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NY Post Goes App-Only For iPad Users

bfwebster writes "Browsing the web this morning, I discovered that the New York Post is blocking iPad users from reading its website via Safari. Instead, iPad users must download and use the NY Post App instead. That app previously required a paid subscription (which is one reason I didn't use it); however, the version I downloaded this morning isn't making any demands for payment. Yet."

218 comments

  1. Not to worry... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just spoof the user-agent string...

    Oh, wait. Sorry. Enjoy the walled garden!

    1. Re:Not to worry... by Superken7 · · Score: 2

      It's not about the walled garden at all. It's more like "there's an app for that". Maybe Safari won't do it, but I'm sure there are a couple browsers out there that can.

      While circumventing something as simple as an User-Agent string protection can be, I'm sure it "works" for the majority of people since only the geeks will know or care about how to get around it.

    2. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or install another browser.

    3. Re:Not to worry... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      The current headline for the NY Post is "Prolific sperm donors find they have fathered dozens of children". This isn't a walled garden, it's a hydroponics setup for Zombies.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Not to worry... by thechink · · Score: 2

      Install Atomic Browser on the iPad, it has the ability to change the user agent string.

    5. Re:Not to worry... by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Prolific sperm donors find they have fathered dozens of children"

      That's sorta the point of sperm donation, no?

    6. Re:Not to worry... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      Congratulations. You passed the test!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    7. Re:Not to worry... by Tharsman · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, you can with one of many available browsers in the App Store. With Opera Mini you don't even need to tweak anything, the site just does not seem capable of identifying it as an iPad browser. With Terra, my personal favorite browser (and free) for the iPad, allows me to set a permanent setting to identify as iPad Safari, OSX Safari 5, Internet Explorer 6 or Firerfox 3.6. There are a bunch of others with many different features that Safari does not have, like user agent change, full screen mode, ad blocking, social media integration, themes, bookmark syncing, download managers and built in emailing of files, etc etc.

      iOS may be a walled garden, but the walls are nowhere near as tall as some Apple bashers like to think.

    8. Re:Not to worry... by Threni · · Score: 1

      In the UK those children have the legal right to track down their 'parents'. Saying 'fuck off - I want nothing to do with you' dozens of times is going to get really boring.

    9. Re:Not to worry... by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      From your sarcastic tone, I presume that there will be no cake?

    10. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's an app for that...that you MUST use.

    11. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are restricted to using the iPad html rendering engine so essentially everyone is using the safari browser. You are paying for a different skin.

    12. Re:Not to worry... by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Whooshes for everybody!

      And he may not like that kind of icing on the cake...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    13. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    14. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Oh, wait. Sorry. Enjoy the walled garden!"

      Walled garden? Try walled app - Safari doesn't support user-agent spoofing, but plenty of other apps do. That said, wrt the actual walled garden that is Apple iOS, I'd take this beautifully walled garden 10 times out of 10 over the convoluted maze of Android that lies just beyond the wall. Have fun determining which apps are available on which phones..and which apps actually have value...but oh wait...all Android apps are for shit.

    15. Re:Not to worry... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      Opera Mini is not using Apple's HTML rendering. As for "paying", most are free. When you do pay, you are not paying for "just a skin", but instead for the added features the browser offers. Like Skyfire that offers a Flash video decoding service.

    16. Re:Not to worry... by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

      >> iOS may be a walled garden, but the walls are nowhere near as tall as some Apple bashers like to think.

      Oh. So, the users should be thankful that Apple 'approved' off Opera? Fuck no - I would rather have something where I do not have depend on APPROVAL from the almighty Steve Fucking Jobs. That's my definition of walled garden.

    17. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Jobs, calm down. Why don't you focus on where your next liver is going to come from, instead of bashing something which has overtaken your walled garden?

    18. Re:Not to worry... by gmhowell · · Score: 1

      Yes, but did he win the game?

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    19. Re:Not to worry... by wesleyjconnor · · Score: 1

      surely there's firefox on ipad?
      *don't have one*

    20. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I will. The app and content is customized for the platform. Very nicely presented, and a step up from using Safari.

      I could use a different browser to do what you suggest, but couldn't be bothered spending time to screw around for an inferior result.

    21. Re:Not to worry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jailbreak > spoof. Have fun. it's not like you've got options on Andriod without rooting. If you're going to bitch atleast get it right asshat..

      The big issue here is that these idiots are trying to create a separate internet. F them.

    22. Re:Not to worry... by Camahueto · · Score: 1

      That just show us apps are meaningless... just a nice link to a webpage, and to prevent you to realise that, they block the direct access. Welcome to the future of the internet... one million apps doing the work of one... ohhh, that's what Apple calls efficiency.

    23. Re:Not to worry... by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

      Atomic browser for iPad let's you do that. There are others, but I got this for 99 cents and it meets my needs for a browser.

      Enjoy your fragmented marketplace, horribly overpriced tablets with underperforming hardware and broken functionality and apps rife with malware!

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  2. And so it begins... by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, the walled garden got built awhile ago. The moral? Don't buy into walled gardens.

    1. Re:And so it begins... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      Or use the store inside the walled garden to get any of the many free browsers that allows user agent spoofing. Better yet, though, stop supporting The New York Post. If you support their asinine business model, you are just asking for your platform of choice to get the same treatment.

    2. Re:And so it begins... by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

      Connect the dots. Apple and content makers want more control over content distribution. This free and open web we enjoy makes their skin itch.

    3. Re:And so it begins... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      Right. That's why they include a web browser, allow other web browsers, insist on supporting HTML5, keep working on increasing the speed of their javascript engine, and keep approving third party web browsers.

      It has also even come out that Apple is actually helping Facebook with their "Project Spartan", an HTML5 app distribution that "will compete with Apple's App Store."

      Yea, I can see the conspiracy very clearly through all that.

    4. Re:And so it begins... by fermion · · Score: 1
      One can either be in a walled garden that is crumbling, or a garden in which the walls are being built not logically, but in panicked fits. The later is the MS model and results in all of the drawbacks with few of the benefits. All walled gardens will crumble and a new freedom is the use of other browsers. There is no reason for any ipad user to run safari. Other browsers like iCab and Atomic Web can not only be used but also be placed on the dock. There is no way to set another browser to autoload, but with shenanigans like this I hope that default browser can be changed in future editions.

      It is also useful to note that many sites open with a splashpage encouraging use of Apps. I think this is a crummy practice, but it has nothing to do with the mobile browser. It has only to do with the additional control provided by Apps. Believing that some platforms are immune is simply allowing the negative consequences to stack up.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    5. Re:And so it begins... by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

      I didn't realize that you cannot change the default browser. We actually own an iPhone, mom mom's old one. It sits in the corner, gathering dust. Sometimes the kids play angry birds.

    6. Re:And so it begins... by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      User agent spoofing isn't possible in iOS 5. It's an accident that it works in iOS 4.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    7. Re:And so it begins... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      I would love to see the source for this.

    8. Re:And so it begins... by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      It's on the Apple developer forums. You can read the post, if you have access to it...

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    9. Re:And so it begins... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      For the benefit of anyone that has access to the Dev Forums, can you post a link to the thread in question?

    10. Re:And so it begins... by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      No. You know the rules, they're pretty anal retentive on that NDA.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    11. Re:And so it begins... by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      So, you can break the NDA to say that there is a thread that talks about the feature no longer being available in iOS 5 but letting users that have access to the forums know what thread shows this would break the NDA and get you in trouble? That's convenient.

  3. Resistance is futile by arcite · · Score: 5, Funny

    So all the smartest people in the world (Apple Users) will now be the best informed. ;)

    1. Re:Resistance is futile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Best informed? The NYPost?

    2. Re:Resistance is futile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Well, less badly informed. I don't understand how the Post exists. If someone is smart enough to have achieved literacy, that alone should prove them too smart to read the Post. It's like if People magazine got The National Enquirer pregnant, the Enquirer boozed and coked it up for a few months and one drunken night fell down the stairs and out popped the Post.

    3. Re:Resistance is futile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Schwoosch!

    4. Re:Resistance is futile by nomadic · · Score: 1

      There's an old joke -- "I buy Hustler to hide the New York Post behind"

    5. Re:Resistance is futile by node+3 · · Score: 1

      So all the smartest people in the world (Apple Users) will now be the best informed. ;)

      Well, the status of "smartest" and worst informed user population has already been taken...

