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its' the power grid from the future? More like 1990.

Actually, power systems is a mature technology. The "bible" that every power engineer has is this book, first published in 1955. Notice that the book on sale is the fourth edition, printed in 1982. Nothing is changing very fast in this field.

The problem that could arise from a large number of Smart Grid computers being pwned is if a worm triggered them off at exactly the same time, this is called a "load rejection" event. It would cause oscillations in the power flow which could end in a blackout but, generally, load rejection is not as bad as generation rejection, which happens when a power plant is cut off.

Another problem that would cause much more harm to the companies than to users is if the worm instructed power meters to register less power consumption. I see a large black-market arising, if someone figures out how to write this exploit.

Yes, there are lots of jobs for good C (and COBOL) programmers, but there are lots of good C (and COBOL) programmers. The number of jobs needing these skills is shrinking faster than these guys are dying or retiring, so if you choose either of these languages, every job you go for you'll be up against people who are not only better than you but also more experienced than you.

True and ...

In any case the principal skill of a software person is not knowing language X, it's being able to learn (and become productive in) new languages, new libraries and new technologies quickly. The reason why this industry is fun to be in is because it changes so rapidly.

Very true.

If you do not know this book http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-Style-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0070342075 inside and out, take the time to do so. That's the best advice you'll ever get.

Languages come and go. Style and taste in programming is timeless.

Everything you've said can be just as easily applied to evolution:

A. The scientific method doesn't apply to things that can't be reproduced in a laboratory. History cannot be reproduced in a laboratory or directly viewed, and we've never created life in a laboratory or shown any way that life could've arisen from green pools of goo.

B. Pictures of dinosaurs and humans living together is prima fascia evidence that they lived together, evidence which you've chosen to ignore and rationalize away. Cave paintings are the testimony of those who lived in those times, and you have a much larger problem in trying to explain how 'cavemen' could've known about tyrannosaurus and the like that you claim were extinct millions of years before Man arose.

C. Earth in 4,000 years. Get your straw-man right, it's 6,000 years ago. 4,000 years is the rough date for the Deluge. Carbon dating itself is problematic, as is its basis on 'index fossils' thousands of which still exist and are alive today, the famous coelacanth, for instance. Nor was anyone around to witness life arising from non-life, or the pre-cambrian explosion, etc. Evidence for these are all circumstantial. You'll claim fossil evidence, of course. And I'll give you further difficult fossil evidence, such as fossilized whole whales buried in chalk, explainable only by a deluge scenario - and trees fossilized standing vertically through various mud and coal layers, which the evolutionary theory cannot explain, and claims are successive ages, but by creation theory can easily be layed down quickly in the deluge.

D. You say creation theory causes skepticism to sprout, bu how skeptical have you really been? Don't you take evidence from the experts unquestioningly yourself? If it sounds probable it must be true? Even when talking about things that cannot be subjected to scientific rigor, like past events? When the archeologists rely on the geologists for evidence and proof of evolution, the geologists cite the biologists, and the biologists cite the archeologists, why is the tautology never realized?

Evolution is little more than the modern 'earth = center of the universe' theory, and anyone who disagrees with it must be forced to repent, marginalized, and their career killed. Despite the evidence.

May I cite Jack Cuozo's "Buried Alive"
http://www.amazon.com/Buried-Alive-Startling-Truth-Neanderthal/dp/0890512388/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1237673841&sr=8-3
Which provides original research of the actual neanderthal fossils in various museums in Europe and proves via experiment and scientific rigor that they were antediluvian, not simian, using bone growth of the skull and a portable radiogram device.

The book On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Wisdom, And On the Will In Nature is in my opinion the best introduction to Arthur Schopenhauer's thought. In it, he details how each event has a cause and a chain of causes before it and how as a result the idea of free will implies an event without a cause.

Friendrich Nietzsche uses perhaps my favorite metaphor: "The causa sui is the best self-contradiction that has been conceived so far; it is a sort of rape and perversion of logic. But the extravagant pride of man has managed to entangle itself profoundly and frightfully with just this nonsense. The desire for 'freedom of the will' in the superlative metaphysical sense, which still holds sway, unfortunately, in the minds of the half-educated; the desire to bear the entire and ultimate responsibility for one's actions oneself, and to absolve God, the world, ancestors, chance, and society involves nothing less than to be precisely this causa sui and, with more than Baron Münchhausen's audacity, to pull oneself up into existence by the hair, out of the swamps of nothingness."

Why do people like the idea of free will?

