I am actually looking at this to replace my iPad 2. With the trade in credit I can get, it may be a worthwhile upgrade. At this point my iPad is barely able to open the PDFs I constantly throw at it without pausing to think constantly. Definitely showing its age.

A codec can be hardware or software.

The thing I don't understand - google is still having QC, logistical, and supply chain challenges. I have a pixel, I love it. However, there are people who are on their 4th replacement that are still having issues (microphones dying, wifi issues, screen issues). Why not focus on getting this one right and building a reliable supply chain rather than immediately jumping on to the next device?

Funny how you are neglecting the significant increase in reported hate crimes. There have been over 260 reported since election day, 109 specifically mentioned trump or his policies during the commission of the crime.

Most people who are slandered as "Anti-Israel" aren't against Israel or Jews. They are against things like Israel constantly flouting its borders as defined by the UN resolution that created it, and the amended resolution that expanded them. To this day Israel is pushing active settlement programs that violate those borders. They also dislike things Israel's violations of wartime conventions (using white phosphorous, and further, doing so in civilian heavy populations). They are even more so against any valid criticism of the Israeli government being labelled as "anti-semitic". It is absolutely feasible for someone to have no issue with the Jewish people, but despise the behavior of Israel. There is a book I highly recommend reading called "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semintism and the Misuse of History". It is written by a Jewish Israeli. You are trying to grossly simplify the issue to push your perspective. Violating international boundaries and wartime conventions pisses people off.

That's some fine science work there, Lou!

This is neat research, but I want it much more strongly vetted. It reminds way too much of the facilitated communication mess we encountered several years ago.

80 dollars doesn't really nudge into the "nicer watches" category. I like browsing around high-end watches - I was peeking at one a few weeks ago that ran $38000. Obviously several orders of magnitude out of my price range, but really fancy watches get super expensive fast when you are a chronophile. The crazy thing is that I saw a Fossil watch a few hours later that looked nearly identical but for about 300 dollars.

The issue wasn't the batteries themselves, the issue was that the Note wasn't engineered with any tolerances around the batteries, so any hard external pressure exerted on the case of the Note could cause the battery's internal plates to short.

Both the wife and I have been through numerous blood draws recently at Quest over the past few months. Really hoping our info wasn't stolen. Yet again.

I really wish that I had met MD's who acknowledged they weren't experts in IT when I did medical work. In my experience, most MD's couldn't comprehend that their doctorate in a single specific niche didn't automatically make them the final voice on absolutely every conceivable topic of discussion. And that was across hospitals across the entire eastern seaboard. Hence the joke lots of nurses bandy about, "Doctor in the front, asshole in the back."

Actually, I have. And you know what would have happened if we had stood up and done that? Within 24 hours contractors would have been brought in from India or China to do it anyway, and I would still have given up my job. I have a wife and kids that my losing my job would very gravely impact. As in, possibly cost us our home, cost my kids their access to education, etc. Right now, I need my job or else it directly impacts my family. It's noble of you to be willing to jump off a cliff on principle, but not all of us have that ability.

So, question, do you just get your rocks off being a dick for no reason? Real question. I've been respectful to you, and in turn you've been an ass. You haven't really added anything to the conversation other than trying to turn this into some kind of pissing contest. Power dynamics and politics are a real thing. You sound clueless about the industry at a fortune 500 level, and about basic human psychology.

I have a job as an IT professional, specifically doing research and design for an extremely large carrier. That doesn't mean that my voice overrules my director's. And being free to speak your mind != being an asshole.

I honestly have no interest in quitting my job if I find myself suddenly rich. What WILL happen though, is that the way I treat my job and the power dynamics there will drastically change. I will be far more emboldened voicing opinions about things that go on because I no longer am at the job because I "need" to be, but rather because I "want" to be. That makes a very big difference. I won't have near as much of an issue telling our director that he's being stupid when he is in fact demonstrably being stupid. Right now, there is always the spectre of being fired haunting me if I speak up when management makes a bad decision. I usually speak up anyway, but if I get shushed, I let it lie. I won't have to do that any more. Want to fire me? Fine, give me a call in a few months when you see I'm right, I don't need you as much as you'll see you need me.

We picked up a Wii-U because my wife likes Nintendo games, and honestly with a kid on the way they are more appropriate to all audiences. The console itself is excellent - the fact that wii mode allows the running of homebrew software lets you leverage the extremely large library of homebrew that is out there for the wii, some of which has been re-hacked to be compatible with the wii u pro controller. So, my Wii U runs games from turbo grafix 16, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Gamecube, Wii, and of course, the wii U. I have nearly limitless access to gaming through that thing. Could I do it on a PC? Sure, maybe if I was by myself. But it's hard to sit down at a single PC with 4 people and play a game together. I can sit 4 people on my couch and play a game together with controllers without a problem using the Wii U. Which brings up another important point...