Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 5th Jan 2013 14:53 UTC
And so this situation is starting to get ridiculous - and consumers are, as usual, caught in the middle of it all. Google has just blocked Windows Phone devices from accessing Google Maps on their phones. In addition, it also seems Windows Phone users are now restricted to the basic HTML version of the mobile GMail website. While understandable from a defensive perspective - Microsoft's extortion scheme targeting Android device makers and all that - it's still a massive dick move that only hurts consumers. Update: the media attention has worked - Google is backpedalling, and will remove the redirect. "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users."
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RE[4]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone.
by lucas_maximus on Sun 6th Jan 2013 00:15
in reply to "RE[3]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone."
Member since:2009-08-18
The IE5/6 crap is a decade old.
Google using -webkit extensions and user agent sniffing to exclude people from using their service when it works without the user agent sniffing is wrong.
JUST f--kING WRONG.
Basically you are saying because it is Google and not Microsoft it is okay.
Edited 2013-01-06 00:17 UTC
RE[5]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone.
by UltraZelda64 on Sun 6th Jan 2013 01:01
in reply to "RE[4]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone."
Member since:2006-12-05
The IE5/6 crap is a decade old.
So you're saying that it effectively never happened? Time has moved on and the entire Web as it stands today would not be any further at the present time in a parallel universe in which Microsoft had not done it? Sorry, but I'm just not seeing it. Microsoft has set the web back YEARS, and it really hasn't been all that many years ago that some serious progress has been made after it finally got back on track. Microsoft never gave the Web all those wasted years back; it had to go through a painfully slow process of correcting itself.
Basically you are saying because it is Google and not Microsoft it is okay.
No, if you'd read I'm only saying: You get treated by others in the same (or similar) ways that you treat them. And this really is just a little slap in the face compared to what Microsoft has done. I even said "it may not be the best thing to do."
Anyway, there is an update that Google is apparently reverting this behavior to please all five Internet Explorer on Windows Phone users. I find it ironic that according to Google's explanation, the whole thing was because the browser produced an inferior experience. Which, by Microsoft web browser standards, sounds highly plausible to me.
Edited 2013-01-06 01:06 UTC
RE[5]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone.
by Vanders on Sun 6th Jan 2013 12:01
in reply to "RE[4]: Glad I would never get a Windows phone."
Member since:2005-07-06
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:
2006-12-05
A few Google services not working on the default browser of one minor platform does not equal "breaking the web." At the most, it's breaking a few web pages on that platform's default browser. At the most, it's discriminating against that particular OS/browser combination in retaliation against Microsoft's crooked (as usual) moves.
You want to see truly breaking the web? Look no further than IE5/6, from none other than Microsoft themselves. That was a disaster for everyone; not just the users of some obscure platform but pretty much all competing browsers, both Windows-native and those on alternative platforms. Netscape was destroyed by it. Even IE users suffered from Microsoft's complete neglect of the browser after they pretty much annihilated all of their competition and security issues kept building up for Microsoft's own paying customers. Web developers were left with a stifled web, unable to move on until sometime after Phoenix rose from Netscape's ashes and eventually became Firefox.
Like I said--Microsoft has done far worse for the world than this little bitch-slap aimed directly at Windows-powered phones dealt by Google. It may not be the best thing to do, but at the same Microsoft has been guilty of crooked moves on a much grander scale, many times over.
I know, I know. Sometimes it's just convenient to ignore the past and purposely forget about who or what we're really dealing with here.
Edited 2013-01-05 22:01 UTC