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Ditto the PCMCIA Ethernet. The trick may be finding drivers for such a card, but there are tons of cheap old PC cards on eBay.

The future is now...

Well, there are these and these. No idea if they're any good though.

Go to eBay and type "wireless panic button". There are plenty of options for under $100. Here is a panic button + watch that sends an SMS message to up to 5 numbers.

It's older gear that is not that expensive. Not bad, but not exactly bleeding edge.

I'm not criticizing; this is more than I've donated to the cause.

so link to the manufacturers website to the page which supports your claim

You still don't understand how the Logitech website works. When they reuse a product name, the old product is renamed in the database to remove the conflict, and listed only under its model number. But here is an ebay listing showing the exact device in question, asshole. You could have found this yourself with google if you weren't such a dumbshit.

Get a used mouseman from ebay ($10 and free shipping), throw away the top cover, and 3-d print your own.

Don't own a 3-d printer? Probably one of your friends does, or the local university, or the local hackerspace, or as a last resort you can use shapeways.

Grab some modeling clay in your hand, make a 3-d scan of the resulting "handle", add fasteners for the buttons and ball (or IR chip), then 3-d print a custom-grip top cover. You can get IR mouse elements and ball elements from old mice, usually for free on Craigslist. Or the local Salvation Army store.

Purchase a sheet of friendly plastic (polycaprolactone), soften it in a pan of boiling water, then lay it over your relaxed open hand like a handkerchief. Wait for it to cool and harden, take a dremel to it, and use that as a custom-molded mouse top.

Get an Arduino, or any of the zillions of hobbyist microcontroller systems (pic, propeller, &c) which have a USB interface, and add buttons and an IR chip from an existing older mouse and program the buttons specifically for your needs.

Get a used mouse with lots of buttons, remount the buttons into a custom top as mentioned, then reprogram the button codes in the driver.

Or write your own USB driver at the OS level - it's not that hard. (For windows, it involves downloading the DDK and modifying an example found on the net.)

Fuck you. I'm a genious. I just need a minute to figure out how to put these pants on. Why make them with two legs, if you can't hop in both legs at the same time? A branching leg system or button up like the old navy pants would be more efficient. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Adidas...

And these danmed pants don't come with instructions. What kind of fool is expected to know how to put his own pants on?

Do it yourself.

Now this will not be cheap, but it will be industrial grade and last the lifetime of the house. You will need to do your own wiring and your own programming. If you have basic skills of pulling cat-5 cable and basic home wiring skills, you can do this your self.

You can do this for about $250 and a few weekends worth of your time. You can spend about that much and have a toy system or go this route and have an industrial system.

You will need to start with a parts list.

First, you will need a board to switch everything. Start here.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/OPTO-2...

This board already has some 120v output switching. $31 at current price, there are cheaper that you can find still. But what this board doesn't have is the 120v input modules, they are yellow... Here is a lot of input and output.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Opto...

You still should be able to find them cheaper.

You are going to need a 1000 foot roll of 4 pair 18 guage wire with wire colors white, black, red, green. This is an industry standard... http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Gau...

Start with that. Depending on your building codes if you can prove that you pulled this wire and it had been there for 5 or more years, you will not have to pull it out when you sell your home.

Now the fun part. You need to find a central location in your home to mount the G4PB24 board and possible others when you expand the system. This place need space to have a computer and a connection to the internet too.

Start with the light switches. You will need to run your wire from your central location to your light switches. Pull off the plate to the switch and run your wire in the wall to this switch. The switch will have two wires connected to it. One from power and one going to the light fixture.

The black wire(in the US) from the power line is connected to to the bottom of the switch.
Connect the black wire from the 4 wire cable you pulled and connect it there with the black wire to power. Do not remove the black power line wire from the light switch.

Disconnect the black wire that runs to the light fixture and wire nut it to the red wire in the 4 wire pair that you pulled.

Connect the Green wire to the switch where you removed the black wire from the switch. The Green wire will carry the switch power.

The white wire from both power and light fixture should be wire nutted together. Add the white wire from the 4 pair wire to those 2 wire nutted. That is your neutral.

Now on the G4PB24 board put a Black OAC5 in position 1 and a IAC5 in position 2 on the board. The black wire and the red wire will go the the 1 and 2 position of the Black OAC5 and the Green and White wire will go to the 1 and 2 position of the IAC5.

