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Reminds me of why Kevin Mitnick was put in solitary confinement:

Dubbed the "most dangerous hacker in the world," Mitnick was put in solitary confinement and prevented from using a phone after law enforcement officials convinced a judge that he had the ability to start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone.

Man, I remember Northgate keyboards -- "with the F-keys on the left, where they belong!" That was the original layout of the 84-key XT keyboard, and F-keys-on-the-left gained proponents because of the muscle memory of Lotus 1-2-3 users.

Good keyboards. Good machines. Northgate's last hurrah was some sort of nerfed desktop/laptop aimed at teenagers called the Hip-e. After that flopped (who saw that coming?) they went out of business.

The problems that Windows has are a Windows problem. They aren't shared by anyone else. Even the problems that Android has are down to bad apps masquerading as good ones and aren't the self-replicating and browse-by infections that you can get with Windows.

Windows is the only cesspool. It's about Microsoft engineering, not popularity.

Wow, that's some serious blinders you've got on, you've obviously got a religious attachment to some Microsoft hate that makes you spew out rubbish like that. The sort of thing that keeps you ignorant of things like jailbreakme.com, linux rootkits, OSF.8759, Slapper, Scalper, Linux.Svat and L10n among many, many, many others. You're just a clear ignorant fanboy.

More like "Looks like another Windows version has been released. Time to start bitching about how terrible it is." This has occurred with EVERY version of Windows.

http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-Annoyances/3000-20412_4-75188203.html
http://itexpertvoice.com/home/fixing-five-common-windows-7-annoyances/
http://askbobrankin.com/five_annoying_things_about_windows_7.html
http://techgage.com/article/top_8_vista_annoyances/
http://www.doitscared.com/826/common-windows-xp-annoyances-and-how-to-fix-them/
http://wiki.robotz.com/index.php/Annoyances_of_Windows_2000/XP
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-98-Annoyances-David-Karp/dp/1565924177

Average selling prices of Windows computing devices have jumped significantly this year. Last year, overall ASP was $433 while this year’s ASP over the past four weeks has risen to $477. Windows 8 notebooks have seen a nearly $80 rise in selling prices versus the prior year, propelled by the aforementioned strong performance of touchscreen devices and a solid uptick in the pricing on mainstream notebooks. Windows 8 desktop ASPs were also strong with selling prices up nearly 10 percent, driven by the same factors as notebook sales.

And further there is this article, published yesterday, which says demand for PCs with touch features is strong.

"Touch machines are actually selling above expectations," said Bob O'Donnell, a program vice president at IDC. And that means supply shortages. "Some vendors are actually facing shortages because touch panels are in limited supply. Vendors are saying they can't get as many touch-based machines as they would like to meet the demand that they're seeing."

The article goes on to say that cheaper non-touch PCs are in lower demand than expected, but this might be what Microsoft had intended: raising prices by offering compelling features, rather than offering rock bottom (in terms of specs and price) PCs that people purchase but end up hating because the value is so low.

Both of these reviews seem to like the Surface slightly better than the Asus Vivo when considering a light and compact tablet:

http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asus-vivo-tab-rt/4505-3126_7-35477938.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411428,00.asp

