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Nice straw man argument, nobody is arguing corporations should not be able to own property.

I am troubled that so many companies are so tightly aligned with their management while being disconnected from their true owners or shareholders, for example facebook.

And it actually appears to have some innovation behind it, display results and the provoking queries on the same screen in a way that makes it easier to navigate between them:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/23/killer-mobile-browser/#s:2012-05-23-at-15-34-51

http://axis.yahoo.com/

http://omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/05/ubuntu-to-ship-on-5-of-all-pcs-sold-next-year/
http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/18/report-macs-now-have-5-of-global-market-share/
Nope, linux looks to be pretty lively. And thats only considering ubuntu's flavor.

I think Microsoft created a project which would put ads in games (on billboards in racing games, for example), and I remember them predicting lots of growth in subsequent years. I think they went out of business or maybe Microsoft tried to sell-off the division a few years back. I don't think the ad revenue ever amounted to much, plus it was probably pretty hard to track the ad results (unlike, say, when google ads are placed on a website and google can count exactly how many clicks the ad gets).

These articles paint a more positive picture than I would expect:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-game_advertising
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/12/global-ad-spending-in-video-games-to-top-7-2b-in-2016/

> "Not only would this provide a revenue stream with which games can be developed, it would also assist in the immersive quality of the games."
Depends on the game. I don't know what kinds of ads could be used in a game based in the Star Wars Universe (any ads for earth-based products immediately seem out of place) or for medieval/fantasy games - what are you going to advertize in Skyrim or Lord of the Rings games that doesn't seem out of place? Your example of GTA works well because it's placed in a contemporary, urban environment where you'd expect to see ads for real-world products.

> "Heck, enough sponsorship and a developer could practically give the game away."
I have some friends who have earned money by creating free, ad-supported apps for smart phones. I wonder if it's all that profitable for anything other than low-development-cost mobile apps.

There's also a related area of game branding. I've seen a few places where companies can buy a webgame, pay the developer to customize it with their logo, and then display it on their website. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty nitch market. It seems to be okay revenue for very small game companies (like one person, maybe more).

10% Mac

Citation? All of the recent sources say 5%.

There are alternatives if you don't want to wear a mask. Some of these are also less likely to get you hassled by the police. Someone should make a version of these face paint techniques that uses national flags and national team colours, then everyone will just assume you are a sports fan.

true: Apple, directly or indirectly, uses child and slave labor to make consumer electronics.

true: So does everyone else.

true: You don't care.

If you want to cause change: Either mass-protest ALL of these companies and their products (good luck!), or do a startup if you have a better idea.

Otherwise: Stop pretending and continue loving your "precious" at all costs while screwing underage Chinese girls, you disgusting pedophiles.

The most obvious PR lesson in recent history (and one of the more important ones to remember) is: "Don't Be Paul Christoforo"...

further reading Ocean Marketing gets pwned by Penny Arcade

Meaningless, you say?

Might want to take a look at http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/14/dylans-desk-microsoft-is-about-to-drive-a-wedge-into-the-mobile-market/

This stuff isn't rocket science, even with ridiculous spin. This is also what Barnes and Nobles claimed Microsoft would do in court.

...when it's Android, spending $thousands on test hardware is neither here nor there

Well, of course that statistic is made up by Apple spinbots, as is not surprising for a company with its well known ethical standards.

From your own link: http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/09/google-wallet-android-in-app-payments/

Google noted that it has required app developers to adopt Google Wallet since it’s been made available for Android, and it has been pursuing those who don’t follow the rules for some time, in a statement to the Verge. The only exceptions are for physical item purchases (from the likes of Amazon or eBay) and transferable digital goods like e-books.

When it comes to in-app payments, having too many choices could make it more confusing and difficult for consumers to make purchases. “Although this move by Google might seem high-handed, it reduces the friction for purchases inside Android apps and therefore makes users more valuable,” Appsperse CEO Hugo Troche told Reuters.

But even though Google is trying to push Wallet in Google Play (formerly the Android Market), it’s also worth noting that the platform’s openness allows developers to make their apps available through other app stores, or directly from their website. That’s something that Apple doesn’t offer at all with iOS.
 
It also makes sense for Google to track down in-app payment violators, because it has no way of enforcing what payments services they use before their apps hit Google Play. Unlike iOS, Google doesn’t have a strict approval process for apps that hit its marketplace. The only way it can enforce its policies is by getting in touch with devs after the fact.

