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Media (Apple)

Submission + - Remote Kill Flags Surface In Kindle (keionline.org)

Submitted by
PL/SQL Guy
PL/SQL Guy writes: "It appears that the Kindle has a number of "remote kill" flags built in to the hardware that, among other things, allow the text-to-speech function to be disabled at any time on a book-by-book basis. According to the Knowledge Ecology International site, "Beginning yesterday, Random House Publishers began to disable text-to-speech remotely. The TTS function has apparently been remotely disabled in over 40 works so far." But what no one at Amazon will discuss is what other flags are lurking in the Kindle format: is there a "read only once" flag? A "no turning the pages backwards" flag? Until this "evil Easter egg" issue is resolved, I won't be buying a Kindle."
Cellphones

Submission + - Unofficial Apps Incur the Wrath of Apple

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "If you want to use your iPhone as a video camera, send a photo message or hook it up to your laptop to connect to the Internet, there is no app for that — at least no official app. The Web is teeming with unauthorized applications for the iPhone but to use these programs, iPhone owners have to download a bit of software that bypasses Apple's restrictions and allows the installation of unsanctioned third-party programs setting up a legal battle between Apple, who says it has the right to regulate what can go on an iPhone, and the users and developers who want to customize their phones as they see fit. "You can modify your phone and say, 'Hey, look what I did,' " says Mark Janke, who runs a forum called Hack That Phone, which walks iPhone owners through the jailbreaking process. "It opens up an amazing world of goodies." According to Apple, jailbreaking is illegal and a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. "These modifications not only violate the warranty, they also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably," said Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple. Some say Apple would have more leverage with its copyright claims if it could prove that jailbreaking is harming its business. "They're worried about malware being distributed and third-party developers interfering with the stability of their product," says Mario Ciabarra, whose site Rock Your Phone offers nine applications for download through a platform he developed himself. "We just feel users should be able to decide for themselves if they want to deal with that.""
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Apple to acquire Twitter? 1

Submitted by OSXGlitch
OSXGlitch writes: An article on TechCrunch this morning extends the rumors that Apple is going to do something with their massive cash reserves. (Estimated at nearly $29B). The twitterverse is alive with speculation that Apple is looking to buy Twitter for $700 million. This goes against reports that the founders of Twitter aren't interested in selling. They also estimate the value of the company at around $250 million.

Two questions:
How do we all feel about the possibility of Apple owning Twitter?
Can Twitter decline an offer that is nearly three times their estimated worth?

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