Verizon does not need to have microphones in its set-top boxes to do this. They're a telephone company. If they are your local provider, they they already have access to your telephone calls: the numbers you call and what time of day and which days of the month you make those calls. If they're providing you with TV access, then your phone system has been changed from copper wire analog phone to digital, and then they've got an even easier way to parse the text in your phone calls and keep track of the vocabulary used during the phone calls.
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Once they've got the gist of what you've been communicating about and with whom (and when) you've been communicating, then they can plug in commercials during the fiber feed of your TV shows based on that, or they could even be like google and other dicey internet providers and actually intercept the HTML of pages as the response of http-GET requests and insert HTML snippets as advertisements onto the pages you receive.
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If you have google voice, google already listens to your phone calls for you, and it knows who is calling you and whom you are calling. If you've got a google phone / android phone, they've also got a time-stamped tracking of when and where you go places. (If you don't believe or know about that, check out their new location based game, Ingres which uses the ideas of scoring points by visiting geolocated portals which it decides for you and having you staying there for fixed amounts of time to help populate and validate google's geographic database (and possibly also to volunteer crowdsource how you walk places: footpath data, walking accessibility data).
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Do you really think google does not use all of this vast trove of data which it has about you to help target ads specifically to you and to your interests? Targeting ads by builidng these large databases about you and your interests and your activities is exactly what google does. And ATT or verizon, or any home phone provider, has the ability to abuse your home telephone calls. And ATT or verizon, or any cell phone provider, has the ability to do that and keep track of where you are during the day when you take your cell phone along with you. Wouldn't knowing when you go to which supermarket (even if you don't use the supermarkets frequent shopper id card) by tracking your cellphone going there tell the phone provider a lot about you? (Do you go to Vons or Ralphs, or maybe you have more money and go to Trader Joes or Whole Foods). They would be able to tell when you go to a gas station or when your cell phone goes to a car dealership or how long your phone stays there (are you repairing your car at a mercedes dealer, or going frequently to do-it-yourself autoparts stores?)? Which banks do you frequent? Do you go to movie theaters or bars or nightclubs? Or you frequently in shady parts of town? Are you a college dweller or do you go to high school? Imagine how much info your geolocation info tells your cell phone provider about you!

I have to give credit to Apple that even users of the positively ancient iPhone 3GS still get first tier support. You would be hard pressed to find an Android phone from that era with official support for Jelly Bean. Maybe one of the Nexus phones?

Um, no, that's not entirely true.

Ask anyone who has installed IOS5 or IOS6 on an old iPhone 3G, or even a 3Gs. Its horrible.

I'm part of that anyone. Had a 3GS, upgraded to iOS5, it was fine. Every month or so input lag became a factor but a manual shutdown+start fixed that (don't make a big deal of the restart, I have friends whose Androids and Blackberrys need to be restarted far more often for far more serious issues). Battery was eventually replaced but it was almost 3 years old by that point. The friend I sold the 3GS to got updated to iOS6, and aside from the Maps which she hates, the phone is still doing great. I have other 3GS friends on iOS6 and they have no serious issues, certainly none that qualify as "horrible".

The 3G update to iOS4 was admittedly a disaster.

Large portions of new and marvelous best-thing-ever features are just not present on the old phones, (even those features that do not technically require new hardware elements, or are so slow as to be unusable. Battery life goes to hell, even with after Apple attempts to fix it. Most people who do this immediately hop on the net looking for a way to revert, the rest give up and run out to buy the latest iPhone (which was the plan all along). There is a lot of advice to simply not upgrade old phones.

Even iPhone 4 users are wary about updating to IOS6.

If anything the fact that you can install IOS6 on older devices speaks only to how little the iPhone has really progressed over time.

Damned if they do (3-year old phone supports latest iOS = very little tech progress), damned if they don't (older phones can't use all the features of latest iOS, some of which *do* require newer hardware).

Why does anyone even talk about smartphone OS marketshare as if it matters?

Because it matters. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html.

I have to give credit to Apple that even users of the positively ancient iPhone 3GS still get first tier support. You would be hard pressed to find an Android phone from that era with official support for Jelly Bean. Maybe one of the Nexus phones?

Um, no, that's not entirely true.

Ask anyone who has installed IOS5 or IOS6 on an old iPhone 3G, or even a 3Gs. Its horrible.

Large portions of new and marvelous best-thing-ever features are just not present on the old phones, (even those features that do not technically require new hardware elements, or are so slow as to be unusable. Battery life goes to hell, even with after Apple attempts to fix it. Most people who do this immediately hop on the net looking for a way to revert, the rest give up and run out to buy the latest iPhone (which was the plan all along). There is a lot of advice to simply not upgrade old phones.

Even iPhone 4 users are wary about updating to IOS6.

If anything the fact that you can install IOS6 on older devices speaks only to how little the iPhone has really progressed over time.

Check the difference between F1 and Le Mans where they have had diesels and now hybrids competing. Totally different.

If you have so many problems with your device and its software - like it's not performing the way you'd like it to - do what I did and *not buy an iPod*.

