I can see where you would get that. :-)

Where the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is concerned, I'm on Apple's side, at least in technical interpretation of the law. The way the case law for design patents and the "tests" a court applies work, a lot of what most people call common sense is thrown out the window, legally. It's less about if Joe Blow Customer can differentiate the two and more about if I throw these two items into a market are people going to buy the cheaper one because they're "about the same thing anyway".

Everyone knows an iPad form a Galaxy Tab. The issue is, are people going to buy the Tab because it's cheaper and pretty much has the same design points that made them want an iPad to begin with. Thus, you throw out logos, branding, and other things that people say "make a difference".

Apple has played this case underhanded in other courts. I honestly think that they should lose based on the modification of evidence and unusual leveraging in other cases, but that's just wishful thinking. The fact is, despite Apple's idiotic attempt to stack the deck, they should get this anyway. The Galaxy Tab, especially the way they "skinned" the Android installation, is fairly obviously on the wrong side. I suspect even if the casing were neon lime green, they could be considered infringing. This is a lot more than "rectangles with rounded corners." That design element is merely a single straw on the camel's back. In my opinion, the 10.1 N should've never passed muster in Germany.

I hate Apple, own a Galaxy Nexus, will probably buy a Nexus 7 (or whatever they call it today), and run Arch Linux at home on 2 desktops and a laptop. I do hobby development for Android. I still have to hand this one to Apple.

I would've thought the part where I indicated that I'm on the side of "incompetency is far too easily mistaken for malice" would be synonymous with your use of Occam's Razor. :-)

We're on the same side here, I was just pointing out that I can understand why someone would "politicize" this sort of decision.

The tendency has been for appointees to keep a very open ear to the person that did the appointing. There is definitely a donation trail from Apple to Obama, and it is extremely likely some of those donations purchased Obama "mentioning" his preferred ruling to Mrs. Koh.

This is, of course, purely conspiracy theorizing and unlikely. Personally, I've found myself repeating the phrase, "incompetency is far too easily mistaken for malice," in conversations about this topic around the water cooler.

I guess I'm just saying that while unlikely, it's probably more of a 70 percent probability unlikely. It's much more possible this election cycle considering how much money is being sunk into the elections due to the Citizens United decision. There's so much money in this election anything is possible. Hence, everything is suspect where politicians are involved.

Can someone explain just how BB's do "push" better? Especially where concerned with Exchange ActiveSync.

I've had my Nexus S 4G, HTC Evo 4G, and Galaxy Nexus hooked up with ActiveSync for Exchange and it works. I've never had an issue with it. Also, I can log in via my employer's Outlook Web interface and wipe the phone if necessary.

I'm not trolling or anything, I just always see people say "BB does push email better than any one out there!" I've yet to see a feature that wasn't implemented there.

I know Android and Apple iOS implement ActiveSync based security policies. You can remote wipe, enforce password requirements, and enforce encryption, including rejecting adding a device if it doesn't support the encryption you want. Are there other management options that you can include with BES?

I know that ActiveSync can use SSL and you can even require client certificates. Does BES do something more secure?

I can imagine that if you use something other than Exchange, then BES may provide a way to get email onto handsets in a more secure and controlled fashion than IMAP with TLS. So for shops that use something else (Are you hiring?) I'm sure BES is vital. However, is that it's only saving grace?

Then again, most of the comparisons in this comment are about things other than push email and more about device security and management...so yeah, what's so awesome about BES's email?

I own Psychonauts already as part of picking up Stacking, haven't played it yet. I have Amnesia, it's pretty awesome, though I don't play it much at all. (I suck at survival horror. It's enough trying to get through a horror movie much less something requiring active participation. So I'm about 20 minutes into the game after a few months. Lol.) I played the Bastion demo on XBox and it was awesome sauce. I've been eyeing Swords & Sorcery for a while. It alone is worth picking up the bundle. :-)

I've got a pretty lean, mean Arch build running as my dual-head desktop. My spare laptop is about to get some Debian love, just because I'm curious about it. I've tried Unity and I'm not too thrilled. Mind you, I run Gnome 3 and while I don't necessarily like it, I don't mind it. I used the Compiz plugin combined with a hot zone in the corner of the screen to zoom out all the windows and tile them. It was the only part of using a OS X I ever liked. So Gnome 3's approach wasn't at all that jarring. The only part of Gnome3 I hate was Also I used Gnome Do a lot.

That's probably why I found Unity so horrifying. All of that customization that was available with compiz was gone. The OS X/Launcher/Etc. dock I hated was in my face, not able to be moved away from the left side. The "unified menu bar" was horrible and always seemed miles away on my larger dual desktop screens. Sloppy focus was permanently and forever broken. Finally, my primary mode of window management was totally busted. I was used to either slide, spot, click, done. Also, I'd mapped a lot of chords to navigate the same view by keyboard.