This is exactly what Google is doing direct from Google's mouth. They have always required you to use Google Wallet. You seem to be implying that is not the case?

Sorry. but this is the internet. If there is just 1 thing we should have learned is that you can't trust single sources.
I would like to see that email telling them to ""They told people that if they used other payment services they would be breaking the terms of use,""

So, grain of salt.
Oh wait, here is some clarification:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/09/google-wallet-android-in-app-payments/

Microsoft Store India was hacked today. Reportedly they were storing passwords in plain text. report.

Yeah, I know... I just don't feel like submitting the article right now. You do it.

The game is now well over $1 million raised and show no signs of slowing down. http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/09/double-fine-adventures-tim-schafer-ron-gilbert-kickstarter-record-million/ Schafer wrote an update on the Kickstarter page, saying the extra money will mean they can put the game on more platforms. So in examining the economics, this upfront surge is going to be a multiplier once the game is actually published. Another thing to factor in, of course, is that Kickstarter gets 5% and Amazon payments gets 5%. If Kickstarter could figure out a way to cut Amazon out of the picture, a lot more money would go the creators.

Agreed! Just look at iCloud! It uses...uh...Windows Azure. In fact, Apple's spiffy new datacenter seems to have a combination of Mac OS X, IBM/AIX, Sun/Solaris, and Linux..

http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/08/sopa-infographic/

Dropbox has figured out an elegant solution to a vexing problem. With the explosion of smartphones and tablets, people have more devices and more apps than ever before. How can they get access to the latest version of all their stuff — photos, music, videos, documents, spreadsheets — no matter what device they are using and no matter where they are?

Apple addressed this with the free iCloud, Google of course has its own cloud storage services, and even Microsoft has the free SkyDrive, so I'm confused as to why the article considers this a vexing problem waiting to be solved when it was pretty much the theme of 2011 for all the major platform vendors. Lots of venture capital doesn't mean something is going to take off--the lesson last year was the Color app, which got $41 million of first-round funding in March only to immediately flop on release months later.

Forgot to mention a couple of the best ones. Minecraft and mojang will go dark (19M users). The entire family of icanhazcheezburger humor pic sites too, including FAIL Blog, Know Your Meme, Memebase and The Daily What (16M users). I do believe that the lack of lolcats will spur some serious action. Firefall company Red 5 Studios will also go dark. nVidia has come out strongly opposed to the legislation, but hasn't announced any action yet. This is really starting to roll, and blackout day is still 5 days away.

Old news. This article states that Go Daddy has lost 37,000 domains in protest

http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/24/godaddy-domain-loss/

It looks like GoDaddy qualified with only a few days to spare to be on the list of "Corporate Miscalculations Of 2011" along with Netflix and Bank Of America.

Actually, Microsoft is against it. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57330078-281/surprise-microsoft-quietly-opposes-sopa-copyright-bill/ And the BSA is backing off fast... http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/21/bsa-sopa-response/

Apple and Google are neck and neck in terms of absolute app downloads. But what I meant was again "selling" in terms of making money. Far more apps downloaded on iOS are purchased apps (to my mind a free app is not really a "sale").

I don't really see Androids numbers compared to Apple increasing much more as WP7 starts to eat into Android market share next year. Laugh all you want but you'll remember what I said a year from now...

http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/13/amd-introduces-worlds-first-16-core-pc-microprocessor/

no it doesnt. not when it comes only close with amd's 8 cores in multithreaded apps. 16 cores , becomes unmatchable.

Hammer Time.

Not sure I want to talk to my phone. More importantly I don't want to _have_ to be on the network to allow some app to always be connected. BTW: Siri users experienced a nice little outage today. http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/03/siri-outage/

http://www.ieet.org/images/uploads/317rn2.jpg
http://unbridledspeculation.com/2011/03/17/the-exponential-gains-in-solar-power-per-dollar/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/14/germany-may-slash-solar-subsidies-by-17-stock-prices-drop-around-the-world/
subsidies per Kwh are already dropping. they will go to zero in a few decades. Have you seen the same happening for oil, coal ?

Unlike with a Windows phone where you can... still do nothing about that. If a hardware vendor wont update the software the way you like it, you dont buy from them again. Which OS they refuse to update has little to do with it.

