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QQ is not a "network", it is an instant messaging program. I suppose when you sign up for a QQ account, you get an unwanted QQ space (Qzone) along with your unwanted QQ email account, but nobody really uses those. Residents of the PRC use Renren, Xiaonei, Kaixin001, Sina, and others.

Oh, and nice racism there, calling QQ "Chinese", thus implying it is strange and weird. (The technical term is "Orientalism" - implying that "the East" is antithetical to "the West".) QQ has been in use for ages. It is very big in South Africa...uh-oh, South Africa has a lot of black people. Yikes, when we start stereotyping, it's a minefield!

People must be getting richer and finding jobs since MySpace is for the economically disadvantaged while Facebook is primarily used by the fiscal elite.

Because Android doesn't have pervasive DRM, and without that you won't get media companies to sign on. That's why there isn't even a Netflix app for Android.

Right.

Designers? Are you serious? Do you actually believe there was an architected plan for Facebook in any incarnation at any time in its life?

I think it's obvious that a lot of thought and usability testing went into the interface design for Facebook. As evidence, I submit the fact that there are 500 million people who are able to use Facebook, but are still unable to tell the difference between Facebook and this site, much less how to get to Facebook at all. The comments on that article show just how intelligent many Facebook users are when it comes to internet technology, but they are still able to use Facebook.

Your forgetting one little fact. Some users, for lack of a better way to say it, are REALLY dumb. They want something that is as familiar as possible. They want the name to also be the same as possible. And if something is different, they will find a reason to bitch, moan and complain.

In fact, something like this happened last year with Facebook. Facebook changed its login screen and so http://www.readwriteweb.com/ made an article about it here. What was the shocking part was the comments down below, and I'll quote some: (make sure on the site to tell it to sort comments by oldest first:

Gladys Ok If I have to I will comment,I love facebook so right now just want to log in if thats ok with you..lol Keep up the good work...

fuccinwayne ok cool now can I get to facebook

John The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN.

kathy when can we log in?

Nicole I WANT THE OLD FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!

cassandra james just want to get on facebook

They all thought that the news article was the Facebook Login site. Not one of these people could do something as basic as type in www.facebook.com or have it bookmarked (its guessed they all Google searched Facebook Login) or even do the ultimate basic of checking the web address in the URL bar. There are over 100 comments like this on that page. And these are just the people who weren't too lazy to pipe up about it. They would have no doubt already been using their web browser that they are familiar with. Imagine what would happen if you change their software so it was unfamiliar? And you think it won't be hard to change from Word now? I like OO myself as well, but.... well after that, I would question.

Your forgetting one little fact. Some users, for lack of a better way to say it, are REALLY dumb. They want something that is as familiar as possible. They want the name to also be the same as possible. And if something is different, they will find a reason to bitch, moan and complain.

In fact, something like this happened last year with Facebook. Facebook changed its login screen and so http://www.readwriteweb.com/ made an article about it here. What was the shocking part was the comments down below, and I'll quote some: (make sure on the site to tell it to sort comments by oldest first:

Gladys Ok If I have to I will comment,I love facebook so right now just want to log in if thats ok with you..lol Keep up the good work...

fuccinwayne ok cool now can I get to facebook

John The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN.

kathy when can we log in?

Nicole I WANT THE OLD FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!

cassandra james just want to get on facebook

They all thought that the news article was the Facebook Login site. Not one of these people could do something as basic as type in www.facebook.com or have it bookmarked (its guessed they all Google searched Facebook Login) or even do the ultimate basic of checking the web address in the URL bar. There are over 100 comments like this on that page. And these are just the people who weren't too lazy to pipe up about it. They would have no doubt already been using their web browser that they are familiar with. Imagine what would happen if you change their software so it was unfamiliar? And you think it won't be hard to change from Word now? I like OO myself as well, but.... well after that, I would question.

although it is currently free to register with App World, in the future there will be a $200 USD charge. ... You, on the other hand, have decided that for $200, a developer should only get to publish 10 apps, and it will cost $200 for every additional 10 apps. ... After getting all my personal information in, and being thoroughly disgusted with your ignorant pricing scheme, I’m now ready to start the actual process of developing.

Their pricing scheme is not ignorant, but certainly arrogant. On one hand, RIM knows that popularity is a chicken and egg problem. If they don't have apps, they won't have users, and if there are no users, there will be no apps. They want some apps to show up at the beginning to seed users, but later on they want more apps to be paid. I don't know if the pricing scheme will achieve what they want. According to Distimo last year, Blackberry had a paid/free app ratio on par with Apple iOS, but has the most expensive average paid app price.