When you then throw the light switch, power will be applied to the green wire. That will flow through the IAC5 turning on the LED in the module and flowing out through the white wire. Nothing happens......

You will need this computer interface board to make the magic happen... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Opto-2...

This one is for $199. I have found them as cheap as $35. Keep your eye out for them.

The software that you will write will constantly poll the input modules looking for input and then turn on t

Do it yourself.

Now this will not be cheap, but it will be industrial grade and last the lifetime of the house. You will need to do your own wiring and your own programming. If you have basic skills of pulling cat-5 cable and basic home wiring skills, you can do this your self.

You can do this for about $250 and a few weekends worth of your time. You can spend about that much and have a toy system or go this route and have an industrial system.

You will need to start with a parts list.

First, you will need a board to switch everything. Start here.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/OPTO-2...

This board already has some 120v output switching. $31 at current price, there are cheaper that you can find still. But what this board doesn't have is the 120v input modules, they are yellow... Here is a lot of input and output.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Opto...

You still should be able to find them cheaper.

You are going to need a 1000 foot roll of 4 pair 18 guage wire with wire colors white, black, red, green. This is an industry standard... http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Gau...

Start with that. Depending on your building codes if you can prove that you pulled this wire and it had been there for 5 or more years, you will not have to pull it out when you sell your home.

Now the fun part. You need to find a central location in your home to mount the G4PB24 board and possible others when you expand the system. This place need space to have a computer and a connection to the internet too.

Start with the light switches. You will need to run your wire from your central location to your light switches. Pull off the plate to the switch and run your wire in the wall to this switch. The switch will have two wires connected to it. One from power and one going to the light fixture.

The black wire(in the US) from the power line is connected to to the bottom of the switch.
Connect the black wire from the 4 wire cable you pulled and connect it there with the black wire to power. Do not remove the black power line wire from the light switch.

Disconnect the black wire that runs to the light fixture and wire nut it to the red wire in the 4 wire pair that you pulled.

Connect the Green wire to the switch where you removed the black wire from the switch. The Green wire will carry the switch power.

The white wire from both power and light fixture should be wire nutted together. Add the white wire from the 4 pair wire to those 2 wire nutted. That is your neutral.

Now on the G4PB24 board put a Black OAC5 in position 1 and a IAC5 in position 2 on the board. The black wire and the red wire will go the the 1 and 2 position of the Black OAC5 and the Green and White wire will go to the 1 and 2 position of the IAC5.

When you then throw the light switch, power will be applied to the green wire. That will flow through the IAC5 turning on the LED in the module and flowing out through the white wire. Nothing happens......

You will need this computer interface board to make the magic happen... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Opto-2...

This one is for $199. I have found them as cheap as $35. Keep your eye out for them.

The software that you will write will constantly poll the input modules looking for input and then turn on t

Do it yourself.

Now this will not be cheap, but it will be industrial grade and last the lifetime of the house. You will need to do your own wiring and your own programming. If you have basic skills of pulling cat-5 cable and basic home wiring skills, you can do this your self.

You can do this for about $250 and a few weekends worth of your time. You can spend about that much and have a toy system or go this route and have an industrial system.

You will need to start with a parts list.

First, you will need a board to switch everything. Start here.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/OPTO-2...

This board already has some 120v output switching. $31 at current price, there are cheaper that you can find still. But what this board doesn't have is the 120v input modules, they are yellow... Here is a lot of input and output.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Opto...

You still should be able to find them cheaper.

You are going to need a 1000 foot roll of 4 pair 18 guage wire with wire colors white, black, red, green. This is an industry standard... http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Gau...

Start with that. Depending on your building codes if you can prove that you pulled this wire and it had been there for 5 or more years, you will not have to pull it out when you sell your home.

Now the fun part. You need to find a central location in your home to mount the G4PB24 board and possible others when you expand the system. This place need space to have a computer and a connection to the internet too.

Start with the light switches. You will need to run your wire from your central location to your light switches. Pull off the plate to the switch and run your wire in the wall to this switch. The switch will have two wires connected to it. One from power and one going to the light fixture.

The black wire(in the US) from the power line is connected to to the bottom of the switch.
Connect the black wire from the 4 wire cable you pulled and connect it there with the black wire to power. Do not remove the black power line wire from the light switch.

Disconnect the black wire that runs to the light fixture and wire nut it to the red wire in the 4 wire pair that you pulled.

