Why do you consider that a good thing? Are you a big Internet Explorer fan? I'd much rather have functionality independently selectable so that I can choose which I want, and upgrade it (or not) as I choose.
As despicable as Microsoft was, if you were on the web back in 1999, you'd realize that IE4 and IE5 were *considerably* more capable than Netscape was at the time (this is before Mozilla). So yes, there is a period where IE did have lots of fans.
I pretty much lived off Internet Explorer until Firefox (nee Firebird) came by and saved my soul (which I've used almost exclusively until Chrome came around).
Perhaps Apple's integrated (closed) model will be defeated by Google, but in the interim, show me a different voice control app that allows me to say the following "Remind me to call Chase bank at 18005243880 tomorrow morning when I leave the house" and have it *actually do that*.. this is the exact wording I used last night and it got it perfectly, and the reminder triggered on morning commute.
If the shareholders are really going to fire Elop, they should first fire the Board that hand-selected him.
Perhaps the shareholders that did "get it" decided to leave in droves and never come back [1]... voting with your (lack of) participation is sometimes the most powerful message you can send.
AT&T already lost me as a customer permanently based on their high rates and higher opinion of themselves and their quality of service.
Double 'em, Triple 'em, that'll show the consumer!
You'll be singing a different tune when VZ, Sprint and Tmobile follow quickly in succession to also raise rates. I ditched AT&T for VZ also because their voice quality simply sucks where I live, but I have no hope that VZ isn't eagerly awaiting whatever "waiting period" the regulators watch so they can raise rates and not appear to be a "cartel".
My god. We might have to self-sign our own certificates.
You assume this (current) workaround will be allowed to exist. Who's to say that SOPA2 won't require you get approval from a government-run (aka taxpayer funded), MAFIAA-approved cert as a cost of running your own website?
It's not difficult to see what future fantasies the content mafia is likely masturbating to today?
So now we can spend money on stupid stuff (like segway clones) that were already proven failures by other companies (Segway).
Segway was a failure because it's too goddamned expensive. Six grand? I only spent ten on my car. When the patents run out and they're a hundred bucks each, everybody will have one.
The volt isn't selling better for the same reason. A teeny little car that costs more than my full sized sedan did new, has limited range, etc? No thanks.
Amen. This is why the Prius was successful - back in 2004, when they released the 2nd (less dinky looking) version, it was a) the least expensive car that had smart-key tech, bluetooth and nav options and b) a really good deal despite being a hybrid.
The Prius cost has changed a bit (I priced out a newer model and was amazed by how much more expensive it is now - it's probably at price/value parity - natural considering the brand is firmly established), but the lesson is real: for mass-adoption to occur, pricing is a key element. This is why pricing innovation can be as important as technical innovation.
If you want quality, the masses think, you need to get a Mac/iPod/iPad/etc.
I love this "the masses think" remark, because it exposes your elitism as well as lack of touch. Many famous and prolific hackers use Macs/iPhones/iPads. Are they the "masses" that you speak of?
Recently I've had to use a non-mac (Thinkpad) for my work laptop... and it chafes. Not only would I be more productive with OSX, the hardware itself is archaic. It contains an optical drive that I never use (think: all software and licensing in large companies are now automated - no discs necessary). It weighs more than the equivalent Mac, and it occasionally stalls at random intervals. I would switch back in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.
It's more than just "fashion" as most Apple-crtics deride - it's design. Both hardware and software. Sure it may not have the latest features or be as fast as the competition, but the reason for that is often that Apple couldn't find a way to do it and keep the size/heat/battery profiles within reasonable bounds (with exceptions.: BlueRay).
Maybe the problem is having a business model that is incompatible with sharing of information.
From the inception of the information revolution, information became easy to copy. It will be that way until you take away all computers and networks.
The real question - is there something we can do to reduce the damages these powerful industries do, while kicking and screaming on their way to irrelevance?