I have a Sansa Clip Zip. It's very small, cheap, manages songs, playlists, audiobooks, etc. I can copy to it like an external hard disk straight from my collection of MP3s - which are arranged in folders on my hard disk, because after all, they're just files. The Sansa reads all the ID info once they're copied on, and then lets me select by artists or whatever. It's not a touch device, it has actual buttons and does everything I need. You can even flash it and put on an enhanced OS than fans put together. The sound is brilliant.

Try a different device, you may prefer it. iPods aren't the only portable music players.

MP3 to FLAC Converter. :)

Generally for third party software (WinAmp, CopyTransmanager) to be able to sync to iPhone and iPod Touch (and I assume iPad), it requires Apple drivers, which are installed when you install iTunes (along with a bLoat load of background services). Supposedly you can separate the installer into components, and just install the drivers, but I haven't had luck with that. Copytrans Drivers installer will automate the process http://download.cnet.com/CopyTrans-Drivers-Installer/3000-18546_4-75300288.html

CopyTransManager http://www.copytrans.net/copytransmanager.php is simple drag and drop for music and videos

i-funbox will let you drag and drop files for apps that support it (Downlite, FileApp, etc) http://i-funbox.en.softonic.com/
Here's a lifehacker article that mentions a couple alternatives: http://lifehacker.com/5914638/the-best-desktop-file-explorer-for-iphone

I can't believe how terrible iTunes for Windows has always been. When I bought my iPod Touch 4g, I finally reached the cold day in hell where I intentionally installed iTunes on my computer (only to activate, and upgrade the iOS version)

There are many tools to make Win8 look and feel a lot like 7 here are links to them http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57496506-292/how-to-get-the-start-menu-back-in-windows-8/ . I am sure many of us here are familiar with ninite.com , there is a installer for the Win8 Classic shell for even easier installation.

7 Features Apple Killed Off in iTunes 11. I was originally annoyed by removing the ability to edit the 'gapless' state of files (removing that one just seems stupid), but as no other player I use on any other platform supports the feature, I gave up caring.

Yes, but the summary mentioned major browsers

What's the only browser that comes on the major tablet? The iPad is not just a plurality but a majority.

> You have to beat Microsoft Office ^H^H^H Outlook.
FTFY. Office per say isn't the problem -- the integrated calendar / contacts of Exchange is the problem that sadly Open Source (OS) hasn't quite solved (yet). :-(

> is nothing compared to the productivity you'd give up to lose Excel.
Having used Excel since before verison 5 ( http://www.cpearson.com/excel/versions.htm ) I find OpenOffice, sorry, Libre Office to be better in some ways and worse in others. LibreOffice is a perfectly fine replacement for Excel.

IMHO the main problem is Power Point which all the PHB seem to love. Maybe there is an OS replacement but I haven't seen one that will natively support .pptx properly.

> Linux isn't being ignored because it's bad - it's being ignored because it does not contain a worthwhile replacement to the jobs people are already doing
That is exactly right. If someone were to focus on Enterprise Linux providing all the functionality and apps that the full Office + Exchange does then businesses would switch over to Linux.

> the cost of a $90 Windows license is nothing compared to the productivity you'd give
Apologies to whoever recently posted this link but that is not quite true. For a "small business" the costs of licenses add up that could be used towards upgrading / replacing machines.

"Newsmaker: Rockin' on without Microsoft"
http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html

Someone is paying for a lot of "understanding" http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20069635-17/report-25-percent-of-u.s-hackers-are-fbi-informants/

Thanks for the message. Can you cite all that?

Indeed, I have my sources available:

• For the FSF's position on works of opinion: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OpinionLicenses
• A more extended talk about the subject of copyright by Stallman himself: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-and-globalization.html#opinions
• And several complaints that have been raised because of his seemingly incongruent position: http://questioncopyright.org/remix_stallman and http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10318343-16.html

That reminds me of an interview I read a while back with the CEO of the Ernie Ball guitar string company. Someone in his IT department, unbeknownst to the owner, had been installing Microsoft software on more computers than they had licenses for. Rather than giving them the opportunity to fix the situation, Microsoft immediately jumped into legal action. The result is that the owner had his IT department move all of their workstations to Linux and only use open source software so that it could never happen again.