Connect the Green wire to the switch where you removed the black wire from the switch. The Green wire will carry the switch power.

The white wire from both power and light fixture should be wire nutted together. Add the white wire from the 4 pair wire to those 2 wire nutted. That is your neutral.

Now on the G4PB24 board put a Black OAC5 in position 1 and a IAC5 in position 2 on the board. The black wire and the red wire will go the the 1 and 2 position of the Black OAC5 and the Green and White wire will go to the 1 and 2 position of the IAC5.

When you then throw the light switch, power will be applied to the green wire. That will flow through the IAC5 turning on the LED in the module and flowing out through the white wire. Nothing happens......

You will need this computer interface board to make the magic happen... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Opto-2...

This one is for $199. I have found them as cheap as $35. Keep your eye out for them.

The software that you will write will constantly poll the input modules looking for input and then turn on t

Do it yourself.

Now this will not be cheap, but it will be industrial grade and last the lifetime of the house. You will need to do your own wiring and your own programming. If you have basic skills of pulling cat-5 cable and basic home wiring skills, you can do this your self.

You can do this for about $250 and a few weekends worth of your time. You can spend about that much and have a toy system or go this route and have an industrial system.

You will need to start with a parts list.

First, you will need a board to switch everything. Start here.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/OPTO-2...

This board already has some 120v output switching. $31 at current price, there are cheaper that you can find still. But what this board doesn't have is the 120v input modules, they are yellow... Here is a lot of input and output.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Opto...

You still should be able to find them cheaper.

You are going to need a 1000 foot roll of 4 pair 18 guage wire with wire colors white, black, red, green. This is an industry standard... http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Gau...

Start with that. Depending on your building codes if you can prove that you pulled this wire and it had been there for 5 or more years, you will not have to pull it out when you sell your home.

Now the fun part. You need to find a central location in your home to mount the G4PB24 board and possible others when you expand the system. This place need space to have a computer and a connection to the internet too.

Start with the light switches. You will need to run your wire from your central location to your light switches. Pull off the plate to the switch and run your wire in the wall to this switch. The switch will have two wires connected to it. One from power and one going to the light fixture.

The black wire(in the US) from the power line is connected to to the bottom of the switch.
Connect the black wire from the 4 wire cable you pulled and connect it there with the black wire to power. Do not remove the black power line wire from the light switch.

Disconnect the black wire that runs to the light fixture and wire nut it to the red wire in the 4 wire pair that you pulled.

Connect the Green wire to the switch where you removed the black wire from the switch. The Green wire will carry the switch power.

The white wire from both power and light fixture should be wire nutted together. Add the white wire from the 4 pair wire to those 2 wire nutted. That is your neutral.

Now on the G4PB24 board put a Black OAC5 in position 1 and a IAC5 in position 2 on the board. The black wire and the red wire will go the the 1 and 2 position of the Black OAC5 and the Green and White wire will go to the 1 and 2 position of the IAC5.

When you then throw the light switch, power will be applied to the green wire. That will flow through the IAC5 turning on the LED in the module and flowing out through the white wire. Nothing happens......

You will need this computer interface board to make the magic happen... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Opto-2...

This one is for $199. I have found them as cheap as $35. Keep your eye out for them.

The software that you will write will constantly poll the input modules looking for input and then turn on t

>You can't take it on the go Sure you can. http://www.consumerreports.org... http://www.ebay.com/itm/PORTAB...

Some of the post WWI German Marks were decorative. But towards the end of the period, things like the 5,000,000 mark notes were kind of ugly and desperate looking.

I found an old ebay listing for the wemac 1z2z sheet.

I remember those but I was more a fan of the Toshiba Libretto that was out at that time.

It was quite a bit larger than the casio, but it was functionally more powerful and user friendly. However, it too had issues with getting linux on it, since the floppy disk drive was attached to a very proprietary controller via a silly looking detachable cable. With no peripherals attached, and the lid closed, it was very near the size of a vhs cassette. Very impressive for the mid 90s.

All you gotta do is change your fashion items really old school, to make yourself and your dog look like these guys:

http://geek-news.mtv.com//wp-c...

You can start by shopping around here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEDIEV...

(see original listing.)

Who said chivalry was dead? It's coming back big time, and you better get your mirror finish polishing skills tuned.

Well, you can find a on eBay, you "ignorant dumbass"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQU...

