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That's not what I was talking about from the beginning which was quite clear. You are trying spin it when caught that what you were saying doesn't make sense.

You were talking about a live demo from the beginning, and said it was "no big deal". That is what I keyed in on.

What? The iPhone is not a router. It was not doing anything with "untested volume.". Jobs tried to surf with it. It was not receiving any data. I have no idea what you are imagining.

What any consumer might imagine and the kind of thing that happens all the time: when faced with a stressed environment, the product failed due to a design error. I call you a fanboy because the idea that the product might have been at fault doesn't even enter your mind, whereas the typical consumer sees that Jobs expects everybody to turn off their WiFi for the damn thing to work.

I don't remember any journalists immediately blogging "OMGZ. iPhone wifi doesn't work!". At best, they joked about it the glitch.

"awkward", "embarrassing and rare", "a bit sad"

You're right, in that most just accepted it was an understandable WiFi congestion, but there was at least one person who was uncertain and hinted at a problem with the phone:

"It wasn't clear exactly what the actual Wi-Fi issue was, but it seemed that his demo iPhone may have had trouble staying connected to the Wi-Fi network it was supposed to be attached to given there were so many other options around. (If anyone can better diagnose the problem let me know.)"

Insightful post, though did you watch the Surface video first? I'm no Microsoft fan-boy (I'm more of a Linux lover), but I think Microsoft just knocked one out of the park. I haven't seen innovation like this from Microsoft in over a decade.

Finally, someone figured out that tablets should have a super thin keyboard built into the cover. I've been pestering my Dell brother-in-law marketing dude for something like this for four years, but Dell doesn't generally innovate, it just copies and lowers prices (with the exception of the amazing Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook).

This device is why both Ubuntu's Unity and Gnome 3 look a lot like Windows 8. It was just a matter of time before tablets like the Surface came into being. Got a netbook? Who wouldn't trade one in for a Surface? Who needs Facetime when we've got Skype? Who needs Apple Works or whatever crap office suite they sell when you can get Office (or Libre Office, in my case)?

I read a very insightful blog post on the surface. I agree with the blogger... the actual Surface may not sell in high volume. Instead, it just might succeed in creating a Windows 8 based tablet OEM ecosystem capable of trashing iPad volumes. I probably will get a Surface from Microsoft and run Ubuntu Unity on it (and live with the resulting pain). However, now that Dell can wait and see if there's a true market for Surface without anyone over there having to (God forbid!) take a risk, I predict I will have a sweet Dell branded Surface clone at a very reasonable price for my next tablet.

Now, one more thing Microsoft has to fix. When well we get a Microsoft Software Store? Apple showed how to do it while being as evil as humanly possible, and "Don't Be Evil" Google had no second thoughts about duplicating that evil. I was really saddened when Google proved it has no interest in bringing authors and users closer together, and were simply in the race to become the new content gate keepers, just like Apple. Will Microsoft take this opportunity to be the good guys for a change?

It's not just scientists, all EU citizens will soon have an official Internet ID. And then there will be the draconian anti-circumvention laws to be introduced later... and why not put this same ID on a RFID chip inside your body?

Well, unlike Google's slogan of 'no evil', FB has its own slogan:move fast and break stuff.

So they are just living up to their own expectations, they are setting the goal high and reaching it alright.

To think about it, the motto IS weird, wouldn't it make sense at least to add something to it, like this:

Move fast, break stuff, then fucking fix it before we fired you!?

[free software licences have] onerous restrictions on software creators.

These restrictions are not "onerous" if you are concerned software/user freedom, which they are there to protect.

You are welcome to argue about who deserves more 'freedom'. However, when the people who produce the software are denied by a license the freedom to determine the future of the software - be it its price, whether it can be redistributed or not, whether it can be altered or not, and more freedom is given to people who had nothing to do w/ creating it in the first place, people can be excused for thinking that you are out to give the latter set of people a potentially infinite ROI, while at the same time, putting a practical cap on the ROI that the former set of people may earn.

the Open Source movement, rather than the FSF, is the reason we have such major open source software

This goes without saying. I'm sure the free software movement, rather than the OSI, is the reason we have such major *free* software.

