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That is a different argument and may or may not be relevant. Really, read Mythical Man Month, the problem with large teams is that their size leads to internal communications overheads, politics ...

Only if they start making programmable RPN calculators again.

It is not about reversing obesity, it is about long term weight reduction. Different problem.

Very sloppy writing. People diet, they lose a bit of weight. People stop dieting, they put the weight back on again.

The fundamental problem is the abundance of overly calorific food in many societies which the final comment hints at, ever so gently. People want a quick fix but there is no quick fix for the problem of over consumption except eat less.

Your caricature of what MF is like is so grotesquely at odds with my experience that I would suspect that you are exaggerating or making it up. Metafilter, by and large, has an informed, intelligent and very helpful community. There are always jerks or people having a bad day but the mods deal with that promptly. That said, people who are just asinine, like perhaps those making unfair generalizations, are often dealt with by gentle ridicule. I have never seen anyone unfairly snarked, ever.

In my experience, there are two types of vegeterian: those that just get on with it and the smug evangelising types who feel it necessary to preach at the flimsiest opportunity (e.g. what have leather shoes got to do with diet?). A balanced diet is necessary and in most Western societies this is easier to achieve for omnivores. Your friend's mum thought she was doing the best for you and all you can do in return is be self-righteous. Grow up, you'll probably stop being a hipster vegeterian when you do.

But wishful thinking is a powerful influence, it triggers all sorts of internal processes which may indeed be more powerful and beneficial than medicine. Similarly, religion is nothing more than placebo, but that has influenced (and perhaps benefited) mankind since forever.

Apple make very smart acquisitions and have a track record in creating markets where others have failed to do so. They are also good at spotting opportunities in existing markets.

That said, I think this is a deception to get Samsung to do something costly and stupid.

Cue all the people irately claiming that sampling is artistic.

Anyway, somehow who gets to be a billionaire just "by putting his name" on consumer items has got something going for him, even if it just luck.

Citation required for such a handwavy assertion. Beats is a fashion brand and those are notoriously ephemeral. If Beats want to sell they may know the game is up, but then so would Apple.

Who not only never paid for them but are probably paid to wear them.

"I'd call a trick something that is not part of the documentation core .." I'd call this particular definition a pedantic, artificial nitpick invented soley for the purpose of picking nits in the post.

If on the other hand you use a conventional definition of trick, "a clever or particular way of doing something", then the post is indeed about a set of tricks.

Fairly trivial article which fails to state its primary assumption: it is talking about mass-market FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) which want immediate success. This is why we have tens of varieties of instant coffee but no 'cold concentrate' type liquid coffees.

Claiming that niche consumers are the kiss of death is obviously news to many makers of luxury goods (and companies like Apple who do not cultivate mass markets but end up creating them because the niche users ended up being right).

Oh dear, the children are downvoting you. This is the inevitable consequence of an educational system where copying and pasting from the web counts as original work. These people actually believe that copying is being creative.

You thought? Just not very hard, clearly.