You might get more response from him if you fund a challenger. Lamar Smith (and Patrick Leahy) would be prime candidates for influence via opposition, not support. Fuck their racket, get an opponent to so they sweat re-election.
They're a bit late to this game, Amazon is pretty entrenched with Kindles already in most people's hands, and at prices which are far more approachable than iPads. It takes a lot of FREE (beer) books to make up the purchase cost of an iPad, and most books aren't free [beer].
You do realize that Amazon never really reveals how many Kindles it has sold... the closest is a total number (including the Fire) for 2011 Q4 - per week. I'd be willing to bet that Apple's iOS installed base is at least 5x the size of Amazon's Kindle base. Dem's a lot of Apples.
The US has created a system that is terrified that someone, somewhere, is not making money in perpetuity on property they did not create.
Laws are written to meet the needs of their constituency. This (now constitutionally approved) law just proves that "The People" (via strict constructionist interpretation) really means "The Money". Ever since Citizens United [1], I've expected this. We're about to take a long slide down the slippery slope.
If they still operate like the one in my OLPC computer (I can't view the link at work), you disable color to make the screen daylight viewable. while annoying to some people, I think it's a fair tradeoff , and it works remarkably well.
While a fair tradeoff, it does require that the UI not look like shit when color is missing. Is that something that's true of all Android UIs including apps? How about (likely worse) Windows?
OLPC, somewhat like Apple, can get away with it because the UI is likely optimized for the hardware. PixelQI is not something you can just slap into a device by replacing the LCD. It gets even worse for OSs with large 3rd party software stores - it would be a large undertaking if, for example, Apple created a new iPad/iPhone with this tech. It would a much bigger undertaking for your Acer/HTC/Samsung to do this without extensive OS support and ability to set distribution compliance standards... Google would need to step up and own this... perhaps Googlerola could drive it forward.
I asked the Google TV person why they weren't supporting multi-touch (at least 2 finger touch) from Bluetooth keyboards/keypads that could provide this capability and hence open up pretty much the full market to Google TV 2.0. he said the capability wasn't in the OS/libraries at all because some OEMs - he specifically mentioned Sony - couldn't support it in their devices. What an amazingly stupid decision.
The reality is that "touch" requires very rapid response in order to work. The mouse was popularized because it abstracted the "touch" using an onscreen pointer... this worked for decades while touch-based technology (disintermediating the onscreen pointer) floundered.
How would you abstract a two-finger touch to a relevant touch even on the display?
Little appreciated here on Slashdot is the fact that SOPA was as unpopular on the right side of the spectrum as it was on the left.
It's more accurate to model political affiliation in 2 dimensions [1], authoritarian/liberal vs. conservative/progressive. If you look at Congress, the problem is that most elected representatives on both sides of the spectrum are authoritarian despite whether they're conservative or progressive... meaning there are almost no true liberals (free love AND free trade, ie, left-libertarians) representing us (one could say they don't represent the people anymore).
By this measure, SOPA was a full-on authoritarian bill. It was popular in DC, because it catered to big business which loves authoritarian legislation (removes uncertainty and easy to game) and it was fully business friendly.
It also highlights the fact that the Internet as it currently stands is a true bastion of liberalism. For all it's warts and dangers, it is a bulwark against the 1984-style authoritarian singularity. We must defend it.
They are much safer when they're not in the hands of people who have no real use for them.
What a remarkable statement to say. There are two obvious counterarguments. First, it's your health. Even if you can't understand much of it, you have a huge stake in what's in there and what you can understand may have significant health benefits for you. That's a big, real use of those records.
Second, I doubt it's that hard to make use of your own medical records. You don't have to have the extensive knowledge of a doctor in order to keep track of your problems. The knowledge problem is far more limited and you have a head start in understanding in that you are experiencing the medical conditions described in your medical report.
Furthermore, as a parent, I have to keep my child's immunization record, and if I don't have it when registering my child for a new school, I'm in serious shit.
