Posts by Rob Dobs

Apple suppliers: Child labor, bribery, suicides

Appearance does not equal intent

Apple got a lot of BAD press for actually being party to child labor, hosting literally suicidal working conditions and other SHITTY business practices. Read that again.... already caught for being party to doing these things. Is it good their improving sure.... in the way that its good a pedophile hasn't molesting any kid recently. The point is Apple will continue to abuse their employees, foreign partner workers and THEIR CUSTOMERS as much as they can get away with it.

So sure yea! apple for putting out nets and maybe actually even looking into the deeper problem.

But really I don't think its unfair or cynical to less than impressed by what appears to be a trumped up report on a totally forced adjustment from a bad behaving company.

Any honest person would visit China themselves, there they would see that they current government and business class will not treat their workers with the minimum amount of respect that we feel humans are due in the US/EU. There is no way to do honest business in China when it is run by a dishonest government. We should start treating the companies that use slave labor in dictator run countries like the turncoats and traitors to our nations beliefs that they truly are.

Companies like Apple and WalMart are at their core NOT good businesses willing to pay an honest wage for an honest days work. They are instead absolute opportunists and exploiters that will cut every corner and dodge every rule they can.

The only good thing is companies like these don't really create anything, they only get compliance because doing things illegal/immoral is actually cheaper than doing it the right way. But that also means they are not self sustainable, the need workers to exploit and customers to swindle to keep going.

IF YOU STOP PAYING THEM MONEY, THEY CAN DO THIS TO PEOPLE ANYMORE!!!

Really simple, if we really care about human rights and all like we all say we do.....

Documents in Assange rape probe leak onto the net

Banks Maybe

I know Sweden isn't switzerland, but they do have national banks....Assange claims to have a lot of damning evidence against banks.......any chance this is less about the Sweden's support of the US, and more about protecting themselves from something assange may have on them?

Granted I assumed he meant US banks (Bank of America specifically, because they have behaved so criminally recently as it is.) but maybe a Swedish bank is in the mix?

South African wireless traffic lights pillaged by SIM-card thieves

Spot On!

You are right about thieves using these stolen cards to call high priced call services.

I would think it should be a no-brainer that ANY country, person or legitimate organization would should CANCEL any fraudulent charges.

The receipent of the money from the crime (the phone number being called) should ALSO BE CHARGED WITH THE CRIME!!!. Sure we may have to prove their guilt to lock them up, but their phone records, bank accounts etc should ALL be subject to investigation when they are recieving funds from calls from stolen phones.

If their personal shit gets looked into when they commit this crime, if the phone operators BY DEFAULT - CANCEL any disputed charges THEN THE CRIMINALS WILL STOP WHEN THEY CANT MAKE MONEY THIS WAY!!! (make the 900 operator recover the bill in court like everyone else has too).

Fail on the police

Who ever is making these calls is calling somebody.

Start locking up all the receipients of the phone calls until they talk.

Problem solved.

Hell you nab the leeches off society and lock them up, you'll probably solve a lot of other related crime problems as well.

Sounds like an organized effort and the police head should be fired for not being more alert and reactive.

400! 400! out of 600. I will be you money they never even bothered to stake out a few lights and nab the thieves. Lock them up and wait until they talk and you can get the asshole running the whole show.

Google antitrust? Ask the one man who can (almost) answer

I don't think he changed his name

Henry Ford, John Deere, Michael Dell etc there are lots of companies that are named after surnames.

Not too uncommon that someone with same surname would be working for a living.

Now really ironic would be a Henry Ford who worked for Honda, Andy Apple working for M$, or a Preston McAfee who worked for Pandasoft.

FAIL

How could any business be dumb enough to drink this kool-aid?

They are running the market, and at the same time continue to introduce new products in new markets on an almost constant basis.

They will not stop ever on their own... the Google plan is to get you to use their free mail and search and advertising services, while they scan all your data (only with computers for keywords, not a live person as if that mattered). They will get all relevant key words associated with your business model, then create a cheaper competing product, and then use all the website and resources you usually access against you.

Say you rent cars for living. Google will scan your employee emails, the corporate emails, search behavior, etc combine that all with the paid adwords,

And then they mesh this review with their general database on the public at large.

and now Google has great information on what kind of cars people rent, where the renting companies hold expos and internal meetings, what subscriptions they use to get information etc. Google can come in steal their best practices and good ideas, and start a new competing company with their billions, and buy only the best product that will sell for the most margin.

Fast forward a few years, google owns the market, they have expanded their offering to take over the less profitable sectors as well. and the competition is dead or floundering.

Why oh why would any business owner commit suicide and sign on with this awful organization is beyond me.

I have given up hope on the general public being able to get the danger here, and don't think our government will wise up until long after it is too late.

The only hope I have now is some rogue Google millionaire with a shred of conscience left will leak some of the formula and uber shady things going on behind the curtain.

Of course all the cash, flextime and massages are helping keep the fools happy so slim chance on that.... besides you can't bank on the morality of someone who chose to go work for such a company to begin with.

Ford secrets thief caught red handed with stolen blueprints

watch list

OK, so fair enough on your comments regarding the general abuse, and therefor uselessness of the watch lists.

However, I will say referring to my other comment, there is so much history of corporate theft from China and Chinese Americans in general that it would make sense to me to watch any of them that travel back and forth, especially when they work for an American company and then for a Chinese competitor.

And the US partner involvement mentioned in the article doesn't mean squat, they have a minority interest as per Chinese law the majority of the company must be owned by the Chinese People (dictators of the state anyways).

So how to draw the line, I think the US openness is a strength, and that other countries will eventually suffer for their xenophobia. I don't want to single out particular people, but America has 3 main enemies as far as spying is concerned for the last few decades: Russia, China, and Israel are behind the MAJORITY of the "caught" spies in the last era. Granted this is just the ones we have caught. Russia remains our paper enemy, but Israel and China seem to enjoy a unshakable position of favored power with our politicians.

In the next elections we should all be asking where our politicians stand on defending American from spies and corporate espionage... its really here that we loose the war on knowledge, and start having to bow down to some superior force in the future.

Attachmate gobbles up Novell for $2.2bn

FAIL for FTC again

So a group of rich lawyers/investors was able to run in and buy up all three major market players in a very lucrative industry? WTF? What the hell is the point of even HAVING a Fair Trade branch, when they do NOTHING to protect fair trade. These f*cking jokers should not have been allowed to buy up all these major players, and now they are buying a company for less than its worth to even more secure their new monopoly. Crooked behavior folks - avoid anything they do.

oh and CPTN holdings - Why doesn't the IRS and police investigate exactly what freaky shenanigans M$ is up to with a separate holdings company.

Come on Reg - you have the resources, you have the technology...