True, except Microsoft magically seems to have solved this problem with their partner relations. Did you miss the fact that 98% of Windows Phones had the Mango update available within a four week span?

Microsoft hasn't been getting a ton of press, but their WP7 update work is seriously impressive and deserves credit. Google doesn't remotely have their shit together in the update arena, which is a big part of why I have no interest in any Android phone.

FWIW, I own a MacBook Air and an iPhone 3GS.

People who view Apple as an enabler of freedom are those who think the same thing of their EZpass for road tolls. Someday, they will see their "internal passport" as an enabler of travel.

The fact is, that the "1984" campaign was a propaganda ruse. Jobs and Hertzfeld and crew were already working with DARPA and the spooks.

Read all of the following - including the links - and understand that it is no exaggeration to understand that with the introduction of "Siri", George Orwell's "Telescreen" is on the verge of reality - in your pocket.

http://cryptogon.com/?p=25289 http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/13/shadowy-government-project-spins-off-siri-to-help-direct-your-affairs/

If you think either Jobs or Wozniak was EVER a fan of Big Brother, you don't know your Apple history very well.

FWIW, I own a MacBook Air and an iPhone 3GS.

People who view Apple as an enabler of freedom are those who think the same thing of their EZpass for road tolls. Someday, they will see their "internal passport" as an enabler of travel.

The fact is, that the "1984" campaign was a propaganda ruse. Jobs and Hertzfeld and crew were already working with DARPA and the spooks.

Read all of the following - including the links - and understand that it is no exaggeration to understand that with the introduction of "Siri", George Orwell's "Telescreen" is on the verge of reality - in your pocket.

http://cryptogon.com/?p=25289
http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/13/shadowy-government-project-spins-off-siri-to-help-direct-your-affairs/

Here's the specs:
--7-inch resistive touch screen = stylus, not fingers
--Android 2.2 "Froyo"
--800-x-480-pixel resolution
--366mhz cpu
--256mb ram
--2gb internal storage
--microSD
--two USB ports
--3.5mm headphone jack
--2100mAh battery that can last up to 3 hours
--does NOT have access to Android Market


Here's a dozen detailed photos of the device

It's not impressive by any means but then again it's not suppose to impress those of us with an iPhone or latest Droid in our pocket, it's designed for the 1+ billion Indians who have never even been on the internet and for first time internet usage I think it'll be fine at that.

From the article:

The affected employees work in manufacturing, location and commerce, and supporting functions, Nokia said on Thursday.

Unfortunately, it seems like the typical cut for a company in troubled straits.

I really hope they make an awesome comeback on Windows Mobile. I loved their phones and would love to go back. Still wish they went Android, though.

Damning words:

Nokia‘s new superphones will offer a superior user interface and a better, cloud-enabled experience than its chief competitors, the company’s top U.S executive told VentureBeat.

The reliance by Apple and Android phones on the “app” as the central metaphor is “outdated,” he said.

The rest of what he said

He doesn't get it. The board should sack him now and save time.

It was a claim made by Google's David Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Basically, Apple and Microsoft banded together with some others to acquire the Nortel patent warchest to use against Android. See TechCrunch: "How Apple Led The High-Stakes Patent Poker Win Against Google, Sealing Ballmer's Promise". Apple and MS also banded together to acquire the CPTN patent pool. Why? Over half a million Android devices are activated every day. Half a million! How many winPhones and iPhones have been sold in total their entire history? Android is a huge threat to both Apple and MS, some would say the biggest threat, so it makes sense for them to work together.

The court has not decided the case yet, only upheld an injunction. It's not permanent, and will be lifted if Samsung wins the case (which could take up to a year), or on appeal.

Samsung can also appeal the injunction right now in a higher court, which might still take a few months. And of course they could settle, or convince Apple to settle with their counter-suit (though that seems unlikely now).

If it takes months though, they may just give up on Germany for now, and come up with a sufficiently different design for their next model.

The reason now is "in for a penny, in for a pound." How much of a software company's worth is the value of their patent portfolio?

Let's look at Google, and their project Android. Android was recently attacked by a series of patent infringement suits. These guys, Oracle, a few others.

How do they respond? They purchase Motorola Mobility, for $12.5 billion. Suddenly, bang! They have a gigantic war chest of mobile patents. Now the situation changes. Now it's like the guy who goes to see the dentist, sits down in the chair, and when the doctor comes in with the drill he grabs the doc by the balls and says "Let's not hurt each other." Suddenly these heavy hitters have something to fear.