Anyone who is a parent is well aware of keeping medical records... we put our kid's record where we keep our passports and other "don't fucking lose this" papers.
Your whole position is predicated on the ability of the pile to broadcast it's location.
The cash broadcasts it's location by it's absence on record.
The fact is, I'm sure there is someone who was interested in that cash, just not on record by the police. Reclaiming $300K (by physical or legal force) from the police is one thing, getting it back from a corrupt cop is quite another.
I grew up with a guy that didn't have a lot going for him, not a lot of ambition, who finally decided it was time for work, and became a State Trooper. He told me that once when he was searching a crime scene he found a box with almost $300 thousand in it, and none of his fellow officers saw him find it. I asked him if he kept it, because it's the kind of thing I would do: There was plenty of other evidence, the money was not stolen and had no rightful owner to which it could be returned.
No, he turned it in.
$300K sitting around spells danger. I wouldn't have taken it, as a) it might cost me my job which I like and b) dangerous folks might come looking to reclaim it, surreptitiously.
No, your friend probably did the right thing for him in the long run: avoid the risk that comes with a large pile of cash sitting around. However, skimming a bit off the top of millions of pockets of change - no risk in that.
I never did get the "rigidity" a lot of AD&D hard core players had in their material - if it wasnt in the book, its not allowed, if it isnt done on a dice role, it isnt allowed etc. I walked away from a lot of groups between the ages of 16 and 22 or so because of that.
Some of the best role playing I have ever done was with a DM who didn't use any books, didnt use any dice, and jotted rough layouts on paper when they were needed - everything came out of his mind, he made the decisions and the story.
So, what I think I am trying to say, is that I agree with you in sticking to the 1st edition - and I hope you stick loosely to it;)
Sounds like you would have loved to play the Amber role-playing game [1]. I only played once, and loved it (though it was just not well known enough to get multiple playings - and the requirements for a good GM were pretty harsh).
The next best session I ever played was a live-action session (minimal dice/stats, but required multiple DMs with tight comms, played more like a mystery), and the best after that was a battle-royal with stock characters.
Or just shut the water off while you're on vacation.
If you're in a freezing climate, turning off water may not be advisable... in fact, I remember last time I was in such a situation, they recommended to keep water dripping [1] so the pipes didn't freeze (and burst).
Ever try to load Gmail over a high latency connection? Anything with a lot of redirects will cause an issue - and that is a lot more stuff than you think...
Sounds like a problem that could be solved by SPDY. Perhaps Amazon's Silk Cloud Acceleration is exactly what satellite internet needs.
The tax breaks taken by companies are not subsidies, especially since they are not by any means limited to gasoline companies but just general category tax breaks. Moreover, "social costs" aren't costs other than what number they put on them, which is meaningless.
What in the world are you talking about? They specifically (energy companies) get subsidies on oil refining, exploration [1] as well as securing those assets (see: Iraq War and Xe security - all paid for by US tax dollars).
However, I for one would be interested to find out what the true cost of a gallon of gasoline is.
Someone has apparently done some research [1] on this topic. Apparently simply by removing the subsidies for the oil companies and other un-counted costs, the true cost goes up to something like $15/gallon.
Also did you know in iOS you can't even download something while doing something else? So say you are downloading a big PPT file and you're bored so you figure you can browse the web while waiting. Nope, you just downloaded 100 MB and it was killed at 86 MB. That's pathetic in the year 2012.
I know for a fact this is untrue, I just did it on my iPhone right now in the Mail app (in fact it's been there since the original iPhone).
"The best camera is the one you have with you" is a well known saying in photography. I have collected, and had the experience to work with, over the years, numerous cameras, lenses and videocams. Here are some of my learned truths:
1) Form factor matters - if you don't have the camera, you won't use it. My best pictures are from my DSLR with a big bounce-flash+diffuser and a nifty-fifty [1] prime lens. For close-ups and portrait style, this camera is really hard to beat... however, I almost never have this camera (or it's bukly flash) with me. I've resorted to taking some pretty decent pictures with my wife's point-n-shoot , and surprisingly my iPhone.