Apparently the GOP can't even keep its own web site from getting hacked. I go to GOP.com and I get a U.S. right-wingnut political party. So will this hoodie become an anti-Sony statement the way plush Snowden the Snowman toys became an anti-NSA statement?

More important to go with a proper NiMH charger than the batteries, as otherwise you never know if batteries are crap or not.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Powere...

That's the one I got number of years ago.

PS. Eneloops are good for low discharge applications. If you want something for high discharge (like RC toys, camera, etc.), you can go with something else on that linked page.

And beware cheap chinese counterfeits batteries on ebay.

I know it would add cost but as someone else said why doesn't the FAA require a license and transponders on drones so that everyone knows what's in the air and who owns it?

With identity information, you're talking about a mode S transponder. These things are more expensive than you probably think.

Also, because the USA is really big, and (lesser, mode C) transponders aren't even required for flying in most airspace: you need one in class A airspace ( > 18,000ft MSL), in or above class B & C airspace (near large airports, with larger radii at higher altitudes), in the mode C veil around class B airports (an even bigger cylinder around the biggest airports), and > 10,000ft MSL unless you're < 2,500ft AGL.

Simple, right?</sarcasm>

So basically, transponders are only currently required at higher altitudes and near large airports. ATC is simply too busy dealing with the current air traffic to handle the rest of the country's airspace.

Interesting that more companies are moving away form Google. A couple months ago, RealNetworks (ya, reliable I know) changed it's default 2nd party offer from Google / Chrome to Ask. (Fun for the day: use Ask search and search for Ask toolbar ... examine the results).

For me, it is getting harder to use Google search, especially if I want to search for more than two words. For simple searches ... Google works fine. However ... frequently Google will substitute terms (that don't belong), add obvious sales links (that don't apply), or have a referral to a second level search (which has always useless: best example is returning searches for an items from eBay -- if I wanted eBay I would search eBay). Google's image search(method) is much better than Bing's ... but is there a viable option "B" general text / info search?

Buy the kid a used Commodore64

http://popular.ebay.com/comput...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351124583958 (LOTS 100PCS 5MM RGB Red Green Blue Fast&Slow Flash LED Lamps Rainbow Blink Diode for 4.98$USD with free shipping).

I would almost guarantee for that price it's a fake card. It's a pretty common practice. It's either smaller than it says (Try a write test for the full 128gb) or slower than stated etc. Assuming you have an android phone that has the unauthorized sources turned off by default I would think your relatively safe. I would not say it's not possible of an attack though. To my knowledge there is no such thing as autoplay on android.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/All-Ab...

I don't thing there's going to be any kind of fundamental change in capitalism. The only thing that's going to change is the method and who gets to benefit from it.

I disagree.

Wikileaks was effectively stopped when all credit card companies refused service. Defense distributed lost their payment processor ("Stripe").

The TOS for many online resellers restrict what you can and cannot sell - eBay won't let you sell booze or their empty, collectible containers, animals, or event tickets. (Why can't I resell my event ticket if I decide I'm not going to use it?) Amazon, even Craigslist have similar restrictions. You can't sell fart apps on the apple store.

This will also put a crimp in the way Corporate Law Enforcement operates. Instead of spending time tracking down the distributor of pirated works, they'll have to fall back to investigating murders, thefts, and assaults.

And then there's the economic upheaval which will happen when previously banned markets become easily accessible. Drugs come to mind, but this will also have an effect on easily-copied data streams such as games, movies, and books. Knowing that your movie will be immediately copied and that you will get no revenue *after* it's made, entertainment might have to switch to a kickstarter-style model. Stephen king proposes a new book, gets $100,000 in seed money, writes it and sets it free on the internet. That sort of thing.

These are just the first few things that come to mind. Some are speculative, but others are happening right now.

I'm pretty sure you're under-estimating the effect that secure untraceable commerce would have on the world.

This one on ebay is currently at $605 with 7 days yet to go.

Platinum Micro is a huuuuuuge seller of licenses. They're 100% legit and I've personally bought properly sealed, english, OEM system builder editions from them. They're currently $89.98 in their ebay store. I hope they're stocking up because they're my new vendor if Systemax (aka Tiger Direct) and Newegg drop them. I think they might be one of MS's 5 US vendors for licenses though so they probably won't be allowed to sell past the deadline. Here's a link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micros...