Now the other side of the coin.

Google just plunked down $12.5B to defend itself from software patents. That's how much it was worth to them. Sure, they get Motorola Mobility as well in the deal. But we all know why they made the purchase. For the patents. Cheaper than going to the courts. How much of that 12.5 do you think the patents were valued at? How much did Google stand to lose fighting Android? Same number pretty much. Probably more than 5 billion. Probably less than 10.

Now imagine if software patents were suddenly made invalid. That is a LOT of money to suddenly go *poof*. And that's just one instance. Think of every tech company that has a patent war chest. How much value they place on it. How much money they make in licensing. Motorola Mobility just was purchased because of their patent "wealth".

If that all suddenly goes away it'll wreak havoc in the tech sector. All patent holding companies will have to be revalued. Expect companies to lose 20%, 30%...50%... What do you think that'll do for jobs in the tech sector? Your job?

I freaking hate software patents, but now that they're here and companies lean so heavily on them for valuation...it's going to be a rough day when they go away. Going to be a *lot* of unhappy stock holders and a lot of lost jobs.

It's amazing that, after all these years, people still think Microsoft swooped in to "save" Apple.

Including Steve Jobs. And actually, Microsoft first saved Apple in 1989 when they launched Office for Mac (before Office for Windows even).

"Crowdsourcing" search is a very bad idea, because crowds can be sourced.

Google shot themselves in the foot this way last October. They used to count reviews on Yelp and Citysearch in determining placement in Google Places, which, until last October, only affected the search engine for Google Maps. Since few people used the search engine for Google Maps to look for businesses by category, it wasn't spammed much.

Then, in October 2010, Google merged Places results into web search. Within two months, Places spam had overwhelmed search. The SEO efforts had become blatant. (Over-the top promotional video). The mainstream press picked up on the issue, and Google looked really stupid. Around November 2010, Google started de-emphasiziing Places results in web search, and stopped counting Citysearch and Yelp results. That brought the problem down to a merely annoying level.

Then in 2011, Page announced that Google employee bonuses would be dependent on Google getting into "social". So now "social" had to be built into everything. Hence "+1", followed, inevitably, by a market in "+1" boosts. See any black hat SEO forum to buy.

So, to fix that problem, Google has to have more information about Google account holders. This, as Eric Schmidt points out, can be obtained by insisting on real names and mining the user's social data.

Maybe they're doing it wrong.

WRONG!!!!!!!!!

Hat tip, Mr. McLaughlin!

Google is buying Motorola MOBILITY. Who owns MM? Motorola.

How do you figure? Motorola Mobility is a separate company. Motorola is likely a very large shareholder.

Who do you think is getting 12 billion?

It looks like this one actually is an all-cash deal, so the money will go to the shareholders.

If you could buy a company for $12 billion which you then got back, *I* could have bought Motorola Mobility.

Well, many m&a deals are stock-swaps, but this one isn't. You don't issue valuable stock, so you couldn't buy MM.

If either stock was taking a hit over this, I'd say it was a good time to buy.

If you think so, go ahead.

What's with the intentional mis-quote?

But in reality I'm not buying or selling GOOG, I'm staying far away from the whole thing.

Me too, the entire US stock market - any Google returns are aren't likely to keep pace with the dollar devaluation. But in nominal terms, we can check back in a year and see who was right.

Google does ban apps and revoke developer accounts without an explanation.

A Google employee confirmed that support for Google Apps is coming. I think the more interesting point is that it sounds like Google Apps users will be able to send G+ messages to people only within their Apps domain. So it sounds it will be a service sort of like Yammer for Google Apps users.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/27/first-quantum-computer-sold/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+(VentureBeat)#bXpulseX

This is the first quantum supercomputer, a 128 qubit machine that is already here. I am not sure how it compares to the machine planned in the OP, but it would be quite good for cracking a password hash or any other number crunching task for sure. Obviously if this is available to Lockheed Martin, then I am sure that the NSA have already taken ownership of machines like this as well. But this could simulate the weather better than existing machines and improve long term forecasts as well as predict financial data.

The future is here.

How much did it cost to make the 50 dollar game?
How much did it cost to make the 2 dollar game?

You have scale issues.

