I don't know whether to mod you insightful or troll, so I will comment instead.

Well, there's your problem. Abstracts are not the claims, and do not need to be novel or non-obvious by themselves. That is the job of the claims.

From US Patent 8060463

The first claim:

1. A computer-implemented method of matching users to other users, the method comprising: storing, in computer storage, event data comprising order data reflective of items ordered from an electronic catalog by each of a plurality of users; programmatically generating a score that reflects a degree to which item preferences of a first user of said plurality of users are similar to item preferences of a second user of said plurality of users, said score taking into consideration a first plurality of items ordered by the first user and a second plurality of items ordered by the second user, wherein generating the score comprises weighting a first item and a second item identified in both the first and second plurality of items, wherein the first and second items are different, wherein the first and second items are weighted differently based at least in part on a first inherent characteristic of the first item and a second inherent characteristic of the second item, wherein the first and second inherent characteristics are different, and wherein generating the score further comprises taking into consideration at least one additional type of event data reflective of user affinities for items represented in the electronic catalog; and based at least in part on the score, programmatically determining whether to recommend the second user to the first user.

Kind of like a ThunderCougarFalconBird?

From http://www.bash.org/?244321:

<Cthon98> hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars
<Cthon98> ********* see!
<AzureDiamond> hunter2
<AzureDiamond> doesnt look like stars to me
<Cthon98> *******
<Cthon98> thats what I see
<AzureDiamond> oh, really?
<Cthon98> Absolutely
<AzureDiamond> you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2
<AzureDiamond> haha, does that look funny to you?
<Cthon98> lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as *******
<AzureDiamond> thats neat, I didnt know IRC did that
<Cthon98> yep, no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as *******
<AzureDiamond> awesome!
<AzureDiamond> wait, how do you know my pw?
<Cthon98> er, I just copy pasted YOUR ******'s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause its your pw
<AzureDiamond> oh, ok.

What lazy SOBs, giving a date of 2012 and all, since the world will end.

Check out http://www.einstruction.com/products/student-response-systems. They allow both mobile, computer, and clicker type devices for the same system. This seems to be prior art for what is claimed (not just the abstract).

It seems you didn't RTFM. Only one switch out of many failed, due to it being set up from the factory incorrectly. The rest of the system switched over properly. I would say that is pretty good considering the data center size and number of switches needed for redundancy.

I was a rower in high school. We had practices 4-6 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week. Between a 5K (3 mi) run warm up and 25-30K (17-20 mi) row every day, I burned a up lot of calories and lost a lot of body fat. Seeing how a lot of vitamins and minerals are fat soluble, my caloric intake was very well above average to maintain the needed level of vitamins (bah on supplements).

My parents were not to happy with me as I would eat them out of house and home every day. Cereal has always been my staple, and I can not have any less than 10 pounds of cereal stocked up at anyone time and 2 gallons of milk. To this day, this remains true, and I can still easily polish off a box (16 oz) a day.

Lessons learned, if you want to be the next Kobayashi, become a rower.

"A group at Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a fun little open source program to emulate the CRT effects to make old Atari games look like they originally did when played on modern LCD's and digital displays. Things like color bleed, ghosting, noise, etc. are reproduced to give a more realistic appearance."

From Slashdot story Atari Emulation of CRT Effects On LCDs.

Looks like Heinlein was right again.

Time to buy some more Hired Girl stock!

You insensitive clod!

From http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/support/:

Q. Can I use my nook while traveling abroad?
A. Yes, when you travel abroad, you can read any files that are already on your nook. You can connect to Wi-Fi hotspots that do not use proxy security settings, such those commonly used in hotels, and download eBooks and subscriptions already in your online digital library. You cannot, however, purchase additional eBooks and subscriptions.

Q. Will new issues of eNewspapers and eMagazines be downloaded to my nook while I'm traveling?
A. Yes, if you are traveling in the United States, or if you are abroad but connected to a supported Wi-Fi hotspot, new issues are delivered to your online digital library in both cases. When travelling abroad without Wi-Fi access, new issues are not downloaded to your nook (automatically or manually).

So no, it isn't international.

and let either private enterprise (?) explore space

I agree, even 6 year-olds are doing it.

The flicker, which I don't consider unpleasant, is due to the physical properties of e-ink. It is a bi-stable screen, which means that little black pixels are electromagnetically moved up and down in white fluid to produce an image that stays without power, pretty much forever. This is why e-readers with e-ink screens have a battery life of over 2 weeks, no screen to actively power.

As far as the kindle goes, K2 is pretty fast, on the order of 250 ms (screen limitation, not hardware/software). I haven't seen any faster, but I am sure that as the technology evolves, the refresh time will shrink considerably.