Please find out exactly what M$ is trying to hide. They ARE trying to hide something see, because honest companies would want ALL of their efforts to reflect on, and improve their corporate image. Companies only do something under another name when they don't want to be associated with doing it (remember skywalker Inc, Chewbacca Inc. from Enron - (should have been flagged by the office taking the business application)

Tea Party activists accused of rigging Dancing vote to favour Palin

You think too highly of us

When did you get the impression that packets were routed based on digital forensics rules?

This is a very key example of where the real world is not a laboratory.

To route a packet from network to another, you MUST trust the origin and destination in the header.

To put it simply, you could not correspond through the regular post with a person, without you provide the return address. Likewise, webpages could not be fed to your computer, images could not be downloaded etc, unless they are being requested from your IP and being sent to your IP.

The only case where this is not true, is with NAT behind a firewall. But in these cases the NAT/firewall device (SHOULD) be able to take care of this.

ISP's are not given small blocks of IP address space, (most have at least a class B). Even the smallest ISP's would have to have a Class c (255 address) or lease IP addresses from a real ISP.

Sure there will be some shared internet access sites (5 students sharing a house will only have 1 IP address, etc) but this does for the most part give one vote to each family home.

Where there is more of a problem is with Dial-up access (which yes is still in use by a large chunk of the US). With the older Dial-up (and even some cable and other ISP's) when you power cycle your modem it will get a new IP address. With some you have to wait until the DHCP window times out for an hour or more (the time it takes to give out a new address, otherwise you get the same address over again.)

Either way it would not take too much effort for someone on one of these systems to cycle through all the available IP addresses and get a few hundred votes. Of course with others on the network try to vote they will be denied (and should invalidate the original double vote as well)

Really I understand the whole "how gives a F&*K" attitude about the whole article, Palin's living hypocrisy, oh I mean daughter and the whole TV show don't matter for jack-sh*t.

What does matter is a rogue party is able to keep their 15 minutes going longer than allotted, plus if they are willing to cheat to win here, it proves they will cheat to win - so that means real elections as well.

How did a party that has no real platform ever get this much credibility.

Once people FORCE them to answer questions about what they stand for, they will see that these people are a bunch of crazy f*ck-wits that want to tell you how to run your life, but don't want any regulation on the things they enjoy. One of these snotty little jokes of a politician actually said they didn't need to answer questions about what they would do, we just elect them and see was their viewpoint - holyf*ck and then some stupid Americans actually did!

Don't let China hold rare-earths to ransom again

One more silent attack against the world by China

This country is aggressive and will surely start expansion efforts of their borders sometime in the next few decades as they rise to a new superpower status. Why oh why do our politicians let this greedy thieving country rob us blind left and right and continue to build leverage against the rest of the world.

Sure plenty all countries are competing and trying to move ahead, China makes itself unique in the systematic, government orchestrated way that the people of China steal IP property from the rest of the world. And I don't just mean copying CD's, movies and games. Corporations in China like ZTE and Huaweii are privy to Government espionage and hacking efforts. I am certain that the reason you can buy an exact duplicate of a hummer in China, is not because Hummer licensed them to, they stole the plans and designs, or simple reverse engineer. There is not a clear separation of government backed and corporate backed dollars.

Now with the RETARDED US supreme court saying OK to unlimited foreign purchasing of our elections (against 100s of years of precedent), the Chinese can simply come in and buy out the votes in the US, and then move on to the Euroland....

Learn Chinese or boycott Chinese goods, I see one or the other having to happen eventually....

Google boss: 'Creeped out by Street View? Just move'

Everyone loved the numbers from WorldCom and Exxon too

Sure the pigs are happy at the trough.

but how long until the privacy concerns spawn a better competitor.

Goggle's market dominance is still subject to their (currently) superior product.

If the masses won't trust you to use your product, eventually the money stream will dry up.

Don't believe its possible... just look at comments in this thread:

People are actually saying in public that they are using A MICROSOFT PRODUCT because they feel their PRIVACY IS MORE SECURE!

Really!?!

With M$ "Screw you everyone you PC belongs to us" Microsoft....

Google ought to watch out their little algorithm is not so special as they think.... and not even patentable in the EU.

Forget the Search Engine!

Let just get hookers and go play blackjack!

;-)

Dead on and hilarious

Schmidt, Ballmer, Jobs and Ellison -

Come on everyone, no matter what camp your in you fanboys have to admit WE ALL knew exactly which guys he was talking about... brilliant!

FAIL - AVOID

Jesus christ when will people learn to avoid this company?

a Company POLICY of getting right up to the Creepy line?

Shit, that is a scary company, and scary bunch of people running it.

Think about your own company, and how they fall short or vastly exceed their goals at different times. Google is BOUND TO CROSS the CREEPY Line if insists on dancing on it. That they refuse to see this, or can't is scary either way. A third option I suppose is Google damn well knows what they are doing and doesn't care. Their deliberate spying actions on people's unsecured wireless networks was proof of how far these creeps will go.

Don't care if this was meant to be humorous, this guy has to realize he is costing google shareholders big $ when he mouths off and makes seemingly true people's fears about his company.

And I'm tired of this BS argument of only the guilty need fear Google or the Govt / Big Brother.

Why do people not see the fear of an organization knowing anything about you? Because EVERYONE has beliefs and opinions that are objectionable to SOMEONE. If someone is collecting that information then they can share it, or it can be taken. No matter who you are if you have any strong convictions, then you have opponents who feel the opposite way.

Ask Jews that survived through WWII Germany if you still don't get the link.

Ms. Gates: 'Bill does not use a Mac'

ipod not iphone

Maybe they edited post comment, but the article discusses the ipod (which has been around a while longer than the iphone

hear hear

I will claim least generous commentator when discussing either of these companies, and yes I will certainly agree with you, they are as bad as each other.... surely such an commonly expected opinion should show that wise people would avoid doing business with either company.

Google and friends scheme offshore windmill army

Other options?

Not just out to bash Google, just don't understand why Google has the option to invest in our (US) power grid. Why doesn't this company approach the Govt, and have the company get paid a fair amount for delivering a product (real fckng simple you'd think) and then the Govt owns this facility.

Why would give this kind of monopoly control of our resources to one company just so they can turn around use this "right" as leverage to make as much money as possible.

How about for public works projects their is an public IPO, and if you believe in the project then you would offer your real money to fund it. Want a bridge, or toll road, send in your money.

When the toll road gets built, all the normal citizens that invested, start getting their money back, plus a reasonable profit for having funded the endeavor. Why do we let politicians give this shit away to their friends and private companies. Understand the place of capitalism for development of new markets, and technologies. Don't understand why we let robber barrons come in and rent our public needs to ourselves.

virtually out-of-sight.....Which means you will be able to see them!

so Ok google all of the US Atlantic coast will just give up their view of the coast line so you can make some profit from the endeavor.

Sick, they are so self entitled that don't SEE the evil that THEY do.

