Because their ISPs are a cabal of exploitative assholes.
They COULD easily have unlimited plans. They don't because people are willing to pay large sums of money for non-unlimited plans because it's the only thing available to them.
I raged when I read this article and couldn't finish it.
And with jailbreak, the iPhone's software capabilities go far and away beyond other manufacturers' offerings. Too bad Apple refuses to support the devices in a jailbroken capacity.
Why don't we discuss academic qualifications? Oh, I know why -- because it makes you look stupid!
Palin: BA in journalism that took her 5 years at U of Idaho Obama: BA from Columbia, JD from Harvard, Editor in Chief of the FUCKING HARVARD LAW REVIEW, Constitutional Law professor
I know you Republicans think the Constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper, but you know what? The knowledge that Obama understands it is very reassuring to me given the flagrant abuses of the Constitution we've endured in the last 7 years.
And unfortunately, it is next to impossible to get cell phone parts manufacturers to make their interface specifications open such that an open-source developer can make their software work with it. I doubt we will ever see OpenMoko make any real progress in the near-term future, or open-source software of any kind.
Yeah, I sure hate it when those moonbats start talking about science. It's so pesky and ungodly, I mean we all know God said he would never flood the world again.
Carriers are exerting pressure on baseband manufacturers to ensure that they do not open specifications required to get open-source software to work with advanced basebands that work with EDGE, EvDO, or HS*PA. So all you get is plain GPRS and voice, on the one baseband that was available to be used with the FreeRunner.
Don't expect this to change anytime soon. It won't. If necessary, the carriers will exert pressure on Congress to pass a law banning open source operating systems on cellular devices in the name of "security."
American carriers are not only completely uninterested in a platform that gives the end-user complete control over their phone, but actively shunning it. Their business model is to sell slick-looking, crippled devices that push as much functionality through their networks as possible such that they can charge the end-user as much as they can for things that should be free. Verizon and the V710 debacle a few years ago come directly to mind (disabling OBEX, etc.).
I'll be shocked if we ever see a viable OpenMoko device in the next ten years.
What the hell is the big deal? This is actually an interesting story. If you don't like it, then turn Idle off in your preferences. "Problem" solved, you fucking whiner.
"NOOOOOOO! NOT CHANGE! I HATE CHANGE! IT OFFENDS MY ASPIE NEED FOR ORDER AND REPETITION!"
However, I agree with you that our stubbornness in refusing to develop nuclear power is enormously frustrating. Our regulations against fuel reprocessing make no sense ("OMG PROLIFERATION RISK!"). Build it in MY backyard if I get to have electricity for pennies; I am secure in the knowledge that modern plants are less dangerous to live next to than a granite outcropping.
where everyone "gets to keep more of their hard-earned money so that they can create jobs."
Your belief that the market fixes everything fails when people are incompletely or inaccurately educated on what their options are. This goes for everything from health care to purchasing a car to deciding where to send your child to school. NOTHING can guarantee a good education, so your "ultimate free market" fails to be truly egalitarian. Those who have not will continue to have not despite their best efforts; social mobility goes out the window, class stratification becomes worse and worse and the economic population distribution turns more and more from the diamond it was in the 50s and 60s into the pyramid it used to be and is becoming again now. The middle class is shrinking at an alarming rate because of your precious deregulation and increasingly free market.
We can have public education that seeks to holistically educate people so they truly can "vote with their dollars," but... that's not okay in your book, is it?
Coal gasification (or just building more clean-coal power plants -- and no, fellow environmentalists, "clean coal" is not an oxymoron, learn what it means first, especially when it comes to carbon capture technology) has to be coupled with a constellation of other efforts to get our energy prices down, including investment in renewables.
I see a future where, if we're smart, the United States can be the world leader in energy technology, provided we innovate in renewables and make full use of our coal and natural gas resources. I just hope we'll be smart enough to do it.
There are a number of OTHER things which the N810 has that the iPod touch does not.
GPS
Functioning Bluetooth with no restrictions
Functioning software stack that doesn't require jailbreak or Apple's approval to develop for
Buttons, period (I have often thought I would be fine with the OS X Mobile keyboard solution if only the devices had at least a d-pad and other things for the sake of games... good thing iControlPad is coming out)
No, it is not listed at $320 because it's a display item. You can buy them new at $309. Google, learn to use it.
It is also not the same class of device as an iPhone; the iPhone is a PHONE, the N810 has no telephony hardware -- much like the iPod touch, than which, again, it is much, MUCH more capable. As to how "cool" it is, that is subjective. In terms of capabilities, however, there's no contest; the N810 wins big-time.
Nokia makes open devices like the N810 which are well-designed and have hardware anyone can write code to use. Maybe some things like the PowerVR chip are not implemented yet, but the software gets markedly better as time goes on -- and anyone can improve it.
Compare this to Apple and the iPhone's Bluetooth, which no one can improve but them, and they make no promises about it whatsoever.
Wouldn't you rather have the freedom to work on things like these yourself -- and at least some hints as to what the company plans to do with the platform?
Slashdot Mirror
Because their ISPs are a cabal of exploitative assholes.
They COULD easily have unlimited plans. They don't because people are willing to pay large sums of money for non-unlimited plans because it's the only thing available to them.
I raged when I read this article and couldn't finish it.
n/t
Why hasn't this happened on open frameworks like Windows Mobile?
I was hoping someone would pick up on that.