Found the link.

"but refuses out of hand to do the same for them"

Sammy says they'll never settle
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57549927-37/samsung-wont-talk-settlement-with-apple-yeah-right/
"Shin said he doesn't intend to negotiate at all with Apple, illustrating just how far apart the two companies are. While Apple scored a significant victory in the U.S., there are a number of legal clashes going on around the world, all with varying levels of success so far for either side."

but asks to see the terms of the HTC settlement? Why?

Apple won't settle? but the head honcho said on the Q2 earnings call - a PUBLIC forum (if you're a shareholder)

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2972621/tim-cook-on-apple-samsung-patent-litigation-i-highly-prefer-to-settle

"Tim Cook just told analysts on Apple's Q2 2012 financial call that he's "always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it."

'Access to the internet' is a bit of a fluid concept. Everyone has access to Iridium internet connections, for the forseable future. Given that a substantial majority of the population of the world own a comptuer (read: cellphone), we're almost there. This isn't 1992 where universal internet access was still a pipe dream -- we're *almost* there. Not quite, but within our lifetime we'll see it. See M-PESA and how the bottom of the pyramid is where this is happening -- access to free banking systems might just be the "killer app" for the remaining parts of humanity without access to them.

I think you're mistaken about error rates. It probably depends a lot on the environment and external factors, but I haven't had a single error in about 6 months.

Although this article seems to have some contradictions, overall Google's data shows that really good memory still has more errors than you would suspect. Here you can see more raw data.

Even using the best numbers from manufacturers, 32GB of RAM will have a bit error every 3 years. With the wide range listed on that page, you don't even have to get close to the worst numbers to get errors every couple of weeks. Those errors may not result in a major problem, or they could happen inside something like an MP3 file, where the error just gets converted to silence for a millisecond, so they could go completely undetected.

And, there's always anecdotal evidence. As for mine, I only see one correctable error in 60GB of total RAM (15x4GB) in the past year.

It also seems contradictory to overclock a system with ECC, because overclocking reduces the safety margins in the CPU.

Not with current Intel CPUs, and some of the AMDs. 25% overclock is almost child's play, and as long as you can keep the temperature reasonable, 50% isn't out of the question with no risk at all. This is assuming all you change is the multiplier. If you start messing around with the base clock, that can cause subtle yet serious instability. But, kicking up the multiplier of only the CPU doesn't change RAM access at all. Since most RAM also has a lot of unused performance, as long as you use stock settings for it, you're not going to get any instability there.

I know I am pissing into the wind in asking people to call their senators and congressmen and voice your opposition to the new bill that gives the government warrantless, suspicionless access to your email and anything you store in the cloud, like your google docs.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38/senate-bill-rewrite-lets-feds-read-your-e-mail-without-warrants/

Once government can read all of your email (not just what you leave on GMail longer than 6 months) on a whim without suspicion, they'll be able to come after all of their opposition.

"Oh no, they'll never do that," or, "oh, that'll never happen to ME." Lots of Jews said stuff like that in the 30's.

Just wait.

Two words: Skype purchase.

When Meg took over as CEO, the company was already headed skyward, already had upward momentum. Mostly she just had to not screw up too badly to make it successful. EBay was actually rather late to implement such features as "Buy it now" which were already innovated in competing marketplaces that didn't have the same mind share. (I should'a patented that one, oh well)

Ebay's purchase of Skype was the most random purchase ever, it was for a quajillion dollars (Ebay lost virtually all of it) and they didn't even buy the source code.

Oh, and don't forget Meg Whitman 2010! Spent crazy amounts of money on ads that were not effective during a time when the political climate almost could not be better.

Come on. Not to defend Apple as such, but how can you call being outsold 1:5 a failure when you have one single model competing with hundreds of other models?

Its like cheating somehow!? The Samsung Galaxy III has sold more than the iPhone on its own. Although I do not think it is somehow cheating to sell more than one phone lol.

says who? iPhone 5 sold 5 million in 3 days and is on track to sell 46.5 million in the 4th quarter while the S3 took two months to sell only 10 million. Clearly Samsung is going to have to step-up their astroturfing marketing campaign. Samsung has been caught astroturfing forums, think they're posting fake comments on /. too?