It puts them in control. "I decide" sounds more empowered, egalitarian, positive and self-glorifying than "it was my option to."

It is the ethic of convenience and pretense of a species of monkeys who, having evolved enough to be proud of their new brains but not enough yet to find a use for them, are busy fiddling while Rome burns regarding climate, overpopulation, consumerism and other soul-deaths we daily endure.

No, to save money, buy a double-edged (DEs) razor (you can find perfectly good, old handles by Merkur or Gillette on the fleamarket for $5, online on ebay used $10, new can cost much more). The normal straight ones are good but I prefer my slanted Merkur.

Then buy blades. 10 Personna blades are at some walmarts for ~$1.70. Some people swear by these Derby blades (100 for $20):
http://www.amazon.com/Derby-Extra-Stainless-Double-Blades/dp/B0013RZ2ZM

They are too sharp for me personally, sometimes the razor you have dictates the type of blades go well with them (angle and all that), and your face sensitivity. Just like many cartridge based razors. However, once you find them, you are free of expensive cartridges forever.

I find the whole cartridge thing a scam anyway. They don't shave closer and one of the major downsides of cartridges is that the more razors on one, the less distance between them, the less growth you can have before the razor clogs up. DE clog up less and are much easier to flush out. Cartridge razor have their face, the benefit of a head that follows the skin and adjusts its own angle, so that shaving some body parts is easier, but generally doesn't apply to the face when you are watching what you are doing anyhow.

Gillette got away from DE because it was the open source of the razor world and the disposable blades were very easy to manufacture, a single metal strip, relative to the more elaborate metal and plastic contraptios today. No vendor lock-in. Not because of some magical benefit to the user.

Some of us do know something about the subject and far more because we keep up in other sciences and science has a lot to say about math.

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Mathematics-Comes-Embodied-Brings/dp/0465037712/

Amazon S3 is likely one of the cheaper providers of storage. They charge from 17 cents pr gigabyte of download. In addition they will costs 10 cents pr gigabyte. They also charge pr request.

Of course I know what "Whisky Tango Foxtrot" means. Somebody even wrote a book about it.

I'd flame you for not getting my joke, except I have to admit the joke was pretty lame.

Please read Henry Stapp's Mindful Universe. And no, he is not a crank (although he does need an editor...)

...if they bother to do a better mix for the LP, that is. Just ask the people pissed-off about Death Magnetic LP having the same crap mix as the CD. I think this comment sums-it-up beautifully:

From what I've read on other posts.. the vinyl sounds exactly like the CD.. The clipping and distortion is built into the final mix, and they went with the same mix for the Vinyl and CD.. How the needle doesn't jump off the record, I have no idea.

The good news? Some artists actually give a fuck about their listeners, and release unmixed tracks to let their fans go-to-town (for those who don't know, the Stems CD contains raw unmixed tracks of Ben Fold's latest CD, Way To Normal).

...if they bother to do a better mix for the LP, that is. Just ask the people pissed-off about Death Magnetic LP having the same crap mix as the CD. I think this comment sums-it-up beautifully:

From what I've read on other posts.. the vinyl sounds exactly like the CD.. The clipping and distortion is built into the final mix, and they went with the same mix for the Vinyl and CD.. How the needle doesn't jump off the record, I have no idea.

The good news? Some artists actually give a fuck about their listeners, and release unmixed tracks to let their fans go-to-town (for those who don't know, the Stems CD contains raw unmixed tracks of Ben Fold's latest CD, Way To Normal).

Mathematics is often a very cultish to people who revere it and especially on people on slashdot who have never done nor read any serious science in the matter.

You can start by reading the work of other people in the field, I would suggest Molecule to metaphor a neural theory of language as a starting point since it's very well written, it's going to take more then a tiny slashdot post to really understand why neural computation is non-symbolic, you have to look at the evidence across many fields.

Also consider why is it that so many brilliant people visually model things and then derive and seek to mathematize from the visual-geometric images/structures which they are seeing? (Einstein comes to mind initially, but also feynmann) see: Visual thinking

http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/ESM4714/Gen_Prin/vizthink.html

I also speak from personal experience from doing my own work in mathematical thinking, I am primarily a visual thinker, and people are often struck when I point out how you can mathematically derive something from merely looking at something i.e. math is an alphabet to systematize structure.