Sarcasm aside, as it stands, the Playbook SDK is complete crap.

One has to sympathize with RIM's internal software engineers if that is the same tool they have to work with to develop their own apps. This is not an indication that RIM wants to turn developers away, but an indication that their software development process is not very efficient. The complicated process is not only a turn-off for external developers, but also their internal ones. The question is, is this the best process they could come up with, or is it that good ideas or designs in the company have problem becoming realized?

Was Steve Jobs right? Is a single, restrictive & tested, marketplace the way to go?

No. Malware can get into a single market just by businesses rather than "cybercriminals" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/dear_iphone_users_your_apps_are_spying_on_you.php [readwriteweb.com] And of course all platforms have had some sort of remote exploit http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10299378-245.html [cnet.com] Conclusion: a "single, restrictive & tested, marketplace" just provides a feeling of security, while giving up the user-freedom of installing any app. I prefer the freedom and am (so far) very happy with the homebrew community support offered by Palm (and now HP) http://www.precentral.net/hp-donates-server-homebrew-webos-internals-group [precentral.net] Techy users should be able to install whatever homebrew app they want...just understanding "no lifeguard on duty."

Say what you will about Apple's "walled garden" but I don't hear of such things on their AppStore.

It happens just by businesses rather than "cybercriminals" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/dear_iphone_users_your_apps_are_spying_on_you.php And of course all platforms have had some sort of remote exploit http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10299378-245.html Conclusion: "walled gardens" for apps just provide a feeling of security, while giving up the user-freedom of installing any app. Personally I prefer the freedom and am (so far) very happy with the homebrew community support offered by Palm (and now HP) http://www.precentral.net/hp-donates-server-homebrew-webos-internals-group

And don't forget that VLC was removed from the iPhone app store for the same reasons.

I'm not really sure how this should work. Should everyone be allowed to upload "Tux Racer"? Should it be limited only to the original author? Should the person that ports it over be allowed to add ads for revenue for his work in porting the game?

I doubt that either Apple or MS want to ban free software. But allowing anyone to port open source over and upload it for profit (ads) just seems dangerous, legally.

Paid apps can be open source. And iOS is not still trouncing over everyone else. It's current lead doesn't even cover the margin of error of the Nielson analysis. And when you look at new buyers in the last 6 months, the results indicate that Android is, not surprisingly, going to be the leading smart phone OS sometime this year.

Of course, I wouldn't lay this squarely on the shoulders of free or OSS apps, though I'm sure that plays a part. The dominant factor I think is the range of devices and carriers available. It's possible, I suppose, that the Verizon bump iOS will receive may slow down Android's gains, but I'll wager that Android will be the clear leader by the fall or sooner.

Yes: http://research.nokia.com/page/231 http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_iphone_becomes_a_web_server.php https://market.android.com/details?id=org.xeustechnologies.android.kws http://windowsphone7central.com/news/webserver_for_windows_phone_7_brings_homebrew_file_exploration-12-23-10.php

Abuse of Facebook's flagging system.

Even the developer who made the complaint doesn't believe the actual reason that Apple removed VLC was because he had won the argument about GPL being incompatible with the App Store:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/as_vlc_for_iphone_ipad_pulled_from_app_store_whats.php

Wow, really? A guy attacks first attacks Apple for being evil that they don't follow the GPL, and then attacks Apple for being evil for following the GPL and thus proving that they hate the GPL. A guy who coincidentally works for a competitor of Apple.

And if you want more proof how dumb that article is - they claim there is no GPLed software on the Mac App Store. What is this discussion about again? An app that happens to be under the GPL?

The OP is probably referring to phones. Here's an analysis of how long it's taken the various manufacturers to release updates. Samsung has taken roughly three times as long as either Motorola or HTC to get Froyo out. They've also been accused of withholding updates unless carriers paid them for it, but no one was able to confirm that for a certainty.

Based on their past history, I have a feeling that they won't be upgrading the Galaxy Tab to Honeycomb, but that's just my opinion. Sorry, but the data supports the OP's point of view. He may have an axe to grind, but he has plenty of justification.

Even the developer who made the complaint doesn't believe the actual reason that Apple removed VLC was because he had won the argument about GPL being incompatible with the App Store:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/as_vlc_for_iphone_ipad_pulled_from_app_store_whats.php

It remains the opinion of one guy that GPLv2 is incompatible. Meanwhile there are many GPLv2 apps on the App Store with no problem. So you have show no cause and effect. Neither have you specified which particular GPLv2 license term is incompatible.