Marriage is between a man and a period, not a man and an apostrophe!
is that Slashdot is full of Aspies who cannot tolerate change in what they're used to.
it ran Android. Or was available with 3G in the US.
The iCal integration is pretty great.
And with jailbreak, the iPhone's software capabilities go far and away beyond other manufacturers' offerings. Too bad Apple refuses to support the devices in a jailbroken capacity.
That the 2nd Amendment explicitly gives gun ownership rights to individuals, not just militias.
He has said repeatedly that it makes sense for gun restrictions to be different in different areas. I don't think most people disagree with him.
Why don't we discuss academic qualifications? Oh, I know why -- because it makes you look stupid!
Palin: BA in journalism that took her 5 years at U of Idaho
Obama: BA from Columbia, JD from Harvard, Editor in Chief of the FUCKING HARVARD LAW REVIEW, Constitutional Law professor
I know you Republicans think the Constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper, but you know what? The knowledge that Obama understands it is very reassuring to me given the flagrant abuses of the Constitution we've endured in the last 7 years.
If you think the terms of a contract are unfair then negotiate them. And if you can't or won't, then don't sign them.
unless EVERYONE thinks and works in this way. And the fact of the matter is most people are too ignorant to do so, crippling the minority who are not.
This is how corporatism has gotten as far as it has in the United States and abroad.
is an OS distribution, not a phone.
And unfortunately, it is next to impossible to get cell phone parts manufacturers to make their interface specifications open such that an open-source developer can make their software work with it. I doubt we will ever see OpenMoko make any real progress in the near-term future, or open-source software of any kind.
Yeah, I sure hate it when those moonbats start talking about science. It's so pesky and ungodly, I mean we all know God said he would never flood the world again.
Don't the French Canadians learn English anyway?
Those are still limited by their operating systems. What open Linux-based phones that have 3G exist?
(Hint: There aren't any.)
Carriers are exerting pressure on baseband manufacturers to ensure that they do not open specifications required to get open-source software to work with advanced basebands that work with EDGE, EvDO, or HS*PA. So all you get is plain GPRS and voice, on the one baseband that was available to be used with the FreeRunner.
Don't expect this to change anytime soon. It won't. If necessary, the carriers will exert pressure on Congress to pass a law banning open source operating systems on cellular devices in the name of "security."
American carriers are not only completely uninterested in a platform that gives the end-user complete control over their phone, but actively shunning it. Their business model is to sell slick-looking, crippled devices that push as much functionality through their networks as possible such that they can charge the end-user as much as they can for things that should be free. Verizon and the V710 debacle a few years ago come directly to mind (disabling OBEX, etc.).
I'll be shocked if we ever see a viable OpenMoko device in the next ten years.
What the hell is the big deal? This is actually an interesting story. If you don't like it, then turn Idle off in your preferences. "Problem" solved, you fucking whiner.
"NOOOOOOO! NOT CHANGE! I HATE CHANGE! IT OFFENDS MY ASPIE NEED FOR ORDER AND REPETITION!"
Jesus.
However, I agree with you that our stubbornness in refusing to develop nuclear power is enormously frustrating. Our regulations against fuel reprocessing make no sense ("OMG PROLIFERATION RISK!"). Build it in MY backyard if I get to have electricity for pennies; I am secure in the knowledge that modern plants are less dangerous to live next to than a granite outcropping.
where everyone "gets to keep more of their hard-earned money so that they can create jobs."
Your belief that the market fixes everything fails when people are incompletely or inaccurately educated on what their options are. This goes for everything from health care to purchasing a car to deciding where to send your child to school. NOTHING can guarantee a good education, so your "ultimate free market" fails to be truly egalitarian. Those who have not will continue to have not despite their best efforts; social mobility goes out the window, class stratification becomes worse and worse and the economic population distribution turns more and more from the diamond it was in the 50s and 60s into the pyramid it used to be and is becoming again now. The middle class is shrinking at an alarming rate because of your precious deregulation and increasingly free market.
We can have public education that seeks to holistically educate people so they truly can "vote with their dollars," but... that's not okay in your book, is it?
Coal gasification (or just building more clean-coal power plants -- and no, fellow environmentalists, "clean coal" is not an oxymoron, learn what it means first, especially when it comes to carbon capture technology) has to be coupled with a constellation of other efforts to get our energy prices down, including investment in renewables.
I see a future where, if we're smart, the United States can be the world leader in energy technology, provided we innovate in renewables and make full use of our coal and natural gas resources. I just hope we'll be smart enough to do it.
There are a number of OTHER things which the N810 has that the iPod touch does not.
No, it is not listed at $320 because it's a display item. You can buy them new at $309. Google, learn to use it.
It is also not the same class of device as an iPhone; the iPhone is a PHONE, the N810 has no telephony hardware -- much like the iPod touch, than which, again, it is much, MUCH more capable. As to how "cool" it is, that is subjective. In terms of capabilities, however, there's no contest; the N810 wins big-time.
Can you wait a couple months?
Nokia makes open devices like the N810 which are well-designed and have hardware anyone can write code to use. Maybe some things like the PowerVR chip are not implemented yet, but the software gets markedly better as time goes on -- and anyone can improve it.
Compare this to Apple and the iPhone's Bluetooth, which no one can improve but them, and they make no promises about it whatsoever.
Wouldn't you rather have the freedom to work on things like these yourself -- and at least some hints as to what the company plans to do with the platform?