I've been building geiger counters as a hobby for the past couple of years. I was consulting with some people in Japan right after Fukishima helping to build reliable detectors.

Geiger Muller tubes require a specific "plateau" of voltage to get consistent results. Too low and you're not picking up much radiation, too high and you get spurious results and can burn out the tube. The correct voltage varies with individual tubes.

This isn't normally a problem, except that there's a glut of surplus Russian geiger tubes on the market right now with unknown provenance and unknown parameters. Unless you calibrate each tube to find the plateau voltage, and unless you calibrate the resulting counter with a known source, the data you get will have no predictive value.

It's straightforward for a hobbyist to put together a project using one of these tubes and get it to click in the presence of radiation, and this makes a fine project for electronics learning, but you have to take further steps to get a reliable instrument. No one ever does this. The circuits I've seen have an unregulated high-voltage proportional to the battery voltage - it gets lower over time as the battery runs down. The voltage is chosen from the tube spec sheet, instead of determining the correct voltage for the tube. Circuits have design flaws such as using zener diodes for regulation, but not allowing enough current through the diode for proper function. And so on.

I've seen lots of these hobbyist projects in the past few years, especially since Fukishima. They're fine projects and well-intentioned, but generally not of any practical use.

Does radiation detection(with actual accuracy, linearity, and repeatability, not just a quick demonstration that you can add some noise to a webcam by pointing a small sealed source at it) have currently good, or at least promising for the not too distant future, solid state options?

Virtually any semiconductor will detect radiation. What you want is a semiconductor with a large capture aperture(*), which is the area through which the radiation passes. A 2n2222 transistor will detect radiation quite well, but it's capture area is tiny and won't see much of the radiation (saw the top off of a metal-can version and use a charge amplifier).

Power transistors such as the 2n3055 have large silicon dies and therefore larger apertures - as much as a square centimeter - but this is also quite small for capture.

The modern equivalent is to use a big diode such as a PIN diode. These can be quite large, but also expensive for the hobbyist.

A GM tube has a capture area which is the cross sectional area of the tube. These can be made quite large; and as a result can be made quite sensitive to the amount of radiation flux in the area. Hobbyists can also make their own tubes with enormous capture areas - it's not very difficult.

Large diodes are available for detecting radiation, but a GM tube is simple and can be easily made with a very large capture aperture. Also, GM tube their capture efficiency (the percent of radiation that gets in which is is actually detected) can be higher than the diode solution.

(*) There's capture aperture and detection efficiency. GM tubes have an efficiency of about 10%, meaning that only 10% of the radiation that gets into the tube is detected. Diodes have similar efficiencies, depending on the photon energy and thickness of the silicon die.

$3500 would be ok as long as it was only payable in 1929 double eagles

you can get 1.54' 240x240 mipi screen for $5
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk...

3.5' with touchscreen are ~$20
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replac...

7' with touchscreen are ~$40
http://www.aliexpress.com/item...

so only ~2x overpriced, just like the camera module

If you can get a 7" MIPI DSI screen with capacitive multi-touch for $5 on Ebay, people will get upset with the RPi foundation. The prototype that I've seen mentioned is supposed to be around $70, and as you've said, the drivers for CSI and DSI devices are in some part of the binary blob of system firmware. A matching screen seems to be $50-$60 on Ebay, though. So $70 might be overpriced, but at least it wouldn't be 10x overpriced.

except for the allllll the actual stuff. OK, got it. So just get one of these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Build-...

for fuck's sake, can we stop sucking the dick of 3D printing's corpse already?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1... $70 but I think I'll just wear my Groucho Marks glasses instead.

Generic E-Readers are cheaper than that.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html...|R40|R40&_sacat=0&LH_ItemCondition=3&_nkw=ereader&_udhi=30

You can even get used kindles for between $5 and $10

Those librarians need to kick the hobos browsing porn off the library computers so they can get on ebay.

Indeed, this is nothing new. It takes all of 10 seconds to find fake video cards being sold on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-GT...

The sellers will simultaneously lie and tell the truth to skirt the rules and not get banned. Not that eBay actually cares about counterfeit goods.

Right now it's rebadging Fermi (400/500 series) generation parts as modern Kepler (600/700 series) parts. However it's an old scam, and if you go back a few years you can find G7x (7xxx series) cards that were being rebadged and sold as GT2xx cards.

