"In the past five years, flash memory has progressed from a promising accelerator, whose place in the data center was still uncertain, to an established enterprise component for storing performance-critical data. It's rise to prominence followed its proliferation in the consumer world and the volume economics that followed. With SSDs, flash arrived in a form optimized for compatibility - just replace a hard drive with an SSD for radically better performance. But the properties of the NAND flash memory used by SSDs differ significantly from those of the magnetic media in the hard drives they often displace. While SSDs have become more pervasive in a variety of uses, the industry has only just started to design storage systems that embrace the nuances of flash memory. As it escapes the confines of compatibility, significant improvements in performance, reliability, and cost are possible."

You can say what you will about Windows Phone and Windows 8's Metro interface (I refuse to drop that name) - it's inefficient, unpopular, cumbersome, beautiful, ugly, organised, clean, limiting - but there's one thing we can all agree on: it's unique and distinctive. CNet has published a profile of Microsoft's Albert Shum, the man behind Metro, and he highlights what I think is at the very core of Microsoft's problems in mobile right now.

"The OFT has launched an investigation into whether children are being unfairly pressured or encouraged to pay for additional content in 'free' web and app-based games, including upgraded membership or virtual currency such as coins, gems or fruit. Typically, players can access only portions of these games for free, with new levels or features, such as faster game play, costing money." Instances of this may be illegal, especially when it targets children. As for me - I just find it incredibly annoying.

As I'm working on a long and detailed article about Psion and Symbian (similar in setup to the Palm article), I need to dive into a number of devices that I have never personally owned. One of the devices that was atop my list was what I think is the ultimate Symbian device: the Nokia E7 - the last of the long line of Communicators, released in early 2011. While more detailed information about it will find its way into the Psion/Symbian article, I figured it'd be interesting to give a few first impressions.

"Beneath the sheen of do-gooder ideology, FairSearch can be most charitably described as a Google watchdog. It seeks to fan the flames of disapproval where they've started organically, originate them where they haven't, and generally disseminate negativity toward the Google brand. Think of it as a PR firm working to destroy rather than create goodwill." To make matters worse, FairSearch' work isn't even very good.

"A trade association that represents Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Oracle has come out in support of a controversial cybersecurity bill that is slated to be voted on in the House next week. In a letter sent to the leaders of the House Intelligence panel on Wednesday, TechNet CEO Rey Ramsey said the cybersecurity bill addresses the need for industry and government to be able to send and receive information about cyber threats to one another in real time." As I've said before - legal or no, stuff like this is corruption.

"The parties have no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute; they instead are using this and similar litigation worldwide as a business strategy that appears to have no end," US District Judge Robert Scola said, "That is not a proper use of this court." Judge Scola knows what's up. "Without a hint of irony, the parties now ask the court to mop up a mess they made by holding a hearing to reduce the size and complexity of the case," he adds, "The court declines this invitation." Always fun to see stuff like this. Oh, one more? He calls their conduct "obstreperous and cantankerous conduct".

"A recent poll by MKM Partners reveals that an overwhelming 83% of Americans do not know that BlackBerry has launched their new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone or new Blackberry 10 platform. The company's trouble does not just include marketing woes. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 50% of customers have returned their BlackBerry smartphones after trying out the platform. That is not to say that BlackBerry hasn't reached the top of any list. We learned today that BlackBerry is the most undesirable smart phone, learning that 71% of people would not consider the BlackBerry under any circumstances." BlackBerry denies the return rate figures, but that still leaves the others. This is devastating.

"Google announced an update to its Google Play mobile app on Android - its online store for apps, music, books, magazines, movies and TV shows - today, one that is aimed at cleaning up the UI and optimizing it for different device types. It's a model of clarity and discoverability, not to mention scalability, features that are sorely lacking in Microsoft's Windows Store." As a Surface RT owner, I couldn't agree more with Paul Thurrott.

After Microsoft's extortion racket has failed to stop Android, and after Oracle's crazy baseless lawsuit failed to stop Android, and after Nokia adopting Windows Phone failed to stop Android, Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle are now grasping the next straw in their fruitless efforts to stop Android: they've filed an antitrust complaint with the EU, claiming Google unfairly bundles applications with Android.

The reviews are universally positive, and virtually everyone seems to agree: the HTC One is one heck of an Android device, and quite possibly the best phone currently on the market. Outstanding build quality, great design, fast - and just like the One X before it, it looks like to me it's a far better phone than its Galaxy counterparts. Why, then, is no one buying HTC phones?

"After years of domination, Microsoft is finally facing serious threats at the cores of its business, Office and Windows. Consumers and businesses alike are largely purchasing devices based on their capabilities and form factors rather than the software contained within. Windows is slowly becoming commoditized and Microsoft's traditional allies are looking at Android and Chrome OS as viable alternatives, a trend that threatens the Windows monopoly. Microsoft faces a tricky balancing act as it faces a future that's very different from its existing business." Good article by Tom Warren.

Sigh. First it was the Apple TV. Then it became smartwatches. Now we're moving on to Google Glass competitors. People, this is all bullshit. Made-up nonsense to get hits. Headlines like 'X to release Y competitor' score a double whammy; X blogs will get excited about it, Y blogs will complain about X being a copycat. So, with one made-up story you score double the amount of hits. It's a variant on the old but now rarely used 'X to release Y killer', where 'Y' was usually an Apple product.

Google, EarthLink, BlackBerry, and Red Hat have joined forces and asked the FTC and the US Department of Justice to address the harm caused by patent trolling. "Our comments today also focus on a worrisome trend: some companies are increasingly transferring patents to trolls - and providing incentives to assert those patents against their competitors. These transfers can raise rivals' costs and undermine patent peace. This trend has been referred to as patent 'privateering': a company sells patents to trolls with the goal of waging asymmetric warfare against its competitors." Big figures: patent trolls cost the US economy $30 billion per year.