You want Open Source? Cool... Firefox is your friend.

Fast? Try Opera.

Both are our friends, at the moment.

So, since reading this news item about 4.4.2, we've had to Power Off & shelve a fleet of Nexus 7's that have just self-updated to 4.4.2.

But we were -lucky- to have [remnants of] an older fleet - made by Samsung - on-hand, that we'd -almost- forgotten about, ie, after noticing Samsung's "slowness" to release Android upgrades. We -had- a dangerous habit of "only the latest will do" but have quickly come to appreciate Samsung...

Now, we wonder if our Korean friends there weren't just doing -tests- for privacy / security downgrades, in Android... and holding back the "latest" versions, until they notice -restoration- of our privacy / security levels. Perhaps a fiction... but... it was really nice to find some Samsung Android 4.1.2 devices near at hand, this morning. :-)

[ Could this privacy / security downgrade be NSA inspired? Could Apple's products be next to follow? ]

1. Turn OFF all Android 4.4.2 devices - [ Could be inconvenient, particularly for phones & phablets. ]
2. Don't allow any other devices to [Auto-]Update to 4.4.2
3. Find -older- devices to replace those Turned OFF (in Step 1) - [ Could be costly, if you don't have old devices on-hand. ]
4. Remove installed [Google-] apps' updates.
5. Wait for Goggle to notice [hopefully, FAR] FEWER 4.4.2 systems online (assuming they can't switch them back On...)
        and to decide to -lift- their game, before we have to -seriously- consider migrating to Apple...

(Any additional suggestions would be most welcome.)

We had some unopened [backup] devices on-hand, purchased at discount, after release of newer models.

PS We now appreciate Samsung's "slowness" to release system updates... maybe they quietly test each one & wait for tests to indicate no reduction of privacy / security features, before passing them on to us...? I -hope- so, we do -not- know for sure.

From the first talk we viewed on EfT, we were intreagued... Safe Nuclear Energy? (Cf Kindle eBook: "Nuclear 2.0" We paid ~ $2 for it at Amazon.com; YMMV).

Instead of costly solid fuel rods (only ~ 2% of whose energy is used before they're sent to costly storage), liquid fueled reactors need no such rods. Instead, their liquid fuel (about 98% of whose energy) is used.

The LFTR is just one of the several designs being discussed. Some want ASD's in their designs, ie, with an Accelorator in the picture. (I'm sure still other designs will be proposed, possibly incorporating something else that a particular physicist knows well enough to build into it.)

There's plenty of time to innovate, discuss, simulate & build prototypes... Join in the Fun (Did he say Fun?!?) & games of designing safe nuclear power plants, for a change.

Don't let Fukushima's disaster send the baby (nuclear industry) out with the bathwater (a particular design, used at Fukushima)!

We didn't stop sending shuttles, etc. up to the ISS, ie, even after 2 losses! So, let's not let the greenest energy source get away from us... Embrace Next Gen Nuclear Energy, eg, LFTRs = Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors.

So, Energy from Thorium (promoted, in part, by an international group, which just concluded its 2013 Conference, at CERN, in Geneva) could be deemed as a -commercially- extreme concept, eg, since - if/when Thorium-/LFTR-based nuclear power (cf the recently released eBook "Nuclear 2.0") begins to replace fossil-fueled & even Uranium-based powe plants - a number of well-endowed commercial interests may feel unduly threatened by EfT.

Could the info & organisations who would like to bring EfT -sooner- into pur energy markets be deemed "extremists" & see their web sites, etc. get blocked 8n the UK, etc.?

Especially if the energy used to make a PV Solar Cell is still -less- than the amount it's expected to produce, over its lifetime, PV solar energy might not be the best choice of sustainable energy to invest in.

(Batteries for -local- storage of electrical energy might be good, eg, as anything that disconnects one's home or office from mains power is a problem almost anywhere.)

In a post-Fukishima world, the EC - if not [also] Germany - should be investing in Energy from Thorium (eg, developing improvements of its proven technology from the 1950's, which even Germany has successfully trialed in the 1960's or the 1980's, I understand).

For many of the reasons (ie, features), cf Prof Dr Eduardo Greaves' [36-min.] talk "Thorium as Nuclear Fuel in Molten Salt Reactors" (on YouTube.com). (The impatient can search TED.com for Sorensen's 10-min talk & view at least its last 5 min's.)

R&D should run in parallel with Education & Debate, in the hopes that the Public will soon "get" that there are several types of reactor, some (eg, Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors = LFTRs) being much -safer- than Fukushima's reactors proved to be.

We should all understand the differences between even Canada's (long ago) improved CanDo reactors (still in the same "safety class" as Fukushima's, I understand) -and- LFTRs, which are expected to be not only "walk-away safe" but also cheaper to build & run.