I also suggest you look into knowledge representation, this will probably give you the most insight into why neural computation is non-symbolic, but perhaps Daniel tammet would be more convincing -

Daniel tammet (multi modal ability - numbers as shapes, he derives numbers from literal visual imagery - geometric shapes) i.e. the structures come before the symbols, and are connected to the way he represents and frames knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss

Book - Author Jerald Feldman MIT press

http://www.amazon.com/Molecule-Metaphor-Neural-Language-Bradford/dp/0262562359/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237566064&sr=8-1

Additionally, If you do want to know specifically what the Catholic Church Teaches, The bible probably isn't the best place to look. Not because it isn't there but because it isn't summerized and presented in a nice way for modern audiences to understand. For that I would recommend The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. Which does a good job explaining everything. I'm not sure why that isn't available online somewhere for free, but there is its source document available Catechisim of the Catholic Church Which is easier than the bible but a little light on the layman's explanations at points.

That's not true at all. The U.S. has a long history of various forms of electoral fraud. See for example this book.

Which made me think of The Nudist on the Late Shift. What a great book.

I saw this article earlier today off a comment from Engadget and read the whole thing (no printer friendly version).

Out of curiosity, I searched Amazon.com for current offers of that Intel X25-M and in both offerings (80gb and 160gb) the reviews are that this thing is the greatest thing next to sliced bread.

The only complaints are the price but people are claiming its worth the price.

I did come across a detractor that shows you can't use XP/Vista on bootcamp with the drive because of partition issues with OS X.

Supposedly Windows 7 will have true blue SSD support so I'll wager by the time it comes out, SSD will be standard in all machines.

The prosecution and defense are the ones who need to present the facts and make the arguments. The prosecution needs to make clear the charges, and the judge decides what law applies. That's how it works, and your personal belief of how it should work is irrelevent.

If you really believe that maybe you should read what the USA's Founding Fathers thought about jury nullification. Many of them thought jurors were the final arbiters of the law, one of the duties is to decide whether a law is constitutional for instance.

Falcon

You need a graphics tablet.

I've thought about getting a Bamboo tablet, and if Wacom makes a larger one I might get it. Outside a tablet, instead of a mouse you want a trackball. I've got two Logitech Trackman Wheel Opticals, one on my desk and the other in my laptop bag.

Falcon

You need a graphics tablet.

I've thought about getting a Bamboo tablet, and if Wacom makes a larger one I might get it. Outside a tablet, instead of a mouse you want a trackball. I've got two Logitech Trackman Wheel Opticals, one on my desk and the other in my laptop bag.

Falcon

He did. He lost the first game he played against the machine. People here need to read the other side of the story. It wasn't an unfair match. The rules were agreed to by both sides. Kasparov was pissy because he thought that humans had interfered with the machine during play. No one can prove that it didn't happen, but I find it highly unlikely.

Actually, you position here does not reflect the history of juries under the Common Law System or in American History.

The current system of 12 people who are spoon fed everything is a relatively recent innovation (i.e. within the 2nd half of the last century).

Previously, juries were active participants, not dumb bunnies sitting on a bench. They asked questions. They engaged in debate. It was quite different. And I would argue better.

Oh, and that great bug-a-boo of the modern age, Jury Nullification? Well, that was an expected part of the package.

Juries made findings of not just fact, but of law. They decided if a law was constitutional or not.

But, the Legal Professionals don't like that and have over time used what were clear problems - juries convicting on prejudice - to emasculate the jury system in this country.

It really is interesting to me to see folks here on /. defending a system that has as its foundation the assumption that people need to be protected from information, which might inflame their passions, so we, the people who know better, will control what they can see and here.

If you have set in on a trial before, you will have clearly seen that the information that gets included and excluded is quite often not due to its inflammatory or prejudicial nature, but rather just because how the judge felt that day.

If you want more background on how the jury system has been perverted in this country, read Akhil Reed Amar's America's Constitution: A Biography http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Constitution-Akhil-Reed-Amar/dp/1400062624 or The Bill of Rights http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Rights-Creation-Reconstruction/dp/0300082770/ref=pd_sim_b_1.

Actually, you position here does not reflect the history of juries under the Common Law System or in American History.

The current system of 12 people who are spoon fed everything is a relatively recent innovation (i.e. within the 2nd half of the last century).

Previously, juries were active participants, not dumb bunnies sitting on a bench. They asked questions. They engaged in debate. It was quite different. And I would argue better.

Oh, and that great bug-a-boo of the modern age, Jury Nullification? Well, that was an expected part of the package.

Juries made findings of not just fact, but of law. They decided if a law was constitutional or not.