2) Video and Still pictures are two separate competencies. My best videos were with the aforementioned point and shoot, the next best with the iPhone. I almost never take video with the bulky DSLR, and when I do, the lack of auto-focus on video makes it difficult to do properly.
3) I've never tried the EVIL/MILC, but they seem like a great idea... just terribly expensive.
My recommendation would be to have several camera types (phone, P&S, DSLR) so that you can have availability and quality. the EVIL/MILC will never beat the bounce-flash equipped DSLR and prime lens (which would pale in comparison to a properly setup studio and multi-flash setup - but I can't afford that). In my world, the MILC would replace the point-and-shoot, and I'd still take the DSLR wherever I would normally take it (parties and events), but it'd be awesome to have almost-DSLR quality on my hikes. Recently I've been very impressed by my new iPhone4S so it might replace the P&S completely.
I think your problem might be a case of simple PEBKAC.
It's attitudes like yours that explain why Android and iOS are the future for many computer users. Blaming the user for an easily exploitable system will drive them fully into the arms of walled gardens and locked bootloaders. Perhaps that's where they want to be - and maybe that's good for the sanity of geeks like you and me. However, I think in the long run, defaulting users to locked systems is a bad thing for software freedom and the availability of general purpose computing devices.
Slashdot Mirror
Why do you consider that a good thing? Are you a big Internet Explorer fan? I'd much rather have functionality independently selectable so that I can choose which I want, and upgrade it (or not) as I choose.
As despicable as Microsoft was, if you were on the web back in 1999, you'd realize that IE4 and IE5 were *considerably* more capable than Netscape was at the time (this is before Mozilla). So yes, there is a period where IE did have lots of fans.
I pretty much lived off Internet Explorer until Firefox (nee Firebird) came by and saved my soul (which I've used almost exclusively until Chrome came around).
Perhaps Apple's integrated (closed) model will be defeated by Google, but in the interim, show me a different voice control app that allows me to say the following "Remind me to call Chase bank at 18005243880 tomorrow morning when I leave the house" and have it *actually do that*.. this is the exact wording I used last night and it got it perfectly, and the reminder triggered on morning commute.
Elop should just be fired by the shareholders
If the shareholders are really going to fire Elop, they should first fire the Board that hand-selected him.
Perhaps the shareholders that did "get it" decided to leave in droves and never come back [1]... voting with your (lack of) participation is sometimes the most powerful message you can send.
[1] https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:NOK
AT&T already lost me as a customer permanently based on their high rates and higher opinion of themselves and their quality of service.
Double 'em, Triple 'em, that'll show the consumer!
You'll be singing a different tune when VZ, Sprint and Tmobile follow quickly in succession to also raise rates. I ditched AT&T for VZ also because their voice quality simply sucks where I live, but I have no hope that VZ isn't eagerly awaiting whatever "waiting period" the regulators watch so they can raise rates and not appear to be a "cartel".
My god. We might have to self-sign our own certificates.
You assume this (current) workaround will be allowed to exist. Who's to say that SOPA2 won't require you get approval from a government-run (aka taxpayer funded), MAFIAA-approved cert as a cost of running your own website?
It's not difficult to see what future fantasies the content mafia is likely masturbating to today?
So now we can spend money on stupid stuff (like segway clones) that were already proven failures by other companies (Segway).
Segway was a failure because it's too goddamned expensive. Six grand? I only spent ten on my car. When the patents run out and they're a hundred bucks each, everybody will have one.
The volt isn't selling better for the same reason. A teeny little car that costs more than my full sized sedan did new, has limited range, etc? No thanks.
Amen. This is why the Prius was successful - back in 2004, when they released the 2nd (less dinky looking) version, it was a) the least expensive car that had smart-key tech, bluetooth and nav options and b) a really good deal despite being a hybrid.
