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I've given this a lot of thought, and compiled a solid rant on the subject.

My thesis about privacy in 2013 - 2020:

Lets start with some facts:
1. The Spy agencies in NZ, UK, USA, Australia and Canada spy on everyone, even their own citizens. 2. The UK copies literally everything that traverses the Internet and keeps it for 3 days for analysis (EVERYTHING!) 3. The USA shares this information (including commercial secrets) with its private enterprises to help them win international business. 4. So many people work for these agencies that from time to time this information is made public. 5. Nobody really cares. 6. The chances of any of these organisations giving up such a valuable source of power are about the same as global nuclear disarmament 7. It’s only a matter of time until the local police have access to all this information. 8 . In 2001, as sysadmin of BSSC I could read the email of every teacher and every student at that school, without leaving a trace of evidence, nor with any fear of punishment for wrongdoing.

So, I assert: You have no privacy online. You never really did. It was only by unspoken rule of sysadmins that we let you have the illusion of privacy. Ed Snowden betrayed sysadmins.

Strangely, Google poise to release the most important advancement toward our goal of total access to information - a video camera strapped to every second person’s head (Google Glass), and people are up in arms (9) and so are the governments best poised to take advantage! (10).
I think we’ve got it all wrong. Let’s stop bitching about this rampant surveillance and embrace it.

Let’s get our spy agencies to make everything they’ve got available to everyone! Let’s mandate that every Google glass camera must be on all the time, every phone must have its microphone on all the time, every GPS recording its location and all this content uploading to the cloud!

Information WANTS to be free! EVERYONE should have access to EVERYTHING!

Then it will hardly be accessed, because if Facebook status updates have proven anything it’s that it’s no fun spying on all your friends if all they do all day is play Farmville.

Finally, these civil libertarians realise that nobody really cares about them, or their “right to privacy”, and we will be able to make the most out of google glass (11).

Sources:
1. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-whistleblower-edward-snowden-on-global-spying-a-910006.html
2. http://mashable.com/2013/06/21/gchq-spy-agency-taps-global-internet/
3. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-with-thousands-of-firms.html
4. Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden
5. http://www.news.com.au/
6. http://io9.com/5969204/could-nuclear-disarmament-actually-increase-our-chance-of-an-apocalypse
7. “if the information is there, it’s already collected, why not use it to prosecute the crime? Why are you protecting the guilty? If you’re innocent you will want us to use this information to exonerate you.”
8. I read your email. Get over it.
9. http://www.policymic.com/articles/29585/3-new-ways-google-glass-invades-your-privacy
10. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57591975-93/google-glass-privacy-concerns-persist-in-congress/
11.

What is this article on about? Who the fuck is SpiderOak, Silent Circle? GPG, pgp, gnuPG are standards of encryption, not some un evaluated service, or new software.
And there are *literally* people taking to the street:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57592368-83/san-francisco-protests-the-nsa-spying-program-in-july-4th-march/
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-protests-july-4-700/
http://mashable.com/2013/07/02/restore-the-fourth/

And these are just the top 3 google news articles. I agree that the software solutions are terrible, and hard to use. And I agree that the news media are doing a good job of shifting the focus to: "Edward Snowden for leaking some of the country's most sensitive intelligence secrets". Which is agonizing to watch, but not half as agonizing as stupid articles like this couched in the voice of the people, but in actually spinning the story away from the truth.

People are angry, there are secure solutions, it has to be open source and on your own computer under your direct control to be secure. Open source software development is notorious for flubbing the user experience, but that is the bad news. We do care about privacy and personal security, we can fix the software to be easier to use, and we are actually fighting for our rights. So STFU with your crap message about our doomed future, and stupid populace. Of course it's not easy, but people like Snowden keep coming along and reminding us to be more vigilant.

Wouldn't have any "mind control" device a similar effect? Like, i.e games or prosthetic limbs. That would give a more practical use (and reach a far bigger audience), while keeping the benefits.