What right does Google or this wind company have to plant large floating platforms to dump wind turbines on? I thought this land belonged to the US (and its people, not its corporations)

Hell if I new the US atlantic coast was up for grabs I would have planted floating platforms out there decades ago, and set up a rule-free Vegas style island off the coast of NY.

Again, they see something of public ownership that no "one" else owns, and they feel they are entitled to take it.....

Booo.... boo to Google

Foxconn fires back at abuse allegations

Yes but it lies with all the smug evil ipod jerks too

And dell laptops, hp printers, etc.

I'm ashamed to admit that I do own at least some of these products (at least one hp printer).

I will certainly look hard for IT companies that manufacture outside of China.

Their illegal tactics, hacking etc have made them in my mind enemies of the US/UK I don't want to support their ethics, tactics, or approach to dealing with the rest of the world.

If it says made in China I put it back

Sure I have to get things now in then, because everything on the shelf, in every store in town may only have the option of one chinese brand or another... but for the most part if you look just a bit their is a Korean, Japanese, or hell even India is headed in a better direction at least. and not openly our enemy.

Someone started spouting that old tired BS about how "oh it wont matter if I boycott apple", no probably not much, but in this day and age when information is easily accessible, most informed people don't have the valid excuse to support them. A company like Apple is basically taking human life in exchange for a better profit margin. Hell even the old "evil" business owners of the coal mines, and railroads took cheap safety options where they could. Apples actions are wicked and shady, and they deserve to be shunned for it.

Believe me when sales dip even 5%-10% Steve-o and crew will take notice, and at the very least take surface actions, (and low hanging fruit) at going in the other direction (co-operation and mutual benefit with employer and employee, instead of slavemaster and slave.)

Simple truth if you keep buying Ipod crap you are supporting this environment.

You have to live it if you just cant do without those cheesy white earbuds.

Everyone but Oracle demands Java independence

Can a brother get a witness?

Do any Java developers want to chime in on actual Java contract wording here?

Is forking Java even an option? If so option #2 is a no-brainer, but I don't think its an option.

My understanding is that it was free for everyone to use, and only Sun (oracle) was allowed to have final say on changes.

If oracle denies every change that helps others, and only allows changes that help the Oracle/Solaris stack, I think they can legally get away with it until anti-trust kicks in.

They could effectively freeze the code if they wanted to.

I forgot about open Solaris (along with everyone else)

It's already disbanded and pretty much dead. Without Sun support the project is pretty much dead.

I predict that it will not be back in that form, but could come back another way.

For the hacker, programmer community, Linux and BSD (open, free, etc) offer I think a more developed platform now. People from Open Solaris may disagree and have their points, but from a going forward viewpoint, anyone who wanted to make a program like a word processor, or game or monitoring tool, etc would find a more stable platform and community on one of the other open source OS platforms.

The difference would be any larger company (Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel) that wanted to take the time to develop their own OS, it would be much easier to create a GUI that runs on top, and bolt it onto an already stable and secure platform (this is what apple did)

If Open Solaris is really open (more like OpenBSD, and not like Linux) then I could see Open Solaris being attractive to these larger companies....christ there are 3 decades of OS development sitting there for the taking!!! And LInux is not well protected from copying. If you modify the code they can get you with the GPL, but the Linux foundation, unlike MS and Oracle, doesn't patent the look and feel, business processes etc that the software and their many tools use, so in that sense they are easy to copy from.

Wrong about people and companies carring about Sun

IBM did care, they were willing to pay Billions for them. Oracle was just willing to pay more.

IBM had serious offers and discussions with Sun previous to the Oracle buy out if you recall...

Don't kid yourself that Sun was in "trouble" they were still spending almost a Billion (that's with a "B") on RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT alone when they were bought out. They could have changed that and become profitable many points along the way if they chose to. Sun KNEW they owned good intellectual property and that is why Oracle paid so much for them.

McPonyTail and crew were TERRIBLE managers, and they got sick of board meetings and wanted to cash out quick, to get back into the whole start-up/create part of the business (or just retire and spend). They screwed all the Sun investors who believed in that large pile of IP they had developed.

This ownership of Java is exactly what everyone was worried about when Oracle first made the offer. Open Office and MySQL are both very different from JAVA. Open Office (now LibreOffice) and MYSQL were already open sourced by Sun, you can't put that genie back in the bottle.

The "open Office" trademark belongs to Sun(Oracle), but not the code, hence the recent name change. With Java its different. Java belongs to Sun (Oracle) in totality. Sure its been free to use for everyone, and I don't think (not sure) that Oracle has the right to say turn off your software, shut down that device "no More JAVA". What is out there is out there.

However the do have TOTAL control over Java development and future. The JCP or JAVA board, serves at Oracle's will, they cannot take their ball and go play elsewhere like LibreOffice did, the ball (Java) belongs to Oracle.

Because the purchased Sun, Oracle now legally controls Java. However, if they do behave in ANY kind of anti-competitive way, their competitors have the right to petition their state and federal government to conduct anti-trust investigations, and if needed ultimately divest Java from Oracle if it turns out to be BETTER FOR THE COMMON GOOD.

Also the 40,000 developers have every right to migrate to alternate software platform to do their programming on, they are the real power behind Java, and if Oracle pisses them off the will own Java like Sony owned Betamax - all theirs and nobody else cares. Ruby on rails, or other really open source software platforms should benefit if Oracle keeps its head up it arse.

Oracle has every right to make profits off its investments. In the US they will even allow Eminent Domain to take peoples homes from them, in the case of a business being able to profit better from the land you. This was decided in the supreme court (4-5 mind you) recently, and has been used to drive people out their homes in waterfront city areas, so that developers can come in and make big malls etc. The reasoning behind this, is they say the benefit to the public out-weighs the rights of the individual. (going to far in this case I think, but it the same thought process. in 76 the supreme court rules that sony's betamax (and other similar devices) were Legal, because the citizens fair use rights of being able to copy and share media OUTWEIGHED the property rights of the movie holders (MPAA) trying to ban the devices.

So very much under the same principal the public air waves, and eminent domain are used, surely if necessary the government can decide that another resource, say Java, or the Google index, is MORE VALUABLE AS A PUBLIC ASSET, that it currently is being privately held.

Tweety profs offer political smear-meme 'truthiness' ratings

Very true, but only to a degree

You are right in small system.

If they have any protection built in at all to prevent repeat votes from the same IP or MAC or OS (cookies etc) then it will greatly reduce how much people can game their system.

Further if it gets really widely used (like 100's of millions of different input) then efforts like this would ideally largely get washed out by the truth.

Idealistic, maybe a bit but it still still a clever idea, and a step in the right direction of giving some control back to the masses over the bullshit machine.

Anonymous and a coward?