Useability expert jacob Nielson trashed its useability. It sounde like MS doesn't do any testing at all. One thing in the linked article that made me sit up: W8 isn't Windows except in name, it's Window.

Microsoft says that the new design will increase usability. Many people who used the software, however, have criticized it for a steep learning curve that impacts both novices and experienced PC users.

Speaking of experienced users, Nielsen said his study revealed that those folks were downright confused by a software called Windows not actually supporting windows.

"Windows" no longer supports multiple windows on the screen. Win8 does have an option to temporarily show a second area in a small part of the screen, but none of our test users were able to make this work. Also, the main UI restricts users to a single window, so the product ought to be renamed "Microsoft Window."

That lack of multiple window support forced Nielsen to dub it "one of the worst aspects of Windows 8 for power users."

In the end, Nielsen believes that Microsoft has focused on tablets with Windows 8 to the detriment of PCs. He argues that while Windows 8 is "weak on tablets," it's "terrible for PCs," adding that "on a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity."

Only Microsoft calls removing features an upgrade... no, wait, Sony has done that, too.

They now have a suspect in custody.

Apparently this Apple thief 'genius' (see what I did there..?) was an employee at JFK and, "asked co-workers for details about the Apple shipment and about where he might get his hands on a forklift."

More here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57551500-37/man-arrested-for-ipad-mini-theft-reportedly-had-maxi-mouth/

That's not entirely true. Windows CE code was available, but developers basically didn't use it much. cnet covered this at the time of launch, and in the end only around 50 games used it (out of over 700 created).

One of the Japanese launch titles, Sega Rally 2, used Windows CE, and it had a very inconsistent framerate. I believe the game was later re-released as a "native" game, which may have been the version released to the US. You can still fine some sites that mention some of the problems.

Just raise the price of postage a little and discontinue delivery services on Saturdays. That should take care of it. I know people have advocated replacing the USPS with private carriers but I don't like that idea at all. First, the USPS is a longstanding service invented by Ben Franklin before we even became a nation. Second, private carriers would probably be more expensive. Third, private carriers probably would not deliver to many rural and residential locations (much like Fed Ex and UPS operate now) that the USPS delivers to now. Fourth, we've seen that private carrier quality of service is really no better than the USPS http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57345876-71/computer-monitor-tossed-over-fence-by-fedex-man/

Hey you car has a flat tire you are going to go invent a new wheel.

Hey, don't be so quick to discard that line of thinking. That is -exactly- what led to innovations like this one.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying your example could be refined.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57548757-93/here-come-the-humanoids-there-go-u.s-jobs/

As robots become more available, and they can take on the jobs that ordinary workers do, look for employers to replace employees with robots wherever they can.

Not only are costs lower, with wages versus maintenance, but there's no chance of strikes, labor disruptions, lawsuits, etc.

What will we do when there are no "worker" jobs and everyone has to be a web developer?

Could it be that HTC have started performing badly as a company, so Apple don't consider them worth the lawyer fees any more?

That and a few more. I imagine it to be a mixture of several factors:

1. HTC successfully managed to transfer cases to a venue away from Californian courts

2. ITC found only one of the four / five Apple's patents to be valid and infringed by HTC devices (one related to data-tapping, i.e., detecting links, phone number etc within emails and texts)

3. HTC won a case in Europe on similar patents, where most of Apple's patents were deemed invalid. Only one was deemed valid, and HTC was found not to infringe that.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57466424-94/u.k-judge-htc-phones-do-not-infringe-apple-patents/

4. Judges in Delaware found that few of HTC standard essential patents to be likely valid and possibly infringed by Apple and HTC exploring seeking an injunction against iPhone 5 and new iPads using these patents.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57509251-37/u.s-judge-htc-patents-likely-valid-in-apple-suit/

So, Apple saw a possibility of loosing the case.

