So my understanding at this point,

Sylar understands how things work. He doesn't need to SEE how they work (brains) although that method works. He just needs to feel it to access the power though, and to feel it he has to access his emotions and empathy.

Do i have that right?

My thought...

By "knowing how people work" on an emotional / empathic level, he can "empathically intuit" a person's power.

It seems to not be very different, in effect, than how peter "empathically absorbs". You'll notice that Peter never had mastery over the powers he absorbed unlike Sylar having mastery when he "stole" directly via the brain. But you'll notice that Sylar didn't have mastery when he "empathically intuited" Elle's electricity power.

It seems that Peter's power is "always on" and he can't control what powers he absorbs (at least not yet, if he gets his power back). I'd say that Sylar's power is likewise always on, can be used for any facet of life and is a driving force, hence "the hunger". However, he can now choose how to get others' powers... either directly via the brain or through "empathic intuiting".

But his power is still intuitive aptitude, or a "super intuition".

thats a really good observation since he said "i guess i havent figured this out yet" when he was using Ells electricity.

Cool stuff, so if he crys he gains power lol

Either way it was a great seen for both characters to develop,

Also -- Arthur mentioned the "Hunger" being about power, i always thought it wasn't just about power but also about "knowing how things work" or more importantly knowledge. This theory was backed that even though Peter had Nathans power in the future, because of the hunger he attempted to figure out why he was acting the way he did by cutting his head sylar style. Interesting that the writers are contradicting themselves on this subject..

Or he originally had both IA and EM and due to the ticking enviroment his IA was nutured subconsciously. In the period his powers have started manifesting, they're had been no chance for him to feel empathy and nuture EM until now.

I don't see any contradictions so far btw.

I don't really understand why Sylar does not have all the powers he ever collected. Sylar changes his DNA at will so that he can access a power once he finds out "how it works". Well the Shanti virus did not erase his memory. So shouldn't he just be able to rearrange his DNA again to accumulate all the powers lost?

maybe if he had charlies power he might still be able to remember exactly how it works but i'm guessing what he needs to remember in order redo his power is far to much information then he can remember at once. this might be the reason he remembers telekenesis so well.. he used it enough to memorize the process perfectly