  4. ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that's some bull!!!

  5. Alternate browsers available by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Informative

    even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.
    I use the "Atomic" web browser on my iPad and iPod Touch

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
    1. Re:Alternate browsers available by Raenex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.

      For now. Apple has a history of booting apps that work around restrictions.

    2. Re:Alternate browsers available by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      Apple has a history of booting apps that work around restrictions.

      Especially restrictions set for the benefit of third parties (usually phone service providers).

    3. Re:Alternate browsers available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are still loads of sites on the net that are coded for IE and tell you in no uncertain terms that you should be using IE.
      That is why I don't think Apple will stop you spoofing the browser user-agent string. It is one of the most widespread 'fixes' to browser problems.

    4. Re:Alternate browsers available by assertation · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the point was that people who use other systems don't have to keep reading about alternative software, hacks and jailbreaks to do what other people do. No disrespect.

    5. Re:Alternate browsers available by priceslasher · · Score: 2

      I thought the point was - the more you abuse your customers the higher value they will ascribe to your services. Texbook cognitive dissonance, next you will have to insert your newscorp cd or something.

    6. Re:Alternate browsers available by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      What Apple defined restriction is this "working around"? All these browsers use a documented WebKit control API to do their user agent spoofing.

    7. Re:Alternate browsers available by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      The alternative browsers need no jailbreaks or hacks. They are readily available in the app store, there is almost always one the top 25.

      What the new york post is doing here will propagate. It wont be long until they do the same to Android users and force them to pay for some Android app.

      The true story here is not one about iPads, iOS or Apple. The story here is one about pay-walls and stupid news media conglomerates insisting on setting any roadblock they can in the way of the imminent death of printed newspapers.

    8. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.

      For now. Apple has a history of booting apps that work around restrictions.

      You still seem to have a problem separating fantasy from reality. There's absolutely no reason to think Apple is going to boot other browsers for allowing this beyond nerd paranoid fantasy about how Apple is some sort of despotic iron-fisted overlord.

    9. Re:Alternate browsers available by Raenex · · Score: 1

      What Apple defined restriction is this "working around"?

      By Apple? Currently none, as far as I know. The restriction is being imposed by the NY Post. However, Apple may decide it's something they want to support, since they love the app model.

      All these browsers use a documented WebKit control API to do their user agent spoofing.

      Using documented APIs hasn't stopped Apple from banning apps before.

    10. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      Apple has a history of booting apps that work around restrictions.

      Especially restrictions set for the benefit of third parties (usually phone service providers).

      Beyond things that have to do with network restrictions and the one example where congress gave Apple shit over DUI checkpoint apps (both of which are reasonable actions on Apple's part, and completely irrelevant to the topic at hand), care to list any examples? And it would be especially helpful if they were in any way pertinent to the topic at hand.

    11. Re:Alternate browsers available by Raenex · · Score: 1

      You seem to have a problem of ignoring Apple's history: http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+banned+apps

    12. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 0

      I think the point was that people who use other systems don't have to keep reading about alternative software, hacks and jailbreaks to do what other people do. No disrespect.

      Nice try. This isn't a "hack" or "jailbreak". Lumping in proper third-party software with these sorts of things to try and paint iOS as a bad system is dishonest.

      There's nothing inherent to Android (or other systems) that prevents the NY Post from doing the same on it. Well, other than the fact that the market for Android tablets is microscopic. But the NY Post could just as easily detect you are on an Android tablet, and direct you to download their app.

      It's amazing, Apple gets the slashdot nerds all riled up by having a "closed" app store, and they get the very same nerds riled up by offering third party apps that give users the freedom to work around things like this. There's a word for fanatics who twist everything to fit their own preferences, logic, rationality, and consistency be damned. I can't quite think of it...

      Don't worry, I'm sure someone will use it in a response to me somewhere on this site before the day is out.

    13. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      No, the point here is obvious: slashdot nerds will bend over backwards to make anything about Apple fit their irrational hatred of Apple and the notion of some sort of offensive "walled garden". You are correct, however, in citing "cognitive dissonance", you've just applied it to the wrong target.

    14. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      Your fantasy isn't that Apple has banned apps, it's that they will ban any app discussed on slashdot in a positive light. There's absolutely no reason, other than your paranoid fantasy, to think Apple is going to pull browsers that allow the user to change their user agent.

    15. Re:Alternate browsers available by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      His "fantasy" is that apple will boot an application because it competes with their moneymaking scheme.

      Which it does, and has done many times in the past.

    16. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      His "fantasy" is that apple will boot an application because it competes with their moneymaking scheme.

      Um... How, exactly?

      Which it does, and has done many times in the past.

      For example?

    17. Re:Alternate browsers available by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      It's not documented. And it's not actually meant to work. In iOS 5, it doesn't.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    18. Re:Alternate browsers available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We'll be fine, as long as developing EACH new REPLACEMENT software from scratch continues to take fewer weeks than it takes Apple to binge-ban it. On, wait...

    19. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 1

      What "new replacement"? Alternate browsers already exist, and Apple isn't banning them.

    20. Re:Alternate browsers available by Tharsman · · Score: 2

      Sending the server the User agent is part of a standard HTTP request. Here is apple's documentation on how how to create your own mutable NSMutableURLRequest_Class request. It has been supported since iOS 2.0

      http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSMutableURLRequest_Class/Reference/Reference.html

      Just use setValue:forHTTPHeaderField to set the "User_Agent" for the request.

      Here is an example on how to use it:

      - (BOOL)webView:(UIWebView *)webView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)req navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)navigationType {
      NSMutableURLRequest *request = (NSMutableURLRequest *)req;

      if ([request respondsToSelector:@selector(setValue:forHTTPHeaderField:)]) {
      [request setValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ Safari/528.16", [request valueForHTTPHeaderField:@"User-Agent"]] forHTTPHeaderField:@"User_Agent"];
      }
      return YES;
      }

      As you can see it's just use of documented and supported APIs.

    21. Re:Alternate browsers available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fallacy. There is nothing wrong with taking a position based on established trends.

    22. Re:Alternate browsers available by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      I thought the point was - the more you abuse your customers the higher value they will ascribe to your services. Texbook cognitive dissonance, next you will have to insert your newscorp cd or something.

      Which will, of course, be copy-protected, and probably install rootkit-protected malware to prevent you from accessing said site from anything but their app. Brilliant!

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    23. Re:Alternate browsers available by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      No, the point here is obvious: slashdot nerds will bend over backwards to make anything about Apple fit their irrational hatred of Apple and the notion of some sort of offensive "walled garden". You are correct, however, in citing "cognitive dissonance", you've just applied it to the wrong target.

      There's actually not much "hatred" here: Apple does make fine products, and most knowledgeable individuals can appreciate the design values that went into them. Actually, most of the "hatred" (rather a strong word, really, and it doesn't help you come across as reasonable) originates from Apple lovers that absolutely cannot stand criticism of their chosen ecosystem, especially when said criticism is valid. Furthermore, Apple does have a number of corporate policies which many of us find objectionable, and I know many Apple aficionados who are the first to agree with that, while simultaneously asking questions like "why does a phone need multitasking or cut & paste anyway?" Apple fans suffer from more than their fair share of cognitive dissonance, believe me. How it is that their brains don't split down the middle is beyond me.

      Apple Computer does business in a way that many, many people want nothing to do with. Others find the Apple Way (or rather, the Jobs Way) irresistible. Either way, it's not hatred. Just preference. Me, I prefer Android for now, but if Google screws that up (as they have, let's face it, screwed up a lot of things along the way in spite of their successes) I may switch to another platform. Who knows, that might even be an iPhone.

      But I wouldn't count on it.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    24. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Um, I'm not sure which Slashdot you've been reading, but Apple hatred is rampant on this one. I have no problem with people not liking Apple, or criticizing their policies, etc., like you claim you are doing, but much what passes for "Insightful" and "Informative" on slashdot is borderline insane.

      Taking this specific story as an example, Apple isn't even doing anything, yet this is cited as a problem with the "walled garden". WTF? It makes no sense. Especially since Apple's "walled garden" has alternate browsers which allow one to spoof their way through the NY Post's paywall.

      But then *that* has to be spun yet again, and people stating that Apple will just pull these browsers from the App Store get modded up, even though that makes no sense whatsoever.

