CrunchPad Renamed "JooJoo", To Launch This Friday∞
The article states that the Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan (CEO of Fusion Garage) held a video conference to share his side of the story, but never goes on to explain exactly his side entails other. The only (extremely vague) quote that even attempts to explain why they’re selling this independent of CrunchPad is this:
Unfortunately, Michael was unable to deliver. Michael was completely unable to deliver.
That’s nice and all, but I’m not just going to take your word for it. The whole article reads like Fusion Garage propaganda. Based on what I know so far about this whole debacle, I hope really Fusion Garage gets seriously fucked in court.
Microsoft Dealing With The Devil Himself!∞
Okay, I lied. It’s only Rupert Murdoch. But it’s still kind of accurate, right?
In short, Microsoft is in discussions to pay News Corp to remove their sites from Google’s index. Rupert Murdoch has been complaining for a while that Google has been stealing his content by indexing his sites, so it’s nice that he might finally put his money where his mouth is.
My prediction? If this deal goes through, the News Corp sites will leave Google’s index, most people won’t notice or care, and Microsoft and News Corp will both lose out.
(via Slashdot)
Pittsburgh To Tax College Students∞
From the article:
“If they would have contributed to the City of Pittsburgh like they should have been, there would be no need for this,” he [Mayor Luke Ravenstahl] said. “With all the fees and costs college students are paying, this is minimal.”
Which fair share
would that be? The property taxes that schools pass down to their students in the form of housing costs? The income taxes that get taken out of students’ paychecks if they get a job—on- OR off-campus? The sales taxes that students have to pay if they buy anything in the city?
Did you also fail to consider the school employees’ salaries (which are ALSO taxed), Mr. Ravenstahl? Because those are in NO WAY connected to students’ tuition. And when relatives visit students in Pittsburgh, that’s definitely not tourism, right?
To put it succinctly, Mayor: in what way are students not already contributing that they SHOULD be?
Furthermore, what is this With all the fees and costs college students are paying, this is minimal
bullshit? Are you REALLY saying that college students are already paying too much, so one more fee wouldn’t hurt them?
There is so much bullshit here that it makes my head hurt.
(via Slashdot)
iPhone Owners Demand To See Apple Source Code∞
The crux of the issue is that the iPhone is exclusively available for AT&T, and that the 1.1.1 update bricked the phones of users who unlocked them to use on other carriers.
First, I want to say something about the fact that this is an antitrust lawsuit:
The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2007, accuses Apple and AT&T of violating antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, by agreeing to a multi-year deal that locks U.S. iPhone owners into using the mobile carrier.
In order to buy any subsidized phone (like the iPhone) in the U.S., you have to agree to a multi-year contract in which you are locked into using a mobile carrier. Many of those phones are also exclusive to a single carrier. Why is it monopolistic when Apple does it?
That said, the specific complaint is that Apple specifically tried to hurt the users of jailbroken phones with the 1.1.1 update, as opposed to the update coincidentally happening to brick the phones of jailbroken users. Given Apple’s track record of updates coincidentally
breaking compatibility with competing products or hacks, Apple’s legal team has its work cut out for it if they want to try to argue that it was a coincidence.
Unlike Apple’s back-and-forth with Palm about the Pre syncing with iTunes, I think Apple is in the wrong here. If I pay Apple for an iPhone, I expect to be able to do whatever I want with it—whether do what Apple wants and use it with AT&T or jailbreak it so I can use it with T-Mobile is my decision and mine alone. Apple is trying to tell users what they can and cannot do with something that they paid money for, and that is clearly not right.
Furthermore, unless I’m mistaken, the DMCA allows users to jailbreak a device or bypass any sort of protection or encryption for the purpose of using it with another network. If that is the case, Apple is violating users’ legal rights as well.
However, there’s really no way to prove it without getting access to the source code. To the plaintiffs, I say: good luck getting it from Apple, of all companies.