The Prius cost has changed a bit (I priced out a newer model and was amazed by how much more expensive it is now - it's probably at price/value parity - natural considering the brand is firmly established), but the lesson is real: for mass-adoption to occur, pricing is a key element. This is why pricing innovation can be as important as technical innovation.
If you want quality, the masses think, you need to get a Mac/iPod/iPad/etc.
I love this "the masses think" remark, because it exposes your elitism as well as lack of touch. Many famous and prolific hackers use Macs/iPhones/iPads. Are they the "masses" that you speak of?
Recently I've had to use a non-mac (Thinkpad) for my work laptop... and it chafes. Not only would I be more productive with OSX, the hardware itself is archaic. It contains an optical drive that I never use (think: all software and licensing in large companies are now automated - no discs necessary). It weighs more than the equivalent Mac, and it occasionally stalls at random intervals. I would switch back in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.
It's more than just "fashion" as most Apple-crtics deride - it's design. Both hardware and software. Sure it may not have the latest features or be as fast as the competition, but the reason for that is often that Apple couldn't find a way to do it and keep the size/heat/battery profiles within reasonable bounds (with exceptions.: BlueRay).
Maybe the problem is having a business model that is incompatible with sharing of information.
From the inception of the information revolution, information became easy to copy. It will be that way until you take away all computers and networks.
The real question - is there something we can do to reduce the damages these powerful industries do, while kicking and screaming on their way to irrelevance?
I'm sorry, if you want Congressman Smith to listen to you please insert $100k to his campaign every other year like the entertainment industry does: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2008&type=C&cid=N00001811&newMem=N&recs=20
You might get more response from him if you fund a challenger. Lamar Smith (and Patrick Leahy) would be prime candidates for influence via opposition, not support. Fuck their racket, get an opponent to so they sweat re-election.
They're a bit late to this game, Amazon is pretty entrenched with Kindles already in most people's hands, and at prices which are far more approachable than iPads. It takes a lot of FREE (beer) books to make up the purchase cost of an iPad, and most books aren't free [beer].
You do realize that Amazon never really reveals how many Kindles it has sold... the closest is a total number (including the Fire) for 2011 Q4 - per week. I'd be willing to bet that Apple's iOS installed base is at least 5x the size of Amazon's Kindle base. Dem's a lot of Apples.
The US has created a system that is terrified that someone, somewhere, is not making money in perpetuity on property they did not create.
Laws are written to meet the needs of their constituency. This (now constitutionally approved) law just proves that "The People" (via strict constructionist interpretation) really means "The Money". Ever since Citizens United [1], I've expected this. We're about to take a long slide down the slippery slope.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission
If they still operate like the one in my OLPC computer (I can't view the link at work), you disable color to make the screen daylight viewable. while annoying to some people, I think it's a fair tradeoff , and it works remarkably well.
While a fair tradeoff, it does require that the UI not look like shit when color is missing. Is that something that's true of all Android UIs including apps? How about (likely worse) Windows?
OLPC, somewhat like Apple, can get away with it because the UI is likely optimized for the hardware. PixelQI is not something you can just slap into a device by replacing the LCD. It gets even worse for OSs with large 3rd party software stores - it would be a large undertaking if, for example, Apple created a new iPad/iPhone with this tech. It would a much bigger undertaking for your Acer/HTC/Samsung to do this without extensive OS support and ability to set distribution compliance standards... Google would need to step up and own this... perhaps Googlerola could drive it forward.
I asked the Google TV person why they weren't supporting multi-touch (at least 2 finger touch) from Bluetooth keyboards/keypads that could provide this capability and hence open up pretty much the full market to Google TV 2.0. he said the capability wasn't in the OS/libraries at all because some OEMs - he specifically mentioned Sony - couldn't support it in their devices. What an amazingly stupid decision.
