your job is to talk about phones, and all the phones are pretty similar, it's very easy to develop strong opinions about trivial details. Oblig XKCD