Same as always my whole life. It's the fun 'toy' aspect of technology. I would take my kids to carnivals and spend $40 throwing darts or $40 tossing ping pong balls. Now we just download an app at home or on the sidewalk and it's free or nearly free and benefits our lives and leads us to love our technology, so the toys we adults have are very inexpensive!

Back in the days when we bought parts and built our own devices there was great variation. Not many in a single school had that 'build' life. And most of it was constructing kits according to instruction, not creating new things yourself. So if you built your own things from nothing but a goal, you were unusual when young. The same thing is the case today, with the Make crowd, formal and informal. It may not be reduced. It's just that the simplicity of the early days is gone so to us who have lived through it, things are not similar and available to all.

Humans all have similar brains, and the inner tinkerer refers to a slice of our brains. On the average, I believe that it's fairly constant, this slice. If there is less room to build something impressive enough to motivate you, then the creativity looks for other outlets, like outstanding Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube videos, etc.

This "well known fact" is news to me.

I have not applied for Australian citizenship but have taken some first steps towards it. I would very gladly be a devoted and loyal Australian. This has nothing to do with the NBN, which I do praise in concept, regardless of whether it even exists. I would love to be an Australian even with lower bandwidth like I have today in the States. I do applaud any attempts toward inclusion of all. For things as important as broadband, we should deal with our fellows as family and take care of those who just live in the wrong place. That's my personal opinion but it has nothing to do with why I would love to reside in Australia.

Cheers, mates

Might work better to dial Venus from Mars, for pressure equalization.

I used to disdain all these vague futurists. in many cases, it's sure to happen in the far distant future, and after the fact a few act smart enough to have said it long before. And many times it doesn't happen close to the way that's predicted. I always tended toward the practical side of things, rather than the theoretical.

But one thing after another after another that was obvious and predictable just by applying Moore's law, still surprised almost everyone when they became reality. Things like lots of movies on a tiny chip.

I was a singlularity denier, for one thing. But I have to reverse myself and admit that I'm wrong. Oddly, it was Ray, presenting to an audience in Vienna, which convinced me otherwise. The only thing about being a singularity futurist is that you've predicted what's already happened. Try living without today's technology and internet and see how far you get. It's already unclear to what extent the creators (ourselves) or that which we have created (technology) is the master. We always thought that we could turn off unfriendly robots, but we can't really turn off the internet, which is the largest robot yet (and the one that replaces most human brains for getting the best answers to things).

Ray takes a lot of flak but he deserves respect, even when you think he's wrong.

Why would not not take the 5th for a password? By disclosing the password to encrypted data, you be providing evidence that you had access to it, potentially incriminating yourself, if the contents are illicit.

I doubt the USA would allow Intel to export TPM, unless they already had the keys to the back-door.

Not only that, but think of what it's doing to inspire his kids.

Actually, we never had a 9l11 in 50 years preceding it, despite the fact that it was just as easy. 9/11 was a lucky fluke, a super ambitious prank-style act of terrorism that took a lot of planning but took the top prize ever in such acts. We had no reason to expect it to happen in another 50 years, especially since it relied on surprise. I agree with this post that hightened security has not played a significant role in stopping another 9/11. Nor have any of the costly wars. But some people have to say the opposite in order to hide their own guilt of taking the side which wasted so much money on nothing (gained). These people scream that such actions do buy us security in order to save their own faces.

"There actually are such special offers that sound like you could save a lot, but are actually more expensive per unit/gallon/inch/whatever. And they actually work."

I accept your premise but reject your conclusion. Where is the study that shows the population to be more vulnerable to such obfuscation over time, or since the adoption of calculators?

It's only when some jack-ass refills the bottle with gasoline, that you run into trouble...

"because you didn't accept the contract yet. Without that, whatever you paid for is still not yours." If true, then until the contract is consummated, the money paid for the "service" should not be theirs.

And yes, everyone and their brother will try to emulate this. So if software is now a license and not a purchase, won't publishers be obligated to provide replacement media?

Great post! I wish I had mod points left. Even I have trouble reconciling Torrents of Porn. On one hand I recognize Flynt as a major force in free speech advocacy, on the other, I like free porn. Part of why the industry though, is going after this, is that AMATEUR porn being posted to the torrents, by Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, is starting to cut into the bottom line. I think the attack is not so much directed at the pr0noholics, so much as trying to chill the competing distribution methods.

"Is there really a strong correlation between the playstation and obesity?" Based on my anecdotal observation, there is a hight correlation, with fast food, Wal*Mart and Fox News.