Willing to hear you out about Kerry, but as the Article states, Kerry is known by most to have a distinguished record of service, unlike what you claim.

Can you at least point to some facts that support your claim that he lied or served in a less than honorable manner? (getting a minor fact wrong decades latter, is far different than the swiftboaters FALSE claims that Kerry lied about his combat service)

What we also know to be true, or common knowledge, is that the swiftboaters who did provide this false "testimony" for the smear campaign, did NOT serve with Kerry.

I am more mad at the rest of the veterans who would allow a jerk to lie about a fellow vetern putting his lif on the line and get away with it. Everyone of these liars should be on every veterns shitlist for being turncoats of a most cowardly type.....lying about a fellow combat soldiers record for some fast cash ....

I don't think anyone blithely dismissed these claims, they were deeply investigated by nearly every source in the mainstream media, and almost every media source decided the whole swiftboat hoax was nothing but a smear campaign with no substance in fact. (fox and other jokes don't count - see their supreme court victory to be able to lie in their news back in 2004)

The only horror is that this information was not widely publicly known until long after the election was over.

IE captain flees Microsoft for Google

Birds of a feather....

This says more about Google and their culture, than it does about M$.

Wouldn't a do no evil company have no place for ex M$ execs?

Every tech market loves a monopoly

Uhh? Do you believe in fairies?

Google's market(s) that it has a monopoly in are already clearly defined:

Online data collection

Online Advertising

Online search indexing

Online internet services (Email, chat)

They are quickly becoming a monopoly in all 4 areas. They are not doing this by being the best, or innovative but rather by buying out the competition. Google was allowed to purchase several of the largest companies in the Data Collection, advertising etc areas. When you start with more money and are allowed to build a monopoly unchecked, you end up with everyone paying fealty to a bunch of F*cking barons and lords, and that is the whole point the US left England to begin with, the basic principle that everyone starts as equals and you should have to work hard if you want success, and not just live as some twit lord who inherited shit because GOD said so..

The difference is Choice and Interoperability

Unlike MS, when there is more than one Linux you get to choose, and they will all send email and talk on a network and share files with each other. The large majority of programs will run on all Linux/Unix platforms with little to no changes needed.

Windows programs have a much WORSE track record at continuing to run on newer versions. Linux, has a much better approach of updating any older useful programs to continue to work (vi for example). Try to run ANYTHING meant for windows 95 on a Windows 7 machine and I will be shocked if you can find one non-OS portion that still will install, let alone run.

And don't throw stones about prior art when trying to defend M$. They have filed more patents on their bastardized versions of others prior art than, well maybe more than anyone (maybe Intel, Apple, Google are in the same ballpark) M$ unlike the other jerk monopolies has actually been caught more than once for directly stealing code and passing it off as their own.

Who knows how far computing would have gone on a unified platform in M$ hadn't broken the law and lied about DR. DOS? Sure they paid the petty fine out of their monopoly coffers later, but it was a pittance to the damage they did to the computing industry at the time.

You are very wrong about FOSS and opensource standards. The bulk of the systems we use to communicate today are open source standards created by the IETF:

DNS, SIP (voip), HTTP, HTTPS DHCP, all of these and MANY more (also IEEE specs like 802.x ethernet) all are very widely used and respected standards, and are the ONLY REASON that computers talk to each other on the internet!!

Author confuses Monopoly with Standards. Standards=Good, Monopolies=Bad

Yes a common platform is good. You make some spurious arguments here that it is monopolies supplying this benefit, yet I fail to see how this benefit is any different from or better than standards and open interfaces that allow for common development as well, without one king holding the reigns and gaining all the benefits.

I would argue that there is good evidence to show that Open standards such as BSD (which by the way Apple OS runs on) and the IETF (remember those guys who actually made it so everyone COULD use the internet?!?!?.) work much better, and have show far more REAL development than Apple Google and MS combined.

I think the only benefit you state could have been gained if governments and people had been more informed, without the evil of creating entrenched empires that we are all beholden to.

Yes a common platform allows for more developer growth, yet I think Apple store, and MS dominance on the desktop have show exactly how these monopolies only purport to offer this, when in reality they are building a monopoly with which to keep and gain more power. Once they can do it themselves they have no need for the guys who used to write apps for them.

Software developers should take to note the new provision (in the ever changeable rules from Apple) that clearly states they will deny apps that there is already an similar app available. In other words "APPLE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO COMPETE FAIRLY IF YOU ARE COMPETING WITH OUR APPS". Why any company would spend the time to build an empire for another with no guarantee of results is beyond me.

We would not have the number of websites available by ANY stretch of the imagination if instead of Apache (that 70-90% of the web servers run) we had to purchase IIS and MS Server 200x for every site. Imagine if instead of the IETF's FTP, HTTP, DNS, DHCP etc, we had to pay a license fee for every product that used it.

I've said it a million times already:

THE US NEEDS TO ENFORCE FTC AND SEC RULES AND STOP LETTING COMPANIES BUY THEIR COMPETITORS, WHEN IT DOES NOT SHOW AN OVERWHELMING BENEFIT TO BOTH THE CONSUMER AND COMPETITION. They have been rubber stamping these purchases for years and years and if they reviewed this stipulation that is supposed to be enforced, we would not have this problem.

Google should not have been allowed to but DoubleClick, Inktomi and the other major information collection competitors.

MS should not have been able to buy 3 of the top 5 game developers to force X-box content only on their device. Buying a company that produces a product for multiple platforms and then forcing it on only one, is in itself an ANTI-COMPETITIVE action that should have been met with severe penalties, instead Halo becomes an XBox only game, and MS gets to build on their monopoly.

Intel, Apple, Cisco, etc all the companies that continually look like monopolies are usually also the most active at buying up their competition, and buying companies in whole in order to enter new markets and expand their monopoly offerings.

Ranting Ohio Republican scares interwebs

In case you are too lazy

Here are the summaries of the top 10 fox news lies: Though I strongly encourage you to go see the video of FOX arsholes saying the lies themselves.

1.) Bill Hemmer reported that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings knew of a "statutory rape" case involving a 15-year-old student but "never reported it." In fact, the student was above the age of consent.

2.) In March, Fox News's Martha MacCallum presented a clip of Vice President Joe Biden saying "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" -- and presented it as from an interview that weekend. In fact, the clip came from a 2008 campaign event at which Biden was quoting Sen. John McCain.

3.) In April, Fox News's Wendell Goler reported on an Obama question-and-answer session that was cut short to make it seem as if the president wanted a health care system "like the European countries." In fact, he was just restating a question -- he went on to say that he opposed such a system.

4.) In April, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly described a "problematic" remark by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as "reverse racism" and said it sounded like she thought "that Latina judges are obviously better than white male judges."

5.) In May, Fox News's Jon Scott said the network had decided to look back on how the stimulus "grew, and grew, and grew." In fact, the entire report came from a Senate Republican Communications Center press release, complete with typo.

