Since iOS 5 iTunes is no longer needed at all. You can activate the device, back it up to iCloud, and install apps all on the device itself. I can see how it might be a pain to access everything through iCloud but there's iPhoneExplorer in that case.

I think they've shot themselves in the foot. The poor battery life and high price lead one to consider just waiting for the inevitable 3DSLite. Why be an early adopter when you know from Nintendo's track record that there will be a better version coming in the next year or so? That and the small launch lineup wasn't very compelling.

I majored in electrical engineering with an emphasis on software. I didn't take any traditional CS classes other than a data structures class. However, we were taught all manner of practical things -- worked up from ASM to C++/Java. Saw bits flip on an o-scope. Took a class in x86 computer architecture. I taught myself best practices from well-regarded books. I'm 28 and I can say that in my position, in Central IL, embedded has been very VERY good to me. It's all people want around here and it's difficult to find decent candidates for all the open positions.

Um, they paid up front. They've been very transparent about the issues and in this case they were told their boards were being worked on months ago and they weren't. Get your facts straight buddy before you go off on a lunatic rant.

Thanks so much for pointing out Zotero! It's the solution to the problem I've had ever since browsers supported multiple tabs!

There may be more jobs, but in my (albeit limited) experience all the fun ones require C++ :)

So what happens if you bought a 3G last May (before they were discontinued) and your phone gets hacked? What will they do if you take it to the Apple store? It's still under warranty until at least this May. It's one thing not to support new features on older phones but leaving a phone still under warranty vulnerable is inexcusable!

He simply speaks the truth. For all you know those workers stayed within the company on some other line.

You sir, hit the nail on the head. I completely agree that the only way to change things is to get involved. If he was concerned about outsourcing jobs, he could have made a business case either showing that outsourcing was only hurting the company or that some of the money saved could go toward retraining or helping those affected find new jobs. Not that those are likely scenarios, but as you said, without taking the chance, it definitely won't happen.

Unfortunately, my guess is simply increasing the refresh time is only going to solve one problem. I'm not an expert on DRAM or anything but it seems to behave like a capacitor. Longer refresh times require larger capacitance. Large capacitance doesn't necessarily mean more power, but I think it would take more voltage to change the state of a bit (you'd have to reverse a larger charge).

Also, the biggest problem with DRAM these days is speed (reads/writes per second). The best way to increase speed (without also increasing voltage, and thus power) is to decrease capacitance since discharging a smaller charge is faster -- not to mention it would generate less heat, which leads to higher density and higher speeds, which is what the DRAM market is really after.

Wow Slashdot's preview is NOT the same as what it posts. It ate my whitespace. How does one edit comments on here?

Are you serious? This is the FIRST Nintendo system to be fully region locked. Not exactly "evidence for some time". Also let's not forget it was Sony that pulled the plug on PS3 Linux. They're the only company to ever REMOVE an official feature from a functioning console. I read an article on 1-Up I think that mentioned the price point on the 3DS will be higher because the price point on the Wii really should have been higher. They priced the Wii so low that it was hard to find for over a YEAR. My guess is since there's really no competition in the portable 3D hand-held market that they're going to fish for a higher price and see who bites. That beats seeing third parties on eBay enjoying what would otherwise be Nintendo's profits. As you suggested, it's likely it'll be cheaper by Christmas and then everyone else can get one.

On the flip side, with every transaction being reported and no loop holes to exploit, the percentage taxed (0.3%) can cover the revenue otherwise lost. Still, privacy would remain a concern.

You'd be surprised. With vacations, overtime and the union all involved, it can get to be a real mess. The overtime especially as if it's not doled out exactly evenly/correctly, the whole schedule can be affected. Also, they simply have to hire one person for every 5 due to the 6-day schedule who works all the others' off days. They can cut a LOT of cost by eliminating this position altogether.

While they don't have to pay the staff anymore on Saturday than the rest of the week, there's sizable overhead in managing 5-day work weeks when mail is delivered 6-days a week. By going to a 5-day delivery schedule, they can save on all of the overhead and assign one carrier to one route all week. This makes things easier and more efficient all around.