    25. Re:Alternate browsers available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alternating browsers must be a nuisance. One minute it's Opera, the next Atomic, then back again.

      Or did you mean alternative browsers?

    26. Re:Alternate browsers available by rdnetto · · Score: 1

      even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.
      I use the "Atomic" web browser on my iPad and iPod Touch

      Why are they allowed? Isn't this 'duplicating existing functionality'?

      --
      Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
    27. Re:Alternate browsers available by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      Any website could block the default Android browser as well. Or Firefox. Sure, you could criticise Apple for not including agent spoofing, but absence of one obscure feature in one piece of software is hardly a crisis. I'd also say that user agent spoofing on a mobile device is likely to be more problematic than on a desktop PC, since it is more important that web sites customise themselves for the limited capabilities of a small touch device. Google Maps, for instance, is totally unusable on an iPhone without a heavily customised interface.

    28. Re:Alternate browsers available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't spoofing the user-agent string count as a hack?

    29. Re:Alternate browsers available by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      Setting the user agent field is not supposed to work though. At least, that's what Apple devs on their developer forums say.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  6. Re:Yet ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If it's not important to you, ignore it and move on. Why do feel the need to let everyone know you don't care?

    I don't comment on the news in your hometown and say I don't care. Since it's not important to me, I don't read it and don't comment.

  7. Re:Yet ... by newcastlejon · · Score: 0

    Like many, I don't care, and I wont use an iPad or Safari. Why is this important exactly?

    Because a lot of people do use i-devices and, incidentally, many of them don't care or indeed know about the GPL.

    As for me, I don't care because I don't read NYT; for the moment I'm happy getting my news from Google.

    --
    If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
  8. Why bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The iPad is fully capable of displaying typical web sites, why create the additional overhead of superfluous software?

    1. Re:Why bother? by McGuirk · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of a marketing department?

    2. Re:Why bother? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Now if only there was a way to put advertisements and in-page marketing... Maybe Google should get on that! /s

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  9. worry... by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just spoof the user-agent string...
    Oh, wait. Sorry. Enjoy the walled garden!

    You can leave a garden (so-called by the owners) as easily as enter it. Since iPad users are prevented from leaving, it could as easily be referred to as a jail by its inmates.
    Those who would pay for confinement inside a walled jail must really fear the outside world...

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:worry... by node+3 · · Score: 2

      You can leave a garden (so-called by the owners) as easily as enter it. Since iPad users are prevented from leaving, it could as easily be referred to as a jail by its inmates.

      When iPad users say things like, "I just can't stop using it", that's not what they mean. When you buy an iPad, you are allowed to use other systems, if you so wish.

      Those who would pay for confinement inside a walled jail must really fear the outside world...

      When you talk like this out in the "real world", don't you ever wonder why people don't take you seriously?

      People pay for things they enjoy and that meet their needs. Jails are things that people do not like to be in and are rather unenjoyable. iPads are things people seek out to buy and use, and are quite enjoyable. Well over 20 million of them have been bought to date, all voluntarily.

    2. Re:worry... by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      When you talk like this out in the "real world", don't you ever wonder why people don't take you seriously?

      People pay for things they enjoy and that meet their needs. Jails are things that people do not like to be in and are rather unenjoyable. iPads are things people seek out to buy and use, and are quite enjoyable. Well over 20 million of them have been bought to date, all voluntarily.

      My mother got an iPad because she was told it would meet her needs, by some Apple fans. She was not told about the jail. Now she knows and she doesn't like it. And because the iPad doesn't support flash, a lot of sites don't work, particularly the ones her granddaughter wants to go to. As a consequence, her iPad is sitting gathering dust right now.

      Meanwhile, my Xoom is getting plenty of use. Because it runs the flash sites my daughter goes to, it is considered a real computer, whereas the iPad is considered a doorstop. The USB port makes it easy for me to load lots of pdf files from all sorts of devices without needing to get both machines connected to the net first. I consider the USB port essential, I consider a mobile device without a USB port a doorstop. So there you have it, two votes in my immediate family for "iPad is a doorstop" and one grandmother annoyed at having been mislead about the iPad.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
    3. Re:worry... by Cinder6 · · Score: 1

      And there are those who would contend that the Xoom is a doorstop, or that tablets in general are doorstops. What's your point? There's always an inherent risk in buying something that you may not like it, particularly if you just go by the recommendation of others and aren't thorough in your own investigations. Sucks for your mom that she's not liking the iPad; why doesn't she sell it on eBay?

      For the record, there are plenty of alternative browsers on the iPad that let you change the user-agent string.

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
    4. Re:worry... by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      Jeez, could your post be full of any more lies. "A lot of sites don't work" "Her ipad is gathering dust right now" and the topper, "my Xoom is getting plenty of use" (that was my personal favorite!)

      Quit shoving your crappy agenda down everyone's throat and lying your arse off to do it.

    5. Re:worry... by EvilStein · · Score: 1

      "Because it runs the flash sites my daughter goes to"

      Pretty much every single review I've seen of Flash on devices like the Xoom had the same conclusion - the Flash ads work great, but everything else sucks. Tried it myself on the Galaxy Tab less than a month ago. The entire Flash experience was horrible.

      So you're basically saying that because the iPad doesn't work on a few sites for little kids, it's inferior to the Xoom, which you consider a 'real computer' because it has Flash.

      Yeah. Got it.. *eyeroll*

  10. Re:Yet ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like many, I don't care, and I wont use an iPad or Safari. Why is this important exactly?

    Apple related story.

    See, this Apple story that says something sort of negative about Apple will get a HUGE number of postings, boost /.'s numbers, maybe a few advertising clicks (I guess from folks who don't have an ad blocker) or something and then /. can show their bosses that they're pulling some of their weight in their corporate higher achy hierarchy.

    It's all about the numbers boys! We'll see this "story" hit Fark and Digg next and in the meantime, Reddit will have a link to getting around this or a question about having sex with a chick on the rag or something instead.

    See ya in the funny papers.

  11. Re: Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why is it, nobody appears to be aware of iCab Mobile? It's available for the iPhone and iPad.
    A full-featured web browser with tabbed browsing, ad blocking and USER-AGENT SPOOFING.
    Details on iCab Mobile on iTunes

    Has been available for quite some time.

  12. heh by Osgeld · · Score: 2

    safari and ipad ... do you also have a target painted on your back?

    1. Re:heh by sribe · · Score: 1

      safari and ipad ... do you also have a target painted on your back?

      You ignorant twit, that's the international symbol of the Red Cross ;-)

  13. Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the posts thus far are taking shots at Apple. That seems really misguided. It's the NY Post that is restricting people from accessing the same content over the same internet, simply because of the device. They're the ones making you download an app to get the content you want, probably allowing them to get higher-profit ads. This isn't Apple's fault, for not letting you spoof the user agent string. No one should ever have to spoof a user agent. All it should be used for is to tell the server what you're running so it can serve you better. The NY Post is using it to ignore the fact that you have a perfectly functioning and capable client in order to suit their desires. I know that in the tech world, we often jump to tech solutions to problems. But that doesn't fix anything, really, nor for most users. The target of ire here should be the NY Post and their abuse of internet standards and openness. The focus should be on getting them to behave better, to set a precedent so others don't do the same thing. A work-around that will help the 1% of us tech users is insignificant. OT: New poster here. How do I add linebreaks in my posts? Simple carriage returns seem to get eaten.

    --
    I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    1. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 2

      And just to clarify - I don't like Apple's ecosystem and I wouldn't buy into it, because I like to tinker. Most people don't. Sometimes I lost sight of that fact, posting on and reading tech websites. But it comes rushing back when talking to family members and friends with technology problems. They don't know how things work, they don't care, and they don't want to have to mess with it. To many, what Apple offers is attractive for precisely that reason. And because of that, I can't, in good faith, claim that Apple is good or bad for what they do - it really all depends on your needs.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    2. Re:Blaming the wrong people by hackertourist · · Score: 2

      OT: Select 'Plain old text' instead of 'HTML Formatted'. You can still use HTML tags, but CRs don't get filtered out.