6.) In October, Fox News's Trace Gallagher and Bill Sammon claimed that Senate Democrats would like provisions of the PATRIOT Act that helped catch a suspected terrorist to "go bye-bye." It was a total distortion of both the proposed changes and the terror case.

7.) Wallace had a former Bush administration aide Jim Towey as a guest on "Fox News Sunday" in August and together they pushed numerous falsehoods about a Veterans Affairs administration pamphlet on end-of-life issues.

8.) On the news show "America's Pulse," E.D. Hill described Barack and Michelle Obama's fist bump at a campaign event last summer as a "terrorist fist jab." She later apologized and claimed that was how it had been "characterized in the media."

9.) In a segment on Obama's budget in April, the network claimed it was four times bigger than President Bush's costliest plan. That simply isn't true.

10.) Fox News reporters constantly promoted the Tea Party movement and also lied about coverage of the September Tea Party march on Washington in an ad. The network completely ignored an equally large gay-rights march in October.

Though some of their many more i think are worse than some of the top 10:

America's Newsroom pushes discredited GOP calculation of Obama's cap-and-trade proposal. On April 2, guest host Alisyn Camerota asserted that the cost of Obama's cap-and-trade proposal "would be $3,100 per U.S. household." The claim was advanced by the House Republican Conference in a March 23 "Talking Points" press release, and the Republicans reportedly purported to back up the claim by pointing to a 2007 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But MIT professor John Reilly, one of the authors of the study, has disputed the GOP's calculation, stating that his study "has been misrepresented" and that the Republicans' claim of an average household cost of $3,128 is "nearly 10 times the correct estimate" based on his study's cap-and-trade model. PolitiFact.com rated the $3,100 figure a "pants on fire" falsehood.

Happening Now crops clips of Obama to promote "another apology tour." On June 2, Scott asked if "the president's upcoming trip [to Europe and the Middle East will] be what conservatives might call another apology tour," and both Scott and co-host Jane Skinner aired cropped clips of Obama's remarks from an April 3 speech in France to falsely suggest that Obama only criticized the United States. In doing so, Happening Now joined conservative commentators and Fox News hosts who have cropped or misrepresented Obama's overseas remarks to falsely suggest, in the words of host Sean Hannity, that Obama was "blam[ing] America first" and, more broadly, that Obama's earlier overseas trip constituted an "apology tour."

Being the oponent of a liar does not by default make you a liar as well

I can think of sooo many examples of FOX news lying to their viewers that I don't feel the need to do your research for you, but I will. Sean Nannity has flagrantly used video footage of larger demonstrations from other events as false examples of attendance at various protests/events.

They got caught doing this TWICE! That doesn't even go into the statistics and news that are inaccurate or known to be factually wrong that they report on on a regular basis

I challenge you to find a piece of reporting that Huffington post has done, that was later discredited or proven to be factually wrong. (And don't be petty, every news organization mixes up a name, or reports a lead as a rumor that turns out not to be true on occasion, people make honest mistakes, I'm talking actual provable lies here).

Yes the Huffington Post can be classified as a liberal leaning news source, but I have not every heard them (with any factual backup) accused of falsely reporting the facts of the news. THAT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM FOX!

Okay, I did the work for you.. just Googled "Fox News biggest lies" and came up with this article from GUESS WHO?! the Huffington Post! called "The Ten Most Eregious Fox News Distortions." And these are just the ones they thought made the top 10, there are MANY MANY more examples. They even show you the Fox news footage of Fox reporters lying through their own teeth, so you can see it for yourself, and not just take the Huffington posts word for it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/the-ten-most-egregious-fo_n_327140.html

Rackspace claims credit for shushing Koran-burning 'pastor'

Part right

I think you are both right, and there are lot of complicated cases that came out on both sides.

My overall viewpoint is this:

In the US you can stand on the street saying how much you hate a group of people: why they should not be hired, or trusted, or let your kids near them etc. This is an opinion and is protected by free speech. This would include burning religious books, burning flags, crosses etc. Painting portraits of Muhammad etc.

in the US you can NOT stand on the street and call out for people to join you or act on your behalf to commit crimes against people. The nazi groups and KKK have been trying to balance this legal gray area for decades. We do have laws that prevent people from shouting fire in a theater, or inciting a riot, or encouraging others to commit acts of violence.

The key distinction is voicing your beliefs, or voicing an intent or desire to commit a crime.

check your facts

I believe you are incorrect. My apologies for not taking the time to educate you, but should you be so interested I am sure you will find that congress gave Bush (and any president after him, sweeping powers to respond to the 911 attack, that include waging military operations, and I don't believe there is duration set, so it should still apply to the current president.

Wise? most definitely not, but I believe you are wrong to say its an illegal war.

Further if the President declares it, he can use FEMA rules to enact Martial Law. We have lots of checks and balances, but our democracy is built on faith and belief as well. If a president (like Bush for example) were to grossly abuse their presidential power, everyone on both sides knows that there is NOTHING anyone can do to stop him, short of a revolution. As long as the TV stays on, and there is beer at the store people in the US are too weak and cowardly to get up in arms about anything other than immediate danger. If the president were to create concentration camps, or start killing people, we may just revolt, but otherwise, we would lie down and take it, (like we did for 8 years under Bush.) The president is in charge of the department of Justice, which Bush used to avoid serving justice to his own staff on repeated occasions.

This is why it is so critical that we have a man of solid moral character, and some wisdom and intelligence in office - for all the titles we use he is at the very least a Temporary King of the US.

119 iPad apps for admins, coders, and geeks

First commenter has it right

I don't see a single revolutionary or needed application here. In fact all the ones that seem to be useful, have freeware equivalents for both Linux and Windows, that seem to offer better functionality. Oh and then you get the Apple store privilege of paying for these crummy apps.

Register must have been part of the sucker crowd that bough this ridiculous $800 device, that won't let you even edit file names, and are now tying to make themselves feel better about their misguided purchase?

I believe what silince meant is: These are the equivalent of FREE apps on other systems. Why would anyone be dumb enough to pay for them?

Intel to acquire wireless chipmaker for $1.4bn

Anti-Compettive Much?

On a more serious note... Has the FTC/SEC etc examined this deal to ensure that it in some way BENEFITS consumer choice and competition? If it does not, then they should reject the deal on the ground of being anti-competitive....time to use the teeth these monopoly busting laws already have in place!!!!.

We need to re-examine as a society the very intricate negative aspects of allowing a corporate entity (not a real person) the ability to purchase their competition's business.