It is still significant development coming from Apple. They have repeatedly held that they are not in the business of licensing "product differentiating features". Only known licensing deal is with Microsoft and Nokia. HTC is the first company which also manufactures Android phones to have reached a settlement with Apple.

Could it be that HTC have started performing badly as a company, so Apple don't consider them worth the lawyer fees any more?

That and a few more. I imagine it to be a mixture of several factors:

1. HTC successfully managed to transfer cases to a venue away from Californian courts

2. ITC found only one of the four / five Apple's patents to be valid and infringed by HTC devices (one related to data-tapping, i.e., detecting links, phone number etc within emails and texts)

3. HTC won a case in Europe on similar patents, where most of Apple's patents were deemed invalid. Only one was deemed valid, and HTC was found not to infringe that.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57466424-94/u.k-judge-htc-phones-do-not-infringe-apple-patents/

4. Judges in Delaware found that few of HTC standard essential patents to be likely valid and possibly infringed by Apple and HTC exploring seeking an injunction against iPhone 5 and new iPads using these patents.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57509251-37/u.s-judge-htc-patents-likely-valid-in-apple-suit/

So, Apple saw a possibility of loosing the case.

It is still significant development coming from Apple. They have repeatedly held that they are not in the business of licensing "product differentiating features". Only known licensing deal is with Microsoft and Nokia. HTC is the first company which also manufactures Android phones to have reached a settlement with Apple.

Apple did not invent the click wheel or the interface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_click_wheel. licensed by Synaptics, Inc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._litigation#Creative_Technology_v._Apple.2C_Inc._.28menu_structure.29

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1047_3-6108901.html

Creative And Synaptic have both sued Apple and won.

Mp3 players at the time were ugly black bricks. Apple invented a glossy outer shell and a marketing campaign that used the words "amazing" and "this will change everything". What set the iPod apart was Ooooh, shiny .

Re Given the impossibility of keeping ANYTHING secret in this country
We got a tiny feel for it via news about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Lantern_(software)#Antivirus_vendor_cooperation
"FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool"
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029-6140191.html
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2008/01/bavarian-government-caught-looking-for-skype-backdoor/
So yes its "spilled" but usually years later and seems more of a telco/crypto/hardware/software curiosity by many.
As for "no more risk than a simple text file" - you now have the open free for all that any nation can mess with the telco, hardware or software of another nation - no questions asked.
Before that it was all 'hackers' 'probing' 'scams' 'kids' maybe the CIA faulty chips in the Soviet Unions pipelines... but to buy the unique hardware, test it and then try to pass it off as a non state actor is new.
Now its a state free for all.

Bill Gates killed the Courier because it had no email ?! "Gates' response by explaining that Microsoft makes billions from Exchange, and so a product with no e-mail is a problem - a machine that doesn't do e-mail isn't going to help shift Exchange licenses."

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011/11/killing-courier-the-right-decision-maybe-not-the-right-reasons/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20128013-75/the-inside-story-of-how-microsoft-killed-its-courier-tablet/

Microsoft has no vision - they are just another "me too" company and most people don't care. Apple is _perceived_ as being "first", "better", "easier". Mass market sex appeal is what Apple's marketing dept. has learned in spades; Microsoft still struggles to understand this simple concept.

Too late. Android's marketshare is 75% globally, compared to 17% for Apple.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/

Android marketshare was 75% of worldwide sales last quarter, compared to 15% for iOS. This time last year the numbers were 58% for Android and 14% for iOS.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/

Oh absolutely nothing technical, just Intel's refusal to give any ISA other than x86 (since Intel only makes x86 chips, unless you know something I don't) its fab advantage. Intel could easily make ARM stuff in its fab, but why would it bother if it could put out a superior x86 chip?

Because Apple might go all ARM in the near future? We're focusing on Android in this thread (my fault), but iOS devices are ARM-based, have a significant chunk of the market, and ONLY run native code. Lots of rumors flying that Apple is considering using ARM in their laptops and desktops going forward, which could make a lot of sense in the next few years for them.

Intel already makes ARM chips for at least one customer, and they have said in the past that they would license ARM and produce their own chips if it made sense.