But, the Legal Professionals don't like that and have over time used what were clear problems - juries convicting on prejudice - to emasculate the jury system in this country.

It really is interesting to me to see folks here on /. defending a system that has as its foundation the assumption that people need to be protected from information, which might inflame their passions, so we, the people who know better, will control what they can see and here.

If you have set in on a trial before, you will have clearly seen that the information that gets included and excluded is quite often not due to its inflammatory or prejudicial nature, but rather just because how the judge felt that day.

If you want more background on how the jury system has been perverted in this country, read Akhil Reed Amar's America's Constitution: A Biography http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Constitution-Akhil-Reed-Amar/dp/1400062624 or The Bill of Rights http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Rights-Creation-Reconstruction/dp/0300082770/ref=pd_sim_b_1.

Some of the new games will play with the free membership but an Xbox 360 costs you an additional $59.00US a year to own if you want to play online.

You're either spreading FUD, or getting ripped-off. The LIST price is $49.99 for 13 months, but you can easily find them for $35-40 if you even bother looking. Hell, here's the first entry on the Amazon search: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Live-Month-Gold-Bonus/dp/B000B9RI00/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1237408682&sr=8-1

Anyway, the theory behind charging for Live is that it keeps trolls and griefers off the system, since they actually have something to lose if they get kicked. I don't think this works in practice, because Microsoft isn't aggressive enough about banning people with complaints.

Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a brick. You need a graphics tablet.

Just get something like this http://www.amazon.com/Bamboo-Small-Tablet-Graphics-Software/dp/B000V9NU2A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1237396057&sr=8-6 for less than $100 and you get Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Win/4.0 Mac, Corel Painter Essentials 4.0, and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 GE included for free.

It's not CS4, but much cleaner than the Gimp.

Get the Gimp if you want to program, get some graphics software and a tablet if you need to draw.

I flipped through Beginning GIMP in the bookstore, but I ultimately went with GIMP 2 for Photographers because my only real concern is editing photos that I've taken. You're right that game designers use GIMP, but so do people on *nix boxes who just want to retouch less than perfect photos. GIMP is such a multifaceted tool with diverse user communities that a guide to the program can't be everything for everyone.

I here you like XBOX. You give me ten dollar I tell where you buy XBOX LIVE now!

For the record, it doesn't cost anywhere near $59.00 a year, heck, the MSRP is 49.99. Amazon is selling the 13 month Live cards for $38.99. I bought mine from them a few months ago for something like $29.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Live-Month-Gold-Bonus/dp/B000B9RI00

From the samples of her book I saw, the Matrix did not resemble her book.

I'm not the only one who thinks that:

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Eye-Mother-Matrix/dp/0978539648

http://www.amazon.com/Risk-John-Adams/dp/1857280687/ref=sr_1_168?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237338802&sr=1-168

With your nick, I shall take you at your word. ^_^

Hah. Well, despite my name, I've made mistakes in the past and I probably should have provided a reference

And here's the book I mentioned he published.

Lee Smolin's Life of the Cosmos

He addresses and dispels popular, but outmoded concepts such as cosmic heat death. He also proposes ingenious ideas about why universal constants have the values they do, and why life appears in the universe. While sidestepping religious implications as much as possible, the perspective he offers into these topics seems to refine our insight into the creative powers of the universe, which some term God. It is dense with insight and worth reading.

The way I do that is I got a Wifi-based picture frame. If this one comes back in stock, that might be what you want.

The one I got is based on Windows CE and has a bunch of problems, and freezes often enough that I put it on a timer to reboot it daily. It also has a bug that can't handle titles that have quotes in them.

It reads a RSS feed for my photos, and updates them automatically. I have an album on Ipernity that I add pictures to, and a short while later they show up on the picture frame. The upside is that works from across the world, which is why I set that up.

First, buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Chrome-Blank-License-Plate-Frame/dp/B001I0ZGDM

Then buy this (the 850nm version) or something like it:

http://www.environmentallights.com/products/12352/Dimmable_LED_Ribbon_foot_InfraRed?gclid=CNr19NW0qpkCFQ_yDAod8DRKog

Then attach the LED's to the plate frame and wire the LED's up to your car's electrical system. Make sure to pick a circuit that runs when the ignition is on.

If done properly, camera operators will see nothing but a white blob where your license plate should be. It will pass visual inspection by a cop in the event you get pulled over by a real donut-eater (since the plate isn't covered by anything or obscured to the human eye).