It would seem inherent that this would be bad for competition and the general public, and that the competitor now with a monopoly, (or at best a less competitive market) would be the person who having the most to gain, would obviously pay the most to get rid of competition. If Business A is selling wireless chips, and Business B who also sells wireless chips want to cash out, then Business A should only be allowed to buy them if all these stipulations are met:

* No Other company is willing to make a reasonably close offer (it can be less than what the potential monopolist would be willing to pay for a monopoly)

* The company has some reason to need to sell their business. Financial hard times, a business owner wanting to retire or change careers, etc. Not just because their competitor would pay a handsome sum to remove competition from the market.

* it can be shown that the local market cannot support both business, and the failure of one of them seems unavoidable.

Two businesses owners should not be able to ignore and sneak around the anti monopoly laws by colluding together to circumvent them.

Say a small town has two Gas stations A and B. If the owner of Station B wants to sell, it is much better for everyone in town (except for the owner of A) to have competition with prices for Gas. Sure you can argue that Station A has a right to own both stations, but in a totally free society he could also own all the land for houses, and just rent etc. Eventually one mans freedom of business becomes another mans dictator. Eventually people won't put with it and will move. I know if the town I lived in allowed Gas to go up %50 because some jerk was allowed to buy both stations I would move to a town where they didn't let people act like jerks like that.

The net result will be that yes you can have your rights on the extreme side of letting people be jerks to each others, but free to be jerks, and eventually you have a town full of jerks.

On the other hand if you set rules for your society that you have to be somewhat fair and reasonable in your dealings with those around you, you will start to have a more pleasant society to live in.

So it should be pretty obvious, let people create and sell businesses as they see fit, but they can't start business just to sell them to Google, M$ or Intel. If you start to examine the patents that companies collect by buying their competition, and then LOCKING people out of researching and developing in these intellectual areas, it is very costly.

And yes don't ever think that IP and copyright is anything other than curbing learning and sharing of knowledge.

Damn, I would have paid a full $5 for them.....

"the reasoning behind the $1.4 acquisition of the Wireless Solutions Business "

^

Surely there is something missing here....

Java daddy says Sun engineers ran 'goofiest patent' contest

Also miss the mark here

Sun sued Microsoft not over using their patents, but abusing them intentionally so as to be anti-competitive.

Sun had allowed Microsoft to use Java code, so that people could install and run java code on their windows PC's and allow them to use the java language. (more or less)

Microsoft purposefully broke and changed the way they released Java on Wndows, so that it was not compatible with other versions of Java, and thus killing off Java as competition as a universal platform to code applications on.

Because this was done so obviously and willfully the judge found in Sun's favor, though this was less a case of IP victory but rather a case of Sun winning over MS in an Anti-competition suit.

Change happens

I think you missed that Sun was a great company, with a good social concious.

Oracle bought Sun when their executives wanted a quick cash out, and now own the assets and can do what they want with them.

Despite all the talk here though, there is a difference between enforcing right you have on technology that you believe another company has stolen, and open source code.

Open office is open source code, Sun/oracle/Star/GOD can't take it back.

Same with MySQL and any other OPEN source software.

Java gets murky and I'm not an expert here. I believe the basic language tools etc, are free. but of course Sun also produced tools, and intellectual property that they DIDN'T give away.

I'm guessing that Oracle is going after proprietary software and code that is NOT part of the open efforts Sun has done in the past.

Given that its going to trial, there must be something there.

Now that said, its not to say they can't seriously slow down development for a bit in the open source area. Open office and MySQL were dependent on Sun for some guidance, and grunt work. Oracle can cut of this supply, but its not their only supply.

Volunteers, or other corporations would have to step up and manage their own distribution.

If everyone gets on board and moves forward this will not be a big deal, history teaches us reality will be different. There will be a fork or forks and infighting over what is the proper way forward. Eventually everyone will migrate to the 2-3 best camps and one will emerge as a front runner. At this point things might actually start to get better - look at how great RedHat, Ubuntu and say Debian have done for Linux, with more than one option available, and certain flavors getting better at particular niche roles.

There is an off chance they throw a party and no one comes, no one can be bothered to do the coding work, keep updates relevant to keep the software working, manage a repository to host the files etc etc. If no one steps up open source software can "die off" by just not being updated, sure the old code is there and available, but less usefull as time goes on when not updated. I really am sure that IBM, Google and others will either join forces to create a common distro for all these tools, or go it alone and compete with each other.

Wikileaks double dares Pentagon hawks

Biased much?

I can hear where you are coming from, and no one wants to see a turncoat or traitor risk the lives of our loved ones. However you seem very biased, and not open minded to this situation at all.

Have you really read through the information available? From what I have seen, and what the mainstream press has reported on, there is not the kind of information that you describe released. As a matter of fact, that specific kind of information you address is what Wikileaks used the NY post, guardian etc to vet this information for, and remove such dangerous materials.

What I have gathered from what I have read and seen covered in the press as well, is a picture of a war run amok, with violence and vengeance being doled out by both sides. I also see a much more bleak picture of a war that is not going well, and that we are loosing the war in the minds of the local people.

War sucks!

You mention yourself that many of your loved ones did not come back whole. I am sure that applies both physically and spiritually/mentally as well. Yet you attack wikileaks, and seem to come off defending your right to do as you will there, without review. It is not as if they are creating false stories or propaganda, or even releasing detailed troop locations, informant names etc. My understanding is that almost all of this has been edited out. What is left are the factual critiques of the war from the US army itself. and in many cases what they are saying publicly isn't washing with the what is reality. The infamous helicopter video is a great example. Even if it costs a few lives, I think the truth is more powerful, and worth it to be out there for people to make their own informed decisions.

You come off as defending US military actions, regardless of how they are carried out. A US solider thought that this war stank so bad, he has risked his life in Jail, abuse and even torture, to let the world know what is really going on. Is he a hero? and opportunist? a traitor? only time will tell as the REAL facts come out.

I think Wikileaks, and this US soldier who leaked the docs, both feel that this information will allow people to be more informed about the TRUTH, and hopefully avoid more or unnecessary bloodshed and violence .

If we don't like it and it puts our troops at risk, maybe we shouldn't be doing the things we are doing there huh?

If all my soldiers followed orders, and were really working their asses off to protect and re-build this country, the locals would not be able to deny their own eyes, and the "leaked" truth would match that reality.

If on the other hand your troops are out of control, killing and raping civilians, and generally not seen to be making progress or helping the locals, well then your behavior is finally going to come calling for you to pay the piper.

For me I am glad to know that when our troops violently MURDER a family in the name of an armed conflict, and then LIE and cover up the story, they should get caught , and the truth can get out. Even it takes on of our own damaging their own lives greatly to bring it to us.

Oh or remember the US football star killed by friendly fire? They lied about that one too, covered it up and LIED their asses off to the public.

How can a democratic country wage a war, and vote intelligently for leaders to lead us, when we are being lied to and misinformed about the very nature and facts of the war itself.

Also what right does the Pentagon have to claim any authority over other sovereign countries.