The reality is that "touch" requires very rapid response in order to work. The mouse was popularized because it abstracted the "touch" using an onscreen pointer... this worked for decades while touch-based technology (disintermediating the onscreen pointer) floundered.
How would you abstract a two-finger touch to a relevant touch even on the display?
But not in the way many slashdotters might think.
Little appreciated here on Slashdot is the fact that SOPA was as unpopular on the right side of the spectrum as it was on the left.
It's more accurate to model political affiliation in 2 dimensions [1], authoritarian/liberal vs. conservative/progressive. If you look at Congress, the problem is that most elected representatives on both sides of the spectrum are authoritarian despite whether they're conservative or progressive... meaning there are almost no true liberals (free love AND free trade, ie, left-libertarians) representing us (one could say they don't represent the people anymore).
By this measure, SOPA was a full-on authoritarian bill. It was popular in DC, because it catered to big business which loves authoritarian legislation (removes uncertainty and easy to game) and it was fully business friendly.
It also highlights the fact that the Internet as it currently stands is a true bastion of liberalism. For all it's warts and dangers, it is a bulwark against the 1984-style authoritarian singularity. We must defend it.
[1] http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2
They are much safer when they're not in the hands of people who have no real use for them.
What a remarkable statement to say. There are two obvious counterarguments. First, it's your health. Even if you can't understand much of it, you have a huge stake in what's in there and what you can understand may have significant health benefits for you. That's a big, real use of those records.
Second, I doubt it's that hard to make use of your own medical records. You don't have to have the extensive knowledge of a doctor in order to keep track of your problems. The knowledge problem is far more limited and you have a head start in understanding in that you are experiencing the medical conditions described in your medical report.
Furthermore, as a parent, I have to keep my child's immunization record, and if I don't have it when registering my child for a new school, I'm in serious shit.
Anyone who is a parent is well aware of keeping medical records... we put our kid's record where we keep our passports and other "don't fucking lose this" papers.
I hear this big pile of cash argument a lot.
The premise is invalid though.
How do people know about this big pile of cash?
Your whole position is predicated on the ability of the pile to broadcast it's location.
The cash broadcasts it's location by it's absence on record.
The fact is, I'm sure there is someone who was interested in that cash, just not on record by the police. Reclaiming $300K (by physical or legal force) from the police is one thing, getting it back from a corrupt cop is quite another.
I grew up with a guy that didn't have a lot going for him, not a lot of ambition, who finally decided it was time for work, and became a State Trooper. He told me that once when he was searching a crime scene he found a box with almost $300 thousand in it, and none of his fellow officers saw him find it. I asked him if he kept it, because it's the kind of thing I would do: There was plenty of other evidence, the money was not stolen and had no rightful owner to which it could be returned.
No, he turned it in.
$300K sitting around spells danger. I wouldn't have taken it, as a) it might cost me my job which I like and b) dangerous folks might come looking to reclaim it, surreptitiously.
No, your friend probably did the right thing for him in the long run: avoid the risk that comes with a large pile of cash sitting around. However, skimming a bit off the top of millions of pockets of change - no risk in that.
Finally, the year of linux on the TV is here !
My TiVo Series2 from 2003 been running linux for years.. and that's a v2 product.
I never did get the "rigidity" a lot of AD&D hard core players had in their material - if it wasnt in the book, its not allowed, if it isnt done on a dice role, it isnt allowed etc. I walked away from a lot of groups between the ages of 16 and 22 or so because of that.
Some of the best role playing I have ever done was with a DM who didn't use any books, didnt use any dice, and jotted rough layouts on paper when they were needed - everything came out of his mind, he made the decisions and the story.
So, what I think I am trying to say, is that I agree with you in sticking to the 1st edition - and I hope you stick loosely to it ;)
Sounds like you would have loved to play the Amber role-playing game [1]. I only played once, and loved it (though it was just not well known enough to get multiple playings - and the requirements for a good GM were pretty harsh).
