Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 2nd Feb 2010 23:25 UTC, submitted by Chicken Blood
The beauty of the internet is such that every opinion has become worthless; this goes doubly so for those with publish buttons on (relatively, we're humble) major websites. For every opinion, there's a matching counter-opinion, and that's great. Yesterday, we linked to an article by Mark Pilgrim about tinkerers and the iPad, and of course, someone was bound to disagree with that one.
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RE[4]: Comment by Richie97
by nt_jerkface on Wed 3rd Feb 2010 06:24
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by Richie97"
Member since:2009-08-26
They are even targetting web content providers, via the ploy: "if you use Flash or HTML5/Theora, you won't get iPad users, so use HTML5/h264 instead (and BTW pay us a royalty, but not Adobe)".
Well this is at least a much more valid concern than a perceived war against curiosity.
If your goal is Theora adoption then you certainly don't want to see the iPad become popular. However I think the blame here really lies with Google since portable video devices will be built to decode whatever YouTube uses.
RE[4]: Comment by Richie97
by boldingd on Wed 3rd Feb 2010 17:50
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by Richie97"
Member since:2009-02-19
That's a very good point. If the iPhone and iPad become popular ways to access the web, then the restrictions on what those devices can do with the sites they access will start to affect the design of websites. If the iPhone helps kill Flash, that may be a good thing. 
But if it lets Apple start controlling what's possible with the Web, and start controlling what web technologies can and cannot be used, then that's a problem that affects more than just iPhone and iPad users.
And note, Apple could solve that problem by allowing the installation of third-party apps -- like less-restricted web-browsers. Or even allowing alternative web browsers into the App store (the alternative browsers that are there now are really just wrappers around Safari). But they won't - or, at least, haven't, even tho it'd be a simple step to take.
RE[5]: Comment by Richie97
by lemur2 on Wed 3rd Feb 2010 22:43
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by Richie97"
Member since:2007-02-17
That's a very good point. If the iPhone and iPad become popular ways to access the web, then the restrictions on what those devices can do with the sites they access will start to affect the design of websites. If the iPhone helps kill Flash, that may be a good thing. But if it lets Apple start controlling what's possible with the Web, and start controlling what web technologies can and cannot be used, then that's a problem that affects more than just iPhone and iPad users.
But if it lets Apple start controlling what's possible with the Web, and start controlling what web technologies can and cannot be used, then that's a problem that affects more than just iPhone and iPad users. Fortunately, it is possible right now to get a smartphone that doesn't constrain you to Apple's restricted web.
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/02/hands-on-mozilla...
We just need a decent ARM-based tablet to arrive with 10+ hours battery life, Pixel Qi touchscreen display, USB ports, an ethernet port, and HDMI and/or DisplayPort video output(s), with a good full-featured and well-integrated version of Linux (possibly Android, possibly Qt/Maemo, maybe KDE4/Plasma-netbook, maybe even Moblin) and the iPad would look utterly silly in comparison.
A silly device (compared to the competition) would capture only an insignificant portion of the market, despite even Apple's marketing spin, and hence the web content providers would then be able to safely ignore the limitations of the iPad, and provide content for everyone that firefox mobile could render but which the iPad couldn't.
Edited 2010-02-03 22:51 UTC
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2007-02-17
This is a possible argument if the company left it at that ... but they don't.
They have already used the argument along the lines "but popular devices (read their devices, e.g. iPod) support only such-and-such a format, and not that other open one, so we can't use that open format on the public access web".
They aren't targetting their control-freak restrictions at just you, they are targetting these anti-freedom restrictions at everybody on the planet.
They are even targetting web content providers, via the ploy: "if you use Flash or HTML5/Theora, you won't get iPad users, so use HTML5/h264 instead (and BTW pay us a royalty, but not Adobe)".
Strangely enough, not everybody on the planet is willing to be restricted by what Apple wants them limited to be able to do.
Edited 2010-02-03 03:39 UTC