$13 billion? Meh. Drop in the ocean. When we're all short of trillions, what's a few billion between friends?

I have always wondered about what might happen if large quantities of energy were taken out of the wind/climate system and used to generate power. Might this cause some even greater climatic change? Not trolling, just genuinely scared of everything.

Don't forget the world's largest ball of string in Darwin, Minnesota. Although there may be others.

Well, I live a mile north of Greenwich. The rest of you sort out your zones. We'll dish out time.

The notion that the fruit was an apple comes about because of the pun in Latin between "Malus" (apple) and "Malum" (evil).

"Never believe anything until it's been officially denied."

Sir Humphrey Appleby, "Yes Minister".

If boot times are getting, quicker, then surely this means booting is easier and more likely to be done? This seems like the opposite of "the death of booting".

Frankly, the new technologies that allow me to boot up my computer and resume my work where I left off in a matter of seconds make it much more likely that I will turn my computer off when I'm not using it.

I've never understood the machismo behind "345 days without rebooting". Unless you're a mission-critical server.

I pay the electric bill, so if I'm not using it, it gets switched off.

No one knows what the missing 9% is for....

50% Porn
23% Lol Cats
10% Facebook
5% Teen sensation
2% Conspiracy theories, petitions, "Do this to stop Facebook checking up on you", etc.
0.5% Email
0.4% Business
0.1% Literature, Science, Art, other stuff that is beneficial to mankind

Can someone explain the incongruity between these two statements:

"Don't worry, your data is encrypted with 256-bit RSA."
"Computer experts have cracked the encryption."

So why doesn't the fantastic mathematically complex encyption ever work? Why should I trust https? Or any other encrypted transmission?

Apple needs to modify what is included in the term "safe files". Text files, images, PDFs, yes (particularly if you're opening them in Preview, not Adobe Reader. But disk images and installer packages should not be included in the definition.

So Mac users should celebrate that Apple now has sufficient market share to have malware!

Yay!

So I say this world is knackered. Let's get as much out of it as we can, take off and nuke the site from orbit.

Then start Earth 2 on Gliese 581d.

It's the only way to be sure.

(We'd put all the telephone sanitizers on the 3rd ship, right?)

I disagree: always go for the faster CPU, and don't worry about RAM.

I usually find that a faster CPU equates to a computer that is useful for a longer period of time before becoming unable to cope with up-to-date apps and OSes.

You can buy more RAM at any point in the machine's life and install it yourself, but that isn't always possible with a CPU.

The golden rule is: don't get a machine that is "just good enough for now": buy some "future" too. Also, don't be an early adopter.

First:
So, presumably, by paying the tax, I can pirate as much music as I like! Excellent.

Second:
I've written and recorded a song. Where do I sign to get my share of the cash?