It seems the main attack vector would be a "rogue app", just like with this recent story.

I deem myself lucky that all software I have installed on my N900 is open source, which means I (or anyone else) can check the code, compile it and improve it anytime I feel the need to - it's as simple as on any debian based system, "apt-get source", "make" etc. - That alone makes it the superior platform imho, though obviously it doesn't come with all the bling-bling apps and games that Apfel and Google supplies you with. For me openness trumps gimmicks anytime.

It also don't hurt that many of the tools and scripts I use on my Ubuntu workstation can directly be used on the phone as well.

On a tongue in cheek note: the only two packages (out of 868) that vrms admonishes about are "human-icon-theme" and "tangerine-theme" - but they probably don't pose a security risk ;)

Finally, somebody who not just posts FUD but actually investigates. After reading parent's article though, I get the feeling that Iron does actually do exactly what it claims to do: improve the user's privacy by changing default settings that 99% of Chrome users never even heard about, let alone change them to appropriate values. Specifically the changes mentioned are:

privacy related:
- disables the Google suggestion service (which informs Google about what you're typing into the search bar before you trigger the search)
- disables a service called GoogleURLTracker (which informs Google about your location, so it can "localise" you)
- Chromium's built-in statistics recording and reporting functionality is shut off
- the Client ID of the browser is wiped out
- disables Google's alternate error pages (that invokes another Google service, that isn't really required for web browsing)
- disables a web resource service used to fetch new help tips for Chromium (another service that "phones home" is disabled)

other:
- changes the Chromium version number from 5.0.306 to 4.0.280 (Iron version number)
- number of thumbnails in the New Tab page is increased from 8 to 12
- number of days of history used to compile that data is increased from 90 to 180
- Chromium tips that are shown on the New Tab page to help users learn how to use Chromium are disabled
- dialog that Chromium shows new users when it is first run is disabled

To recap, this article headlines "Is Iron a Scam? Yes" actually lists Iron's diffs from the Chromium project (which btw is only the codebase for Chrome, which itself is not open source, thus we have no way to ascertain what the Chrome browser is actually doing in the background). These diffs contains modifications that ensure that most of the default behaviours of Chromium that "phone home" are disabled and can not be enabled through the options menu.

So no matter what kind of douchebags the developer(s) may be, they are actually delivering on what they promise - a browser that disables phoning home features. Again: these features can be disabled through Chromium's options menu, but most people won't because they don't know about them.

Furthermore they are doing this while also releasing their source code for everyone to see (and compile) so we not only see what changes they make to the privacy settings, but can also make sure they are not adding questionable features themselves. In any case, if you wanted to fork your own personalised "privacy enabled" browser from the Chromium project it looks as if forking from the Iron source will save you some work.

I trust Python on this - it was designed by a mathematician and supports unlimited accuracy.

$ python
Python 2.6.5 (r265:79063, Apr 16 2010, 13:57:41)
[GCC 4.4.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 3/2
1

So what it says is that at least one person knows math, which is good enough for me :)

With the current proliferation of handheld computers (i.e. book replacements) this comes in real handy. I kept most of my books already as PDFs on my tablet. For webpages where previously I usually kept the Firefox tabs open with interesting Wikipedia articles (e.g. to read later during a flight) I can now save them (without worrying about thousands of little files clogging up my harddrive), which simplifies things quite a bit.

Another advantage is that you instantly know how it will look like when printed. Not to mention that PDF is an open standard, so there are free tools (at least on Linux) that let you easily add images/pages or otherwise modify it any way you like.

The whole point of IT is making information accessible, this is another step in the right direction.

What if when entering the class every student needs to hold the card to the reader until it registers and beeps (just like in the subway)? They will find a way to enforce this if they think it's worth it.. Thus the best way would be to show them that forcing attendance does not yield better results.

So this is what it comes down to?

Apple : Lawful Good (self-righteous)
Google : Chaotic Good (for now)
Taiwan Mfg : Chaotic Neutral
Microsoft : Neutral Evil (of course!)
SCO : Chaotic Evil

You forgot:
FOSS : Chaotic Good (forever)

I still think the best solution would be a color coding overlay over the text that would show the reader immediately 1.) how trustworthy the author has been and 2.) how long before the edit has been done (without being reverted). That way it would be easy to see the sections written by reputable authors who have always added useful info and distinguish it from "amendments" that have been entered just a few minutes ago by an anonymous coward.

