So this is essentially a hackathon? Please, correct me if I am wrong...

Looks like ISP's better watch their collective back. Google coming to screw telecom monopolies over and give the customer what they truly want in an obscure city somewhat near you...

fire ze missiles!

While this may not be tech-related, it's good to have this kind of news up on everyone's radar, just in case (no pun intended).

So, will we see OEM Windows PCs come by default with Thunderbolt ports? Or is this another fantastic, magical, extraordinary Apple Inc. exclusive?

I feel as if a million T-Mobile customers screamed out in agony and are snuffed once they have read this article...

So, even though the account holder can disable the censoring, would it be an accurate guess that quite a few slashdotters with T-Mobile here are now considering leaving to a different telecom?

I think Huawei was also left out of consideration when AT&T and Verizon were looking to build more LTE towers in the US. Or was that the federal government didn't want their equipment out of this fear?

Would love if someone clarified this.

Alright. Got it. Thank you for helping me to understand.

Alright, so these apps would only help if the perp intended on using the device themselves and had no intention of reselling.

But, yeah, by taking it up to the next level with IMEI cracking... That kind of nullifies any sense of security on the phone. :-/

Ah, I see...

Although, isn't "locking" the phone about as good as bricking? Or can that be disabled by connecting it to any computer with iTunes? Yes, the data would be erased, as far as I know, but would this still work?

If your *smartphone* (not feature phone) is stolen, in particular if it's Android or iOS, there are a number of solutions one could use without having to resort to calling police to "brick" your phone, other than retrieving it.

Apple has the "Find My iPhone" service and you are able to locate your phone (if it's still on), able to lock it, send a message, and wipe your device.

Android has, I don't know, 10+ different apps that can do that available on the Android Market. This is not including some manufacturers' own services natively installed onto their devices, like Motorola's MotoBlur service, that does all of the above.

Perhaps the kids find it a complete escape into another world, like many of those that play MMORPGs and Action RPGs like Mass Effect and Fallout.

I recently had to swear off of RPGs because of how deeply immersive they got for me. It got hard to tell what was real in the game and what wasn't. I was extremely absorbed in the story.

And I could say that I also reacted negatively when my parents told me to turn off the games back then. I became very frustrated and anxious for a few hours. Not necessarily violent, but the fact I got taken away from my story unwillingly did not help at all.

It's worse now, for story-driven people like me, with un-pauseable cutscenes and checkpoints that you must reach instead of saving whenever you want in some of these kinds of games.

Even when I turned off a game like these voluntarily I still get a bit anxious and find it a bit difficult to "get my head back in the game", usually because I found something within a story a bit disturbing (Mass Effect written all over this point) or just needed to go somewhere for a meeting or something in reality.

I would not be surprised to see reports from China that Foxconn workers are being treated a bit better over the next year... Thus eventually making Apple the most "labor-friendly".

Although, Foxconn manufactures devices for multiple companies, I believe. Doesn't Motorola also have their devices made there?

Thank you for finding a source. Amazing to know what Sony's position is...