Alright, I was mistaken about the extent of native ARM in Android. But what makes it different than the WinTel ecosystem that dominated PCs is that PC ISA lock-in involved the OS. Android, including all of its libraries, GUI, and the base Android-supplied apps, already runs on x86.

And all the base Windows NT code ran on Alpha. Developers still weren't willing to support an alternative, but more powerful, ISA for NT.

Your Chrome for x86-Android bit is just stupid - Google released it 2 weeks after the phone's release, hardly much to get upset about, wouldn't you say?

Yes, Google, the biggest, most well-funded, most dedicated Android developer took two weeks to provide an x86 compatible version of one of their flagship apps. For a phone produced by one of their own subsidiaries. How quickly do you think one and two man shops would provide alternative versions of their apps, if ever? Why would anyone (the developer, or the consumer) want to have to worry about compatibility of their phone/app?

No, it still doesn't make sense. And at this point it appears that there is no further discussion we can have as you seem to have a baseless bias against x86 regardless of any technical merits.

Bias against x86... Is that why I asked for an i7 workstation? x86 is fine for desktop computing, I just see no advantage to using it in the mobile space. Again, what's the benefit of having a phone or tablet that is compatible with 80386 software? That's the only advantage x86 gets you.

You know, I could just easily accuse you of pro-x86 bias, especially since you haven't listed any actual "technical merits" of x86, and I've managed to list several actual disadvantages of having an x86 Android device.

Yes, Apple will approve Google Maps for iOS
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57545241-37/yes-apple-will-approve-google-maps-for-ios/

How is it a problem, again? Something bad happened, it got fixed right quick. I fail to see how it's a call to arms for anything. or anybody. If idiots keep broadcasting bad routes, then other networks will be more rigorous about their filtering. This doesn't need a committee.

Something bad happened, it got fixed right quick. This Time.

What about next time, when the whole mess is run by the UN?

If idiots are currently accepting bad routes from idiots that broadcast them, then it surely does need fixing.
Why would you rely on bottom-up security?

China Telecom also hijacked web traffic to US government websites in April 2010 for 17 minutes. At least that incident seems to have been a purposeful disruptions to capture sensitive data and/or try out a novel cyberwarfare tactic.

*No HD movies, less PPI, mono sound. Not to mention the handcuffs. No thanks.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57541838-93/amazon-pits-kindle-fire-hd-vs-ipad-mini/

not all phones have NFC so it could still be useful for Paypass/unlocking things e.t.c. *although i personally wouldn't want to get a tablet out to do these things - wallet/security cards would be easier.

also NFC is 2 way communication so is also good for transferring content and has many other uses

CNET and Wired disagree. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57545241-37/yes-apple-will-approve-google-maps-for-ios/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/report-google-maps-app-trouble/

Interesting comment from Taiwan maker Acer about Microsoft's going into hardware competition:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57545024-75/acer-warns-microsoft-that-hardware-is-like-hard-rice/

I like the phrase they used: "like eating hard rice"

Clearly, the hardware manufacturers who have been subservient to Microsoft are looking at a new reality and will have to decide what to support.
This may give them the motivation to move to Android for phones and tablets and ignore Microsoft's offerings.

iOS reserves 1.5GB for the system partition, and OS uses 800 MB of that. (see paragraph four)

When the retina iPad was introduced, Pages went from 95MB to 269MB, and Numbers went from 109MB to 283MB.

Keynote currently clocks in at 286MB.

Realistically, that means the OS and productivity suite (if you need the whole thing... most people will have no use for Keynote unless they're actually giving presentations) are taking 2.3GB away from your usable space. That's 14% on a 16GB iPad, 7% on a 32GB, or roughly 4% of a 64GB model.

With Windows NT, the NT stood for New Technology. Perhaps the RT in Windows RT stands for Retaining-water Technology.

Go back to being an appleologist. A company that has children leaping to their death to escape from the factory where they're forced to build admiteddly shiny and desireable apple gagdets which sadly contain shitty old-fashioned operating systems and are surrounded by the unpleasant smell of vendor lock-in.

What a great way to suck the life out of people and convert it into apple dollars. Ghouls. Keep buying iPad, you ghouls. iGhouls.