And for those who do not want to log in to edit, that would be fine too, if the edit stands the test of time it's highly probable that the information entered was good, so over time it will get a similar color "status" as an edit from a reputable author. It would also be easy to see last minute amendments be known authors, and as we all know, should be taken with a (larger than usual) grain of salt, no matter how well known he is ;)

Just add a toggle button to switch between default view and the color coded view.

BTW this system would also works very well for blogs and news sites.

Seeing the pictures here I believe there is a reasonably case for prior art, no? If anything the Vatican should pay George Lucas, as he has 25 years on them ;)

That being said imho the emperor from the Empire strikes back looked much more formidable, the pope should have gone with that look instead...

They want to play back intentionally malformed phrases? I guess they'll need to prepare to the Campbell monkeys' equivalent of "What did you just call my mother?" ;)

You're not thinking BIG enough. Their stated goal is to monopolise any and all information available and put it in easily indexed electronic form. This includes, obviously, YOUR data, i.e. where you live/work (through IP tracking, gEarth), what you're interested in (Search, Youtube), what you consume (Marketplace, affiliates), aka your net worth, and any means you use to communicate and access data, be it through your PC (gDesktop, Chrome OS), mobile (Android+apps) or any other conceivable device/network.

A very nice open source app, available through the Ubuntu/Debian repositories. The author's page even got a windows version.

It supports multi-core CPUs, i.e. if you really want to tax each of your CPU's core to the limit, just use the app to browse through the mandelbrot set. It also supports a 3D extrapolation of the 2D set (OpenGL and software).

Strangely enough it doesn't seem all that popular, as the forum doesn't seem all that populated..

First of all, I really like Opera, I use it all the time for browsing and email alongside Firefox and Iron, and will continue using it as a web browser.

So I was thrilled to read about this new feature in 10 beta version, downloaded it and installed it on a test system. Turns out if you want to use the new feature you'll have to register with their "network". Sorry, but my privacy is worth a little more than the convenience that this new feature provides over the current apps used for the functions it's supposed to cover.

I guess we'll need to wait for Google Wave to come around (brought to you by the creators of google maps) - just saw this video and was very impressed. It lets you upload pics, messages etc. as if you had a webserver, but is far more interactive. If you run your own server node (and encrypt your data) there shouldn't be any security or privacy concerns either, because you can decide what data gets out to third parties (incl. Google). Best of all it's open source using open standards - anyone can write extensions or fork.

Not really. It says they made it to the "Paleocene", i.e. the epoch adjacent to the Cretaceous. To have meet any cavemen they'd have had to survive through the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene all the way to the Pleistocene era. That would still be around 60 million years.

I also highly doubt cavemen (or cavewomen for that matter) had the skill or technology to time travel back to the Paleocene. Afaik only genetically enhanced laboratory mice can do that.

I was so enthusiastic when I read about android, being open source, free as is speech etc.. But then, the more I read and saw about the actual products the more I was whipped back into line, the coup de grace obviously being the very non-free-as-in-speech decision to sell it only through T-Mobile (and whatever that entails), just like previously the iPhone, (which Android phones where supposed to show how we do things in the "free" world).

So after all this I decided for Nokia's 5800XM (cheaper now), which seems to do it just right. I am not bound to a specific carrier and added to that there was the recent announcement that they'll make the Symbian OS open source. I've installed Python on it (which has a very alive developer community) and now have easy direct access to the Bluetooth functions, phonebook, camera, music player, GPS etc.

Add to that an easily replaceable 1320 mAh battery (very useful especially when excessively using the internal GPS :p), Wifi and a slot for 16GB microSDs... - open source/Python and kick-ass hardware, what more could one want from a phone?

I've posted it before and I'll post it again (seems most people still don't know about it): there is a fork from the Chromium project that not only does away with all the "phoning home features" including the annoying background-lurking installer, it also allows for an ad-blocker (looking at the forums, several different ones are available apparently, though I'm using the hosts file myself): Get it here

They also got a "portable" version that requires no installation and stores all settings in the Iron folder (which I'm using).

The source code is also available.