CalmQuiet

Since the details on his "credit card replacement" were sparse, what caught my eye as more disturbing was:

>Addressing "creepy comments": Schmidt laughed off questions about recent comments he made about Google "knowing where you live and what you do." His take: "In the new world, you have to label jokes."

I'd like to be laughing about that, but just can't quite.

I know a lot of HNers are moving to develop on Android, but another of Fortune's stories today puts into perspective how significant the iPhone is likely to continue to be as a platform with a dominant consumer presence:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/10/29/the-iphone-is-no-4/

Moodle is OSS. Why not get involved and contribute there?

And Gizmo claims that Frank Shaw at MS says:

"At any given time, we're looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It's in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time."

> based on income and assets

In other words, "Sure, you can leave. Just send us a chunk of yourself... even if you made it on foreign soil and using foreign resources."

>> A bit more sleuthing reveals several "webkit" (the foundation of the iPad's and iPhone's mobile Safari browser) calls after peeling open the CSS

Now that I web-surf with Click-to-Flash installed, I am really struck by how many landing pages depend on Flash-based content all over them: from key corporate info to (of course) ads: a situation that I find most depressing.

Perhaps the iPad will provide the extra boost that HTML5 video has been needing?

You could say this is bad news for developers... or good news... if more jobs are created by news sources wanting to court the iPad crowd.

But in the larger scheme, if this trend continues, it could bring a tipping point where major sites start to look for non-proprietary development platforms other than Flash. None too soon for this consumer.

There's an amazing amount of heat, but little light on this, particularly regarding exactly what impact the legislation threatened to have on costs, labor, etc. for Amz, affiliates (exactly what is that? someone selling via Amz Marketplace?), and customers.

Huffington offers:

"The bill, which was part of a package of tax measures aimed at increasing revenue, originally sought to create a nexus between the state and on-line retailers based on their ties to local affiliate websites, which link to products. The bill was ultimately altered due largely to fears that retailers like Amazon would simply cut ties to Colorado companies that make money by referring buyers."

"The final bill, which was signed into law in February, instead required large online retailers to start collecting sales taxes or provide a summary of people's web purchases in the state, leaving affiliates out of the equation. This created an economic nexus without making local affiliates a scapegoat for paying local sales taxes." --http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/amazon-reacts-to-co...

...but Huff doesn't cite sources. Anyone find a better analysis by a dispassionate legal/financial source?

Seems more likely than that they would hack themselves.

Actually, I appreciate having the comments available on TC - so that perceptive readers can occasionally take them down a peg or two.

Critique Steve what you will. Point out iPad's lacking features what you will... The point to learn from decades of digital naysayers who proved clueless is:

Predicting how people will use (and how many will buy) is not as easy as it looks. No where as easy as Monday morning quarterbacking. And Apple/Steve certainly have no 100% track record. But they have batted >.500 - in a ballgame (CE & PCs) where batting >.300 is impressive.

True, sadly. Headline-writing seems to be its own domain - and one charged primarily to be effective baiters (i.e., marketing specialists).

So those who care enough about the impact of news-reporting have to develop some of the same (marketing) skills. The OP here seems to have done a good job with it (i.e., "Damning verdict...")

Similarly, for a truth-supporting effect, "Obama is not a Muslim" might have to be rewritten something like, "Media distortions conceal Obama's Christianity" - but rather more clever than I can pen.

Maybe there is need to develop means/skills for it to work in more jobs. As Pascal hyperbolized:

"All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room. "

[If not all human evil... at least we can now append: "burden of transportation infrastructure + CO(2)."]

As someone of Jobs' age I would be most pleased to discover that there are still some human/silicon interfaces waiting to be dramatically polished to someone's sense of perfection.

When someone else amasses both the will and the capital to achieve what Steve has then more power to 'em.

As a college instructor and a citizen concerned about the cost of financing higher education, I share the outrage over textbook costs.

But I don't expect to be outraged for long about the dinosaus textbooks are. The sale, bianuual revision of a text, and sale of its next edition is breeding revolts and moves to alternative models. If I get tired of waiting when I retire (soon) I will help launch the revolt: turning to models of publicly-held, easy-to-update, non-tree-cutting formats such as wikis.

I don't attempt to prophecy often, but: "Textbooks are the next... newspapers."

Since there still seems to be a debate about exactly what weakness was exploited, that conclusion is unwarranted.

For that matter, a truly thorough cracker (with more time than constructiveness) might go to the trouble to identify more than one weak point, hold some in reserve, and exploit them sequentially over time - either to offer a more depressing experience to the site owner or to discredit the site's technical team [taking advantage of people willing to jump to your conclusion :) ]

A page which politely invites you to enter your Twitter user name & pw. [ I politely declined. ]

I'm not sure why TomJen2's comment was barred - since he may have been asking what I would like to know: what method of "banning" have you found effective (with such a rowdy, determined group), i.e., how do you know a member's real identity: IP address, etc.?

Thanks for asking. ...however, no: even our basic cell service often forces into roaming mode here. —21st Century pioneer

Hopefully the counseling will include skills for coping with ignorant authoritarian bureaucracies - essential for tech innovators outside of tech-savvy settings.

Please say a prayer for your rural friends who are trying to survive on DSL: http://www.speedtest.net/result/684003092.png

Edit: Forgot to tell you "the downside": it's $65/mo :/ PS: Sure there is "an alternative": ~satellite~

Or - in Safari - you can put such a style sheet in your user/library/safari folder for viewing it according to your preferred font (selecting it in Safari Preferences/Advances).

That would be a corollary of "do be evil".

And who would dare even enter such a search result from an ISP in China?

One of the "search results" would probably not appear on your screen... but in some sort of government database of "suspected dissidents." A government-run search engine is a must for any totalitarian regime.

Plus: it is awesome when you want to print an article - and not all the ads & navig surrounding it !

More like: Upgrading to two wrongs may - in this case - make a right (for consumers).

I think the huge challenge is in the final sentence:

"The result is a problem a bit like trying to stop a mob of looters. When the majority of people feel entitled to someone’s property, who’s going to stand in their way?"

How many politicians will dare stand up to protect a small number of creative minds once 7+ billion consumers have grown accustomed to accessing info/media for "free" (in time and simplicity)?

Right now I think they mostly stand up for large corporate 'rights' - not individual creators/artists.

[Am I too cynical in suspecting that the congressional voices that support copy protection receive substantial campaign contributions from publishing industry giants (as opposed to the 'creative minds' whose intellectual property builds their empires)?]

::edited for clarification::

What about just having blue tooth - and the capability of working with an wireless kb?