Yes, most of these cameras try to filter IR, at least during some parts of the day. That's why you need high-intensity near infrared. The "high-intensity" part ensures that it's powerful enough to blot everything out, and the "near" part ensures that it'll bypass the IR filters. It's near to visible red, so it won't be filtered.

The chrome plate-frame will diffuse the LED light enough that it should work from any angle. LED's tend to have a rather narrow visible angle without a diffuser of some sort. A plastic plate frame will be less effective due to this limitation.

BONUS: This also jams some types of lidar (laser "radar") and is virtually undetectable. This doesn't automatically make it illegal, since the interference is an incidental function that isn't the primary purpose of the device. Lidar can be jammed by a simple reflection of sunlight from a windshield, and windshields aren't illegal. The same applies to this device.

What disappoints me is that Apple gets (buys?) a ridiculous amount of publicity in so called "news" stories for inferior and overpriced products while much better and cheaper alternatives hardly ever get a mention - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00126V8WU

I will teach a programming class this summer to advanced middle and high-school students. I plan to teach Ruby. Python is a good choice as well; the two languages are actually quite similar.

I've heard that the book Learn to Program is excellent for this type of student.

It has been done already.

estimates are like information from interrogation -- torture will get you the answer you want quickly, but the answer itself will likely prove to be worthless.

That is the most insightful thing that I have heard said about project estimates in a while here on Slashdot. I would liken this to the programmer who "plays dead" so that the cage match negotiator (i.e. the manager who you can never win an argument or negotiation with and who just wears you down until you say whatever it is that he wants to hear) will think that he has won.

Background: The name of the antipattern, cage match negotiator, comes from the professional cage match wrestling where many wrestlers enter the cage, but only one exits the cage victorious.

Here is a collection of plugins that I am certain true iLovers will find very handy.

Particularly during the course of talking/writing about how great the new iWhatever truly is.

Akira Watanabe, head of Olympus' SLR planning department, said that 12 megapixels is plenty for most photography purposes and that his company will henceforth be focusing on improving color accuracy and low-light performance."

That not surprising. Look at the Amazon reviews for any camera with a huge megapixel count, like the Canon G-10, and you'll see dozens of people complaining that, yes, the megapixels are nice, but the sensor may be noisy or the colours may be off. Too bad the industry didn't give more attention to accuracy earlier. I'd be happy to have a mere 7 megapixels if noise is seriously minimized.

Having taken apart a pair of Sony headphones in an attempt to fix them, I can tell you in at least my case it wasn't worth it to fix them. They contained literally 20-30 tiny Philips head screws, and 20 plastic pieces and associated springs. (audio was only on one side, I at least was able to re-solder the incoming audio to the other driver to make sure both drivers were working, it appeared to be a short inside the headband). http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-V700DJ-Style-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00001W0DH/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_2/191-3394907-9162338

can anyone point me to a simple doc explaining how p2p encryption prevents man-in-the-middle?

when I connect to https://www.amazon.com/ - i get served a signed cert saying I am defn connecting to who I think I'm connecting to. but in the world of p2p I have no idea who i'm connecting to..

I have read similar comments by young people before. I believe it was in the Amazon reviews of Generation Me, which I discovered via an article on danah boyd's blog. boyd says she has found the same thing in her research (she studies young people's use of social software).

And that's exactly how we became a two-Kindle household. For the first few months my wife wouldn't even look at it. Then one day she finished a book too late to make it to Barnes & Noble to pick the next one. I showed her that the next book was available, much cheaper, on my Kindle.

Goodbye Kindle.

After a couple months of fighting over it, the Kindle turned itself into a brick. Warranty replacement was shipped to us that same day, we got it less than 48 hours after it was reported dead. And this also happened the week before the Kindle 2 came out.

So the week of the Kindle 2 release, I had in my hands a Kindle 1 that was right out of the box, it was not even refurbished. I ordered the Kindle 2 for myself and handed my wife the (now) brand new Kindle 1.

Two days later the Kindle 2 arrived. She took one look at the K2, then looked at her K1 and decided she would rather have a K2. Dammit.

I told my friends I was going to put the K1 on eBay. It didn't make it to eBay, one of my friends bought it on the spot and gave it to his teenager daughter. I turned that around and ordered the second K2 for my wife.

Her K2 was a brick, it was dead within 4 hours. Again Amazon replaced it on the spot. Neither of the two calls to replace the K1 and K2 took more than five minutes. All they did was verify my identity, and make sure I had tried to reboot the device. In each case the replacement unit was shipped next-day air and I was not charged one penny. They emailed me UPS labels and asked me to have the devices returned within 30 days.

