"How much freer could Android be? The entire platform is open source.
Let's see... how many of my android devices have come with the complete source code required to modify, rebuild, and run the software that came installed on them, without any loss of functionality?
Exactly none.
And that's the point. The Android Open Source Platform might be Free, but our phones are not running the Android Open Source Platform; they come with derivatives of it that usually depend on proprietary, closed-source differences. The result is that I don't have a reaonsable way to verify that my device is doing what I think it should be doing, or to keep it updated with security patches, or to be sure that I have disabled every bit of privacy-invading crap that hides in those commercial ROM images. The closest I can get is replacing most of the stock software with an open source alternative, which is not the same thing and (if I can manage to find one at all) usually means breaking several bits of functionality that I paid for when I bought the device.
I didn't know that name until I read it here. You mean to tell me that the guy behind systemd is the same guy responsible for PulseAudio? Oh, hell. I had hope for systemd until I read that.
Irrelevant. We're not asking for their driver code, we're asking for documentation on the hardware that we buy from them, so that we can write our own driver code.
Sadly, warning about certificate changes is practically useless today, since so many of the major sites have a bazillion different certificates, any of which might be the one you get at any given time. I stopped using Certificate Patrol for google sites because it was raising alarms almost every time I visited one.
Mostly true, yet for some of us, a physical keyboard is more important than a third day of battery life or 720p video playback. The Sony-Ericsson SK17i (SK17a in North America) did a pretty good job of combining a real keyboard with a compact form factor. I hope someone improves upon that idea in the next year or two.
At least the Ubuntu release names tell me the order in which they are released. When people talk about Debian releases, and they often do so without mentioning the release number, I often have to search the web to figure out whether they're talking about something old, current, new, or very new.
All the accounts I've read indicate that this was a problem between two or three individuals, and that PyCon handled the complaint they received professionally, reasonably, and quickly. Why would it affect anyone's decision to attend a future PyCon?
I would downvote the question if I could, as it seems to be about as useful as a "first post" comment. I wonder if the submitter just wanted to see himself published on slashdot.
"Sadly, the market doesn't seem that interested in real security..."
I think that's part of the problem, but it's hard to tell how few people are interested in it when they're forced to choose between a product that offers security/privacy and a product that they find convenient/useful. It looks like BlackBerry is attempting to deliver both, or at least come closer than I've seen in the smart phone market so far. If they're even moderately successful, consumers will benefit.
"The Droid phones (and I believe at least some of the Samsung Galaxy models) have full encryption."
Which Droid phones would those be? A Motorola Droid? An HTC Droid? No need to answer; that's a rhetorical question. None of the Android phones I've used support full encryption. BlackBerry 10 has it built-in, so all the phones that run it will most likely have it. That is a distinct advantage over Android.
"It was designed to make an open platform so that OTHERS could have a full-featured phone OS and either modify it to add features OR build third-party applications."
Yes, I understand that, and after several years, third-party CalDAV and CardDAV sync adapters finally turned up for Android. They mostly work, though Anroid's calendar and account management and UI stumble over them in certain places, making them a little awkward to use and a bit tricky to set up. BlackBerry 10 has both built-in, which is another distinct advantage.
"Android is a fairly secure OS."
My comment wasn't about security. It was about privacy. The fact is that Android and iOS both make it nearly impossible to control who has access your personal data. Even in the few areas where they do allow your some control, it usually requires jumping through hoops and/or giving up smart phone functionality. Google collects my location unless I disable GPS entirely. Apps get access to whatever data they want unless I don't use them at all. This sort of thing might not bother you, but it bothers a lot of people other than you, and I'm glad to see an alternative enter the market without these flaws.
"Oh and for bitching about privacy you're such sucking the long, hard, dong of a company who routes all of their messages through a global server system "
I understand that old BlackBerry devices used a central email gateway, but I haven't read anything indicating that BlackBerry 10 uses a central gateway to access my POP3/IMAP accounts, or that it prevents me from running a messaging app of my choice. I don't need their "push" feature.
"Enjoy your delusional fantasy."
Enjoy your sophistic ranting and rude characterizations, mister troll.
I don't care if it doesn't have hundreds of thousands of apps. From what I've read, BlackBerry 10 appears to be the answer to the horrific privacy problems known as iOS and Android. User-selectable application permissions so I can put a leash on those apps that want more of my data than they should. File encryption so a lost/stolen phone is a little less risky. Built-in CalDAV and CardDAV so I can sync my calendar and contacts with the server of my choice instead of handing all that information to Google. Yes, please!
This approach has an advantage that I haven't seen anyone else here mention: Users with moderately long names won't hate you for forcing upon them an email address that requires a lot of typing.
T-Mobile still offers their "unlimited web & text with 100 minutes talk" plan through their web site. It was originally a Wal-Mart plan. I've been quite happy with it. Never needed more than 100 minutes, but if I do, it's only 10 cents per extra minute.
