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In this particular case, yes, but the actual precedent was whether agencies have to follow the original intent of a statute or if they could poke at the meaning of words to expand their powers. The SC only hears a hundred more or less cases a year these days, the various appellate courts will now use this interpretation to allow agencies to expand their boundaries going forward.

3 days ago on Supreme Court says local governments can't hold up cell tower buildouts

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Well, he had 4 other Justices sign his argument and Breyer filing a minor concurrence. So it wasn’t on the face an absurd argument.

4 days ago on Supreme Court says local governments can't hold up cell tower buildouts

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Having glanced at the decision, I think I would have disagreed with Justice Scalia in his reasoning granting agencies deference to interpret the ambiguity of statutes, in this case whether the FCC has the authorization to mandate that zoning decisions be made in a timely manner (apparently communities were just letting permit requests sit around for years without dealing with them). I’d prefer that government agencies had strong boundaries on what they can force people to do. But perhaps the precedents are just too strong. Still it seemed like Chief Justice Roberts had the stronger argument.

4 days ago on Supreme Court says local governments can't hold up cell tower buildouts 2 replies

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“46 percent increase in the deaths from foodborne illnesses” in San Francisco since the city banned the distribution of plastic bags in 2007…

5 days ago on Heat-related deaths in Manhattan projected to rise 20 percent by the 2020s 1 reply 4 recommends

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Except Intel doesn’t make the product Apple wants to make and apparently refuses to do so. Apple wants a unique to Apple mobile processor, one which will differentiate them from the competition in terms of speed and battery life. They don’t want some generic system on a chip with unused power draining HDMI ports; they want an Apple deigned, optimized for Retina display, runs LLVM generated code really fast chip with some very low power modes. They need a world class fab, and it can’t be Samsung.

On the x86 side, I’m sure Apple would love to have a CPU that’s different then the same i7 everyone else gets. Differentiation.

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO 1 reply

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Oh, I’m sorry. I misread what you meant. You are accurate as far as Apple’s cash versus Intel’s worth goes. Well, obviously Apple has cash on hand, and seems perfectly able to borrow large amounts of money. Their recent bond offering got a lot of takers.

The thing about all that cash on hand Apple has is to try to think of ways to grow it. Just having it doesn’t help if they have no place to use it.

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO

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Maybe you could explain where one looks for real market cap. When I google “Intel Market Cap” a little box comes up with a bunch of stock info including: Mkt Cap 118.4B. When I google “Apple Market Cap” I get the Mkt Cap 408.54B. Where do I get the definition you are using where they are roughly equal?

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO 1 reply

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They wouldn’t have to run Intel’s business. Just let them do whatever Intel does plus fab A7 processors and make custom MacBook chips. I don’t see what the compelling government interest in shutting this down would be, after all Apple’s main competitor (Samsung) has its own fab division.

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO 1 reply

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Why not. Apple has 4x the market cap and Intel is a high margin business.

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO 3 replies 4 recommends

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I could imagine that an Apple A7 chip made with an Intel process would be one incredible chip. Maybe, if Apple gets their tax holiday, they could buy Intel just to do that.

8 days ago on Intel could have been inside the original iPhone, says outgoing CEO 5 replies 4 recommends

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Well good to see that if you keep your local cat news blog regularly updated you’ll be covered as a journalist.

Also, there seems to be a very large terrorist investigation loophole in this coverage. So maybe it wouldn’t be much of a shield in this case.

9 days ago on White House calls for reintroduction of shield law to protect journalists and sources

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Yeah, I have a 1.5 year old 50 inch Panny which is the best TV I’ve ever seen in a home (maybe I don’t get in enough homes). Beautiful dark colors, little banding, just fantastic. Just turn on THX mode and it’s done.

9 days ago on Good Deal: Panasonic 42-inch plasma smart TV for $399.99

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If the concern is only 2 HDMI inputs and no optical input, you can get a HDMI switch from monoprice or whatever your preferred vendor is for something like $40. Or you know get a nice receiver.

9 days ago on Good Deal: Panasonic 42-inch plasma smart TV for $399.99

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I’d suggest you google “Fraunhofer MP3 license” before saying that MP3 is an open format that costs nothing to use. A little googling would also show that many devices play unlocked m4a files; and since Apple doesn’t FairPlay encrypt music files, are pretty common.

14 days ago on Microsoft wants an iTunes app for Windows 8, but it's not coming 'any time soon' 3 recommends

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Seems like those who depend on the government are pretty desperate to do what they can to give the public as much pain as trivial spending cuts can deliver.

Meanwhile the Smithsonian is still hiring: jobs

about 1 month ago on Artless: budget cuts force Smithsonian to close exhibits at random 1 reply 8 recommends