That's cute, but I wasn't engaging in a semantic definition. All the major software titles I listed above that do make their source code available to their users (regardless of whether you call them 'free' or 'open' - we need to come back to that in a bit given the semantic contortions that RMS liberally indulges in) adapted licenses that the OSI has no problems calling 'Open'. Even though some of them are listed as 'free' by the FSF, it goes on to urge people not to use those 'free' licenses if they are incompatible w/ the GPL.

if you notice, most [major open source software] are not GPL

That is because they are probably not as concerned with software and user freedom as they are being able to make money from their software. Unless you believe these projects were ill-informed when making a choice about licensing, it follows that their license choice reflects their goals, which are not as aligned with those of the free software movement as they are the open-source movement. That's all.

Not just that, but there's also the fact that the people who work on those projects need to survive on that work, not other activities that they may or may not have time to do. If they were to respect freedom 2 of the GNU, they'd automatically limit the number of customers that they can actually make money from, while at the same time, their customers may potentially become their competitors. If you think otherwise, do explain that if I were to hypothetically sell a 'free' software title - let's say GPL3ed and all priced @ $100.00 - to customer C, and C were to distribute it @ $0.00 to customer D, would the FSF consider that a lost sale for me, or no? Or would you consider that if it weren't sponged off me, D wouldn't have been interested in using it in the first place?

Linus has decided not to make his kernel GPL3.

This has more to do with not being able to obtain permission from the many, many contributors.

No, he is explicitly on record as saying that he personally doesn't want to convert any of his code . It's true that in a subsequent interview in 2007, he conceded that had GPL2 not been there, he 'could see himself use GPL3'. But nowhere did he say that getting permission from many, many other contributors was the reason - his reason was that he preferred GPL2.

Android is released under an Apache license and not GPL 2 nor 3.

Parts of Android, like the Linux kernel, *are* released under the GPL.

Ok

Unlike the FSF, [the OSI] is not

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2006/06/06/10-flagrant-grammar-mistakes-that-make-you-look-stupid-39273376/

See #10.

The UK has three major political parties. All three are authoritarian now. The current Conservative/Liberal authoritarian government is proposing this move; the previous authoritarian Labour government introduced the long term database that tracks where you drive and keeps the information for two years, and handed access to the US in case they wanted to track people.

To paraphrase -- The killer app for the tablet will be an air keyboard.

Only if you mean "killer app" as in one that will kill the popularity of tablets. Otherwise it's exactly the opposite of what I meant.

You want to rest your hands while performing input for long periods, and get tactile feedback from a keyboard. Neither is possible with an air keyboard, and you get both gorilla arm syndrome plus an uncertainty in typing.

U Mad Bro? don't feel bad, you just picked a loser, that's all. hell even the United States government found your bullshit to be a big pile of shite. but hey, you can tell them that they are just jealous and CLI is leet and its written by skilled programmers don't forget Linux runs on toasters LOL! BTW isn't the 6 month upgrade deathmarch coming up, AKA the great Linux "LOL I made a stinky" where you have to do the "great forum hunt" to find the fixes to make your POS run another day? better carve some time out for that. oh and just to show there is no hard feelings let me leave you with some wisdom from your "dear leader" LOL!

I can point to a bunch of examples, but it doesn't matter. You'll refuse any example that differs even in a trivial way from the iPad.

Apple didn't invent the tablet. They didn't even invent iPad-style tablets. Get over it.

Tablets before the iPad were completely different beasts... you have tablets before the iPad, you have tablets after the iPad. You can easily see the difference, and when operating them you'd also find a huge conceptual difference.

When you are able to say "before" and "after" about a product - like the iPhone and the iPad - you can't avoid saying that the company behind those products has been innovative. How much of this should be protected is a separate matter.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/hackers-shut-down-sites-over-russian-election-10024948/

The "Jack Straw" strategy. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/1999/09/27/surveillance-straw-petitioned-on-commerce-bill-controversy-2073974/

A French MEP has quit the process of scrutinising ACTA for the European Parliament, calling the treaty's passage through the EU legislative system a masquerade.

