quarterbuck - Slashdot User

Submission + - Cheap mobile data plan

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday August 27, 2009 @07:55PM

quarterbuck writes: "I have been traveling around a lot, so I currently have a GSM phone which I use through T-Mobile. But recently T-mobile stopped offering their data plans on unlocked phones (now only for their locked Sidekick phones). I am trying to find out the cheapest data capable plan. I would prefer no/limited lock-in since I travel a lot (and hate the idea of linking my phone to the plan). I would also like to be able to hack/add apps to my phone, so a Linux/Windows Mobile/Blackberry device support would be nice. I found a story online (I am not affiliated with them) and the story, while true seems outdated.
So far I have checked out Boost Mobile — AFAIK, the cheapest, but has limited support for phones.For $50 I can get unlimited data+voice but the only phone that meets my specs is Blackberry 865i. The data is also not particularly fast.
T-mobile stopped offering prepaid internet.
Verizon has data plans, but they are infamous for their Verizon Math and have no cheap unlimited plans.
Any other suggestions ?"

Submission + - India's biggest opposition party supports OSS (rediff.com)

Submitted by quarterbuck on Saturday March 14, 2009 @09:45AM

quarterbuck writes: India's biggest opposition party (BJP) has announced its plan to promote Free/Open Software in all parts of the government if it comes to power. With the left and extreme left already pro-FOSS, it appears that FOSS has pretty reasonable odds in India.
Background on Indian politics. Indian elections are set in May and India has three main groups of parties. The Indian Congress led UPA (currently in power), the BJP led NDA and the third-front of which the Communist parties are a part of. We only have to hear from UPA on software policy so far.

Submission + - Who writes Wikipedia anyway (alleyinsider.com) 1

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Saturday January 03, 2009 @10:33AM

quarterbuck writes: "Silicon Valley Insider has a nice post that analyzes a study by Aaron Swartz that analyzes wikipedia edits.
Jimbo Wales had earlier commented that 1400 "insiders" really edit Wikipedia. Turns out that may not be true — Millions of outsiders really make the edits, but these 1400 edit them into a complete article. This also explains why Knol seems not to have worked out very well — without millions of users scribbling their knowledge, the experts have not much to work with."

Submission + - Yahoo promises to anonymize and limit user data (wsj.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Wednesday December 17, 2008 @08:45AM

quarterbuck writes: "While Google is saying that personalization is the key to search, Yahoo is taking a different view of the topic. Yahoo announced plans to retain user data for no longer than 90 days and to anonymize data. Even if Yahoo is not your favorite search engine, it is a good move in the direction of online privacy if it will force others to follow suit."

Submission + - Nokia acquires Symbian,OS to beOpensource (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday December 04, 2008 @01:53PM

quarterbuck writes: "Nokia has completed the acquisition of Symbian ArsTechnica is reporting that it puts Nokia's plans to opensource (Eclipse license) Symbian OS back on track."

Submission + - Malaysia frees blogger. (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Friday November 07, 2008 @05:42AM

quarterbuck writes: "The Malaysian blogger who under arrest on sedition charges has been freed by the courts. Raja Petra Kamarudin's comments were represented by the government as being anti-islam and anti-government and he was under arrest under Malaysia's Internal Security Act.Now a court has ruled that the government was overstepping its limits in what is being called a landmark ruling."

Submission + - Atheists advertise on London buses (irishtimes.com) 5

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday October 23, 2008 @04:59AM

quarterbuck writes: "The British Humanist Society is taking making ads saying There is probably no god and are putting them on the red London buses apparently. Having no god on their sides must hurt the feelings of buses, surely ?"

Submission + - IT moving India from stone age to the digital (wsj.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Tuesday October 14, 2008 @03:26PM

quarterbuck writes: "The Wall Street journal has an article which describes how IT companies are helping India progress from what it calls "Stone Age to Digital Age".IT companies in India hurt by the Global slowdown are actively courting the government for participation in their e-governance initiatives. India has taken an OS agnostic view of e-governance but its homegrown B.O.S.S. Linux OS distro just went 3.0 and is welcoming contributors."

Submission + - Court finds that Palin must save Yahoo emails (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Sunday October 12, 2008 @09:14AM

quarterbuck writes: "An Anchorage judge has found that Governor Sarah Palin must save her emails . Last week a Tennessee man was arrested over hacking her email account. Washington post also reports that Sarah Palin, her husband and officials had set-up email accounts known only to each other. Is this the first case of Vigilante Justice online ?"

Submission + - Most hackable phone?

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday August 14, 2008 @11:22AM

quarterbuck writes: "I am a grad-student who is from India, studies in the US and will travel to Europe on an exchange program — and I am looking to buy a Cellphone. I want to buy the phone that gives me the most freedom and is relatively cheap. The OpenMoko freerunner is sold out and I am not sure it supports VoIP calls. Nokia sells unlocked phones which support Truphone , but then Truphone is not really hackable. Nokia handhelds run linux, but they are'nt really phones. iPhone is cool, but the appstore has limited number of apps that are opensource (And Apple won't allow VOIP). Googlephone is still a few months away. Does slashdot have any suggestions ? What phones have users been able to hack ? (I have been relatively successfull with my old Motorola A768) The travel schedule locks me into getting a tri-band GSM phone."

Submission + - Yahoo won't go with Microsoft but with Google (yahoo.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday June 12, 2008 @03:50PM

quarterbuck writes: "Reuters is saying that Microsoft-Yahoo deal has collapsed. There is a deal with Google that may take place instead."

Submission + - McCain says wiretapping may be illegal (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Friday June 06, 2008 @07:14PM

quarterbuck writes: "In a statement that further clarifies his position, Senator McCain has said that wiretapping may be illegal . What is interesting (though not literally spelled out) is that he said that the presidential action allowing wiretapping is what is illegal, not just the telecom actions — which means that a challenge in courts may finally end up with McCain pardoning George Bush .
McCain had earlier said that he would like to continue monitoring internet traffic and pardon telecoms for damages already done ."

Submission + - Intel facing Antitrust Investigation (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Friday June 06, 2008 @01:30PM

quarterbuck writes: "The justice department has said that Intel is facing Antitrust Investigation . The investigation is regarding anticompetitive conduct against AMD and other rivals. Intel has said that it is co-operating with the department."

Submission + - Yahoo, Marry me! No? What about a kiss? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Sunday May 18, 2008 @04:26PM

quarterbuck writes: "Microsoft and Yahoo are at it again , this time Microsoft wants a deal but does not want to acquire Yahoo fully.
In a statement, Microsoft said that it is "considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo." without elaborating further"

Submission + - Icahn starts proxy fight to sell Yahoo to MS (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by

quarterbuck

on Thursday May 15, 2008 @10:54PM

quarterbuck writes: "Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor has started a proxy fight to convince Yahoo board of directors to sell Yahoo to Microsoft.He had earlier spent a billion dollars to buy 3.6 percent of Yahoo"

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