My view is that Apple removed the app because one of the lead developers of the code wanted it removed, and not removing it would only lead to bad publicity. The GPL was irrelevant.

Here is the original story with people thinking it was a new Facebook page in the comments section at the bottom of the article.

Never. I agree. Apple has enough employees and technology to thoroughly check apps it allows into the app store.

And wouldn't it be cool if Google had built in an app kill switch like Apple did?

You are hereby reminded not to get an Android phone if you lack the ability to do simple web searches.

I wouldn't use their cloud platform anyway.

They had Black Friday deals in the UK all last week and had extremely limited numbers of stock, but rather than do things first come first served, they had an unstable platform on which to run it which repeatedly threw back 503 errors due to the load, meaning those that got processed weren't necessarily in order (i.e. 200 get through, 200 rejected, 200 through or whatever load it was taking).

If they can't even scale their own services on their platform, what hope is there for anyone else being able to rely on them? It's not like they haven't had problems either:

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/10/02/amazon-ec2-outage-wipes-out-data/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/more_amazon_s3_downtime.php

Trusting Amazon as a hosting platform at least is foolish anyway.

The Wikileaks twitter account is reporting/complaining that Amazon booted them from using their servers. Others are saying it was due to pressure from the US.

I wonder what impact that has on services like their EC2 cloud. I mean if your company does something the US government doesn't like and they can put pressure on Amazon to just cut off your services then all the supposed benefits of 'cloud computing' are bullshit.

The Wikileaks twitter account is reporting/complaining that Amazon booted them from using their servers. Others are saying it was due to pressure from the US.

Small thing: many people don't even type in the domain name in full, with the TLD.

A *lot* of people type in “facebook” to go to facebook.com, or even “facebook login” to login to facebook, completely unaware of the magic that happens behind the scenes.
Do you remember what happened on that ReadWriteWeb article about Facebook's new login page ? The comments are unbelievable and yet. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_your_one_true_login.php

Also, this is why Google knows that bit more about what sites people visit. Everytime people don't enter the TLD, their browser does a swift “I'm feeling lucky” search and takes them to the result.

So the .com vs .co problem might not be that much of an issue these days.

You think saying the people who have the software installed that is necessary to view half the video on the web have no brains might be flamebait?

Gee, really?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/html5_video_market_penetration.php

and you've been saying it since a long time ago?

So you just don't believe in online video at all, then.

The interesting thing is that China Mobile is supposedly interested in the MeeGo project. A third party to join Nokia and Intel, and a mobile carrier at that, will furthur enhance MeeGo. Also, tellingly, the already have their own appstore, and Nokia seems to have partnered with them on Ovi, in this regard.

This might as well prove 2011 to be the year of Linux on mobile phones, if not desktops.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2010/11/china-mobile-joins-linux-foundation.php
http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/apps/article/reports-nokia-teams-with-china-mobile-on-apps

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_activates_android_kill_switch_zaps_useless_apps.php

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10010070-37.html

Both Android and the iPhone have kill switches as well.

Google has actually used theirs.

Looking forward to Slashdot telling me how Microsoft is teh evil but Google is OK.

The Android Invasion Cometh; Is Resistance Futile?

Look both options have their benefits. But I happen to agree with a recent survey that finds developers think Android is the long term solution while iOS is basically the immediate choice because of its dominance it has enjoyed with being the first. Given that the obvious is already happening, it's just going to take two or three years for developers to really unseat anything else in favor over Android. I was never given a chance to tinker or code for iOS so of course I'm biased towards the one technology out there that is actually trying to empower me without restrictions.

In the end, that sort of empowerment is going to trump any sort of assured device capability or graphical power that Apple can offer me. You may have a different opinion (BWJones did) but I simply cannot see how Apple will retain their lead in this fight.

Resistance is never futile. You could stick to your guns and enjoy immediate sales then moderate sales then fewer and fewer sales. Or you could enjoy moderate sales and then increasingly more and more sales. You might have to do more development if you want to target both TVs and handhelds (inputs get tricky) but I think investing in only iOS at this point is not a prudent decision.

yes, and in that case it more clearly defines that the cake can't be eaten and still had. Except, it's still a silly saying, and rarely makes sense or helps actually clarify a situation; calling on a short saying to describe a situation should generally add clarity to the description; why say it otherwise? They're not trying to eat (take in the material components of and, destroying them, turn them in to something else...) OOo, they're trying to change the leadership to a more community-driven model.