In a statement on Thursday, Kader Arif denounced the signing of ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) by the EU and 21 member states earlier in the day. He said the European Parliament was being undermined and the process was a "charade" in which he would no longer participate.
(..)
"I want to denounce as the greatest of all the process that led to the signing of this agreement: no association of civil society, lack of transparency from the beginning of negotiations, successive postponements of the signing of the text without any explanation being given, setting aside the claims of the European Parliament [despite those views being] expressed in several resolutions of our Assembly," Arif said, according to an automated translation of his statement.

Arif said he had as rapporteur "faced unprecedented manoeuvres of the right of Parliament to impose an accelerated schedule to pass the agreement as soon as possible before the public is alerted, thereby depriving Parliament of its right of expression and the tools at its disposal to carry the legitimate demands of citizens".
(...)
"This agreement may [have a] major impact on the lives of our citizens, and yet everything is done [so that] the European Parliament has no say," Arif said. "I will not participate in this charade."

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/mep-quits-acta-charade-in-protest-at-eu-signing-10025297/

In this situation, we're just following Europe's lead.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security-management/2006/05/18/government-to-force-handover-of-encryption-keys-39269746/

Pretty sure my Nokia N900 and N9 (consumer version) weren't. My N950 (developer edition) wasn't either

You say this based on...? Nokia is a Foxconn customer

This is still reactive damage control to foolish arrogance by Asa "we don't give a crap about enterprises" Dotzler. That's what you get why you hire a fanboy to become the voice of your company.

Indeed. Let me provide a link to go with your insight.

By the way is the about box still showing the version number?, I'm still on 3.6.

I don't think they are patent trolls, somehow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_Group

Depends on your point of view. This is the company that sued (and lost) claiming a patent on the hyperlink.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2000/12/18/bt-sues-over-hyperlink-claim-2083266/

I was wondering the same thing. But the article said most of these patents were filed in the 1990s and were products of it's research department. This lends some credibility that these are not rushes to patent the obvious in a new context but rather very early research that perhaps deservedly should be rewarded for pushing technology forward.

But it does remain to be seen. A patent on deciding if you have enough bandwidth to stream or download a file sure doesn't sound like much of an innovation.

I don't think they are patent trolls, somehow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_Group

Depends on your point of view. This is the company that sued (and lost) claiming a patent on the hyperlink.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2000/12/18/bt-sues-over-hyperlink-claim-2083266/

"To me, this case is the same as if IBM in its early days would have gone after anyone (including Apple) selling some sort of computational device consisting of a box to house everything in, some sort of rectangual screen and an input device consisting of letters and numbers - and tried to maintain a no competition policy using the courts to back its business plan."

Because, of course, this looks so much like this. If you're referring to the IBM PC, Apple was there first.

I thought this was also really interresting to see from a European commissioner:

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/copyright-isnt-working-says-european-commission-10024835/
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/20/0511214/copyright-isnt-working-says-eu-technology-chief-neelie-kroes

"What's the point in locking yourself in if there isn't anything special about the hardware in the first place?"

Don't you remember Microsoft's campaign against "naked PCs" (i.e. computers sold without an operating system)? I'm sure that we'll see a similar campaign for OEM systems and motherboards set up to preclude installing a non-MS operating system.

Two major factors:
1. Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop was a senior exec for M$ prior being hired as Nokia's CEO
2. M$ offered ~ $1B in incentives to Nokia.

Nevertheless, they seem to be hedging their bets and they'd be dumb if they didn't. Apparently Nokia just confirmed that the N9 MeeGo phone will be 'fully supported'

Has already been done. Effectively!

I would have thought you old timers had learned your lessons about skimping on what you assumed to be unimportant bytes ;)

Who knew that code would still be in production 30 years later? I'm just glad the 9/9/99 bug went relatively unnoticed.

There are allegations that the US did just that to the Soviet Union during the cold war. See http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2004/03/01/us-software-blew-up-russian-gas-pipeline-39147917/.