It's not like Assange took these documents, they were given to him and intelligence, by an informant, we do this all the time, and can't (with any credibility anyways) ask people to do as we say and not as we do.

Is this a good thing?

I know that really some of these troops are upstanding and moral men, who go back because of a moral obligation to duty. They do exist and I have met a few guys like this.

However I have also met some really racist, murderous fucks who love the chance to get to a foreign country and see how many "kills" they can chalk up.

A Warrior who fights and kills for a living, who chooses to go back to the killing fields, as opposed to coming home when the GOVERNMENT says he has done his duty, is maybe not always to be by default a great thing to be admired.

From the glint in the eyes and factual news reports coming out of the country, I am convinced that this is a common enough problem, and not just isolated instances.

Barbers cut hair, soldiers fight, its their job. I don't think we should have a default reverence for someone who VOLUNTARILY chooses a job that puts them into situations where they have to shoot and kill people.

This is not the poor saps drafted and FORCED to go fight in Vietnam, or the GREAT soldiers who rose up in WWII to fight a threat that would soon, if not already threaten their lives and way of living.

These people choose to do this, and no one is making them. When they serve, I show respect, when they go back for more, I have to question which of the two above types they guy is.

(hint most fall somewhere in the middle, with a sense of duty and a love for violence)

Really the stink hiding under this is how many of these troops who do go back, only because their house is in foreclosure, and they can't pass up that active duty hazard pay.

So let me be fair and add a third class of troops that go back (probably the biggest group in fairness). Those that don't want to go back, but are too poor to turn down the large sums the government is offering them to re-enlist. Combine that with poor job propects back home, and you get lots more.

At some point you have to answer to the truth of your actions.

I agree you have a good general line.. but there is always a grey area.

Is it worth it for the truth to come out and expose a brutal occupation, have a few US soldiers killed as a backlash, and THEN have the brutality to the Afgan people STOP? ( or let up a little anyways).

US releases the sex offender list because our parents ability to keep our kids away from THOSE particular houses, outweighs their right to privacy. I will also say as much as I wish to, I have not yet heard of ONE lycning in the US of a person on the sexoffender list (maybe just missed it, but not aware of any).

I can understand TACTFULLY handling releasing the truth to avoid it damaging people, but when you are talking about the real TRUTH, facts, then there is rare cases I could imagine this would be needed. People should be able to face the facts of what they have done and defend their actions openly in a public forum. Don't get me wrong we all have a right to general privacy, I don't think the German government should be recording who is Jewish for example - this is a fact, and they should be proud to be jewish, but for obvious reasons they should be able to keep their religious beliefs private. However when your religious beliefs involve activly killing people, you can't claim that no one should release your personal info, that truth deserves to be known.

Afganistan has land between oil and consumers

Dont loose sight and forget the Truth.

Afghanistan does not have Oil, they have the land that is between the oil and the european markets.

Don't forget history. Halliburton was in talks with the Taliban to put a oil pipeline across their country. in Aug, before 9/11. (Remember VP Dickhead Cheney was the ex CEO of Halliburton before coming to office just recently before this).

Then the oil pipepline talks breakdown, then 9/11 happens, then we are in control of Afghanistan for a decade.....

(not saying Dickhead actually planned the 9/11 attack... but this whole situation has stuck to high heaven of dirty work from the beginning, there is certainly more toadism, backroom deals and other shit going on we are just not aware off.

Oracle sues Google over Java in Android

wrong

You are morally right, you SHOULD not be able to copy ideas. However the US allows for patents on both Business processes and methods, and any story or work is an idea, and protected by copyright law.

A business process or method (one click shopping) can be patented (AND WITHHELD form the rest of us) simply by filing the paperwork and paying the money. The process doesn't have to be made, or even work, just described.

This is SO against what copyright and patents were intended for its sick.

Time to start a Pirate Party in the US, and force a change in IP rules.

DumbF&*Cks selling media don't realize the system is so gamed against the average person, that the average person feels morally righteous in stealing from these evil empires.

Facebook bug spills name and pic for all 500 million users

Funny but Glib - however you fail to see the risk

Ok, try this example:

You have a Facebook account: you in good faith (don't laugh) place your real name and photo on the page and make them PRIVATE, but you use a fake name for your facebook alias, so that you can make anonymous comments online. You then go and write a long rant online using this alias name, about how much you hate George Bush, and what a bad criminal president he was etc etc.

Then this little facebook bug gets publicized, and your boss (who is just peachy for Bush) decides to find out who this infamous bush hater is, and wow now your fired. Sure its illegal to fire someone for that reason, but they don't have to tell you why.

Or say your not badmouthing, but just speaking up about how much you enjoyed a day related to a religious ceremony. A bug like this could be used to identify people of certain religions, races, beliefs etc. Once you know a name and face it is much easy to run smear campaigns, or simply eliminate and opposition (more importantly eliminate the vocal head of your opposition).

Just because you use your full name as your email address does not mean that other people do not, or have a valid reason too. Further when you sign up and use a service that purports to keep some of this information PRIVATE - you do not expect them to go out and serve it up to ANYONE who requests it anonymously online.

You could ask

I don't want to share my face, email etc with someone just because they knew someone with a similar name (especially bad for common names).

If you want to know if he is the person you are looking for send an email/invite to find out.

If they are the proper person and they want to talk they can respond.

I got along with everyone OK, but I can see how some people just wouldn't want to be looked up by some of the people they once knew.

concerns about corporations holding lots of personal info always gets easily chalked up to paranoia, but having companies like Google and Facebook unchecked is scary. History is full of examples of those with power abusing it. Can you imagine what Stalin or Hitler could have done with such tools? Are modern democratic countries totally immune to falling under the power of a dictator like these goons? (remember facts seem to show Bush ruled the US unelected for 8 years) Something as simple as a name or picture, can show you complexion, race and names alone can give sometimes give an ethnic heritage.

The US Constitution provides a strong legal protection for privacy, and the forefathers were wise enough to see the perils of the state (or any org) holding too much information over people, though they would spin in their graves at the nanny state we have become.

We should hold our congressmen responsible for making legislation that would force ALL internet companies to allow users to review their own data that is held, and have the chance to opt out of such reporting. The credit bureaus were finally forced to pretend to do this, and now we have at least a little control over the data they hold over our lives. Its time Google and Facebook are reigned in and forced to respect the right to privacy (looking at Google here, for all its problems Facebooks seems to be trying, they just are guilty of being shitty web site coders. (not a good resume builder these days, web site coder for facebook)

Battle joined for future of open source IPS

Open Source fight = public win

Two competing camps to provide an open source solutions to the public... sounds like a win win scenario for the rest of us.

Also How relevant are ATM and Token Ring today?.....Sure they have their applications, but almost EVERYTHING I work with runs over copper UTP cables, with maybe MPLS/Fiber for backbone (which can run on ATM). I haven't even heard of a Token Ring implementation since the old Mae-East, Mae-West rings that were the core of the internet in the early 90's.