The next best session I ever played was a live-action session (minimal dice/stats, but required multiple DMs with tight comms, played more like a mystery), and the best after that was a battle-royal with stock characters.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game
Or just shut the water off while you're on vacation.
If you're in a freezing climate, turning off water may not be advisable... in fact, I remember last time I was in such a situation, they recommended to keep water dripping [1] so the pipes didn't freeze (and burst).
[1] http://www.weather.com/activities/homeandgarden/home/hometips/severeweather/pipefreeze_prevent.html
Ever try to load Gmail over a high latency connection? Anything with a lot of redirects will cause an issue - and that is a lot more stuff than you think...
Sounds like a problem that could be solved by SPDY. Perhaps Amazon's Silk Cloud Acceleration is exactly what satellite internet needs.
The tax breaks taken by companies are not subsidies, especially since they are not by any means limited to gasoline companies but just general category tax breaks. Moreover, "social costs" aren't costs other than what number they put on them, which is meaningless.
What in the world are you talking about? They specifically (energy companies) get subsidies on oil refining, exploration [1] as well as securing those assets (see: Iraq War and Xe security - all paid for by US tax dollars).
[1] http://askville.amazon.com/explain-subsidy-oil-producing-firms/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=182382
However, I for one would be interested to find out what the true cost of a gallon of gasoline is.
Someone has apparently done some research [1] on this topic. Apparently simply by removing the subsidies for the oil companies and other un-counted costs, the true cost goes up to something like $15/gallon.
[1] http://www.progress.org/gasoline.htm
Also did you know in iOS you can't even download something while doing something else? So say you are downloading a big PPT file and you're bored so you figure you can browse the web while waiting. Nope, you just downloaded 100 MB and it was killed at 86 MB. That's pathetic in the year 2012.
I know for a fact this is untrue, I just did it on my iPhone right now in the Mail app (in fact it's been there since the original iPhone).
"The best camera is the one you have with you" is a well known saying in photography. I have collected, and had the experience to work with, over the years, numerous cameras, lenses and videocams. Here are some of my learned truths:
1) Form factor matters - if you don't have the camera, you won't use it. My best pictures are from my DSLR with a big bounce-flash+diffuser and a nifty-fifty [1] prime lens. For close-ups and portrait style, this camera is really hard to beat... however, I almost never have this camera (or it's bukly flash) with me. I've resorted to taking some pretty decent pictures with my wife's point-n-shoot , and surprisingly my iPhone.
2) Video and Still pictures are two separate competencies. My best videos were with the aforementioned point and shoot, the next best with the iPhone. I almost never take video with the bulky DSLR, and when I do, the lack of auto-focus on video makes it difficult to do properly.
3) I've never tried the EVIL/MILC, but they seem like a great idea... just terribly expensive.
My recommendation would be to have several camera types (phone, P&S, DSLR) so that you can have availability and quality. the EVIL/MILC will never beat the bounce-flash equipped DSLR and prime lens (which would pale in comparison to a properly setup studio and multi-flash setup - but I can't afford that). In my world, the MILC would replace the point-and-shoot, and I'd still take the DSLR wherever I would normally take it (parties and events), but it'd be awesome to have almost-DSLR quality on my hikes. Recently I've been very impressed by my new iPhone4S so it might replace the P&S completely.
I think your problem might be a case of simple PEBKAC.
It's attitudes like yours that explain why Android and iOS are the future for many computer users. Blaming the user for an easily exploitable system will drive them fully into the arms of walled gardens and locked bootloaders. Perhaps that's where they want to be - and maybe that's good for the sanity of geeks like you and me. However, I think in the long run, defaulting users to locked systems is a bad thing for software freedom and the availability of general purpose computing devices.
The "serious professional" doesn't use PHP at all, lol.
But you carry on!
You might want to inform Facebook devs [1] that their language isn't "professional". Go on, I'll just wait here.
[1] https://github.com/facebook/php-sdk