Russ1642's mention of "the source for the chips themselves" implied the (remote) possibility of a compiler backdoor implemented as part of a CPU's microcode, something Applekid stated more explicitly. Sure, the WDC 65816 in the Apple IIGS is connected to 1 to 8 MB of RAM into which a compromised compiler may be loaded. But that doesn't mean the CPU's microcode itself is compromised. There are detailed photomicrographs of the 65816, and the microcode part is not that big. I only mentioned it in the first place because something like ORCA/C is highly unlikely to have the same backdoors as popular compilers.

Let me know when Safari for iPhone supports the Stream API, WebGL, Gamepad API, and IndexedDB.

An article published by the U.S. Small Business Administration claims that people are doing signatures on touch screens. Let me guess how it'd be exposed to JavaScript: A digitizer feeds a stream of (x, y) drag events to the script on the page. The page renders these drag events to a canvas. This would work with a standard Wacom tablet on a PC or with the touch screen in a smartphone or tablet.

I believe it's called "getUserMedia" and treating the signature tablet as a camera.

Result on Firefox 24 on Xubuntu 12.04 LTS: "This browser is currently unsupported. Please download Firefox 22 for an optimal experience." This recommendation to use an older browser contradicts Epic Citadel HTML5 FAQ, which "recommend[s] the latest Firefox public release".

Not if the diverse double compiling process includes other CPU architectures. For one thing, there exists a C compiler that runs on an Apple IIGS computer with a 65816 CPU, which doesn't have enough gates to hold a Ken Thompson backdoor.

By using free compilers and ensuring clean binaries using diverse double compiling. (Thud457 mentioned it, and we discussed it a week ago.) Essentially what you do is bootstrap the compiler (compile the compiler's source code with your existing compiler binary, then recompile it with itself) on several different brands of compiler. If the binaries resulting from all bootstraps match, then either none of them have a backdoor or they all have the same backdoor. The more compilation processes you use, the less likely it will be that they all have the same backdoor. To exclude CPU microcode bugs that target a particular compiler, you could try running some of the bootstraps in an emulator such as DOSBox or bootstrap them as cross-compilers on another CPU architecture.

Incidentally, the abusive NPEs that you describe are exactly what this bill is designed to end.

I'm an Aspie, and I need my sarcasm detector retrained. What's a good place to get this done in northeast Indiana? Do they take insurance? I'd use Google, but I think my malfunctioning sarcasm detector is keeping me from coming up with keywords.

Exactly. Licenses to use a novel invention are subject to the same sort of supply and demand as any other form of property.

A software developer who holds a patent on his invention can often cut the royalty he needs to pay for someone else's patent by cross-licensing his own patent. I realize this does not help the free software movement.

You'd be surprised at what's likely to happen in the near future: Top US Lobbyist Wants Broadband Data Caps

Then what workaround for 4K's higher data rate do you recommend "for rural people on satellite and places like Australia"?

Then let me reword it once more: "I'd rather pay $30 per month for 1080p than $120 per month for 4K."

Block your page from noscript browsers and you block users of Google from finding your site. Search engines browse with noscript. You could try progressive enhancement: wait for the HTML to load and then use jquery to transform it into the flashy popups.

The industry where patentability standards are currently overly lax is precisely the industry where a small-time inventor has means to produce at least the reference implementation of an invention. Namely: software.