I have had great fun as a computer person for astronomical observatories. Have been treated quite well without the PhD, but there is certainly a ceiling without one.
The Square Kilometre Array is the current hotness, and is hiring.
http://www.skatelescope.org/people-contacts/jobs/
Nice article here explains how to roll your own:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/13/hardware-packs-for-allwinner-a10-devices-and-easier-method-to-create-a-bootable-ubuntu-12-04-sd-card/
Anyone who thinks this is a silly idea needs to spend two weeks in a city without modern plumbing.
Seriously, many of these news sites are publishing their content via RSS (News Corp. sites in particular). I assume that they will stop foisting their content on the interwebs, before unleashing the copyright flying monkeys.
Fifteen (!) years ago, I took a UC Extension class on Neural Networks taught by Stanford professor David Stork. He had developed a lip-reading system for communication in noisy environments, such as an airplane-repair facility. If you could do it 15 years ago with workstation-class desktops, I suppose you could do it with a smartphone today.
Terrorists stage a high-profile robbery to incite a police chase, which leads to the use of one of these EMP things, aimed at Mae West. Th' InterTubes go dark, civilization collapses.
If you teach your children to like computers and to know how to gamble then they'll always be interested in something and won't come to no real harm.