Mind you, I'll always be thankful to Ubuntu for getting me started with Linux. Well, actually that goes to Fedora. Ubuntu just made it much more bearable while I got past my "WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING JUST WORK" stage. However, the level of customization in Unity (and now, in Gnome, though extensions are trying to make up for it) have really burned me. I'm not quite looking at KDE, but I might start poking around XFCE. I've installed it before on super low-end laptops, so we'll see what happens. However, it will certainly be an Arch or Debian based distribution underneath it. I have little to no interest in ever giving Ubuntu anymore support.

Background: A year ago while rummaging through our now combined DVD collection I turned to my partner and said, "What's Logan's Run?" He shook his head and made the whole, "Shoot me now," motion with his hand.

I just turned to my partner and said, "Logan's run was a book!?"

He's hitting his head on the desk now. Hooray for generation gaps!

You have no idea.

Co-worker: Didn't Obama pass some law getting rid of my payroll tax?

Me: Uh...Congress passes laws.

Co-worker: No they don't. The president passes laws. Congress just votes on which ones they suggest to the President.

Me: I think you're confusing veto powers. Those can be overridden, you know. Though, in the current climate, it really would never happen. However, Obama can't pass a law that Congress didn't vote through.

Co-worker: Yes he can!

Me: I'm sure the Supreme Court would beg to differ.

Co-worker: They just raise a big fuss when the President passes a law the Constitutional [sic] says he can't pass.

Me: And you have a degree?

Co-worker: Yeah, in Business!

I'd say something along the lines of "God help us all". However, I stopped believing in God a long time ago. This is mostly because of conversations like this.

Who says you have the training and knowledge to make the decision if you need a test or not? Medical school is not 4 years of cocaine and whores, regardless of what Hollywood claims.

I had several Professors who used the Course Page features, such as Forums, File Management, the ability to allow students the ability to upload files, and email in the Banner portals rather than use BlackBoard. That speaks volumes to me.

My partner's card got skimmed by a rig on a Bank of America ATM. I've been to ATM's before and noticed skimmers. I've seen handheld skimmers and attachments for portable terminals when I interned with fraud investigations at a major card processor. It happens more than you think, since the information is easily used to commit fraud with card not present transactions.

In my entire life, I've been in exactly one restaurant with portable readers. They are extremely rare in the United States. This is mostly because every time the regulators try to up the security enforcement, the processors complain about the cost and turn around and tell merchants that everyone must buy new terminals. The merchants pitch such a hissy fit, nothing ever gets done.

Unfortunately, the "terminal replacement" problem is so wide spread, it's impossible to vote with your wallet. Fortunately, big players like Visa and Master Card have gotten fed up with the merchants and have simply said, "Buy a new EMV contact and contactless (NFC, mobile wallets, etc.) terminal between 2013 and 2015. As of 2015, if a fraudulent transaction occurs that could've been prevented by EMV, then you are liable for it.

The net effect will be similar to the UK where suddenly everyone has chipped cards and/or NFC wallets and merchants won't accept anything else. It's very sad that it's taken this long and the advent of NFC to get anything done.

Also, for reference: Here's a local news report of the bust here in Atlanta.

I just looked into this. I did not know about the liability shift in EMV preventable fraud come 2015. I almost cried tears of joy. You have given me a glimmer of hope for the world. (Though it might be a bit cruel to the merchants, I have little sympathy. The U.S. has been way behind the curve on this simply because the merchants would pitch a hissy fit about buying new terminals every time.)

As was said before, yet you trust the waitress to wander off into another room for several minutes with your card? Do you even know what a skimmer is? Do you realize you've likely given your card AND pin to several of them already at your local ATM? This is no less secure and far more convenient and cheaper for the merchants. Electronic banking is fundamentally broken, this isn't making it worse.

Universe, I'm wishing desperately for mod points for the parent. People are so blind to just how horribly insecure the system is already. A rooted phone is the least of your worries. They just busted a skimming ring here in Atlanta restaurants a few months ago. This is no less insecure than what's already in place but far more convenient.

As for the GP: Also, realize that most of this is US based and we don't use "chip & pin". Period. Also, most people run debit cards as credit cards. Companies actively encourage you to sign for purchases and not key in your pin with various rewards. Some banks even charge the customer a fee per pin-based transaction. These are magnetic stripe machines that always run the card via the Credit Card processing company (MasterCard and Visa), not via the bank. The rules are different for those, and you most certainly won't be using your craptastic PIN.

I won't go into the level of security a 4 digit PIN does not provide given enough money you can get via fraud for a particular card.