Oh, and then there is the deal with the Tunisian regime in 2006

The recent years have if anything confirmed that Microsoft is still evil and not just in a "proprietary software is evil!" sense but truly evil as in "supporting oppressive regimes" evil.

They provided computer training. How evil is that! Lets close all the schools while we're at it, they too indirectly teach people a lot of ways to do bad things.

No, the recent years have shown that Microsoft has truly changed.

?
Did you forget the trick they pulled with ISO standardization of Office Open XML in 2008?
Oh, and then there is the deal with the Tunisian regime in 2006

The recent years have if anything confirmed that Microsoft is still evil and not just in a "proprietary software is evil!" sense but truly evil as in "supporting oppressive regimes" evil.

"Perhaps no segment of the security industry has evolved more in the last decade than the discipline of software security"

The only thing that's evolved is the amount of money lost to the `software security' sector and I stooped reading after seeing Microsoft in the same sentence as `Secure Code':

`We've also published books like "Writing Secure Code," by Michael Howard and David LeBlanc, which gives all developers the tools they need to build secure software from the ground up' - Bill Gates Jan 15 2002

`Microsoft won an industry award for innovation, for its book "Writing Secure Code", by Michael Howard and David LeBlanc, which forms the basis for the company's own efforts to make its products trustworthy' Apr 2003 link

Review ..

`According to a cable sent by the US embassy in Tunis on 22 September, 2006, Microsoft was so keen to get the Tunisian government to drop its policy favouring open-source software that it agreed to set up a "program on cyber criminality" to cover training. The deal also entailed the company giving the Tunisian regime, headed by President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the original source code for Microsoft software.' link

"Tunisia has its own certificateauthority and since 2007 the root certificate has been included in Microsoft Internet Explorer.This certificate is not included in common other browsers like Safari or Firefox. If you visit from one of those browsers you will see a certificate error" link

On the other hand, ODF is the only approved editable format for use by the Danish government (citation: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2010/02/02/denmark-adopts-odf-and-pdfa-40016263/) in which case your compatibility will actually be better with LO than with MSO.

Remember these are Danish hospitals, in a country with state funded healthcare... ODF and PDF is what they require compatibility with, not any proprietary garbage... It is actually businesses using MSO who will be at a disadvantage when trying to do business with the government, because MS has extremely half-assed ODF support. So you have the situation backwards, the cost of MSO + the cost of dealing with its poor compatibility with everything else, vs the cost of LO.

Also the article mentions they are using a virtual desktop infrastructure, whereby they log in on a dumb terminal and a VM server somewhere fires up a desktop image for them and exports the display to their terminal. Now if you consider their requirements, any of those users who don't require any proprietary windows software can be given a linux image with the same software, thus saving the hospital the cost of windows licenses too.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/30/1640223/Many-More-Android-Apps-Leaking-User-Data

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2238205/Serious-Security-Bugs-Found-In-Android-Kernel

http://it.slashdot.org/story/10/11/05/0229205/Researcher-To-Release-Web-Based-Android-Attack

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/android_malware_attacks/

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/27/213219/Security-Expert-Warns-of-Android-Browser-Flaw

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/12/30/1856242/Android-Trojan-Found-Spreading-From-Chinese-App-Stores

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/14/android_chinese_stealing/

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/01/20/1534236/Soundminder-Android-Trojan-Hears-Credit-Cards

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/29/android_data_disclosure_bug/

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/29/1946202/New-Android-Exploit-Discovered-To-Steal-Data

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/17/android_trojan_click_fraud_scam/

http://search.slashdot.org/story/11/02/18/005247/New-Android-Malware-Robs-Bandwidth-For-Fake-Searches

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/02/23/1640252/Mobile-Spyware-Conferences-Into-Your-Calls

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/03/01/0041203/Infected-Androids-Run-Up-Big-Texting-Bills

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/04/google_android_market_peril/

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/15/6475834-skype-android-app-can-expose-your-personal-information

http://www.bangobang.com/2011/04/android-phones-are-no-more-protected.html

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/android-and-facebook-attract-more-malware-attacks-10022271/

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/137143/20110421/android-phones-track-users-movements.htm

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1718

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/16/android_impersonation_attacks/

since these are in consumer's homes I'm sure they're not going to ship you a traditional rack of servers.

