jamesfrank

A watt is a unit of power, not energy. Power is energy per unit time, so NIF works by storing large amounts of energy in capacitor banks (transferring it from the grid slowly) in preparation for a shot and then releasing all of that energy over a very short timespan. Since the timespan is short, the power to target is extremely large.

I disagree with you on the details a bit, but I think viewing this as good at somethings and bad at others is far more constructive than arguing that this should replace a mouse, keyboard etc.

However, I would make the good/bad list a bit more general: * good for manipulating UI elements that represent 3D * bad for manipulating UI elements that represent 2D

Maps and camera interactions (CAD) are perfect examples of things that represent 3D elements. Short games are another area that can represent 3D - longer games might also work well, but the user is likely to get tired of waving his/her arms around.

Much of what we do on computers today is strictly 2D. Coding, word processing, most web browsing, email, etc. Pencil tools/drawing tools are similarly usually just a 2D activity, so using a 3D-capable tool and reducing your movements to 2D doesn't really make sense.

I think your numbers are a bit off. I live in Livermore (25 minutes West of Tracy), and it takes me at least 45 mins to drive to SF (if there's no traffic). It's nice that BART comes as far as it does, but it's a 45 minute ride to SF, and that doesn't even include the 15 mins (30-40 from Tracy) drive to get to the station.

I get your point that Tracy has available housing, but I think a 1.5+ hour commute makes it a much less appealing solution than the 50 mins you mentioned.

> From my personal experience...

I'm just curious - are you implying that you've personally encountered this sort of thing at government spy agencies or just that much of the government seems to have these characteristics?

Is it lacking any major features? I've been using it happily since the GrandCentral days and don't feel like I'm missing much of anything.

There may be some truth to that for the type of person who reads HN, but it's certainly not true for the wider public. Most people don't care about having full control of their mobile device, they just want it to work.

How would this accelerate copyright/IP reform?

As I recall, their issue with the GV app was that it "duplicated features" like the phonebook and dialer. Whether you believe that was their real reason or not, the Sprint integration doesn't duplicate anything - everything can be done using the native phone functions.

You should be able to just dial directly from the phone app. I haven't tried this on my phone, but based on the way it works and the way Google describes the integration, you should be able to do it.