    3. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 2

      Awesome. Thanks.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    4. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      apple markets and pushes their app technology like rabid dogs, your stupid, not with it, or a Luddite if you do not have it as an Apple brand App... so yea I kind of blame apple

    5. Re:Blaming the wrong people by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And if the NY Post did the same thing with mobile IE so that you had to buy the WP 7 app and subscription it's all MS' fault too. If it did the same thing with Android browsers, it's all Google's fault?

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    6. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 1

      Can you explain your thought process to me, beginning to end? I don't see how this is the connection people are making, I really don't. Sure, with the iPad, companies feel pressure to be "hip" and offer their content in a native app. But this has nothing to do with an app. It has to do with NYP purposefully denying anyone on an iPad not using the app. That is the sole decision of the NYP. All of these new device ecosystems in the mobile world bring new avenues for media consumption. All Apple (and others) have done is open up new possibilities. It is the media providers that decide to restrict you to just one.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    7. Re:Blaming the wrong people by GlassHeart · · Score: 1

      Can you explain your thought process to me, beginning to end?

      Allow me. Start with the core assumption that Apple users are sheep, who are unwilling or unable to think for themselves. Thus, they are defenseless against Apple's powerful marketing, much like unarmed civilians against an attacking army. As the invading army must then take responsibility for the safety of the civilians, so must Apple provide the most ideologically-pure (open source, Free, etc.) products to its sheep. Any mishap is therefore Apple's fault, because the users are so utterly helpless.

      Yes, at the core of this thought process is an insult, because they just can't think of any reason that an intelligent person would buy an Apple product after considering alternatives.

    8. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 1

      A much more eloquent and concise response than my own. This exactly captures it.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    9. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Shihar · · Score: 1

      People are taking shots at Apple because who the hell reads the NY Post? If one newspaper does this, who cares? The bigger issue the WHY this newspaper was able to do this. The answer is Apple's 'walled garden' approach. The Apple alternative browser market is a wasteland due to people being rightfully terrified of Apple's response. Apple doesn't play nice with people that offer competing functionality. This is the same company that pulled a camera app that let you use the volume key as the shoot button because it violated what Apple declared the volume key is used for, and then pulled them again when they removed the functionality, but allowed people to download a mod on their website to put it back. If you live in Apple's little walled garden, you don't fuck with Apple or you get treated like a weed. Android's browser market on the other hand is fast, bloody, and diverse. Further, the OS plays nicely with alternative browsers doesn't care if you use them.

      I'm not saying that Android is better than iOS. It is different, and this is one of the differences. The 'it always works this way' approach that Apple takes means that the NY Post can make it so that the way it is going to work for now on is you have to use their horrid little app. If you don't care or don't understand this new sphere of technology, iOS is going to do you well. I would give my mom or grandfather an iOS device. For myself and all of my younger and more tech savvy friends, we sport Android devices with custom ROMs. Different folks, different strokes.

    10. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 1

      At first your response seemed callous, but the more I think about it, the more I like it - if I amend it to "some Apple users."

      It's because the thought process does not start with an insult - it starts with two. First, that some Apple people are sheep; second, that anti-Apple people expect unreasonable things of Apple.

      So in the end, we have that extremists on either side are foolish. I guess I'd just hoped that Slashdot could be more mature. Maybe it is, and its just that those that shout the loudest are often the most biased, drowning out the more reasonable commons.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    11. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      I said I kind of blame apple, not it was entirely their fault, so reading comprehension = fail

      is it purely the fault of an addict that they are hooked? or does the makers and sellers have a big chunk of influence? This would not even be an article unless there was huge marketing pressure for companies to make apps, no matter how retarded

      and where is that pressure coming from?

    12. Re:Blaming the wrong people by node+3 · · Score: 1

      You blame Apple... for something the NY Post has done entirely on its own?

    13. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      fucking read! I said I kind of blame apple due to their pressuring the app market like rabid dogs, its like killing the junkie and letting the pusher walk away ... they both play equal parts

    14. Re:Blaming the wrong people by node+3 · · Score: 2

      I did read, you are applying blame to Apple for something the NY Post has done.

    15. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      again they have equal parts blame

      NY times wants to be hip and down with apple, apple marketing says fuck the web go with an app

      I cant make it any simpler so either your one of the sheeple that loves apple no matter what or your stupid

    16. Re:Blaming the wrong people by node+3 · · Score: 1

      again they have equal parts blame

      Um, no. The NY Post is making the restriction, not Apple. Apple has nothing to do with it. In fact, Apple offers apps on their store which circumvent this restriction.

      NY times wants to be hip and down with apple, apple marketing says fuck the web go with an app

      Interesting. Care to point to a specific example of Apple marketing saying anything like this? Where they've said, "web sites should block access to mobile Safari and require users to download an app instead"?

      I cant make it any simpler so either your one of the sheeple that loves apple no matter what or your stupid

      Making it simpler won't make it any more correct. The NY Post has done this entirely on their own. Funny you should use a term like "sheeple". You're the sheep here. Everything iOS somehow has to be bad and has to be Apple's fault in some way. That's what the slashdot nerd sheep bleat.

    17. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do rabid dogs pressure people? I suspect the dogs invoke fear, but they're not after any particular response. Bad analogy???

      Even if we concede that Apple somehow pressured someone to write an app, that still wouldn't be pressure to add a filter to a web site.

      Newspapers have been losing subscribers to physical printed editions for some time. They're under pressure to find other ways to bring in revenue. That pressure is from competing news sources and alternate ways of advertising.

      Any turning to Apple app is out of hope that it is viable business for them. If they think they can get people to subscribe through an app, but not pay directly through the web, it is more a sign that their previous attempts at getting paid users have largely been a failure.

      If you want to criticize Apple, it should be for something like not offering support for donations through free apps (taking maybe 10% instead of 30). If available, that model might help make things like PBS/NPR apps work for sustaining quality news.

      The Post is just another news corp (FOX etc) outlet. It doesn't strike me as being very compelling on the desktop, even for free. Time will tell how many think it is worth paying for. I suspect that the main thing that a paid mobile app version has going for it is optimized formatting (and hopefully no ads?)

    18. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      And then if you try to do it as an app, they reject it because "we don't want your stinking web clippings".

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    19. Re:Blaming the wrong people by macaddict · · Score: 1

      Dude, your bleating of "Apple Marketing iz teh Ev0L!" FUD is pathetic. You can't even keep your argument straight. First you say "kind of blame Apple" then you say "equal parts blame". Next I suppose they'll be entirely to blame and the NYP is just a victim of Apple's Department of Evil Marketing?

      If Apple is so against the web, then why is Safari Dev Center ("Resources for designing and creating websites and extensions for Safari") featured on the Apple Developer site? Why are they pushing so hard for HTML5? Why does WebKit exist? Fit those into your juvenile conspiracy theory, because I really want to know what you come up with.

    20. Re:Blaming the wrong people by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      For myself and all of my younger and more tech savvy friends, we sport Android devices with custom ROMs.

      What's your preferred third-party ROM? I'm a big fan of Cyanogenmod m'self.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    21. Re:Blaming the wrong people by zuperduperman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > . They don't know how things work, they don't care, and they don't want to have to mess with it.

      To be honest, this is a little bit of a myth. Yes, most of them don't care until they one day happen upon a restriction that bothers them. For example, my mother who wanted to copy an audio book from her friend's computer onto her iPod Touch. Suddenly she is calling me up saying "I thought I could plug in my iPod and just copy it there but it doesn't show up and iTunes has scary messages about deleting everything!". And all I can say is "there's no good reason for it, but Apple doesn't want you to copy anything onto your iPod unless you do it through iTunes on your own computer. That way they make more money." And then she suddenly cared. So in most cases it's not that they don't care - it's that their lack of technical knowledge shields them from the reasons to care.

    22. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The irony is that previously Apples TOS actually stopped App makers from doing what the NY Post is doing. But people went all anti-Apple and so they changed the TOS to allow this. Now Apple gets the blame again?

      btw, Atomic Web Browser works as well. Flipboard will also work if you connect to the NYP twitter feed (and turns it into a magazine for you).

    23. Re:Blaming the wrong people by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Addiction is not the same things is building an SDK so that third parties can build apps. Addiction is a disease; building apps is completely optional. The NY Post does not have to make an app and customers do not have to buy one.

      and where is that pressure coming from?

      The pressure to build apps is to get more customers and to sell more subscriptions. As a newspaper that has been the pressure for the NY Post its entire existence. This is a new method in which it thinks it can do so. A decade ago, the NY Post might have tried a paywall through their website instead of around it. Back then would you have kinda blamed MS for IE and Mozilla for FireFox?