The method of the scam hasn't changed: flash a hacked vBIOS to change the device ID so that it shows up as the desired card. And as long as sellers aren't prosecuted it will keep happening. There's just not much risk in this kind of fraud on the individual level. Though the scam in TFA is large enough that it's certainly going to attract more attention than the perps would like.

I have frequently wished there was a reliable way to tell somebody "your tail light's out," "your blinker's on," or best of all, "stop tailgating me, you stumpcock."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Car-Red-LED-Programmable-Message-Sign-Scrolling-Display-Board-with-remote-/251058089393

What does that TS4500 cost? I'm curious how it compares to a stack of dumb 16-bay SAS enclosures at $300 each.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1...

A general purpose FreeBSD or Linux system with four raid cards can control 1024 drives mounted in such enclosures, so about $2 per drive for the intelligent bit.

I just realized: If you're having trouble finding slow start in Google, that's because eBay calls it selling limits.

Specifically, the N300 (Amazon link). It has four gigabit ports, plus a gigabit WAN port, a USB port, and takes DDWRT/Tomato/Tomato USB like a dream. Oh, and it's cheap.

The only downside is a lack of external antennae, but you can get a set easily on ebay as big as you want.

Netgear's firmware is crap, but that cheap little router plus Tomato USB has been amazing. I have 150/150Mb FiOS service, and it has handled all levels of traffic beautifully. I've been doing 10MB down and 10MB up with torrents, and still been able to watch Netflix in HD with no problem. It handles heavy traffic silky smooth.

...but physical keyboards are just not being made much anymore. I am a software engineering contractor, and I work in the cellular industry. Most of the manufacturers are dropping all physical "qwerty" keyboard designs because they don't see a market for them anymore.

Motorola is one of the only exceptions that I am aware of that has a "Smart" phone with a physical keyboard that isn't too horrible.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2...

Other than that you are pretty much out of luck.

Have you ever used Q10? Obviously not! :)
Get one and use it for few days. You will never go back to finger fucking your shiny slippery slab.

...but physical keyboards are just not being made much anymore. I am a software engineering contractor, and I work in the cellular industry. Most of the manufacturers are dropping all physical "qwerty" keyboard designs because they don't see a market for them anymore. Motorola is one of the only exceptions that I am aware of that has a "Smart" phone with a physical keyboard that isn't too horrible. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2... Other than that you are pretty much out of luck.

Where can I hold one of those phones in a showroom in northeast Indiana before I buy it

Eh? You just changed the requirements...you asked which Android phones sans Google services could be bought in the USA and I told you which phones were available (as an example, here's Xiaomi Mi3). Now you want a retail store, how about you do your own research?

You want to force businesses to cater to a niche, extremely minuscule market, why exactly should they do that? I am a liberal and even I find that wrong.

Also, you do realize that Android is just a Linux distribution and just like you can't call a fork of Debian, Debian, a fork of Android can't be called Android. Google releases AOSP which can be (and has been) forked (by Amazon and Nokia to name a few) and the only restriction imposed by Google is that the fork can not be called Android, how exactly is it Google's fault that phone manufacturers (besides Chinesee manufacturers) do not want to fork Android and release their own version stripped of Google services? Me and most of my mates have Cyanogenmod installed on our phones and all of us installed Google services because we want the convenience they bring with them. Heck, even most Chinese manufacturers release an international version with Google services. Could it possibly be because a majority of the customers of the manufacturers do not want to do without the convenience brought to them by Google services? So again, why exactly should these manufacturers be forced into releasing products that almost no one would want?

If the headphone jack goes out a week later, I don't want the manufacturer to be able to use my installation of CyanogenMod against me.

So your problem are the manufacturers? I agree, changing the OS on a computer (a smartphone is just that, a computer in a non-traditional format) should not void its warranty. Why exactly are you whining about Google again?

