When I started watching TV there were two dials with fine-tuning rings and an on/off/volume knob. Today I have 56 buttons on just one of my remote controls, not to mention that some buttons have multiple functions depending on the history of button presses.
I think the Google remote is a reasonably good design; it's one of the features I like.
I have the book and I initially bought the electronic copy through Amazon to read using Kindle software on my PC and Droid X.
Even on a 1920x1080 21" display, I found some of the diagrams to be illegible. In particular, figure 15-14 was completely unusable.
As a result, I returned the electronic version and bought the paper version from my local Barnes & Noble. I then bought a PDF copy from Apress.com for $10 more since I registered my copy with them.
I have found the book to be pretty good but landing more in the reference camp than the tutorial camp. I need the reference so I'm glad to have the book but I need a good tutorial on creating themes for Drupal 7 and I'm still looking.
I don't think anyone will be as influential in the computer world. It was a much smaller community back then and it was easier to stand out. That's not to say there won't be people who do things that are as meaningful but they will now be one of dozens of projects.
If a person is going to be that sort of stand out today, he will have to be in another field - perhaps nanotechnology or bio-engineering - where the foundations are still being laid.
If HFT were to be legislatively controlled, it seems to me the most obvious way to do it would be by modifying the long and short term capital gains taxes to create a progressive system: the longer you hold the asset before taking the capital gain, the less tax you pay. If you had to pay 99% tax on a gain resulting from possessing an asset for less than 1 minute things would be a lot different.
This is not to say that I favor that solution, it's just one that occurs to me. I think there's a solution that doesn't require the use of force. If I were the CEO of a publicly company, I would not want to be listed on an exchange that allows HFT. If I were an amateur investor in stocks, I would not want to invest in companies listed on an exchange that allows HFT. As a result, there's clearly a market for a 'natural' exchange as opposed to one that is 'on steroids'.
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.