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    24. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The NY Post is using it to ignore the fact that you have a perfectly functioning and capable client in order to suit their desires.

      Actually what's happening is the person who manages the NYTimes mobile app project decided to td this in order to increase the adoption rate of the app. In their next update meeting they can proudly claim that 100% of the iPad visits were performed with their app.

  14. Re:Yet ... by bhima · · Score: 1

    Not the New York Times, the New York Post. It's a Rupert Murdoch, Enquireresque, Gotham City mashup.

    --
    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  15. It's a Murdoch property by Nimey · · Score: 1

    so reading it is an own-goal anyway.

    I'd imagine the reason is so
    a) they can track you better, or
    b) actually, that's probably about it.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  16. one more reason not to buy an ipad by drolli · · Score: 1

    i like the *choice* on how to access something.

  17. Not NY Times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article should have clarified New York Times (the better one) is a different newspaper.

    -srr

  18. You read the New York Post!?! by alcmaeon · · Score: 1

    The "walled garden" is the least of your problems.

    1. Re:You read the New York Post!?! by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 1

      Not just read the NY Post. Read it on the fucking web! Who the hell does that? The Post is what you read when you're in a New Jersey diner at 4 AM, and you figure that if you keep your eyes on the paper, you won't have to talk to the crazy guy next to you. If you have access to the internet and you can't find a better source of information than the Post, then you deserve all the bad things that happen to you.

  19. NY Post by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Informative

    part of rupert murdoch's IQ lowering propaganda empire

    and no, this isn't a swipe at conservativism, it's actually a swipe at china's power:

    The Post has been criticized since the beginning of Murdoch's ownership for sensationalism, blatant advocacy and conservative bias. In 1980, the Columbia Journalism Review opined that "the New York Post is no longer merely a journalistic problem. It is a social problem – a force for evil."[31]
    Perhaps the most serious allegation against the Post is that it is willing to contort its news coverage to suit Murdoch's business needs, in particular that the paper has avoided reporting anything that is unflattering to the government of the People's Republic of China, where Murdoch has invested heavily in satellite television.[32]
    Ian Spiegelman, a former reporter for the paper's Page Six gossip column who had been fired by the paper in 2004,[33] said in a statement for a lawsuit against the paper that in 2001 he was ordered to kill an item on Page Six about a Chinese diplomat and a strip club because it would have "angered the Communist regime and endangered Murdoch’s broadcast privileges."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post#Criticism

    or the power of Saudi Arabia, take your pick:

    WASHINGTON—Accuracy in Media (AIM) is urging a full inquiry into a report that a Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain. The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company.

    “This report underscores the danger of giving foreign interests a significant financial stake in U.S. media companies,” declared Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in Media.

    The controversial comments came at an Arab media conference featuring representatives of Time magazine, USA Today, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, and other news organizations. The conference and the Saudi Prince’s growing influence in News Corporation are among the subjects of a new December-A AIM Report that has just been posted at the AIM website (http://www.aim.org). The report raises the specter of Arab money influencing News Corporation and other U.S. media companies.

    http://www.aim.org/press-release/saudi-billionaire-boasts-of-manipulating-fox-news-coverage/

    do yourself a favor and stop reading the NY Post. it is a tool of a man who is evil immoral corporate influence incarnate

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:NY Post by gmhowell · · Score: 2

      I suggest this documentary about Rupert Murdoch. It covers at least some of the story about his relationship with China, but doesn't cover the Saudi issue mentioned at the end of your post.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    2. Re:NY Post by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      do yourself a favor and stop reading the NY Post. it is a tool of a man who is evil immoral corporate influence incarnate

      Hey, come on ... he's not all bad. He exhales carbon dioxide ... which is needed by plants.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  20. FirstWorldProblems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this Reddit and FirstWorldProblems? Who cares about your iPad emotional roller-coaster story?

  21. Downside by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The downside is you still have to read the NY Post.

  22. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by aeoo · · Score: 1

    even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.
    I use the "Atomic" web browser on my iPad and iPod Touch

    For how long will "Atomic" remain available?

  23. Restricted devices... by Bert64 · · Score: 1

    Not good if your using an ipad/iphone in a work environment where they've decided to block you from installing arbitrary apps...

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    1. Re:Restricted devices... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not good if your using an ipad/iphone in a work environment where they've decided to block you from installing arbitrary apps...

      ... and you need to read the New York Post at work on company machines, yeah. Somehow if company business requires reading that, I bet they'll let you have the app.

      If not, you could always do like the rest of us, and use a personally-owned device for personal browsing.

  24. Good for lining bird houses by STratoHAKster · · Score: 1

    This might be interesting if it weren't for the fact that the content of New York Post's online edition is worth far less than the paper it's printed on (which is zero).

    1. Re:Good for lining bird houses by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      This might be interesting if it weren't for the fact that the content of New York Post's online edition is worth far less than the paper it's printed on (which is zero).

      So, basically you're saying they should pay their readers.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  25. Why read the Post? by Nimey · · Score: 1

    It's even lower-quality than most Murdoch properties, and seems to be an American version of the UK's Sun tabloid:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post#Criticism

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  26. Re:Yet ... by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 2

    If it is awkward to read the news, then I'll simply head elsewhere.

    --
    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  27. Re: Walled Garden by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Possibly because the intersection of the set of "People who use an iPad and browse dumb sites like the NY Post" and "People who understand what a User-Agent String is" is pretty much a null set.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  28. Bad Precedent by meerling · · Score: 1

    Imagine if lots of sites started requiring their own custom apps. Pretty soon your device (computer, ijunk, etc) would be filled with just that garbage, and the browser would be relegated to homebrew and marginal sites.

    Bad idea, even worse than the ten billion toolbars that everyone already wants you to load into your browser. (I immediately delete any toolbar, they are unwanted, unnecessary, and very annoying.)

    1. Re:Bad Precedent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps those sites would just die.

  29. "the version I downloaded this morning " by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    For science, right?

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    1. Re:"the version I downloaded this morning " by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's funny that you automatically associated "download" with "piracy".
      Congrats, you've been successfully brainwashed by anti-piracy propaganda.

  30. whoa dude by nomadic · · Score: 1

    You are publicly admitting, on a highly-trafficked public web site, that you read the New York Post?

    1. Re:whoa dude by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      You are publicly admitting, on a highly-trafficked public web site, that you read the New York Post?

      To a lot of people, admitting you read Slashdot on a highly-trafficked public site would garner the same reaction.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  31. Re: Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is it, nobody appears to be aware of iCab Mobile? It's available for the iPhone and iPad. A full-featured web browser with tabbed browsing, ad blocking and USER-AGENT SPOOFING. Details on iCab Mobile on iTunes

    Has been available for quite some time.

    Because nobody is willing to pay for a web browser since IE 5 came out in the late 90's?

  32. Apps: the New Bubble by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    What's the point? Why not just do a rich website and support ALL your consumers with a single source - the ubiquitous web page?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    1. Re:Apps: the New Bubble by Stewie241 · · Score: 1

      Because rich websites end up as HTML on the client and user agents can collect, manipulate and republish the content in a variety of ways. I would imagine (don't own an iP* so couldn't say for sure) that the app would inhibit that.

      In short, it's DRM.

    2. Re:Apps: the New Bubble by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      So.... Basically a fancier, heavier-weight version of Flash?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  33. Re:Yet ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tl;dr

  34. Use Opera by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enough said.

  35. Re: Walled Garden by Tharsman · · Score: 1

    Given this is /., I'd say it has more to do with people that make such claims not owning an iOS device. A /. user that has ever touched an iOS device and knows not about this deserves his account be closed and his bitcoin collection taken away.

  36. "can't"? Inaccurate by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Funny

    You can leave a garden (so-called by the owners) as easily as enter it. Since iPad users are prevented from leaving

    But iPad users can leave any time as well. They can if they wish use other browsers that allow manipulation of the user-agent string.

    If you are talking about something else, iPad users can always jailbreak. It's not illegal, and does not void the warranty (just to head off the ignorant among you out there that will come back and claim it does).

    Those who would pay for confinement inside a walled jail must really fear the outside world...

