It was bollocks then and it's bollocks now. There was no DRM in the network stack. That doesn't even make logical sense - there's nothing to be gained for anyone (not Microsoft, not the *IAAs, not anyone) in putting DRM in the network stack.

A point for having the courage to not hide your knuckle-dragging, racist idiocy behind an Anonymous Coward tag. That does take balls; so many people are unwilling to do so.

Minus a million points for the nonsense you're saying though. In total you're still a point above most of the derp I see, though.

Keeps all the retards off the rest of the Internet

But seriously, this "jailbreak" is a Microsoft-sanctioned app that costs $9 and requires you to log-in to windows live... Doesn't sound like a jailbreak to me. Sounds like something that Microsoft should have BEEN OFFERING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Paying $9 to be able to run whatever shit you like compares remarkably favourably with Apple's "fuck you" policy towards unsigned apps, in which you can do it if you want but only if you hack the damn device, and then expect it to break the next time iOS updates. It doesn't make them the best by a long shot (BlackBerry and Android win that handily) but it's reasonable. At least, unlike Apple, they give you a legitimate way to do it.

I'd say that there are good reasons for the iMac to be a bit more expensive. You pay a premium on the iMac for the all-in-one enclosure, the form factor, the custom parts, the proprietary OS... if you were to try and custom-build a PC with the same form factor as an iMac, as well as various things like having an HD webcam built into the monitor, the touch-sensitive mouse, the aluminium keyboard etc it would most likely cost you more. My home-build PC cost me about a third less than the equivalent/worse-specced iMac (including an OEM copy of Windows 7, admittedly, which put the price up a little) but I'm not stupid enough to pretend it's entirely equivalent. Certainly it's bigger, looked a lot less polished and of course I had to build it, whereas the Mac comes as a complete package. That's another thing - you also tend to pay for convenience. Dell charge more for a PC than you would sourcing the components too. But at the same time, they build and support it for you. If my homebuild explodes one day I don't have someone I can shout at down the phone to fix it. Dell and Apple do that.

Of course there's no denying that at least some of the price is due to Apple wishing to position themselves as a "luxury" brand. I'm not going to defend that but I can understand that. They want to be a premium product so they charge a premium price. Personally, although I'm not a Mac user (but have been in the past, and would be again... if I could afford an iMac ;)) I'd feel the price is worth it, but that's just me.

No, BT's range of competing ISPs will get a lot more popular. Virtually everyone who can get BT can get one of those and be switched over to them in two weeks (just switched to O2 from BT, best move I ever made - BT are retards).

I'm no particular fan of TPB, I think they're a bunch of dicks, but for christ's sake blocking access is not the answer for the British record industry. Legal downloads, although markedly less profitable, are still something of a money-spinner for them, and given some of the shite that has reached No.1 recently they must be selling something...

Tru dat.

Back when 3G first came about in the UK, video calling was going to be the new big thing. The first 3G network, Three, was pushing video calling in its ads, all of its phones had front-facing cameras (I had a Motorola C975, which was a budget phone and even that had a front facing camera) and it was touted as one of the biggest features on the network, with dedicated buttons and everything on their launch phones.

And now...? Fuck all. It didn't interest anyone. There are very few scenarios in which video calling is a good idea compared to voice calling or text messaging, and even they don't justify the ridiculous cost (51p per minute, right now. Not at launch, now. I just looked up the prices now.). That was when it even worked, which it rarely did, and when it did it had appalling picture quality. They don't even mention it on their website now.

Apple have made some inroads into the market with FaceTime, and it's a valiant effort, but that's WiFi only and frankly I don't hear about people FaceTiming each other all that often.

Video calling makes sense when you're in front of a computer or another terminal. That's why Skype, Windows Live Messenger and to a certain extent iChat have been very well used. When you're out and about, not so much. Three learned this the hard (and very expensive) way.

BT was also effectively penalised for defending itself, per para. 54, with the court holding that defending itself against an order such as this - the first of its kind in the UK - was insufficiently neutral.

So, they can either not defend themselves, and lose by default, or they can defend themselves and lose because they weren't neutral.

I'm sorry, but did I fall through a wormhole and end up in a copy of Joseph Heller's Catch-22?

But none of that is computer science. It's what Slashdot discusses, and what a good portion of computer science people care about, but one thing it isn't is computer science.

Yeah, I got an iPhone just yesterday. It's nice enough but the battery life SUCKS.

BlackBerry may have issues (oh hell has it got issues) but the battery life wasn't one of them.

Don't ask my why, but certain people I see have no money yet insist on obtaining the latest iTrinkets no matter what.

Apple will be fine.

What's a five-letter word that begins with an 'H' and ends with an 'R', has a 'U' in the middle, and relates to the use of satire or comical remarks to spark a laugh or amusement in others?

"HURRR", as in "HURRR DURRRRRRR"?

I had a Motorola Defy (Android thing), which had a Gorilla Glass screen. This was supposed to be waterproof, scratchproof, dustproof and, most importantly, when you drop it on the ground it won't break because the glass is supposedly so tough.

I dropped it on the ground exactly once. The Amazing Won't Ever Smash Gorilla Glass smashed. I've dropped my Curve several times and it's still intact with barely a scratch. My ex's Curve got dunked under water several times also and it lived. I really, genuinely couldn't say anything bad about BB build quality given all that.

Try dropping the Bold sometime. I can understand criticising RIM's software quality or whatever, but one think I wouldn't dare fault them for is the build quality. BlackBerry phones, in my experience, take a lot of punishment before they give out.

I own a Curve, btw. It's solid as a rock.

Android has basically locked up the smartphone market for people that don't want to pay Apple prices or just don't like iOS for some reason, trying to fight that trend with a fourth tier OS is kind of crazy (even RIM with a much stronger financial base is going to have a hard time fighting the two and will likely lose or adopt Android in the end and I think MS's shareholder are going to revolt over their losses on Windows Phone).

RIM are probably a lot better off than most people think. For a start, at least here in the UK, they have the youth market utterly sewn up thanks to BBM, the keyboard being great for bashing out quick text messages and the fact that on a bang-for-buck basis BlackBerry phones are ridiculously good value (a Curve 3G is about £160 on prepay, mine is free on a £10pm contract and you can get one with a PlayBook on a £36pm contract). The UI wasn't as slick as iPhone or Android, but certainly with OS6 they've made some great strides. As far as usability goes, I had an Android phone for six months and was actually fairly grateful when it broke (protip: when Motorola say Defy phones don't break when they're dropped, they are lying through their teeth) as the BlackBerry experience is so much more efficient.

At any rate, RIM are not going to adopt Android; they bought QNX and are going to be replacing their existing BlackBerry OS with it come BB8.