Its humpday - have a pint!

Dell pays $100m to settle accounting fraud charges

Shocking AMD doesn't sue them all into oblivion.

Holy crap!! Intel's anti-competition payoffs were so huge as to affect their earnings results when they payoff went away!!!

Wake up and look everyone, this hands off look the other way attitude is rewarding crimnals.

Gate and Zuckerber steal to start their companies, and plenty like dell steal to keep them going.

WHY IS DELL AND CREW NOT GOING TO JAIL FOR STEALING MONEY FROM THEIR INVESTORS?!?!?! This is a much larger sum of money I am sure than your typical bank or 7-11 robber gets away with. I understand more jail time wether you use a gun or not, but stealing is stealing, why are these guys not being charged with a crime? Why is Intel not under investigation and properly punished for gaming and manipulating the market? They should loose their business license for acting criminally.

Apple iPad – the 'Tickle Me Elmo' of 2010

You fail to be the consumer apple wants you to be

From AC:

"You fail to understand what the iPad is for.

It's not for burning things to DVD or for connecting USB devices. It's a simple device, designed to do simple tasks very well indeed. In that area it excels."

REally?..

{mocking voice:}

All those great features you list are not needed because of your failure of understanding.

You fail to understand that Apple is free from viruses, because M$ has more viruses.

You fail to understand no one would want to watch their video on thier most expensive screen when its nearby. You fail as a human because you want to watch the movies and music you have already seen and paid for, rather than just buy it again from his holy Steve.

{End mocking voice}

Oh grow up really, this is why the rest of get so sick of the sanctimonious cult like attitude the fanbois insist on displaying. These are all great features for a mobile device...don't defend the lack of them in the ipad by saying no one wants them, its an invalid argument and doesn't make you look intelligent. A simple device does NOT COST $800.

Further what the hell does it do so well? Turn on? Show photos and connect to the Web? Really I have yet to have one fanboi validly defend that this the Ipad is anything other than a large ipod, Palm pilots and netbooks have been able to do all the things the touch can for YEARS - hell blackberries have had many of these features for years. Even some of the old Pentium Toshiba notebooks were super tiny, light, long batter, and had more ports, and CPU power than this ipad joke, and they were around over a decade ago.

And to other AC: come on what a stupid comment yes DVD's were around in 2003 - does your smartphone or netbook have one? didn't think so - sounds like a pretty desirable feature to me...should phones not have screens since LCD's are so 90's.... ha!

iPhone customers lay into Apple after iOS 4.0.1 update fails to install

Just works huh?

I'll be nice and leave the fanbois alone with just that.

Do have to say though, the person commenting in the article does not understand what a BRICK is..

A BRICK is just that, only useful to hold up other bricks, or keep papers from blowing away.

You can not reset a brick, and then turn it into a $600 crappy apple iPwn

When a device is BRICKED its just that... DEAD to the world.

What you had was a device that was hung up, or had a corrupted software, both of which can be fixed with a reset, flash firmware, update driver etc.

The horror of an update or software BRICKING a device is that there IS NO GOING BACK.

Please stop making us all dumber and mis-using words! (understand this was not the authors words, but commentors)

Vista-hating Microsoft throws poo at Apple's iPhone 4

Palm Centro

I think you can still get on one from Sprint in the US.

Does video, picture, sound recording, and everything is simple and easy any phone number or email (anywhere, in a memo, todo list, or out on the web can be clicked to call or email easily.)

It has office docs, a free 1024bit key password locking system, and lots of really great apps (all the palm aps out there)

I have dropped and beaten it up, my wifes even survived a submersion. tough reliable phones, I will be very sad to get rid of it.

Its small, but has a screen you can actually watch a video on, but will fit a shirt breast pocket.

Best of all, you should be able to get it for FREE when signing up for even just a year contract, and a used one should be near free on e-bay. Battery will last for 2 days of moderate use before needing a charge, EVEN TWO YEARS INTO USING IT! (almost no life degradation is the most impressive.)

Palm desktop lets you synce all your docs pics etc, and you can even sync it up with Ubuntu/Linux.

It does not have WiFi or GPS - but I can't say I've ever missed them. Google maps always locates me withing a block and part of why the battery lasts so long (i keep bluetooth off too)

Ghandi and Jesus had no such mission statement either.

Yes MS talking about someone else's evil is kettle calling pot black, but your counter argument doesn't hold any weight.

I think the posters point was that Google should be suspect themselves for having such a statement necessary. It implies they have an inherent desire to do evil, that they must remember to remind themselves of not to follow.

And really Apple fanbois? Your going to really get so hot under the collar for the anti Apple people pointing out how bad of a track record Apple has with its early release products? Yet people line up still. I do agree with above poster though, nothing stays cool on its own despite the obvious reality. If Apple doesn't do a major about face on quality and openness, I do think they will continue to suffer, and will certainly loose market share. If they continued Apple's cool will die, I do think they will will about face, and change course before too long though. Watch for Steveo to step down soon under pressure from board to a Bill Gates style advisory role. Yes i just said that,

sounds crazy with profits going through the roof, but the board fired this guy before, and his personality is starting to become a detriment for Apple image, If apple want to expand beyond the 10-20% fan market they need a new image.

I don't think Apple will blindly continue on to obscurity though, they will right their path, and at least make them selves cool enough to stay a niche for a long long time.

Pictures of Ubuntu: Linux's best photo shots at Windows and Mac

Do Your HOMEWORK!!

F-Spot, Picasa, DigiKam, and maybe future releases of Spotwell seem to fit the bill of intended for mass use. GIMP does not really belong in this discussion, other than a mention. Most people just want to have a digital photo album and maybe remove some red eye. FSpot seems GREAT at this job.

Really this 2nd Ubuntu article seems MUCH weaker than the first. I know its summer and all but where is the journalistic inquiry?

Missing are:

inclusion of Digikam (any discussion on this topic would result in that keyword showing up and to omit it is an oversight).

comparison of how the programs actually manage your photo files. For a article on photo managers for Ubuntu, I am still left not know how any of these programs actually manage my photos. Some of them like F-Spot, import them all into a new chronological directory. FSpot also seems to make two copies of a photo when you you remove red-eye, one changed, one original. Where are these files stored? If I import my photos into all of these programs, where on the drive will I find them? What directory should be backed up?

Photo management: how do you view and browse through the photo album?

F-Spot has a time-slider, used for browsing through the photos. For a typical family that gets out the camera on vacations or birthdays and holidays, this makes it pretty easy to browse through your photos.

More Screen shots of the various menus, photo album managers, picture editing pages etc, would be useful no?

Complaints aside, I am really glad you are doing these articles, and look forward to the next. Good Work!