    Those who would fear to enter a well-cared for garden just because the entrance is a little far from the shady benches, must be complete and utter morons, caring only about ideology and nothing about practical matters.

    Enjoy your mobile hairshirt!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  37. A move against iOS5 features? by leenks · · Score: 2

    To me this reads like it is meant as a move against Apple over the reader feature that is built into the upcoming iOS5 (which works surprisingly well).

  38. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by schnikies79 · · Score: 1

    For the forseable future. It's been in app store for a couple years. They are using an official, apple documented, API to spoof the string.

    No harm, no foul.

    --
    Gone!
  39. Lack of understanding of the web by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    The people making these decisions are idiots. This isn't accomplishing anything they couldn't already do on their website - they can require subscriptions, put up a paywall, and so on. Moving the content to an app doesn't fundamentally change anything.

    If the business model didn't work with the web version, it will fail with the app version. The problem isn't in how the content is being offered - it's either a problem with the content itself, or with the business model behind it.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  40. Peak freedom by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    With stories like these - and NYTimes are not the only ones who do it, I've seen some other websites where you get a very minimal mobile version which tells you to install the app for any "advanced" operation - it seems to me sometimes that the last few years were some kind of a "peak freedom" on the Net, and we're going downhill now.

    Consider the history. Back in the day there were provider-specific networks like Compuserve and AOL. Then we moved onto the Internet, but it became browser specific very quickly; most people here doubtlessly remember "designed for IE" labels on websites, and those who are a bit older might also remember "designed for NN". It took us over a decade to get to the point where any random website is highly likely to display correctly in any random web browser - and now that we're finally here, we have companies deliberately ditching that openness. Sad.

  41. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by node+3 · · Score: 1

    even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.
    I use the "Atomic" web browser on my iPad and iPod Touch

    For how long will "Atomic" remain available?

    Um, for as long as the developer wishes it to be? What makes you (and far too many nerds here) think otherwise?

  42. An Industry of Cool by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 2

    I'm a former Macintosh worshiper. I subscribed to Guy Kawasaki's email list when he was an official Mac evangelist. I have bought, sold, installed, repaired, played with, tweaked, upgraded, and done just about everything else to a Macintosh from System 6 through OSX. I loved the superior quality, excellent interface, and freedom to play. I loved the sheer geekiness of being a Macintosh person, not a PC person.

    Then Apple opened their stores, squeezed out the independents, and began creating tied-down, lowest-common-denominator devices that were more style than substance. To quote Lester Bangs, Apple turned computers into an "industry of cool."

    Screw Apple, screw the Macintosh, screw the iPhone, screw the iPad, and most of all, screw Steve Jobs. Screw the walled garden. Screw the NY Post. Screw them all. Give me tweakable, fun, unrestricted technology or get the fuck out of my face.

    1. Re:An Industry of Cool by node+3 · · Score: 1

      In other words, you simply went from one type of fanboy to another. I take it your username here is meant to be ironic?

    2. Re:An Industry of Cool by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

      What am I fan of now, exactly?

    3. Re:An Industry of Cool by node+3 · · Score: 1

      Fan is short for fanatic. You went from an Apple fanatic, to an anti-Apple fanatic.

    4. Re:An Industry of Cool by Nerdfest · · Score: 1

      A fan of freedom.

    5. Re:An Industry of Cool by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

      I do not think you know what that word means.

    6. Re:An Industry of Cool by node+3 · · Score: 0

      Fanatic? If your initial post I was replying to isn't an example of anti-Apple fanaticism, I'd like to know what is.

    7. Re:An Industry of Cool by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

      Disgust and fanaticism... not in the thesaurus on the same entry.

    8. Re:An Industry of Cool by node+3 · · Score: 1

      That both nouns apply to you does not require they be synonyms.

    9. Re:An Industry of Cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. How much is Steve paying you to fuck your ass???? Seriously. get some help. Call 911 if nothing else works. As a fellow slashdot user, I am deeply worried about your psychological and physical health.

    10. Re:An Industry of Cool by node+3 · · Score: 1

      Yes, clearly *I'm* the one with issues...

    11. Re:An Industry of Cool by intheshelter · · Score: 1

      This may come as a shocker to some of the rabid Apple hating slashdot crowd, but just because people don't buy into your Apple hating BS doesn't mean they are being controlled by Jobs. You decry Apple lovers lack of independent thought, and then when they disagree with your stupidity you get pissed off because they showed independent thought and disagreed with you.

  43. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by aeoo · · Score: 1

    What makes you (and far too many nerds here) think otherwise?

    Apple has proven by its actions that it has no commitment to freedom. Apple changed its App market policies often, and done so for the better only when responding to immense public pressure and doing damage control. I think Apple's track record speaks for itself.

  44. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by aeoo · · Score: 1

    For the forseable future.

    I have no such confidence in Apple.

  45. It's the NY Post? by mat+catastrophe · · Score: 1

    This just means you can move up to a better paper. You should thank them.

    --
    sig not found
  46. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by node+3 · · Score: 1

    What makes you (and far too many nerds here) think otherwise?

    Apple has proven by its actions that it has no commitment to freedom. Apple changed its App market policies often, and done so for the better only when responding to immense public pressure and doing damage control. I think Apple's track record speaks for itself.

    In other words, there's no reason to believe Apple will remove browsers that allow one to change their user agent string other than your paranoid fantasies.

    Apple doesn't look at an app and think, "oh no, this gives the user freedom to do something, this must stop!" There has to be a reason behind their decisions. You can't come up with an actual reason, so you just wave your hands and cry "Apple hates freedom!" Pathetic.

  47. Mobile page still working by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The mobile page at http://m.nypost.com/ is still working perfectly.

  48. Re: Walled Garden by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

    I disagree with his take on C.

    I interpreted it as, "Durr, because New York Post readers are stupid."

    Or Post readers who care enough to visit the site or read the paper enough where this would be a problem...

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  49. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

    There has to be a reason behind their decisions. You can't come up with an actual reason, so you just wave your hands and cry "Apple hates freedom!" Pathetic.

    C'mon, that's not difficult. The only reason Apple needs is some sort of agreement, probably involving money changing hands, with any content publishing industry. The only rule they need to add to the software requirements is that any web browser needs to state the correct device and OS version in the user agent string. It's not exactly a stretch to assume that's possible. Apple likes its agreements with third parties, even if they screw the customers.

    That being said, this entire thread is a joke. This is an article about a web site doing browser sniffing, and it devolves into attacks and defenses on Apple has a company. This has nothing to do with Apple, this is a story about the New York Post doing browser sniffing. They are trying out a business model where they target users on specific devices and try to force them to use a native application to access the content instead. If people start spoofing the user agent to get around the content then that just shows the business model isn't perfect. If Apple introduces regulations that favor the business model after people show they don't like it, THEN (and only then) will Apple be an ass about this. They've been an ass in the past, and they probably will continue to be in the future, but they haven't done anything wrong with regard to this specific issue and there's no reason to either attack them over it OR defend them over it.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  50. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 0

    Then there wouldn't have been any need to make such a complex statement. Simply saying:

    Possibly because the intersection of the set of "People who browse dumb sites like the NY Post" and "People who understand what a User-Agent String is" is pretty much a null set.

    Would have more accurately conveyed your interpretation. On this site, calling Apple customers "stupid" is seen as insightful.

    And regardless of the interpretation, it's still non sequitur.

  51. Re: Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After all, if they were doing this on Android (which they just as easily can)...

    But no one IS doing this on Android, and they WON'T, because a phone company and/or manufacturer who did would find their market share ebbing away.
     
    Do you really not understand the difference between Apple and... the rest of the world, and why some of us dislike them enough to avoid their locked in shiny?

  52. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by node+3 · · Score: 1

    There has to be a reason behind their decisions. You can't come up with an actual reason, so you just wave your hands and cry "Apple hates freedom!" Pathetic.

    C'mon, that's not difficult. The only reason Apple needs is some sort of agreement, probably involving money changing hands, with any content publishing industry.

    I said "actual reason", not imaginary reason.

    The only rule they need to add to the software requirements is that any web browser needs to state the correct device and OS version in the user agent string.

    No such rule exists, and there's no indication such a rule is likely to ever exist.

    It's not exactly a stretch to assume that's possible.

    No, but it's a huge fucking stretch to assume it's even remotely likely.

    Apple likes its agreements with third parties, even if they screw the customers.