Intel's been talking about using Atom cpus for servers because they cut power by 75%. I'd imagine they'd ship you something the size of a microwave with a dozen or so CPUs in it. If the server is also a good 8-port wifi bgn router and they agree to give me free high-speed broadband (since they're using a good portion of it) and they install it in my existing central heating unit then I'd consider allowing them to put one in my basement.

Intel seem to be just as capable of screwing up: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/mapping-babel-10017967/intel-we-are-aware-of-320-ssd-bug-10023343/

Maemo/Meego for the highend linux touchscreen computer phones

How would that happen? They've already clearly stated that they'll go with WP7

They obviously can't use WP7 for their dumbphones and they've already stated that they are going to continue to have a team working on the 'next big thing'.

and they are dismantling their own platform: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/jobs/2011/04/27/nokia-announces-layoffs-and-symbian-outsourcing-40092621/ [zdnet.co.uk]

You do realise the title of the source article is 'Nokia halts MeeGo and N9 releases, says report' ? Yet here we are with the N9.

Same with their customers - I want a Linux phone, but there is no way I'd even look at this. It's a dead-end product.

So you don't have faith in open source then?

Maemo/Meego for the highend linux touchscreen computer phones

How would that happen? They've already clearly stated that they'll go with WP7 and they are dismantling their own platform: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/jobs/2011/04/27/nokia-announces-layoffs-and-symbian-outsourcing-40092621/

You can't easily change the course after that anymore - once you have lost your development team you've lost your ability to develop. IP and existing products are essentially useless for that - you need qualified, experienced and motivated people. If they were to start now, it would probably take them years to rebuild their teams to the same level they once had.

Same with their customers - I want a Linux phone, but there is no way I'd even look at this. It's a dead-end product.

There's been no sales figures showing actual installed base of Android devices.

Well I found them easily enough - 36% Android compared to 17% iPhone, as of Q1 2011.

Remember that iOS runs on iPod touches as well as iPhones.

Here's a list of Android devices - not just phones and tablets either.

Android phones haven't been leading iPhones long enough to have a larger installed base.

But they DO, as above.

Worse for Android is a lot of unit sales aren't really practical to count for the platform since they're single use devices like eBook readers so only phones really expand developers' potential markets.

No, they're convenient not to count for a fanboi who has decided the outcome of this discussion before getting to it.

Don't you EVER learn tomhudson? We all KNOW that you stalk & troll me by AC replies, and who said that??

Why, YOU DID, here, quoted verbatim (and instigating others to do so as well? Please... lol, you FOOL, no one!):

"Wait until he starts on another kick, then reply to him as an AC. It's the new meme". - by tomhudson (43916) on Sunday May 09 2010, @08:29PM (#32150544) Homepage Journal

QUOTED, LITERALLY VERBATIM, FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1646272&cid=32150544

(So, if the "best you've got" is AC trolling & stalking replies to me tomhudson? Well... lmao @ U!)

APK

P.S.=> Now, on this "tidbit" from you? Who the F do you think you're fooling tomhudson??

"Nobody ever claimed that Linux was immune" - by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 31, @01:26PM (#36299196)

I've been around here long enough (since 2004, maybe a bit earlier) to KNOW "how it is" around here, a very "Pro-*NIX slant" to things, & Penguins are NIGH CONSTANTLY implying that "Windows is a malware ridden horror, Linuxes are not"!

Well, to THAT, specifically (& on topic about ANDROID Linux)?