Are you Randall Meeks?

What's Apple famous for again? Yup, they are famous for being famous.
Well that and popularizing the graphic user interface everyone uses in the first place.

Introduced 29 years ago, by Steve Jobs.

And for having a pretty decent Unix-based operating system while Ballmer drives Microsoft off a cliff.

Introduced 13 years ago, by Steve Jobs.

And for designing the first mp3 player that the mass-market embraced.

Introduced 12 years ago, by Steve Jobs.

And for ushering in the change from feature-phones to smartphones.

Introduced 5 years ago, by Steve Jobs.

And for creating an earthquake in the tablet market such that in the future it is predicted more tablets will sell than PCs.

Introduced over 2 years ago, by Steve Jobs.

See where I'm going with this? We all know Apple's history. The point is: what insanely great innovations have they unveiled since the death of Steve Jobs?
Answer: NONE.

What's Apple famous for again? Yup, they are famous for being famous.

Well that and popularizing the graphic user interface everyone uses in the first place.

And for having a pretty decent Unix-based operating system while Ballmer drives Microsoft off a cliff.

And for designing the first mp3 player that the mass-market embraced.

And for ushering in the change from feature-phones to smartphones.

And for creating an earthquake in the tablet market such that in the future it is predicted more tablets will sell than PCs.

But yeah...they are just famous for being famous...

...Until they release a TV with a kinect-like interface running iOS. And then Sony's PS4 and the Wii U crashes and burns, (which is sort of already happening...sales on the Wii U are very poor and Sony's electronics wing isn't doing well either), while everyone is playing Angry Birds on their new Apple TV platform and we get umpteen-million articles about the "New Console Wars," which are now between Microsoft and Apple.

Of course then a couple years will go by and people will forget all of history and again claim that Apple is just famous for being famous. Such is the cycle of Slashdot.

Astoundingly hilarious

Scanadu's Scout, "the first Medical Tricorder" could be another Trek-inspired innovation that will make the world a better place.

They have a tricorder? Well that's it. The gloves are off. Listen up everybody - we're going to a quadcorder.

Google's 'Star Trek computer' voice search is cool, but Siri is already here. Scanadu's Scout, "the first Medical Tricorder" could be another Trek-inspired innovation that will make the world a better place.

No

"Google announced 190 million people are now active in the Google+ stream, while 390 million are active across Google, including +1’ing apps in Google Play, making video calls in Gmail and sharing videos from YouTube. " http://mashable.com/2013/05/15/google-plus-redesign-pinteres/

That sounds like a yes to me.

Conan O'Brian beat you to that joke ;-)

This:

http://mashable.com/2011/09/13/hard-drive-creations/

nobody would think to recover data from my skyline replica!

Project creators need to include in their budget:

1) Kickstarter's 5%
2) Amazon's 5% (credit card processing)

My initial reaction to that is 1) Both of those fees are ridiculous, and 2) a competitor could cut those fees in half and put Kickstarter out of business. How complicated is it to run a website like this anyway?

But I'm not a business person, so perhaps someone can explain to me why I'm wrong.

Startup costs for this type of thing are probably pretty high, and Kickstarter also doesn't get any money (that they get to keep anyway) until a project is funded. I don't know how much money it costs to processes a bunch of credit card transactions and then refund them, but it is probably non-zero (or do they just put a hold on the money until the project meets its goal and then process it then?) Thus KS has costs associated with non-funded projects that have to be covered by the fees charge to the funded projects. KS might be in the position now that they are fairly well known to start doing the CC processing themselves, but using Amazon probably saves a whole bunch of hassle and builds on the accounts most people already have with amazon.

So, if you want to be a competitor you need to have enough resources to get started and then convince the potential project people to use you rather than KS due to your better rates. As a project person, you need to decide if using the "new guy" will give you better payoff compared to KS, which would be a function of not only their fee structures, but also their popularity with your potential backers. Right now KS certainly would win based on their visibility/popularity and I don't think cutting their fees in half would make up for the lower visibility of the competitors for most projects.