FREE BOOKS

Since you obviously appreciate free books, next time you go to the Kindle area of amazon.com, sort the books by price. There are a ton of free books listed there. On top of that, subscribe to the official Kindle blog, http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A1F8Z0JAEIDVRY/ref=cm_blog_blog because they are listing free books almost every week. For example, World Wide Rave is free right now, and Harlequin posted 10 or so of their books for free to celebrate their 60th anniversary (you can go to their website (http://www.harlequincelebrates.com/) to download these in other formats, this is not a Kindle exclusive).

Find me a TV-out cable for my iphone that costs less than $30.

Ok.

The 4GB Sansa Clip is a similar size, $18 cheaper, similar battery life, has a small screen, and doesn't lock you into the iTunes ecosystem.

Yeah, and a Mini Cooper and a Hummer are also similar size.

The 4GB Sansa Clip is a similar size, $18 cheaper, similar battery life, has a small screen, and doesn't lock you into the iTunes ecosystem.

A great book about it: The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy.

Either paying a whole lot more (than the currently subsized price of the Kindle) or not having the option to buy it at all, since Amazon would have realized up front that developing it wasn't going to be profitable.

For some reason I didn't think that $299.00 was much more than $359.00, but I'm no economist.

Now, if you're including the lifetime service to Sprint then yeah, I can see some bit of a savings, but if they're charging you for the book download in the first place...

The purpose of the tool is not to allow non-Amazon content into the Kindle. Instead, it is to allow non-Amazon eBook sellers to be able to sell content for the Kindle. It has NOTHING to do with your ability as a user to bring content into your Kindle without paying Amazon.

I should know, I owned a Kindle 1 for 7 months and currently own two Kindle 2s (hint: if you only have one Kindle, don't show it to your wife and go LOOK HONEY, SEE HOW COOL THIS IS!!! because she'll immediately take over it and you'll end up buying a second one). I have had no issues bringing content into any of my Kindles:

1. Any content that I can read with Stanza and/or Mobipocket Creator (both free) can be converted into formats that can be read by the Kindle.
2. Amazon provides you with a unique email address to email content to be converted directly into your Kindle. 10 cents per conversion.
3. Amazon provides you with a second unique email address to email content to be converted, then emailed back to you for free. Yes, free.
4. Using the basic web browser, you can pick any web-based file that is compatible with the Kindle and it will download it just like if you purchased it from Amazon. There are plenty of websites that cater directly to the Kindle, and there is a huge drive to make Project Gutemberg and others fully compatible with the Kindle.
5. Amazon charges you for subscribing to feeds. Or you can use the free tool at Feedbooks. These clever people figured out a way to package an RSS subscription as an eBook, and it has an auto-update link. Open the book from your Kindle, click on Update and it downloads a new version of the file. Tedious? Sure, but it is free.
6. Annoyed about having to connect to your PC just so you can move your content into your Kindle? Don't feel like paying the 10-cent tax? Easy, simply dump your eBook files into a folder in your website, password protect it if you are paranoid, then open it from your basic browser. You can now download your own books from anywhere, which is great if you don't like clutter or in case you delete the wrong book by accident.

Now, of course, it sucks if you are trying to make a buck selling eBooks for the Kindle outside of Amazon and you are using a format that requires the ID of your device. If all you want to do is sell the content, then you might as well go to http://dtp.amazon.com/, list your books for free and let Amazon do all the work in exchange for a cut of the action. Amazon will not charge you for access to the DTP area, or for listing your books, they only take a cut of your sales.

I emailed Amazon's Kindle Feedback address earlier this week to complain about not being able to upload my own files to the storage area (one of my favorite features is that I can re-download my content at will), expecting to get a canned response. I actually got a person to reply to me, so it looks like at least some of those emails are being read. The person that replied hinted that maybe I wanted to send my files through the 10-cent tax generator, but he would still pass my message to the powers-that-be.

The one thing that is still completely unacceptable is that the Kindle client for the iPhone only works with purchased work, you can't add your own books (yet) unless you jailbrake your phone.

AC, may I suggest you read a bit more on this subject? I'd recommend you start with Manual De Landa's "War in the Age of Intelligent Machines". The author is no fan at all of the current US military/industrial complex (neither am I), but he has read the historical record on the impact of arms races on general technical development quite closely and is generally an honest reporter. He dates the starting point of this phenomenon much earlier than you seem to think, and if you bother reading this short and fascinating book, I think you will agree with him.