Apps like these seem to do most everything the blogger is looking for:
the administration appears to have been caught completely unprepared for the events in Crimea.
How do you know that the events in Crimea aren't occurring the way the US administration wants?
I hope I'm not mistaken, but can't you already do that by purchasing your games digitally from their Xbox Live virtual shop?
I agree with you that some benchmarking system would help, maybe "flops per amp-hour" or something, but your formula would lead to manufacturers gaming the system for higher scores and ignoring that people want different devices for different needs.
For example, a smartphone may have less screen size and performance than a tablet but not have an equal return in battery time or weight reduction, resulting in a lower score, and still may be "better" for someone that can't fit a tablet in their pocket.
Likewise, sedans and motorcycles are lighter and more fuel-efficient than larger, more powerful pickup trucks, but that just makes them suited for different markets and uses, and it wouldn't work to submit them to a one-size-fits-all Automobile Score.
Telling customers the class of the mobile device, processing ability, power efficiency, and battery capacity would be just as good describing the class of an automobile, engine output, MPG rating, and fuel capacity.
Put a button that toggles your program's "dangerous flying car" interface, with a nice warning about they can now wipe their system with a single click, and you aren't responsible if they misuse the software.
Then you'll have a society afraid of fighting off a violent attacker, choosing between death on the sidewalk or in an execution chamber.
It appears your hunch isn't that far off from reality:
What, do you think they verify if your answer is factually correct?
A person could find out what school you went to, while no one but you is going to know you put in "The Napoleonic Wars" as the acceptable response.
Opera's had native bittorrent support for years, but I'd suspect that the other browser manufacturers would consider adding this as a built-in feature either bloat or indicative of supporting piracy.
Left 4 Dead 2, pictured right below that drug use notification and a major point of contention in this classification debate, would still have trouble because it features downing a bottle of pills or injecting yourself with a syringe of adrenaline in order to continue killing zombies, and has an achievement related to that as well.
Amazon has actually had this feature for a while: Loaning a Kindle Book
Also, when the loan period is up the lendee gets a link to buy a copy of the eBook from the Amazon store, so publishers might see an increase in sales, especially if the loaned book is the first of a series or something.
Isn't that similar to the Tesla Roadster?
If I'm understanding the article's quote correctly, Gabe is talking about how the iOS devices and the XBox 360 only give you the choice of only one digital distribution service, shutting out potential competitors.
On computers, Steam competes with other digital gaming services, such as Direct2Drive, Desura, GoG, and so on. Later on he goes on to say how a hypothetical Valve-produced console would be "open" so that users could use Steam's competitors alongside Steam.
Because those corporate whores are the ones who publish the books that hold the information.
If you really want to support the freedom of information, petition your university to use OpenCourseWare.
you can't buy an account without these restrictions anymore; you can only get a "free" account.
While that is technically true, you can permanently upgrade to the normal account with your first purchase in their store. See their FAQ.
You have to add a minimum $5.00 to the Steam Wallet to buy stuff from the store, so practically you can look at this as the price of getting a normal account. If you feel like spending $1 on a cosmetic item is unfair to other players for whatever reason, there's a Map Stamp item which basically lets you vote on your favorite maps, and the creator gets a bit of that money.
And if it's the DLC system itself that you don't want to give money to, you can try looking around if there's still retail copies of the game around somewhere.
Is your job running? You'd better go catch it!