With that said, there seem to be a healthy number of other options:

http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/kickstarter-alternatives/

...considering the pretty serious security hold in the Apple ID system that was reported earlier today.

With nationwide public hotspot networks appearing (the payphone hotspots come to mind) it's trivial with wifi radios to keep tabs on clients making probe requests for networks, and can be far more accurate in pinpointing and tracking a device's location in real time.

The Lenovo S60 is highly affordable in India at Rs 6,499 (about $120 US)

That's if you need a phone. Thanks to Chinese manufacturers Android tablet devices are ultra cheap these days and while not cutting edge can still provide adequate performance for most every day tasks assuming you have access to wifi at a village center.

What business is it of theirs to go after "illegal" sites? And why can credit card companies be coerced into refusing financial services to entities which have not been found guilty of any charges?

What if Google decides a critical blog is posting "illegal" links or advertisements, can they strong arm Visa, Paypal and Mastercard to cut them off to?

Google should stick to it's business which is search engines/ Android.

We must also remember that Mastercard LOST their case against Wikileaks and afaik must pay about 21 Million USD to them.
http://mashable.com/2012/07/12/wikileaks-wins-battle-against-visa-mastercard/

This action is absolutely wrong, and it's frightening that a company with as much influence as Google (THE search engine of the internet) could be behind it.

Final Fantasy? Pfft. Not the most valuable franchise in gaming by a longshot. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rovio announced the 1 Billionth download of Angry Birds last May. Even the free versions make them money from embedded advertising, in addition to all the direct revenue from the paid versions. Don't even get me started on the revenue from merchandizing tie-ins (Anyone for a game of Angry Bird Star Wars Jenga? I'm serious, my son got that for Christmas.) http://mashable.com/2012/05/09/angry-birds-1-billion-downloads/

There are lists of rendered obsolete apps for Lion, Mountain Lion, and IOS6 in a few minutes of searching. I'm most amused by how Instapaper started on the iPhone, became a widely lauded app, moved to Android, and then the core idea was integrated into IOS6 as Safari's Offline Reading feature. I suspect it's only the Android users who are keeping the company viable now.

Youtube was acquired, and for "Movies" and "Videos" was already a healthy and stable company.

"Healthy" and "stable" were two words that categorically did not apply to YouTube prior to Google's acquisition in 2006.

In the Viacom lawsuit that followed the YouTube acquisition, Eric Schmidt told Viacom's attorney Stuart Jay Baskin that
"This is a company with very little revenue." As late as 2008, Google stated that YouTube's revenues last year were "not material" in a regulatory filing.

Interesting. I would then wonder whether or not wifi useage on the devices are used, just out of curiosity sake. But that sounds like a reasonable response.

iPhone Owners Twice as Likely to Use Wi-Fi As Android Owners

Nearly 70% of American Android users can’t figure out how to connect to a WiFi network

Indeed, there are definitely uses. There are other community and '311' apps and platforms out there as well. Many that have been around longer, are more stable, and have more potential to work with local governments. Mostly it's just "mobile workforce/crowd-sourcing civic duty" with an MS logo on it. Given Microsoft's inability to release a proper Xbox app, I find it doubtful they will do much good here. Anyways, it seems pretty likely they stole this idea:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/technology/in-new-apps-tools-for-volunteering-after-hurricane-sandy.html

http://mashable.com/2012/10/29/google-crisis-map-hurricane-sandy/

Let's see if they patent it.

Here's a better citation from 2012, just a month ago:

http://mashable.com/2012/11/26/touch-chromebook/

Sales have so far been so small that NPD, a research company that measures sales of electronics, doesn't even bother mentioning them.

Do you or the OP have any citation stating that the sales of Chromebooks have been hurting netbooks?