A very interesting report on Eurogamer.net, informed partly by a recent interview on Maxitmag.co.uk, reveals that Half-Life 2's development has cost developer Valve upwards of $40 million to-date - a gigantic figure where videogame development is concerned.

http://www.play.tm/news/3217/half-life-2-costs-40-million-to-date/

. According to Carmel, World of Goo has been built with a budget of just $10,000 dollars, all of which comes from personal savings.

http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/02/the-world-of-goo-became-one-of-the-indie-hits-of-2008/

NOTE: World of goo was an actual Humble Bundle game.

At 2 dollars a pop World of Goo needs 5,000 customers to break even.
At 50 dollars a pop HL2 needs 800,000 customers to break even.

"Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata went on the offensive today against his smartphone counterparts, arguing that the model pursued by individuals like Peter Vesterbacka is 'dying.' In a panel discussion at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Iwata said that innovation wasn't coming from independent game coders, but from large and established companies like his own. Iwata also pointed to the major concern over the price model for smartphone games. Compared to games on established consoles, which hover around fifty dollars, mobile titles like Angry Birds run for 99 cents and make their developers little money due to the policies of online app stores. At these price points, "there's no motivation [for] high-value video games," Iwata said. Still, the executive did admit that the business model for console games had yet to be completely figured out."

Okay, not exactly, but Iwata-san did say something against smartphones at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, a mere 13 days ago.

Just because you sell me something doesn't mean you have the right to my information.

You can opt out if you want to:
When publishers use One Pass, which for now is limited to online newspapers and magazines, Google will also share the customer’s name, ZIP code and e-mail address, unless a user decides to opt out.
http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/16/google-one-pass/

In the paper world subscriber lists have full addresses, which can be used to get masses of data from traditional direct mail databases. So zip+email is already an improvement, especially if you set up a special email account for subscriptions. When that isn't sufficient, you can opt out.

It's strange that folks think the 30% won't be passed on to the consumer one way or another (if not by price, via ads or decreases in real content). So in some sense you're paying 20% more so that you don't have to uncheck a "share my email" box.

I applaud his effort in making an amateur solar-thermal device, but somewhat larger versions are being put to practical use generating electricity:

http://www.renewablepowernews.com/wp-content/uploads/Solar-thermal-Sterling-dish1.jpg

http://cdn.venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/brightsource2_620px.jpg

Concentrated sunlight can be used for a number of other things where you need a lot of heat, like cooking rocks to make cement, which is what then holds concrete together.

First, bullshit. Its only on one carrier in the U.S. Its on every carrier in England, and still getting demolished on sales over its INSANELY high price. Its just a smart phone--it doesn't split the fucking atom.

It stops "just being a smartphone" when anyone attempts to compare the entire smartphone industry to it. That being told, if you quote England market share, can you actually list numbers and link references? Also, I would politely insist on more countries than just England. I also am curious how much it costs there, any single Android phone in any carrier here wants 200 out of my pocket and a 2 year contract, the same ATT wants for the iPhone.

Secondly, that "restriction" to one carrier was Apples choice, not mine. I think its sad that Apple miscalculated so heinously by going AT&T exclusive.

It was not Apple's choice. Only Cingular accepted Apple's terms (no other carrier accepted an app store that would not be controlled by themselves.) Actually, had Apple not accepted this only alternative, Android would not exist (nor would the iPhone be that popular) because no carrier would had accepted any phone to include non-carrier controlled app stores.

Ultimately, that choice is what made Android viable.

Nice, we agree! Android only succeeds because of the ATT lockdown!!! Now lets see what happens when it arrives to Verizon :D

But now Android is out there, in the wild, with millions of people talking texting and emailing on it every day.

Hope they double and triple check who got those texts!!! :P

Apple essentially made its own worst-nightmare come true: A phone that works just as well, in some cases better, than the iPhone that is on every single carrier

Yet AT&T is selling more smarthphones than Verizon (almost every one of them iPhones) despite having such a horrid service and lesser market share than Verizon.

This made me chuckle: "the oil at a solar thermal plant".