Heh... see these additional "problems" ANDROID Linux has shown over time then recently:

---

A RECENT HISTORY LIST OF ANDROID LINUX EXPLOITS BY MALWARE ETC. et al:

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1718

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/android_malware_attacks/

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/android-and-facebook-attract-more-malware-attacks-10022271/

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/12/30/1856242/Android-Trojan-Found-Spreading-From-Chinese-App-Stores

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bf3d6002-452e-11e0-80e7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1FdlXHJmB

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/29/android_data_disclosure_bug/

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/03/01/0041203/Infected-Androids-Run-Up-Big-Texting-Bills

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/29/1946202/New-Android-Exploit-Discovered-To-Steal-Data

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/27/213219/Security-Expert-Warns-of-Android-Browser-Flaw

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/11/21/1321200.shtml

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2238205/Serious-Security-Bugs-Found-In-Android-Kernel

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/05/2011243/Major-Security-Holes-Found-In-Mobile-Bank-Apps

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/18/1910224/A-Tidal-Wave-of-Java-Flaw-Exploitation

http://news.slashdot.org/story/

1st, let me "open" with 3.5++ times as many unpatched security vulnerabilities in Linux 2.6x KERNEL ALONE (not the entirety of a Linux distro, nor the other parts needed for business development), vs. NEARLY ALL OF THE TOOLS MICROSOFT PUTS OUT FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, for starters:

http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2200490&cid=36300084

OR, do you care to deny that much, vs. SECUNIA's statistics for that much (they're quite respected on that note, mind you).

Secondly?

Well - My point here was that ANDROID, which yes, IS A LINUX VARIANT, is showing itself, it's TRUE SELF (& thus, Linux as well) to be no better @ being secure than Windows is...

Hell, it's WORSE!

Now - Would you like me to post an entire LIST of problems I know ANDROID has had on the security front too? I can, roughly 50 of them, & from RECENT HISTORY no less? Ok, here goes:

---

RECENT HISTORY LIST OF ANDROID LINUX EXPLOITS BY MALWARE ETC.:

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1718

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/android_malware_attacks/

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/android-and-facebook-attract-more-malware-attacks-10022271/

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/12/30/1856242/Android-Trojan-Found-Spreading-From-Chinese-App-Stores

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bf3d6002-452e-11e0-80e7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1FdlXHJmB

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/29/android_data_disclosure_bug/

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/03/01/0041203/Infected-Androids-Run-Up-Big-Texting-Bills

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/29/1946202/New-Android-Exploit-Discovered-To-Steal-Data

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/27/213219/Security-Expert-Warns-of-Android-Browser-Flaw

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/11/21/1321200.shtml

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2238205/Serious-Security-Bugs-Found-In-Android-Kernel

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/05/2011243/Major-Security-Holes-Found-In-Mobile-Bank-Apps

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/18/1910224/A-Tidal-Wave-of-Java-Flaw-Exploitation

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/31/167255/Silent-Easily-Made-%20%20Android-Rootkit-Released-At-DefCon

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/30/1640223/Many-More-Android-Apps-Leaking-User-Data

http

Another important point here is the router does not care what kind of data it is transferring. A packet is a packet is a packet. Packet comes in, packet goes out. It is a neutral tool that does its job, regardless of content or purpose.

The allegation is that Cisco altered the routers to add functions custom tailored to aid the Chinese police in tracking suspects. As far as the data goes they may be "specific crime neutral" but they're definitely "oppressive police state friendly."

From http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security-management/2006/06/01/amnesty-condemns-tech-firms-over-human-rights-39272429/

However, in a testimony in April to the US House International Relations Committee, Ethan Gutmann, a former business consultant in China, alleged that Cisco had sold a specially designed firewall to the Chinese government and deployed a "Policenet" for the state security forces.

"Cisco... denies selling any special configuration. Chinese engineers who actually worked on the firewall project are equally adamant that it was custom-made," Gutmann told the Committee.

"By 2003, Cisco's 'Policenet' was deployed as the Internet backbone of the Chinese State Security system... Zhou Li, a systems engineer from Cisco's Shanghai Branch, explained to me that... a policeman or PSB agent using Cisco equipment could now stop any citizen on the street and, simply by scanning an ID card, remotely access his danwei (work unit files): political behavior, family history, fingerprints, and other images. The agent could also access his surfing history for the last 60 days, and read his email. All in real-time," said Gutman.

Gutmann claimed this has led to the arrests of pro-democracy campaigners and other peaceful protest groups.

"Any assertion that Chinese censorship is purely a government-to-government issue is premature until these companies dare to — explicitly and systematically — test the limits of Chinese laws. And until they perform that test, they should not be viewed as simply following Chinese law, but as working for Chinese Communist Party objectives," Gutmann said.