    [citation needed]

    Apple makes the agreements it needs to in order to gain access to important third party goods and services. Music, movies, TV shows, etc., and cell networks. And not a single one of these "screw the customers".

    That being said, this entire thread is a joke.

    Yes, it's a farce, but that hasn't stopped the "Insightful" and "Informative" mods about how this is an example of Apple's so-called "walled garden".

    This is an article about a web site doing browser sniffing, and it devolves into attacks and defenses on Apple has a company. This has nothing to do with Apple, this is a story about the New York Post doing browser sniffing.

    Yet even *you* engaged in attacking Apple. And your lumping together of "attacks and defenses" is unreasonable. The attacks are non sequitur (as you've just stated), but the defenses naturally follow from the unwarranted attacks.

    They've been an ass in the past, and they probably will continue to be in the future, but they haven't done anything wrong with regard to this specific issue and there's no reason to either attack them over it OR defend them over it.

    Um... There's no reason to attack them. The attacks are the reason to defend them.

  53. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 1

    After all, if they were doing this on Android (which they just as easily can)...

    But no one IS doing this on Android, and they WON'T, because a phone company and/or manufacturer who did would find their market share ebbing away.

    Do you really not understand the difference between Apple and... the rest of the world, and why some of us dislike them enough to avoid their locked in shiny?

    Do you even know what is being discussed here? This has absolutely nothing to do with the actions of Apple or the phone company. It's the NY Post which is doing the thing being discussed, and they can quite easily do the exact same for Android tablets as they are doing for the iPad.

  54. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd like to think Mr. Jobs here for joining us today. We all appreciate you taking time out from your busy schedule as a controlling tyrannical megalomaniac to share with us lowly humans your wisdom.
    Please inform me how I can overpay for shiny products that are style over substance and lock me into only hearing your voice.

  55. Re:"can't"? Inaccurate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    do the DMCA changes that make it legal to jailbreak your "mobile phone" apply to the iPad? I am not so sure.

    I think it is still illegal in the US to jailbreak your iPad (break the digital lock on your iPad). At least Sony would think so.

  56. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by node+3 · · Score: 1

    It may surprise you to know this, but there are hundreds of millions of iOS users. The vast majority of them are quite happy with their device. There are tens of millions of iPad owners, again overwhelmingly happy with their iPad.

    Apple is one of the most well respected companies in the world. They are the second most valuable public company ever to exist, and their products are highly regarded.

    The population of anti-Apple nerds, which are rife on sites like slashdot, are an extremely small minority. Of the hundreds of millions of satisfied Apple customers, only one of them is Steve Jobs (potential name coincidences aside. only one of them is *that* Steve Jobs at any rate).

    So, although you may live in a sheltered echo-chamber and anti-Apple sentiment, like I said at first, it may surprise you to know that there are plenty of people other than Steve Jobs who might have something nice to say about Apple.

  57. It's not apple's fault that "your stupid". by Brannon · · Score: 1

    Maybe you could redirect your rage at the school system which produced you.

    Or better yet, discover girls, move out of Mom's basement, find some more important machine to rage against.

  58. oh the humanity by a803redman · · Score: 1

    How dare an organization demand payment for news product that they invest capital to generate! Oh let me guess you can get it somewhere else free. Indeed. From one of the thousands of blogs, but then again there is no standard for that. You get super slanted surface skimmed coverage in most but not all cases. In this country where a man can hardly afford to buy an IPad how can he be expected to spends pennies a day to pay for content. Next you will be will be complaining about paying taxes while demanding new roads and schools, life is so unfair. No I do not work at a newspaper

    1. Re:oh the humanity by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      How dare an organization demand payment for news product that they invest capital to generate! Oh let me guess you can get it somewhere else free. Indeed. From one of the thousands of blogs, but then again there is no standard for that. You get super slanted surface skimmed coverage in most but not all cases. In this country where a man can hardly afford to buy an IPad how can he be expected to spends pennies a day to pay for content. Next you will be will be complaining about paying taxes while demanding new roads and schools, life is so unfair. No I do not work at a newspaper

      You kinda missed the point. They didn't need to use an app for this, they could have just set up their Web site with a paywall. That would have accomplished the same thing (make users pay to see content) without all the controversy.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    2. Re:oh the humanity by a803redman · · Score: 1

      No, the screaming would have been louder if they would have done that. This is a test in a small and controllable environment not to mention that almost all IPad users have access to a traditional machine and can still view for free. This is about expectations, anything digital should be free, we deserve it, its our right. Life, Liberty and a Free Net. If these content producers can't generate revenue it will diminish original reporting. That will be to the detriment of us all, the sad part is most of us have not even noticed what we have already lost.

  59. Re: Walled Garden by psiclops · · Score: 1

    And:

    "Possibly because the intersection of the set of "People who use an iPad " and "People who understand what a User-Agent String is" is pretty much a null set."

    Would have more accurately conveyed yours.

    --
    i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
  60. NY Post restricts readership? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then nothing of value was lost....

  61. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 1

    Not to the same extent. I'm not making a claim about whether he's saying NY Post readers are stupid, I'm simply not addressing that part, whereas RyuuzakiTetsuya is saying that he's *not* making a claim about iPad owners and only about NY Post readers.

    I'm only addressing part of ColdWetDog's post. Ryu was saying that part was completely not relevant.

  62. Re: Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I understand you correctly you are dead wrong. Any Slashdot user who touches an Apple product deserves his bitcoin collection taken away and Slashdot privileges suspended.

  63. No need by Slur · · Score: 1

    Instead of reading the New York Post I'm reading "The Origin of the Species" off Project Gutenberg with the Stanza app. It's a really great book, and it only takes as long to read as -like- 100 perusals of NY Post issues. But the best part is that Darwin isn't poking me in the eye with a stick covered in shit.

    --
    -- thinkyhead software and media
  64. Re:"can't"? Inaccurate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But iPad users can leave any time as well.

    If they are willing to abandon the catalog of apps they bought, apps that they can't transfer to whomever they give/sell their ipad too.

  65. Re:"can't"? Inaccurate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow. Steve Jobs released his biatches in droves today. One negative commend and we have Node3 followed by superkendall, oh my!!!

  66. Re: Walled Garden by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

    And do you even know why such assfucking happens only to Apple users? Yep, you guessed it right - because they like it so.

    We might have meaningful discussion once your eyes clear off the haze resulting from the ass-banging by Steve Jobs. Let us know when that happens.

  67. What's your Tech IQ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your current needs as well as things you may like to do in the future. Apple's focus is on making you feel like a tech genius even though your true tech IQ is low. The problem comes in when you really have a higher tech IQ and need/want to do more advanced things with your device. The higher your tech IQ gets the more you bump your head against the tall Apple wall. That's when you start to feel the pain of realizing that if you leave Apple you're leaving all those dollars you spent on Apple apps & gear behind inside the wall. After a while you don't care anymore and you just walk away from it all. Of course there are always those who would rather tell themselves that if Apple doesn't want them to do something then they shouldn't be wanting to do it in the first place.

    1. Re:What's your Tech IQ? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Of course there are always those who would rather tell themselves that if Apple doesn't want them to do something then they shouldn't be wanting to do it in the first place.

      Amen. I've noticed that effect on many occasions. It's not just Apple users, of course, the human mind has an almost infinite capacity to rationalize, rather than think rationally, but it's prevalent among that crowd. Back in my G1 days, I was running Cyanogenmod, had overclocked the thing to the point where it was useful for multitasking, and was happily driving around running nav and playing music and making phone calls. Then I had an iPhone user ask me, "so why would you want to multitask anyway?"

      Now, the answer was obvious to both of us, so it wasn't actually a serious question. What it was a state of denial: the iPhone can't do it, so therefore it simply isn't worth doing. Now I understand why Apple didn't allow multitasking in earlier revisions of the iPhone: not enough performance to keep the experience as smooth and seamless as their users expected it to be. And yeah, even overclocked that G1 got a bit jerky at times (times change though, currently I have a G2 running CM7: the thing is so fast that I usually underclock it.) That was a worthwhile tradeoff to me, but I realize that it wouldn't be for many people. So I'm not dinging Apple here, really I'm not. But there's a significant number of iPhone users who are like Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein when he looks at his own deformed shoulder and says, "What hump?"