Why are they wanting to migrate from the parent leadership? Well, look what Oracle has done with other Open Source projects. Look at the recent things they've done that are extremely anti-open source. The fact is, there was already a growing entity that existed (go-oo) and LibreOffice is just community recognition of that. If the community is so beholden to Oracle contributions, why is Go-oo so much better than OO? They're not trying to fork the project, they're trying to ensure the project survives, versus the long list of projects that oracle has killed. MySQL's time has already passed, at this point, as has Glassfish's. OpenOffice could still be (and will still be, even without Oracle's assistance) saved.

Say, for an example, you like Firefox. Then, say Mozilla was out of funds, and decided to sell off the ownership of Firefox, and it was bought by Haliburton. And, still just for example's sake, say you hate Haliburton. Say you were one of the leaders of the Firefox project, and you decide to move away from Haliburton...not because you want to compete with yourself, not because you want there to be two projects and you have a COI, but because you merely want to move away from the grandparent ownership of your project.

BTW, my use of Mozilla as an example was on purpose, as this same thing happened there. "When AOL (Netscape's parent) drastically scaled back its involvement with Mozilla Organization, the Mozilla Foundation was launched on July 15, 2003 to ensure Mozilla could survive without Netscape. AOL assisted in the initial creation of the Mozilla Foundation, transferring hardware and intellectual property to the organization and employing a three-person team for the first three months of its existence to help with the transition and donated $2 million to the foundation over two years."

That's what LibreOffice was hoping for - they made the same exact move the Mozilla Foundation made, and were hoping that Oracle would be as good-natured about it as AOL was. Guess Oracle is getting shown up by AOL, in the end...

Dynamic content that runs at reasonable framerates for one. How about this video test? http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/does_html5_really_beat_flash_surprising_results_of_new_tests.php

A lot of people seem to be pimping Virgin as a safe option, but this is really ignorant:

http://www.out-law.com/page-9180

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/virgin_to_monitor_filesharing_in_uk.php

Virgin were also considering their own content service, and part of their offering to the music industry to achieve favourable licensing for this service was to offer to deal with file sharers or hand their details over.

Virgin absolutely cannot be trusted, if not only because they too have a media arm which means, like Sky, have a vested interest in supporting the media industry. I wish people would stop putting them on their list of so called trustworthy ISPs. Virgin will be the first to sell your details off or punish you directly without fair trial if there's money in it for them. They're absolutely one of the worst ISPs to be giving your money to in this respect, but most people get blinded by their shiny 50mbps broadband package it seems when talking about them.

Even TalkTalk were considering Phorm, and it was only when BT got a shit load of bad PR for it that they really backed off of the idea of it. A certain degree of scepticism is needed when dealing with them, however their boss has at least been the most vocal and active in fighting the DEA measures.

So, now that I've explained that concept, here's the question: How is Twitter going to sell follower info when it's easy enough to create free API requests

Well, for one thing, Twitter have send their entire stream of tweets to third parties. Presumably they require a good bribe for that scale of privacy violation.

This link was 3 below on my rss feed: Facebook exec: All media will be personalized in 3-5 years

Are these the people who Google for "facebook login" and then proceed to assume that whatever they find is Facebook? The comments here are pure gold.

people do with everything. You won't know how many people i've helped over the phone, tell them to type in a certain address, and find out they used the search engine to type it in instead of the address. And then not know where the address bar is, even though they've been using the computer & internet for 5 years.

People are fucking stupid, don't try to use decent judgement, and sure as fuck don't bother to explore their computer to see how shit works.

Are these the people who Google for "facebook login" and then proceed to assume that whatever they find is Facebook? The comments here are pure gold.

Better not tell 'em what NASA's site is called, then.

Moore's law, the base of his argument that technology is evolving exponentially is pretty much on schedule. We are now on the Petaflop (10^15) range, with the transistor count following the predicted exponential.

Cost of DNA sequencing, another of his examples, is today at 0.000008(USD) per base pair. Fits the curve.

RAM cost is now at 28000kB/USD, also fitting the curve

GDP per capita also is within schedule (note that the scale is logarithmic), even with the wealth transfer east (which is bound to be limited in time to ten more years give or take)

And, lastly, the core of all atacks on Kurzweil, so is life expectancy on track.