Also, does anyone even remember the Chromebox?

Wait 'til RoboCop finds out. Boy will he be jealous.

Don't worry, the Kiwis are preparing to get Snoopy on the case...

"The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has teamed up with Mini Cooper in New Zealand to teach three dogs how to drive." http://mashable.com/2012/12/05/driving-dogs-campaign/

Finally. When that catches on, it'll be a nice improvement over the people on the road during my commute.

On the other hand, if it is about deleting data *you* uploaded to a site/service, how about just using sites/services which up front offer a "delete all me data" option?

Except that currently the Delete button may not really do all that much. And to me this what all this is about.

Wait 'til RoboCop finds out. Boy will he be jealous.

Don't worry, the Kiwis are preparing to get Snoopy on the case...

"The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has teamed up with Mini Cooper in New Zealand to teach three dogs how to drive." http://mashable.com/2012/12/05/driving-dogs-campaign/

You may be waiting some time for that press conference. It's not going to happen: http://mashable.com/2012/11/27/curiosity-rover-discovery-npr/

As far as total sales, I'm not sure about the statistics for specific manufacturers, but Mashable and CNN have some interesting numbers on Android vs iOS market share.

OK, they may make more of them, but they're certainly not as cool.

Truth be told, I was actually trying to avoid an argument by referring to them as comparable, since I thought I was being pretty generous for the sake of any Android fans who might be offended. If you really want to argue that the Nexus is better enough that the two shouldn't be considered comparable, however, we can go down that path. Looking at the spec sheet quickly, here's my take on each of the major points...

Screen: Tie, since the Nexus' has 35% less screen area but at a resolution that's a fair amount higher
Processor: Nexus wins with the Nvidia Tegra 3 over the 1.5 year old Apple A5
Storage: Tie for the models I was talking about, but an iPad win overall with 16GB to 64GB instead of 8GB to 16GB
Cellular: Tie for the models I was talking about, but an iPad win overall with 4G LTE as an option
WiFi: iPad wins with dual-band 802.11n instead of single-band 802.11n
Bluetooth: iPad wins with 4.0 instead of the Nexus' 3.0
Front-Facing Camera: Tie, with a 1.2MP each
Back-Facing Camera: iPad wins with a 5MP camera, whereas the Nexus doesn't even have a camera
Wired Connectivity: Nexus wins with micro-USB instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning connector
Payment: Tie? Nexus has NFC, whereas iPad uses Passbook
Battery: Tie, with both getting about 10 hours in typical use
Feel in the hand: iPad wins with an aluminum case that's thinner and lighter than the Nexus' plastic case
Software: I'm not touching this topic with a ten foot pole.

Just to clarify on that NFC vs. Passbook point, Apple hasn't added NFC (yet?), instead opting to add Passbook with iOS 6. Passbook seems to be intended to replace the need to have NFC for making a payment, and by all accounts, it seems to be doing very well, despite only being a few weeks old and only being available on the latest version of iOS. Considering that NFC still hasn't seen widespread deployment by vendors yet, I'm leaning towards calling it a wash. They're both immature at this stage.

Long story short, we could quibble about a few of them (e.g. bigger vs. better is an ongoing debate with screens, hence why I called it a tie), but in the end, it's pretty close either way and they trade hits pretty evenly when you consider the base iPad mini vs. the higher-end Nexus 7. I'd call that comparable.

Now, whether or not you're willing to pay an extra $80 for something that's considered comparable...that's a more interesting question.

I'm getting that too, possibly due to the ~7.1 million concurrent viewers of the jump.

Here's the direct link to the actual article and video: http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/ ew-has-smartphone-inside/#92851Some-Chinese

Entertainment Weekly = EW (as in disgusting).

Yes, this is cool, but I can't go out to Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of this week's magazine and expect to find some fun electronics inside.