I get my prepaid refills from third party web sites that offer them at a slight discount. For example, $30 of refill value for $29.70 (or less with a coupon code). Here's one:
It's worth noting that, unlike most postpaid/contract plans, there are no additional tariffs or other fees to push a $30 plan up to $35 or so. I really do pay less than $30 per month.
I want to game on linux because linux is by far my favorite of the big three.
Windows isn't good enough because it is so full of inconsistencies and poorly-implemented features that I find it difficult to do the things I want to do (note: I do a lot more with my computer than the average consumer), because it tends to build up glitches and other cruft over time to the point of almost requiring periodic re-installs, because keeping it malware-free is practically a part-time job, because bug fixes depend on the whim of a single corporation, and because that corporation's anti-competitive and anti-compatibility policies have repeatedly and significantly hampered progress in the software and hardware used by most of the world.
OSX isn't good enough because it is rather expensive to buy and to upgrade, because the hardware it officially requires is likewise, because I find the user interface choices to be oversimplified to the point of constant frustration, because bug fixes depend on the whim of a single corporation, and because that corporation's anti-compatibility and anti-openness policies are unacceptably hostile to users trying to use the things they buy.
Linux has none of those problems. It has a few of its own problems, but those that I run in to are usually solved with a bit of reading and exchanging information others. It's even getting better for non-savvy users (my mom mainly uses Unity and Firefox) and specialists (e.g. color management, media editing).
Overall, I simply have a much better time and get a good deal more utility from my computer using linux. That's why I made the switch a few years ago, and I've never wanted to go back. This has been so much of a win for me that not even games are enough to make me dual-boot. If I can't get it running on linux, I don't bother playing it.
There sure are a lot of posts here declaring what various people think "went wrong" with python 3. I find it pretty funny that each post describes a different perceived problem, yet reveals a similarly self-absorbed view, and in many cases a presumption that the 2-to-3 transition should have been universally complete by now. Folks, consider this: A project might not actually be a failure just because it's different from whatever you're used to.
There is a very useful table of prepaid plans over at Howard Forums. Since you have a GSM phone, you'll want one of the carriers that uses AT&T's or T-Mobile's network.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see... how many of my android devices have come with the complete source code required to modify, rebuild, and run the software that came installed on them, without any loss of functionality?
Exactly none.
And that's the point. The Android Open Source Platform might be Free, but our phones are not running the Android Open Source Platform; they come with derivatives of it that usually depend on proprietary, closed-source differences. The result is that I don't have a reaonsable way to verify that my device is doing what I think it should be doing, or to keep it updated with security patches, or to be sure that I have disabled every bit of privacy-invading crap that hides in those commercial ROM images. The closest I can get is replacing most of the stock software with an open source alternative, which is not the same thing and (if I can manage to find one at all) usually means breaking several bits of functionality that I paid for when I bought the device.
I didn't know that name until I read it here. You mean to tell me that the guy behind systemd is the same guy responsible for PulseAudio? Oh, hell. I had hope for systemd until I read that.
Irrelevant. We're not asking for their driver code, we're asking for documentation on the hardware that we buy from them, so that we can write our own driver code.
Sadly, warning about certificate changes is practically useless today, since so many of the major sites have a bazillion different certificates, any of which might be the one you get at any given time. I stopped using Certificate Patrol for google sites because it was raising alarms almost every time I visited one.
Thanks for the link to the votes. Despite my disgust at the outcome, I'm pleased to see that my representative voted to defund the spying.
Maybe this will give me the motivation to stop channeling my instant messaging through google servers.
Nah... we've been convinced of that since Blade Runner at the latest. Probably much earlier.
Mostly true, yet for some of us, a physical keyboard is more important than a third day of battery life or 720p video playback. The Sony-Ericsson SK17i (SK17a in North America) did a pretty good job of combining a real keyboard with a compact form factor. I hope someone improves upon that idea in the next year or two.
Looks like there's a free 8051-specific IDE that uses SDCC, though I haven't used it.
http://mcu8051ide.sourceforge.net/
At least the Ubuntu release names tell me the order in which they are released. When people talk about Debian releases, and they often do so without mentioning the release number, I often have to search the web to figure out whether they're talking about something old, current, new, or very new.
Here's a list of tools that will help with that:
Py2exe
PyInstaller
cx_Freeze
bbfreeze
py2app
All the accounts I've read indicate that this was a problem between two or three individuals, and that PyCon handled the complaint they received professionally, reasonably, and quickly. Why would it affect anyone's decision to attend a future PyCon?
I would downvote the question if I could, as it seems to be about as useful as a "first post" comment. I wonder if the submitter just wanted to see himself published on slashdot.
A Raspberry Pi can handle good quality 1080p h.264 + 5.1 DTS playback? That sounds great, but I have trouble believing it. Links, please?
I think that's part of the problem, but it's hard to tell how few people are interested in it when they're forced to choose between a product that offers security/privacy and a product that they find convenient/useful. It looks like BlackBerry is attempting to deliver both, or at least come closer than I've seen in the smart phone market so far. If they're even moderately successful, consumers will benefit.