Amnesty has laid into Cisco's human rights record in the past, claiming in November 2002 that Cisco had provided "important technology which helps the Chinese authorities censor the Internet". Nortel was also alleged to be supplying technology to enable deeper packet inspection.

On the plus side, EC commissioner ms. Kroes is still kicking ass and taking names, and just launched a proposal to cap outrageous data roaming charges in Europe to €0.90/MB, lowering this further to €0.50/MB in 2014. Current charges are typically over €2/MB (in some cases it's €10). That price cap is such that one can now comfortably enable data roaming when travelling within Europe.

For anyone who wasn't aware of this:

So far, the EU has only set caps on wholesale prices for data roaming. There is a major problem — although wholesale prices have fallen below the regulated cap, retail prices remain way above wholesale prices, and the difference has even increased. In concrete terms, the wholesale price cap has been set by EU rules at €0.80 per megabyte since 1 July, 2010, and it will fall to €0.50 per megabyte as of 1 July, 2011. But although the average data-roaming wholesale rate (around €0.25 per megabyte) is substantially below the regulated maximum, retail prices remain around €2.60 per megabyte. That is a huge margin.

From here.

The existing cap with Orange UK (my network) is €50 when roaming, which is a massive 16MB. Since turning my phone on this morning I've already used 800kB, and I've not even done anything (presumably that's just from syncing my email, etc). I'm spending 12 days in Germany this/next month, and 5 in Czech. I shall need to get a local SIM (possibly two).

Per my subject-line above, some "examples thereof":

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1718

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/android_malware_attacks/

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/android-and-facebook-attract-more-malware-attacks-10022271/

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/12/30/1856242/Android-Trojan-Found-Spreading-From-Chinese-App-Stores

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bf3d6002-452e-11e0-80e7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1FdlXHJmB

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/29/android_data_disclosure_bug/

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/03/01/0041203/Infected-Androids-Run-Up-Big-Texting-Bills

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/29/1946202/New-Android-Exploit-Discovered-To-Steal-Data

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/27/213219/Security-Expert-Warns-of-Android-Browser-Flaw

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/11/21/1321200.shtml

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2238205/Serious-Security-Bugs-Found-In-Android-Kernel

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/11/05/2011243/Major-Security-Holes-Found-In-Mobile-Bank-Apps

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/18/1910224/A-Tidal-Wave-of-Java-Flaw-Exploitation

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/07/31/167255/Silent-Easily-Made-%20%20Android-Rootkit-Released-At-DefCon

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/30/1640223/Many-More-Android-Apps-Leaking-User-Data

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/12/21/1849243/The-Smartphone-That-Spies-and-Other-Surprises

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/01/20/1422239/Cybercriminals-Shifting-Focus-To-Non-Windows-OSes

Want more? I've got 'em... MANY more in fact!

So, please - my "bottom-line" here, is this & quite simple:

Don't go telling folks that "Windows is 'bad'" etc., because ANDROID's not exactly "looking good" and on MANY grounds (see those links above).

APK

P.S.=> So, do I "hate google"? No, in fact, FAR from it... but, what I do NOT like is when someone in a position to make changes, good changes, starts acting like a "PR Machine" to attempt to "mess up the competition" - especially when his own platform has issues... MANY issues! apk

This just in: "Mono for Android includes the core Mono runtime, bindings for native Android APIs, a Visual Studio 2010 plug-in for developing and testing Android applications, and a software development kit (SDK). The enterprise edition costs $999 (£613) per developer per year, including maintenance and updates. A five-developer enterprise licence costs $3,999 per year, and a professional edition costs £399 per developer per year."

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/novell-releases-mono-for-android-toolset-10022167/?tag=mncol;txt

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

You can't censor some things then cry for "safe-harbor" in other areas. If you're simply a transparent conduit for user-provided data, fine, but Google clearly isn't transparent.

I just tried a couple good-old Anglo-Saxon words. I didn't get any suggestions for "assh" or "fuck" either.