After people come to understand the significant differences & inherent advantages in the design of LFTRs (and their safety levels are verified in ways that give all peoples confidence to embrace them, even near their back yards), we'll be able to make another great stride in our energy technology that can enable us to:

1. reduce CO2 emissions, & also turn back Climate Change that appears to be caused by it

2. enable any & all nations to build & use LFTR-technology - instead of current Plutonium-producing reactors, that we limit today

3. reduce the amount & cost of spent-fuel storage, eg, by consuming that fuel & getting energy from what was once waste

4. reduce or even eliminate "oil wars"

5. enabling us to -stop- "fracking" for Shale Oil &/or Coal-Seam Gas (CSG), which destroys water & land resources

6. reduce internal conflicts within nations (eg, legal battles & protests over "fracking")

7. redirect our minds to innovative & exploratory projects, in Science, Medicine, Space, Community Development, etc.

I see only win-win's from Energy from Thorium... are there any risks or disadvantages?

Let the debate continue, eg, in you comments & replies.

Energy from Thorium gives us one more way to resolve this issue, ie, beyond 1. Withholding nuclear technology and 2. Sharing it with Iran, namely:

Share the safe, non-Plutonium-generating Energy from Thorium (LFTR technology with Iran &;anyone who' ready to use it.

We trust it eventually became obvious, that we were referring to PlayBook, despite that name from being clipped from the OP's title line...

Wide (not wise)

And... We were referring to the rumoured but AFAIK never delivered upgrade to PlayBooks, that could have come out with the latest product releases... We think it still can & should be released, to help users retain some value in their mostly devices.

If that's impossible le, let RIM release the tools & info to enable those who can (& may still want to) attempt to do that, eg, as an Open Source project, as a tribute to the company & its device...

...then I might have felt endeared to them.

As it is, however, watching a worldwide fleet of such devices go out of currency (as the company unduly continues to wait for those of us who- who once trusted it to keep our devises up-to-date - to trust it again. We didn't & won't.

When will companies begin to enable its customers to enjoy the freedom of choice, in such matters, rather than opting for a "they'll have choice but to buy the new model" last resort - rather than encourahe a lasting, trust-rewarding relationship...

Perhaps someone who still can will help those who want to... to at least turn the fleet of PlayBooks into something useful... Eg, a handy console for a wise selection of video tutorials from KhanAdamy.org.

That's our hope for RIM...

They came, they made & sold (in this case, PlayBooks), they left something of some value for a unique purpose, supporting Education... So their creation won't go to the same kind of Hell that Apple's Lisa did, long ago...

So, anyone interested in encouraging their children
to be more enterprising & active in earning a living
& providing for themselves could - in some lawyer-
approved text, included in their will - make clear
that their wish is that any / all IP, that they (the parent)
may have created & contributed to the world, should
be considered to be in the Public Domain forever.

Such a text might even include a statement that the\
parent believes that they wish to encourage children
to do those things (listed above).

Q.E.D. (at least for those, who want to continue the
work, rather than encourage the consumption - by
the children - of any assets left to them)

The example (of action, if not will text, per se) is
The B. & M. Gates Foundation.

Why not "use up" - preferably, in humane ways -
the wealth, rather than hand it over to people,
who had little to do with its creation...?

WiFi + VoIP system design to enable local calls;
add Internet connectivity to enable outside calling.

+Beard didn't fit on Subj line, but all 3 were to be seen "masking" licensee's photo.

We think it was OK... since S. AU's gov't had same person's Driver's license in its database.

Why should beard + sunglasses + hat be OK on a firearm license???

Well, if someone finds that f/arm license, why make it easy to know who to follow home, eg, as footwork before breaking-in to steal guns...?

We say ir should be the norm, along with instructions to consider shaving off the eard, to make it even harder to make use of by such crims. Such licensees could also be advised to to to the photo shoot with coloured hair, for the same reason.

When I was in Grad School, I heard that
Ohio's state uni's considerd a student to
be an Ohio resident (able, then, to pay a
lower resident's tuition)... after 6 months
of living in Ohio.

For those with a [grand-]parent living in
a land of tuition-free uni's, see if you can
get residency or even [dual-]citizenship,
on that ground.

Join the creative minority & you may find
you have more options than those who
don't think outside the state / country, in
which they were born.

Eg:

1. Create businesses based on hiring talented people who've NOT got costly degrees, paying them less (since their Educ costs would be less = living- + Internet-costs + time).

2. Create -testing- businesses (which offer genuinely challenging/meaningful "Degree Equivalency" certifications, but no courses)

etc.