All I can say is "duh." Btw China is just playing catchup, just like with space exploration, and now with snooping, as every time I see Intel Inside, or AMD, guess what? It's rigged, the same way, snooping or modifying your data, and not much you can do about it. The only chip you can trust is the one you make. And the US military is dependent on all this Mitutoyo and Doosan chip based things. I'll take a mechanical dial instrument over an LCD one lately, and also a Seiko self winding mechnanical watch with jeweled friction bearings, like http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEIKO-... , if it weren't so damn expensive compared to a quartz/battery watch. A standalone quartz based watch is still more secure than relying on your cellphone for time, for things such as the alarm going off and not being late from work, as I've caught my cell phone's alarm feature not working when it was crucial, and it was set to go off but it didn't.

mark, the oculus rift2 devkit can play a few game engines, but it is not released to the public yet! it's not about shipping a full retail model in china, it is that chinese companies are requiring their employees to buy (at $350) the one per custom limit then selling them on ebay or like sites for $470 http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-Oculus-Rift-DK1-Virtual-Reality-Headset-NEVER-USED-/151342637965?pt=US_Video_Glasses&hash=item233cb9638d

$120 profit at posting time. to compound the issue the devkit includes chips that have been discontinued, and are no longer available unlike a 'retail' model which will use custom chips, from a vendor like intel or amd or someone else.

I see. So if I sell you my Mac and all the software therein, that contains an Aperture install, you could never use it. And being as you post on Slashdot, you are very respectful of software licensing, and you've never heard of The Pirate Bay.

You see you cant buy a disc with aperture on it,

Oh? then wtf is this?

Actually the highest priced banjo on eBay is currently going for $24,900. Some vintage 5 strings sell for ca. $75k or more; by my informal estimate your average bluegrass musician spends about $1.5k on their instrument, some more than that. Contrast that with how you can buy a serviceable electric guitar at box stores for $200. I don't know what the typical rocker is spending these days, and indeed some spend tens of thousands on old Fenders and Gibsons, but I'd reckon that bluegrass banjo players are anything but poor.

More specifically, Intel has a TERRIBLE reputation in 2 areas:
1) Announcing something when it is far from finished.
2) Producing "consumer" items no one wants.

Examples:
2001: Intel closing consumer electronics unit
2011: Intel drops smart TV to focus on smartphones, tablets and thin laptops

Some experiences:

In 2012, I was visiting an Intel web page. A pop-up asked me to take a survey. I said yes. I mentioned several management problems at Intel. I said that the problems at Intel started at the top. For example, the then CEO, Paul Otellini had paid $6 billion for McAfee. I said that, in my opinion, McAfee software was worse than useless, that McAfee had no connection with Intel's business, and that the $6 billion was entirely wasted. (Last week I mentioned McAfee anti-virus software to a programmer acquaintance who works for a bank. He said McAfee anti-malware software is worse than the malware it is supposed to protect against.)

I'm not saying I had any influence, but 3 months later it was announced that Otellini would no longer be CEO of Intel.

This is my understanding from talking with friends and acquaintances who work at Intel: The processor and chipset division is managed quite well. Apparently Intel top management doesn't mess with that, maybe because they don't understand anything about it.

Non-technical people can't manage technological companies! To manage Intel well, it is necessary to have technology in your heart and be fascinated with the details. And, at the same time, it is necessary to have the social ability to manage a large company.

Several years ago I called an Intel support person and showed him a huge mistake in the description of an Intel product. He said something like, "We are re-doing the web site. We will fix that soon." A year later, I talked to the same man. He didn't remember me, but I remembered him, and had written his name. I mentioned the same error. He gave the same excuse again.

Another experience: Several years ago I wanted to buy Intel motherboards. It took 2 hours to become a member of some online Intel group and find the exact model number.

Remember Intel Bunny People dolls? Apparently someone at Intel thought that processor and motherboard buyers would be motivated by a cute doll.

It is my understanding that Intel's incompetence continues. It surprises me, but my own personal opinion is that I would be a far better manager than what Intel has now. One of the biggest problems in the entire world is the rarity of good management.

Not much different than these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Engrav... Or like the perpetual energy machine or a magic pill - impossible. Please do not fund and if you did, take back your pledge!

That's because people don't understand there's more than one model and if they do they don't understand how to tell them apart or what the benefits of a new model are.

That's just not correct. Look at the ebay listings. Every one features the model number and tech specs right up front.

Plenty of valid criticism can be leveled at Apple, but are you really suggesting that they aren't doing enough to announce their laptop hardware revisions?

They're not exactly shy when they update one of their laptop models. They tend to have a big media production where the CEO gets on a stage and explains the hardware and software changes in some detail. Convincing people to replace their 2009 macbooks with shiny 2014 models is a big part of their business. I'm not sure how much more they could do to spread the word that "this year's macbook has a better SSD/CPU/whatever."