Entertainment Weekly is only producing 1,000 of these digital advertising-enhanced issues, so if you want a nearly free smartphone that, with a good deal of nudging, actually works, you better run, not walk, to your nearest newsstand.

More info from original source @ mashable

Here's the direct link to the actual article and video: http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/ew-has-smartphone-inside/#92851Some-Chinese

I doubt Apple will ever copy the cheap feeling the Galaxy SIII has when you hold it in your hand. I have been an iPhone user since the 3G (10/2008) and was interested in seeing how the Galaxy SIII would be as a replacement device knowing all the great things people are saying about it.

I picked it up in the store and it felt cheap, almost like a child's toy. Light yes, durable, not so much. As someone who dropped their iPhone4 less than 72 hours after purchasing it and watching the back glass shatter, I wanted something more durable. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the S3 would help me much in that area.

I played with the device for about 25 minutes and found myself saying, "meh". While I'm glad there is a choice between Apple and Android phones and a wide variety to choose from for those who like that sort of thing, I decided to stick w/the iPhone.

I picked mine up Friday morning (the Verizon store told me if I was there by 8 AM I could get one) and I have been pleased. It's not perfect by any means I don't want to say the device is flawless, but as someone who has used both, I still much prefer the iPhone to the S3 and don't see any copying at all.

YMMV.

Google has a maps app ready, and it's already submitted to Apple. The only thing holding it back is Apple approving it. So that may be next week, in a year (like they did with Google Voice) or never (under the "duplicates a native service" rule).

Question: did Apple allow other map applications when the core map application was Google Maps? If so, Apple would pretty much have to let Google Maps in the app store.

Google has a maps app ready, and it's already submitted to Apple. The only thing holding it back is Apple approving it. So that may be next week, in a year (like they did with Google Voice) or never (under the "duplicates a native service" rule).

Sources:
http://9to5mac.com/2012/09/20/google-has-an-ios-6-maps-app-awaiting-approval-it-is-solely-up-to-apple-to-approve/
http://mashable.com/2012/09/20/google-maps-ios-6-apple-approval-report/

Google has a maps app ready, and it's already submitted to Apple. The only thing holding it back is Apple approving it. So that may be next week, in a year (like they did with Google Voice) or never (under the "duplicates a native service" rule).

Sources:
http://9to5mac.com/2012/09/20/google-has-an-ios-6-maps-app-awaiting-approval-it-is-solely-up-to-apple-to-approve/
http://mashable.com/2012/09/20/google-maps-ios-6-apple-approval-report/

What kind of idiots are on Facebook anyway?

Well just remember those of us that are 'sane' and don't have an account, are apparently psychopaths now. So fuck'em. I'd rather be a psychopath, then I can get free room and board, along with happy-trip meds.

Google assisted me to find this writeup of the comic which led for me to recall using a Super Snapshot v6 (red) cartridge with a C=64 to attempt to print the Doriath map frame by frame. In the beginning the plan was to mount the frames on a large piece of fiberboard but, as the weeks went on, I quickly determined that the fiberboard would never support the entire map. Maybe I printed twenty or thirty of them in that fine dithered greyscale on the Panasonic KX-P1080i.

...RIM employees stop using Yahoo for search and tell their employees to use ... Bing?

There is no such thing as "Yahoo search." The Yahoo search team was laid off years ago when the entire search function was outsourced to Microsoft (Bing).

To which I simply reiterate:

NEVER, EVER, EVER.

And Apple could care less about making money offa OS X. That's why it is $20. They obviously don't wan't to LOSE money, either; but it is NOT considered anything more than a way to sell Macs.

And boy, is it doing that , now at around 12% marketshare, even though "PC" sales in general are down in this shitty economy. And, more relevant to this discussion, increasingly so to (former) Windows users.

