But expression is, and good luck convincing a judge that what you copied is the idea, not the expression.

And some of these App Store copycats are getting sued.

You mean like 0x10c, which got shelved?

"The player moves and turns pieces made of four squares as they descend into a rectangular playfield one at a time. Any row of the playfield filled with squares disappears, freeing space for more pieces." Lawsuits have been won over the "theft" of the idea that I just described.

This describes the general public well.

I myself can come up with a solution; I just lack the business experience to bring my solution to market. I have listed some principles for an attractive HTPC. But the majority of the general public can't come up with a solution, as evidenced by twistedsymphony's comment among others listed here. Economies of scale tend to favor the general public, which may be part of why major manufacturers haven't engineered products based on these principles and brought them to market.

Videos blocked from viewing on Android are also blocked from search in the YouTube app for Android, and I think the YouTube app for iPad works the same way. But if you search for videos through Google Search, or someone shares a link to a video with you, you may end up on a "not available on mobile" screen. Does this play?

According to Facebook's own help pages, Facebook still doesn't let mobile users create a nickname or create a Page, whether through the mobile web or the mobile app.

True, but "plenty" doesn't help when the specific game that your friends are recommending to you is unavailable. As for bugging the developer of this specific game to port it to iOS, I thought it cost substantially more for tools to develop a game for iOS than for SWF. For one thing, you will likely have to replace your current computer with a Mac.

Every Windows or GNU/Linux laptop that I've owned has had a more or less standard barrel connector. Apple, on the other hand, has declined to license the MagSafe connector and instead gone to court against companies that bought genuine connectors, cut them off, and soldered them onto another PSU.

My point is that if the major labels insist on DRM, one valid option is to ditch the major labels.

Too many ambiguous pronouns. No web access on what host? If what is turned off? Where is this VM running?

Then I guess Chromecast isn't for people who happen to live in areas where the best available Internet access is billed by the GB.

If one shows the physically blocked flash to the museum guide, I think that's a bit stronger than a "pinky swear".

It's not like IRC where real-time replies are essential. It takes me about 45 minutes to get from one hotspot to the next, after which point I pump out one queued comment every two minutes. If an hour's wait is too long, perhaps someone will have already said it better than I. Besides, I have to read the whole discussion anyway so as not to be marked Redundant. And sometimes I keep getting replies a day later if I'm replying to someone who checks his Slashdot messages.

Is there some sincerity mark to show that I honestly don't know why something isn't possible?

I still don't know why the IT department, which has the power to decide what the standardized machine load consists of, can't include Classic Shell in the standardized machine load.

So what computer do you recommend that runs cool and quiet (not a "space heater" as mentioned here), has an attractive case (not a Big Honkin' Tower that the spouse objects to), comes pre-built (not as a kit that takes an hour or two to assemble, that requires ESD precautions, and whose OS is sold separately), and costs less than 400 USD (compare to the forthcoming PS4)?

Let me rephrase: Someone who has a server agent that supports SMB protocol wants a set-top box that supports SMB protocol.

iPod (30 pin), MagSafe, and Lightning are all proprietary connectors.

There was the original MP3.com, a place for indie artists to post MP3s and sell burn-on-demand CDs.

ADB was physically the same connector as S-Video. It's just that the signaling was highly proprietary, though its PWM protocol was vaguely similar to the N64, GameCube, and 1-Wire protocols that followed it.