Oh, but I did.

Considering the latest auction started at $2700 and was in the $4500 range last week, that ~ $270 for DOING NOTHING :)

Not bad, really. The 'custom electronics' described in the eBay auction probably didn't cost that much.

That's uh, all I really had to say

I have yet to see anything easier to use for video conferencing than TinyChat. Just use Firefox or Chrome with Ad Block and you'll have a nice clean interface (or pay for a subscription - it's still pretty cheap).

most awesome ...'awesome' is so over-used, but it's truly appropriate here

...has just been redefined

I'd agree to that, and don't have much more to add, actually. Very well put. Stick 'em outside and let kids be kids. Too much tech at a young age can just confuse them, unless they have an unusual aptitude or something. And frankly, I don't use txt at all - had my phone company disable it. Don't want it, don't need it, too expensive. "Oh", I hear you say, "but you can just get an unlimited txt plan". Yep - for more money. Once again, you have to SPEND money to SAVE money. Just doesn't make sense to me :) When someone asks me if I got their txt message, I just say "Sorry, you'll have to actually CALL me".

Lightning killed the 'cloud'.

It's not great irony, but it's kinda there.

Hell, I'm just happy that my VoIP provider (www.babytel.ca, www.babytelusa.com) forwards a voicemail to my email address.

No matter where I am, I can retrieve it pretty quickly without numeric prompts.

bah, AMD have nothing on my friend here:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1351232

...has an option to index encrypted files.

Not true.

READ. LEARN.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc767094.aspx

I get that you like OSX / Linux better, and that's fine. I like them too, for some things. But to trash ANY OS with false information is living on a belief system, rather than an informed and educated system, my friend :)

Well said :)

Let's also not forget that ALL version of Windows, from NT on up, have been written to comply with C2 security standards:

http://windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=2293
http://vdict.com/Orange%20Book,6,0,0.html

Which proves your point, it's the USER, not the OS, that lends itself toward a lack of security.

One could argue that C2 isn't enough - but that's another /. article :)

...we've been using this for about three years; suits our needs.

Tickets can be submitted via web interface, or email.

Decent support in the forums, too.

http://entertrack.sourceforge.net/