Seriously, I'm in awe of these pictures and how much is out there. Between these and the new hubble images, it really drives home two things:

1) I miss living in the country. The night skies on clear nights were awesome. 2) I regret that I will not live long enough to see faster then light travel. Perhaps my son will see it.

I certainly hope that my children will get the chance to travel our of orbit. I'm still holding out that i'll step foot on the moon or another planet before I leave this beautiful blue marble. (A man's gotta have his dreams right?)

On a serious note faster than light travel by the next generation? We can always dream....

Not sure how you're defining a big flop. Just by having google and android hand in hand the branding is getting out there. HTC devices are now known to be reliable by the consumer. For the record I own one and bought it new with an extra battery (you can't go wrong for 25$). I bought it when it was still unavailable in my country of origin. I don't use a dataplan but connect via wifi. I'd rather know the cost of my device upfront and have the ability to change carriers whenever I feel like it rather than being locked into one carrier for two to three years. Until our carriers monthly service plans fall to a resonable monthly cost (under 30$ a month) i will not support them any more than I need to. Android, HTC, google, the open source movement and the consumer are all winning with this thing. Not really understanding how this is a loss or flop. S.

... crack it open and you can remove the wireless card and replace it with your own ... the wireless card had been glued to the router board ... I ended up using a pair of scissors to pry them apart and I thought for certain I had ruined either the card or the router board. God I love slashdot.... always the best advice!

On a serious note I tried to remove the card in every which way I could think of and it wouldn't budge. I couldn't tell that it was held in place with the sponge and glue (it wasn't visible). I don't know if that's a common practice in devices like these because it was the first time I opened one up. I thought someone might find the information helpful if they were thinking about opening theirs. (I was fully aware of the possible consequences.).

On a side note; It's also a good idea to loosen up and have a few beers before trying the famous hardware removal by scissors technique. It's as extreme as extreme ironing btw. S.

I'm very happy with the unit for the following reasons:

1) crack it open and you can remove the wireless card and replace it with your own.

2) will run with openwrt

3) I'm shocked at the amount of abuse mine took. The wireless card had been glued to the router board using some kind of foam. I think the combination of the glue used and the heat from the device made it stick together strongly. I ended up using a pair of scissors to pry them apart and I thought for certain I had ruined either the card of the router board. Much to my surprise when I unbent the clips for the card it started working fine (I was prepared to trash the router in order to try and get the card out).

4) I've flashed the unit several times between the stock and various other images. The thing always comes back from the dead if you take your time and understand what you're doing. I guess it's firmware has some issue in how it addresses the interfaces which causes a conflict when trying to run something like FON (or so I'm told. Not certain how this applies if you're running openwrt). I bought mine a few years ago now when the N standard wasn't on a lot of hardware at the time. I haven't tested it's functionality in that regard.

I'm planning on buying a decent Atheros based card for it and use it in Sept. Hope this was helpful in some way.

Cheers, S.

I live in Downtown Denver, about three short blocks away from their largest residential CO, and I still only qualify for 7. I know, I should be smitten, but you'd think they'd have their own backyard wired up.

I'm sorry, but I'd be royally pissed of MS was trying to remove third party software from a machine without asking me.

Malware or not.

It's not the right place. A very appropriate solution would be to prompt the user

"A root kit has been detected, please visit the following website for more information and a link to a tool to attempt to fix the issue. This update will not be installed until the issue has been resolved."

If I saw that message, I would be shocked and amazed at the appropriate response demonstrated. If that happened, I would say MS went above and beyond to accommodate the customer and the security best practice.

Is the tobacco industry against e-cigs? Wouldn't it be the least bit ironic if the ALA found itself on the same side as them?

I'd like to meet your daughter when she's an adult. (I am serious. She should be really pleasure to be around and really interesting.)

I disagree entirely. If you don't understand a contract, don't sign up to its terms. If enough people did it, and explained their reasons for not buying a product, then the company in question would make it easier to read. If you don't understand it without a lawyer, get a lawyer, or just don't sign. That simple.

Don't legislate for people's stupidity and apathy, because that encourages it.