The proliferation of solar thermal power plants is one of the worst-publicized success stories of the modern age. Not that there isn't tons of stuff googlable about it:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20012060-54.html
http://terrainforma.ca/2010/09/20/the-promise-of-thermal-solar-power-activist-and-educator-sheila-watt-cloutier/
http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/
http://carbon-pros.com/blog1/2009/06/solar_thermal_at_utility_scale.html
http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/22/energy-dept-gives-brightsource-solar-thermal-a-1-4b-boost/
http://www.abengoasolar.es/corp/web/en/index.html
http://www.acciona-na.com/About-Us/Our-Projects/U-S-/Nevada-Solar-One.aspx
http://www.leonardo-energy.org/worlds-largest-solar-thermal-power-plant

The OpenPandora, shame they're sold out. On the other hand, that just goes to show that the success was greater than anticipated - even greater than those who thought it was a good idea had anticipated. Hats off to the people who made this happen!

Panasonic is about to eat their lunch, and good riddance. I'm tired of hearing about how great Open Pandora is... yeah, great in every way except you can't actually buy one.

"Suspect Brian Hogan, the affidavit says, knew very well that the phone belonged to Apple engineer Robert "Gray" Powell, and that he, Hogan, was deliberately trying to sell someone else's property rather than return it. "Sucks for him," Hogan allegedly said to his roommate.

The affidavit also claims the editors of Gizmodo, who bought the phone from Hogan for somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000, also knew they were on the wrong side of local laws that forbid the purchase of such items, which the law treats as stolen. Gizmodo allegedly withheld part of its payment until July, to see if the phone was indeed Apple's new model.

There are delicious moments of humanity in the story. Hogan claimed he gained possession of the phone when a drunk bar patron helpfully but mistakenly handed it to him. Powell thinks the phone may have fallen out of his backpack onto the floor of the bar as he sat talking with his uncle.

Hogan's female roommate -- not his girlfriend -- called Apple after Hogan connected the iPhone to her computer, because she feared Apple would track her computer over the Internet. Steve Jobs personally emailed Gizmodo editor Brian Lam and asked him to return the phone."

http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/14/iphone-search-warrant/

I'm well aware that correlation != causation, but...

I use win7 systems with UAC on full, firefox with noscript and adblock, and Microsoft Security Essentials. I install only software I require from trusted sources, tracking it back to the source page.
I keep a general eye on Task Scheduler, and on currently running things with Sysinternals Process Explorer, and AutoRuns to make sure I'm not running anything I don't wish to.

If I really want to check out something new and unproven it goes in a VM and gets scanned by 50 AV engines on virustotal.com, I know how to trace malware with Process Monitor and keep an eye on current events with regards to rootkit detection.

I've used googles SSL options since availability, and use SSL elsewhere whenever I can.

I laugh at phishing in general, do my best to educate others on it, and companies like my mobile provider's 3rd party contractors that call me from unknown numbers and ask me to confirm my pin before we can talk get politely explained the irony of their security protocol, and that they can let me call in to them on a number I trust instead.

I don't reuse my passwords. I don't ever discuss them with anyone, I don't let my browser store important passwords, I manually type in domains and occasionally double check my hosts file for redirects, I check the SSL cert is valid where applicable.

I manage the router in the home myself and use WPA2 with a strong key, and keep an eye on the connection logs in general, the systems consider it a public network (by win7 terms) so no access to other machines. Despite living in a 2 foot thick limestone wall farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

I even had a good laugh when Google Maps android app was last updated and suddenly required pretty much every privilege on the phone, and seriously considered not updating (not that I think it was a Google App that leaked my info).

If I was any more paranoid I'd be a pure linux geek instead, there really isn't a great deal more a person can do.

No other account I have has been compromised, only the one that I really haven't been using lately other than that it's the one attached to the phone.

My email account is by no means a high profile name that would attract targeted hack attention.

I certainly didn't want to damage Android's rep with my post, I LOVE my phone otherwise, I just really do wish there were better post-install access controls, and I really don't see how my account info could have been leaked otherwise, it's not impossible it's just highly unlikely.

correlation != causation but it sure does cause for unwanted paranoia.

PS.
Googleing android malware certainly does comes up with a few stories, so it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility from my point of view.

eg. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180561/New_Android_malware_texts_premium_rate_numbers
http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/28/android-wallpaper-app-that-steals-your-data-was-downloaded-by-millions/

(It blows my mind people pay for wallpaper on phones with bluetooth/microusb)

I am sure Amazon is with you on it, but the publishers are the one stalking big time money. The publishers followed the $9.99 requirement till iPad came along.

http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/07/28/seven-security-experts-get-the-key-to-reboot-the-internet/ has all the names/pictures.