What's more confounding is Google's implementation of the policy cited in TFA by the plaintiff's attorney:
"Google argued that it could not be held liable because it is a hosting provider, but we showed that this is content produced by them (and by the way, they do filter out certain content, including terms that are known to be used to distribute copyright-infringing material), although through automated means," Piana wrote.

However Google's implementation of this promised screening policy turns out to be pretty inconsistent. Using google.com, it's still possible to search for "[name of movie] torrent" and get a list of torrent sites. So I tried a similar search at google.it. The results are mixed. Entering "la strada" prompts for "la strada streaming" (and even "la strada streaming megavideo"!) and takes me to a page of links. "la strada torrent" returns nothing. I tried a couple of other films. "Streaming" is often proposed, but the word "torrent" never appears in the suggested list.

So, if they are implementing the policy announced last December, that implementation differs by country and, within Italy at least, differs by your choice of infringement method.

But it does make the patent invalid. If that happens you can fight it. The patent offices are not equipped to search the complete internet for prior art (I don't think anyone is, since a computer is not yet able and AI's aren't evolved enough yet). They rely on making the patent public and allowing you to fight them. You do have to prove the patent holder wasn't the first.
See the BT "hyperlink" patent
IANAL.

Any way that enables you to prove you came up with it will do. Patent law has always included "prior art" rules: you can't patent anything that has been done before.
See the BT "hyperlink" patent.

Thunderbolt uses a chain, and the last device is a regular displayport(which is supposed to work with any displayport 1.2 adapter). http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/desktop-hardware/2011/02/25/thunderbolt-speeds-on-new-macbook-pro-40091943/8/#story

But Microsoft is a worse kind of evil. Google are only evil sometimes.

Grandparent is correct. Microsoft would have sued the ass off of anyone if they got a patent on this.
Of course, they don't doodle anyway. So it doesn't really apply to them.

Surprised Microsoft hasn't sued anyone for using their patented method of showing emotions in E-mails. (smilies in e-mails, i shit you not)

Sony taught all the console manufacturers a lesson - Never ship with the ability to run Linux - if you take it away at some point in future a small group of angry geeks will make it their life's mission to destroy your business.

Didn't something like that already happen to MS with the first Xbox back in 2003, even though they didn't have the ability built in to start with?
Why yes, I believe it did.
You can't escape the small group of angry geeks!

Hmmmm, someone needs to give those guys the worming tablets that get used on dogs... maybe that would help.

Someone with Stuxnet might be very dangerous.

If this is the same family of code that migrates through Windows but alters configuration of specialized industrial control systems (like Iran was using for centrifuges) I'm concerned that this may have or could hit other infrstructure.

It's already been shown that software can cause abnormal functioning of natural gas pumping systems. Operating normally but programmed to operate out of tolerance later there'd likely be no obvious signs of a problem beforehand.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2004/03/01/us-software-blew-up-russian-gas-pipeline-39147917/

There were a couple of explosions in the eastern U.S. last week, and one in San Bruno, California last September. In the last one, utility company P.G.&E. (Pacific Gas and Electric) has been inconsistent with the story given. Last night NBC Nightly News claimed the cause was a bad weld. P. G.& E. has made claims of brief elevated pressure tests stressing the pipe causing later failure. They also mentioned a malfunction causing a surge.
(It rupture the indication of a failed test???)
Some reports say that periodic running up of the pressure was enough to avoid some more costly testing requirements. Some reports say P.G.&E. though it was seamless pipe having no welds to fail.

http://it.slashdot.org/story/10/11/18/140253/Stuxnet-Virus-Now-Biggest-Threat-To-Industry

The San Bruno explosion and reports of Stuxnet affecting operations in Iran occurred around the same time.

"Take for instance the TJX Cos. data breach, where insecure wireless networks were compromised for months, revealing millions of personal records, before they were pinpointed and finally secured. Once made aware of the issue, it took TJX an additional few months until the situation was completely in control and secured"

Don't you mean the data breach that went unnoticed for over eighteen months (or possible up to two years) until their bank informed them of the huge number of fraudulent transactions. Which all began with an antenna and a laptop computer.