So since you seem to be implying that the US and/or the West was behind a DDoS — because that's how the US rolls in the cyber realm: DDoSing targets [insert rolling eyes emoticon here] — I think you should turn your attention to this:

http://wikileaks.org/syria-files/

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Social Media Becoming Online Battlefield in Syria - Mashable

Social media is often credited with helping spread the Arab Spring, as activists shared messages of discontent and organized protests using Facebook and Twitter. More than a year after the Arab Spring began in Tunisia, it has become a megaphone for propaganda from both sides of the struggle in conflict-ridden Syria.

http://mashable.com/2012/08/09/social-media-syria/

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Disinformation flies in Syria's growing cyber war - Reuters

On Sunday, it was a hijacked Reuters Twitter feed trying to create the impression of a rebel collapse in Aleppo. On Monday, it was another account purporting to be a Russian diplomat announcing the death in Damascus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/07/us-syria-crisis-hacking-idUSBRE8760GI20120807

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Reuters Twitter account hijacked, fake tweets sent - CNET

The hack of news agency's tech feed comes two days after its Web site was breached and defaced with a phony pro-Syrian government story.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57486971-93/reuters-twitter-account-hijacked-fake-tweets-sent/

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Reuters hacked, phony Syria stories posted - CNET

Bogus posts reported on setbacks suffered by rebel Free Syrian Army fighting Assad regime.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57486463-83/reuters-hacked-phony-syria-stories-posted/

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Nah, it's easier to live in the topsy-turvy bizarro land where the US is what's wrong with the world.

Microsoft has also been shaking down Android vendors:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/04/microsoft-motorola-android-patent-lawsuit
http://mashable.com/2011/03/21/microsoft-sues-barnes-noble/
http://gigaom.com/mobile/htc-licenses-microsoft-patents-for-android/

Fuck Microsoft and Apple.

Don't worry, with today's globalization if you don't come to the patent infringement lawsuits, the patent infringement lawsuits will come to you. After all, the fact that neither Samsung nor Apple is a French company hasn't stopped them from suing each other in France (along with everywhere else.)

They did the same with their phones:

http://mashable.com/2012/06/25/lumia-why-no-upgrade/

Release v7 phones then announce that they won't be able to work on v8 phones.

Guess it's a bit like their close partner Nokia, with the famous Burning Platform memo:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin/

Even Steve Wozniak says that Google voice search is vastly superior to Siri

Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if your sources actually supported your claim? Did Voice Search tell you they did?

1.Article: "The Apple co-founder,[said] that he was an early fan of Siri, but the app has gotten worse since Apple bought it." And why? Because it now also searches Google. No mention of Google Voice Search. The second article is basically just the video from the first.

Google voice search is just an alternative entry method for the standard search. It is hardly a strategic counter to the more AI-driven approach (ok, quasi-AI) that Siri represents.

Are you kidding me? It's not even a contest. Comparing Google Voice Search to Siri is just like comparing Google Search to Yahoo Search (the Yahoo Search of 10 years ago). Even Steve Wozniak says that Google voice search is vastly superior to Siri (even long before Gingerbread came out, he was saying stuff like that, now Google voice search can be used offline in addition to what it can already do online, and in that time, Siri has only been getting worse with even more commercial answers to non-commercially based queries).

Also, the idea of launching specific intents/actions on a phone instead of launching just a web page is an idea that Google pioneered long ago, that Apple just recently imitated.

And it does little to address either the vertical search gap presented by Yelp, or the "diagonal" functionality gap that Siri addresses by smoothly integrating with your other iOS apps like text message, alarm or calendar.

But Google Voice Search does also search through the internal content/actions of your phone at the same time as the Internet. It did that for a while now (that's why I can't comprehend how Apple even got a patent on a similar idea).

not sure if i've ever seen one of these sponsored posts ... does facebook have to disclose that the post is a paid advertisement ?

http://mashable.com/2009/10/05/ftc-blogger-endorsements/

It's not even clear if posting the email is against their TOS

This article claims otherwise, saying it was *not* a violation of their terms of service:

http://mashable.com/2012/07/30/twitter-journalist-suspended/