You may still believe these exponentials will hit some kind of ceiling somehow. That might be true. The numbers, however, support Kurzweil's theory. And predicting from the number of times Moore's law depletion was announced in the last twenty years, I'd wager my bets on Kurzweil.

Right, who would have ever thought that taking pictures of your stuff, then posting those pictures online would let people know what kind of stuff you have?

Probably the same kind of idiots that can't notice the difference between a blog post and a Facebook login page?

According to Denis Maslennikov, Senior Malware Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, there's not an exact number of infected devices available at present, but the outbreak is currently regional. For now, only Russian Android users can actually lose money after installing the Trojan, but anyone can be infected.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/first_trojan_for_android_phones_goes_wild.php

ReadWriteWeb blogged about FaceBook and was promptly overwhelmed with confused FaceBook users who, apparently, are in the habit of getting to the FaceBook login screen by way of Google. Read the comments - it's hysterical.

At one point, there was an article, titled "Facebook Wants To Be Your One True Login". It, at one point, became the top Google search result for: "facebook login", thus changing the behavior of Firefox's Awesomebar for the command: "facebook login". The article is here. Skip directly to the comments.

Since the New York Times is just the aggregator here, would it not be more more pertinent to begin with "Considering that Slashdot didn't even bother to report on this ReadWriteWeb blog post about Slashdot..."?

After all, you want to link to the original story for maximal relevance, right? If Slashdot accepted summary contributions that linked to third party aggregate sites reposting other site' original articles, or accepted summary contributions with no citations whatsoever beyond virtual hearsay, imagine the degradation of relevance!

Good thing Android has never had a remote exploit huh ? (Oops.)
At least Apple as very judicious about pushing out updates (and Apple users generally update very frequently) while some manufacturers send out handsets with old Android versions and don't care that much about providing their users with the latest and greatest.

The way I see it the iPad/Phone/Apple in general is like a very large, beautiful prison cell.

Is it really a cell when anyone who cares to go outside can leave at any time?

Lots of people basically lock themselves into home and work and never travel. This is no less a cell, yet it's what they prefer to do. Are they so wrong to want a simpler isolated life if they are happy living it?

What I want to know is, how did they control for the fact that Facebook users are RETARDED?

2000+ comments that couldn't tell the difference between a blog and the Facebook login page. Can you imagine what you'd think if 2000 people showed up at your door and were irate that it wasn't a bank?

Given that so many users use the Google search box as an address bar, I'm amazed that they manage to get as far as opening up their browser without accidentally electrocuting themselves.

I work in a library where I often have to assist very inexperienced computer users. I once asked a client to google something, they then proceeded to enter "google.ca" into the google search box next to the address bar, then when the google results popped up they clicked on the first link which took them to google.ca.

I am trying to make somewhat of a point here. There are some (dare I say many) users who have no idea what they are doing on a computer, and simply find what they are looking for by chance. Change for the sake of change is no good for these users.

Given that so many users use the Google search box as an address bar, I'm amazed that they manage to get as far as opening up their browser without accidentally electrocuting themselves.

Might I suggest examining the common US workforce before presuming college and Slashdot are an average representation? Go ask that over-25 grocery store clerk out on a date. Then see if she can do anything except talk and fuck.

In the meantime, I leave you with this classic example (which is still not a substitute for actual experience): 2,000 people confuse dissimilar website with Facebook login page.

True dat, bro: BUSINESS will dictate! Good catch. However, there's the problem of the shortage of hybrid interaction designer/coders right now (and in the forseeable future) so don't expect most Flash sites to translate to HTML5 too soon.

I shudder imagining the future where HTML5 replaces most of Flash's current niche though:
Imagine more of the obnoxious CSS floating banner ads on webpages and Flash ads redone in HTML5.

At least you have Flashblock with Flash. It's easy for browsers to block popup window ads, but how're you going to block obnoxious CPU-hogging javascript/css content?

I really hate the way most webpages now average >100kb (too bad for users with data plans measured by the kb for their smartphones) and the way tons of sites have gone AJAX and you can no longer surf them on low-spec devices like the OLPC XO-1 (first-hand experience) and Cherrypal Africa with JavaScript turned on.

DHTML is just as or more CPU-hungry than Flash if done wrong. Flash is not bloated - it's SWF content creators that don't know how to optimize that's the problem, not the platform itself.

I wish more sites would just go back to plain HTML and make mobile versions that degrade gracefully if Javascript is turned off/unavailable and stop using AJAX where it's really needed.

A link to the original source would have been infinitely more appropriate.