Which Droid phones would those be? A Motorola Droid? An HTC Droid? No need to answer; that's a rhetorical question. None of the Android phones I've used support full encryption. BlackBerry 10 has it built-in, so all the phones that run it will most likely have it. That is a distinct advantage over Android.
Yes, I understand that, and after several years, third-party CalDAV and CardDAV sync adapters finally turned up for Android. They mostly work, though Anroid's calendar and account management and UI stumble over them in certain places, making them a little awkward to use and a bit tricky to set up. BlackBerry 10 has both built-in, which is another distinct advantage.
My comment wasn't about security. It was about privacy. The fact is that Android and iOS both make it nearly impossible to control who has access your personal data. Even in the few areas where they do allow your some control, it usually requires jumping through hoops and/or giving up smart phone functionality. Google collects my location unless I disable GPS entirely. Apps get access to whatever data they want unless I don't use them at all. This sort of thing might not bother you, but it bothers a lot of people other than you, and I'm glad to see an alternative enter the market without these flaws.
I understand that old BlackBerry devices used a central email gateway, but I haven't read anything indicating that BlackBerry 10 uses a central gateway to access my POP3/IMAP accounts, or that it prevents me from running a messaging app of my choice. I don't need their "push" feature.
Enjoy your sophistic ranting and rude characterizations, mister troll.
I don't care if it doesn't have hundreds of thousands of apps. From what I've read, BlackBerry 10 appears to be the answer to the horrific privacy problems known as iOS and Android. User-selectable application permissions so I can put a leash on those apps that want more of my data than they should. File encryption so a lost/stolen phone is a little less risky. Built-in CalDAV and CardDAV so I can sync my calendar and contacts with the server of my choice instead of handing all that information to Google. Yes, please!
My optimistic side hopes this will eventually lead to a resurgence of independent ISPs.
I'd buy an Apple TV in a heartbeat if there was an untethered jailbreak for it.
How can I verify that LBE Privacy guard isn't harvesting my data? Is the source code available somewhere?
This approach has an advantage that I haven't seen anyone else here mention: Users with moderately long names won't hate you for forcing upon them an email address that requires a lot of typing.
http://www.howardforums.com/showwiki.php?title=General+Prepaid+Wiki:Prepaid+Rate+Plan+Comparison
T-Mobile still offers their "unlimited web & text with 100 minutes talk" plan through their web site. It was originally a Wal-Mart plan. I've been quite happy with it. Never needed more than 100 minutes, but if I do, it's only 10 cents per extra minute.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans
I get my prepaid refills from third party web sites that offer them at a slight discount. For example, $30 of refill value for $29.70 (or less with a coupon code). Here's one:
https://www.callingmart.com/
It's worth noting that, unlike most postpaid/contract plans, there are no additional tariffs or other fees to push a $30 plan up to $35 or so. I really do pay less than $30 per month.
I want to game on linux because linux is by far my favorite of the big three.
Windows isn't good enough because it is so full of inconsistencies and poorly-implemented features that I find it difficult to do the things I want to do (note: I do a lot more with my computer than the average consumer), because it tends to build up glitches and other cruft over time to the point of almost requiring periodic re-installs, because keeping it malware-free is practically a part-time job, because bug fixes depend on the whim of a single corporation, and because that corporation's anti-competitive and anti-compatibility policies have repeatedly and significantly hampered progress in the software and hardware used by most of the world.
OSX isn't good enough because it is rather expensive to buy and to upgrade, because the hardware it officially requires is likewise, because I find the user interface choices to be oversimplified to the point of constant frustration, because bug fixes depend on the whim of a single corporation, and because that corporation's anti-compatibility and anti-openness policies are unacceptably hostile to users trying to use the things they buy.
Linux has none of those problems. It has a few of its own problems, but those that I run in to are usually solved with a bit of reading and exchanging information others. It's even getting better for non-savvy users (my mom mainly uses Unity and Firefox) and specialists (e.g. color management, media editing).
Overall, I simply have a much better time and get a good deal more utility from my computer using linux. That's why I made the switch a few years ago, and I've never wanted to go back. This has been so much of a win for me that not even games are enough to make me dual-boot. If I can't get it running on linux, I don't bother playing it.
There sure are a lot of posts here declaring what various people think "went wrong" with python 3. I find it pretty funny that each post describes a different perceived problem, yet reveals a similarly self-absorbed view, and in many cases a presumption that the 2-to-3 transition should have been universally complete by now. Folks, consider this: A project might not actually be a failure just because it's different from whatever you're used to.
Um, I hate to break it to you, but Python is used for real programming, and Objective C isn't exactly the most efficient thing in the world.
There is a very useful table of prepaid plans over at Howard Forums. Since you have a GSM phone, you'll want one of the carriers that uses AT&T's or T-Mobile's network.
I'm pretty happy with T-Mobile's $30 monthly prepaid plan, since I rarely need many talk minutes and I'm willing to live with 2G data speeds until they refarm their 1900 MHz spectrum to support 3G later this year.