The original Nook could do basic text to speech - which was hailed as a real boon to people with sight challenges. Although I'm certain the AI does a better job with inflection and such, but the fundamental problem remains.
The reason almost no one knows or remembers this feature is that the moment it was revealed, book authors invoked their copyright authority to prohibit "derivative works". Barnes and Nobel were forced to disable this feature. Of course, Apple is probably too big to be dissuaded by a few measly class-action lawsuits contesting this.

Oh... I get it now. I was trying to understand why suddenly bash and some of the Ubuntu pieces were suddenly supported on Windows. So, since you can easily get access to all your real Linux tools and suchlike (or will eventually) there's actually no reason at all to complain that you can't install the OS - just run it on Windows.

All that "Developers want access to their tools" blather explaining why MS decided to create the layer that allows Linux code to run just didn't seem convincing. This must have been the goal all along. I think this time it just might stick. Oh well. I'm not a gamer or video editor, so I suspect that when it's time for me to replace my current laptop, there'll be a reasonably speced ARM solution so I won't really notice. I already said "Goodby" to Microsoft, I guess it will soon be time to say the same to Intel.

I guess I misunderstood TFA. Didn't FTC hold a $50,000 challenge in 2013 and award a prize?

I immediately attempted to set this up at my house but of course ATT didn't implement the third party ring feature which is the central requirement. Funny thing...

Oh well. We have an answering machine, anyone who calls is welcome to use it. All the phones have their ringers off. We get about 20 calls a day, and about 2 messages a week. I wonder who all the other calls are from?

Around Thanksgiving, the Linux Voice podcast had a "find of the fortnight" about a small, cheap Bluetooth 4.0 module that can easily be added to an existing system. The card is designated KRC 86B, and a raw board is about $10. As a raw board, there is programming in place that handles everything you need to send audio from your phone and the board has audio in and out all configured. I think they are the same ones that are used for Bluetooth connections in new cars these days.

Bare boards have soldering pads, but no connectors. I paid a bit more for one ($14) that already had all the connectors attached - all I did was provide micro-USB power, and connect to my receiver with a standard audio miniplug. Pair and play!

There are tutorials all over the place on how to gracefully integrate these things into your existing box, but mine's just dangling out front. Despite the simplicity and low cost, the sound is excellent! Don't take my word for it, they're about $10, just do it!

Um, if you think that copyrighting/trademarking a common word is reaching, what about color?

I don't have links for the recent decision over red soles on women's shoes, nor the company in Germany that trademarked the color blue, but how about this item from 1995, in which Justice Breyer decided that companies DO have the right to trademark colors: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-03-29/news/1995088024_1_color-trademark-protection-pink

Compared to that, a simple little thing like trademarking a common word is pretty tame.

OK, the first millimeter of skin is our tissue target then. It would have been nice if the nature of the cancer in the cluster had been included - anything not involving the epidermis may well be a direct consequence of the common employment of the group, but I would start my search for the culprit by eliminating the scanners, unless their cancers are in the first millimeter.

BTW, the Johns Hopkins paper DID indicate there was a SIGNIFICANT exposure risk (even based on the 'wrong' standard) posed by these scanners... You just have to be upstairs somewhere, not on the ground level.

Don't get me wrong - I am in no way a fan of scanners, I just hope people will pay attention and think while they are reading. Then if a real objection arises, they will not have wasted time and spent their credibility on non-issues.

OP says that the letter says it "questions whether it is even safe to stand near an operating scanner, let alone inside one."

Um, helps to read the fine linked document, which has been partially redacted, but still says "Individual effective dose per screening (frontal and rear) of a subject is , less than the 10 urem (0.10 uSv) limit. Further down a standard (NCRP 1993) is quoted which "recommends that members of the general public receive less than 1 mSv (0.1 rem) per year."

So, if these numbers are compared (who knows if they are reproducible) you are considered safe up to about 10,000 scans per year (1 mSv / 0.10 uSv).

The document does indicate there is a potential danger from X-ray beam overshoot "above and behind" the scanner. Yes, but note in the diagram this area BEGINS at 13.8 FEET above the ground, and RISES IN A CONE!!! So, you may be at risk if you're about 14 feet tall (or work in an office on the second floor?) standing behind the machine...

You know those WiFi-sensitive T-Shirts from ThinkGeek? Maybe it's time for something that responds to X-radiation...

When I >need something like a PDF reader, even for Windows, I often go to freshmeat.net first. There are many more solutions there that are functional in Windows than you might think.

In this case, I typed "PDF suite" into a Wikipedia search box, and ended up on the Foxit Reader page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxit_Reader) which contains this sentence:

"Foxit Phantom PDF Suite is a complete suite of PDF editing and creation software." complete with a link to their web site.

In general, though, it is not trivial to determine who can be trusted, and to determine where an obscure application came from.

Interesting. I had a 1986 Ford Taurus wagon that had the mechanics thinking it needed a new cpu module, and I swear that it they showed me something flat, black and squarish under the hood. I thought it was on the forward side of the engine block, but that was a long time ago, and my memory has more holes than swiss cheese.