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  68. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 1

    Well, we can't all make such meaningful contributions like your stellar example above, what with the ad hominem and absurd sexual aspersions.

  69. Re: Walled Garden by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

    Have you read that Murdoch piece of crap? It is for utter morons and people who need cheap sources of newspaper.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  70. WORST...PAPER...EVER by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

    nuff said

    --
    http://www.acetonestudio.com
  71. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 1

    I'm not defending the NY Post (or its readers). I'm just addressing the tendency on slashdot to act like Apple users are stupid, of which ColdWetDog's post is an example of.

    It is possible to interpret his post without any malice towards iPad owners, I just don't find that very likely, especially given the context and the deliberate choice of wording.

  72. George M. Howell in his own words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On being an admitted TROLL that stalks & harasses others here on slashdot:

    (Quotes from troll gmhowell say it all)

    ---

    "I've been trolling people for 36 years. Why would I stop now? I've also never denied trolling" - by gmhowell (26755) on Sunday April 17, @05:03AM (#35846218) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2087330&cid=35846218

    ---

    "I never denied trolling you. And the only person I troll under the AC banner is (name withheld). - by gmhowell (26755) on Tuesday December 14 2010, @02:55AM (#34543612) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1907528&cid=34543612

    ---

    "I saw an opportunity to troll you" - by gmhowell (26755) on Monday December 13, @06:56PM (#34541134) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1907528&cid=34541134

    ---

    "I do whatever amuses me at the moment. Sometimes that is trolling. As far as AC? I only do that to avoid undoing moderations." - by gmhowell (26755) on Wednesday April 20, @12:49AM (#35877174) Homepage

    ---

    This IS why nobody here takes you seriously, or pays you any mind, gmhowell (or should I say George M. Howell): You're a troll!

    (Steer clear of that scumbag gmhowell people)

    1. Re:George M. Howell in his own words by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      dear anonymous coward:

      the only thing i get from your post is that you have a serious stalking problem

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    2. Re:George M. Howell in his own words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot has degenerated to a bunch of whiney-ass bitches. Many of them here don't want to hear that Apple is finally delivering the promise of simple computing to the ones who really want it. For DECADES, the roost was ruled by geeks who would keep computing so complicated and convoluted that nobody but them could use the technology. That apparently gave the geeks the privilege of calling everyone else "stupid". Now, the geeks are angry that they're becoming obsolete or something and Apple is "evil" for their accomplishments - and there's good agreement about that from most of you without every really touching an Apple device. After all this time of tweeks and hacks and fidgets and boogers you've eaten in your mom's basements, you've given us nothing but a steaming pile of shit that steals your identity and blows advertising at you. So, fuck off, assholes. Keep trying to cram those invasive pieces of shit Flash and Android down everyone's throat and keep 'em bewildered... and stupid.

      There. I said it. (from a remorseful Xoom user because I believed you)

  73. George M. Howell in his own words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On being an admitted TROLL that stalks & harasses others here on slashdot:

    (Quotes from troll gmhowell say it all)

    ---

    "I've been trolling people for 36 years. Why would I stop now? I've also never denied trolling" - by gmhowell (26755) on Sunday April 17, @05:03AM (#35846218) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2087330&cid=35846218

    ---

    "I never denied trolling you. And the only person I troll under the AC banner is (name withheld). - by gmhowell (26755) on Tuesday December 14 2010, @02:55AM (#34543612) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1907528&cid=34543612

    ---

    "I saw an opportunity to troll you" - by gmhowell (26755) on Monday December 13, @06:56PM (#34541134) Homepage Journal

    FROM -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1907528&cid=34541134

    ---

    "I do whatever amuses me at the moment. Sometimes that is trolling. As far as AC? I only do that to avoid undoing moderations." - by gmhowell (26755) on Wednesday April 20, @12:49AM (#35877174) Homepage

    ---

    This IS why nobody here takes you seriously, or pays you any mind, gmhowell (or should I say George M. Howell): You're a troll!

    (Steer clear of that scumbag gmhowell people)

  74. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

    For the forseable future.

    I think "forceable future" pretty much describes Apple's approach to the iPhone and its customer base.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  75. And nothing of value was lost... by adavidw · · Score: 1

    Srsly, it's the NY Post

  76. Re: Walled Garden by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    Jesus H. Christ folks. I'm trying to make a half assed amusing comment using Venn Diagrams and you guys go all extraterrestrial. Sometimes I wish we could draw in stick figures like XKCD - ASCII obviously isn't working here (and Unicode apparently never will). Relax all, have a nice dose of your favorite mind altering substance.

    If you want to go all pedantic and confusing, I would suggest the current Bitcoin thread. It has everything you need.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  77. Re: Walled Garden by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    And I like the iPad. I gave one to my mom. My stepdaughter keeps telling us to get one and I keep thinking about it, I just can't figure out what I would do with it and I'm trying to avoid putting a computer on every flat surface in the house just on general principles.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  78. Re: Walled Garden by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

    oh, I thought you were saying just exactly that iPad users were stupid, not trying to dismiss that common meme.

    I was saying that the Venn Diagram overlap of people who use iPads and the people who read the New York Post tends to be very low because they're reading the Post.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  79. Dear sockpuppet circletimessquare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck off. George seems to be the troll here, and I hate trolls as much as the ac does. They're rat weasel cowards.

  80. Re: Walled Garden by node+3 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I think we are pretty much in agreement, just looking at the same thing from a different angle.

  81. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by rbrausse · · Score: 1

    Apple doesn't look at an app and think, "oh no, this gives the user freedom to do something, this must stop!"

    replace "Apple" with "Gnome Project" and your sentence is true :)

  82. Re: Walled Garden by intheshelter · · Score: 1

    Possibly because the intersection of the set of "People who use an iPad and browse dumb sites like the NY Post" and "People who CARE what a User-Agent String is" is pretty much a null set.

    FTFY

  83. Malware delivery anyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So what kind of spyware did you just download?

  84. Re:Alternate browsers available? for how long? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

    No, but it's a huge fucking stretch to assume it's even remotely likely.

    For certain values of "huge", apparently. Eye of the beholder, and all that. I personally don't see it as that much of a stretch. Nothing that improves Apple's bottom line is ever a stretch.

    [citation needed]

    Really? Are you willfully ignorant, or is it not by choice? Explain how the iPhone exclusivity deal with AT&T, whereby iPhone customers are not free to choose their own carrier, is good for the customers. This is the same argument that Sony and other companies gave with regard to DRM, that DRM was there to "help consumers manage their rights", instead of screwing legitimate customers for the benefit of the content industry. The exclusivity deal does not help Apple customers, the customers are screwed for the benefit of Apple and AT&T.

    Apple makes the agreements it needs to in order to gain access to important third party goods and services.

    Hey man, you can justify it all you want. If Apple requires user agent strings to be accurate, I'm sure you'll be saying that they needed to do that in order to "gain access to important third-party goods and services." Namely, the money of third-parties going into Apple's account. Apple didn't need to make an agreement with AT&T, they could have opened up the iPhone to all carriers and all of them, every single one, would have been scrambling for it. I would love to quote a number for you about how much AT&T paid Apple for that privilege, but the contract between them that affects you as their customer is not public. You seem pretty OK about that, though. You're trying to get people to come up with actual scenarios whereby Apple would make a change like this, but those agreements are not, and never have been, public.

    And your lumping together of "attacks and defenses" is unreasonable.

    It's not "unreasonable" to call fanboys fanboys. The Apple-bashing fanboys pile on, and the Apple-defending fanboys are right behind them.

    Um... There's no reason to attack them. The attacks are the reason to defend them.

    And why do you feel the need to defend them? If the attacks are not based on fact, why not just ignore them? Why is it worth your time to defend Apple? If no one bothered to defend them, the attacks would stop.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  85. Re: Walled Garden by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 1

    > I'm trying to avoid putting a computer on every flat surface in the house

    Ah, so you do use windows?

  86. NY Post app not ready for primetime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I didn't want to buy it but did. Still can't find the article I wanted to read linked by Instapundit, and there is no connection between the app and links to NY Post pieces posted by bloggers. There's no Help in the app and I want my $$ back so now have to wait until I'm on my computer to send the irate email. This is not going to increase NY Post readers but decrease them! Don't get the app - it's $2 of glitches and the same ad 30 times as you scroll through, and most of the paper is garbage anyway.