I've been strongly offended by software patents ever since I learned over a decade ago about how meager the "innovations" they protect can be. I think most of us will make one or two "patentable innovations" per day before lunch, or at least infringe with some fundamental task like throwing an exception (never realizing we were "innovating" or "infringing" in the process).

So where should we send the money? I want to donate to an org that shares my opinions and is doing something about it. The two I know of are as follows, but would appreciate additional suggestions.

EFF Patent Busting Project: http://w2.eff.org/patent/wp.html
End Software Patents: http://endsoftpatents.org/donate

AT&T is the only US carrier who has disabled the ability to install applications from sources other than the Android market (e.g., that have been downloaded from the web). It's very ineffective, given that one can load anything they want via the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) which is part of the Android SDK.

From what I've seen, the T-Mobile G2 simply supports tethering out of the box. AT&T is currently hunting down customers who are using "illegal" tethering software.

Crapware-infested Android phones make for a truly awful experience. Those apps tend to be cobbled together and listen for events which they shouldn't, draining the battery and lagging the phone. Sure the advanced users can clean them off, but the average user will conclude that Android sucks and buy an iPhone next time.

...since they removed the jobs/hired goons section. It's a shame too, as the local one had excellent goons.

TFA is talking about moving from cable throttles to electronics and discusses hydraulics and hoses? I'm not putting much faith in TFA. Nor do I particularly place high esteem in arbitrary internet comments (as one should do with my commentary as well).

The point of my comment is that I'm questioning the information I'm hearing...it doesn't square with a lot of reported cases as well as knowledge of how these systems work. Referencing the same people I'm questioning isn't going to make me any more likely to believe it.

This may well be speculative crap, but at least based on the anecdotal incidents I keep hearing about, this sounds like an ECM problem.

First Toyota blamed floor mats. That immediately causes consumers to think that the problem was the fault of idiot drivers, not Toyota itself. The typical person's reaction would rightfully be something along the lines of "duh, if you stack floormats under the accelerator, it's going to stick...this is not Toyota's fault".

Now Toyota blames the pedal. And the pedal manufacturer. Again a simple system that people understand...that can be labeled as obviously defective and replaced with something theoretically not defective, bringing about peace of mind.

Finally Toyota is going to "go the extra mile" and update the ECMs to cause pressing the brake to cut the throttle. I imagine this is an algorithmic (code) change to the ECM, not just new calibrations. Apparently Toyota uses a proprietary ECM that is not very "hackable". That is, it's very closed in comparison to items like those in GMs and VW/Audis where there are cottage industries of tinkerers who have decompiled the code, modified calibrations for performance and economy, and even modified the algorithms themselves. (You don't see things like VAGCOM or EFILive for Toyotas.)

Point being, if they update the ECM and it is all proprietary stuff and there's no easy way to diff it (or an adequate number of eyes to catch the difference) they can fix the problem and scapegoat the pedal manufacturer. And potentially leave a lot of dangerous vehicles on the road to save face.

The biggest hole I can find in this idea is where I'm getting my data. Random reports from people, a lot of whom seem to claim their vehicles accelerated from a stop. And of course it's all stuff reported by the popular news media. And of course a lot of folks who rear-ended someone in their Toyota are going to suggest anything other than their own actions being the cause.

But being a software developer, the more I hear about this, the more it stinks of software. An ECM has too many variables to simulate all possible conditions, so you must rely on the algorithms to work correctly. My gut says there's a tiny hole in there somewhere, where most users will never encounter it.

65-key PFUCA Happy Hacking Lite 2 here. Bought two back in 2000, they're still both working great and are my preferred dev keyboards. Everything is within reach, and it's a quality item. If you like the old Sun layout, I highly recommend them:

http://pfuca-store.stores.yahoo.net/haphackeylit1.html

-1 Offtopic? Lay off this guy. He's probably tired and cranky after just having ported Snow Leopard to the PowerPC.

Can I get a copy?

It seems this is yet another technical project doomed to failure from a lack of proper requirements gathering before implementation.

The primary theoretical advantage of a sex robot is that you can turn it OFF.

I recently picked up a Droid (after having had iPhones for the previous two years).

It appears to me that Gameloft's offerings for Android are poorly executed. The market reviews for this developer are quite low. Looking at the reviews for their paid games, you'll commonly see comments along the lines of "looks like an NES game", and it's easy to see why from the screenshots.

I have only tried Gameloft’s (free) Solitaire, but if that product is representative, it should come as no surprise why their Android sales are extremely poor. This games is so horrid that I wouldn't have it on my phone if you paid me to. It appears to be a port from some lesser-spec device.

When playing the FreeCell game, there is a man in the lower portion of the screen who looks around, nods his head, and emits little “Z” graphics if you take too long to move, i.e., indicating that he is tired. Who is this guy? Are they familiar with the fact that Solitaire is a single-player game? It is, after all named a derivative of the word “solitary”. And it does not help that the graphics in this game appear to use a 256-color palette, and textures that were originally intended for a non-smartphone with a screen resolution of about 160x160.

I'm currently annoyed that there aren't many good games for Android. I'd pay $10 without blinking for a well done solitaire game. I've even emailed Solebon suggesting that they port their iPhone product. But if the only offerings available are crap, I'll stick with the free sudoku and my SNES and Genesis emulators.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

PS: The Slashdot lameness filter needs to be sent to the ministry of love.

...because it's the only one I have. About eight years ago Slashdot posted a story about the "Happy Hacking" programmer's minimalist/old-Sun-layout keyboard. I bought two, and have been using them ever since.

http://pfuca-store.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

No caps lock, unless you count "Fn-Tab". Control is where it should be.
No windows key. There's a "diamond" key that's mapped to that keycode. Incredibly useful to have such a key that is not mapped to anything by default (in Linux at least). It's custom keyboard shortcut heaven.

It's held up well for eight years. I've pulled all the keys out of it several times for full cleanings, and it still works as original. Only damage so far is I've managed to break one of the flip-out feet on one of them. But again, it's seen eight years of constant use.

GM vehicles have similar third-party systems available to the general public, but they only target powertrain (engine/transmission) tuning (rather than body systems). The higher end ones such as EFILive (http://efilive.com) and HPTuners (http://hptuners.com) will let you edit most parameters (or at least the ones you care about) in your vehicle's PCM. In addition to programming, the devices allow you to log all parameters available to the PCM. The companies offering these tuning/logging devices have additionally written custom operating systems for the PCMs of these vehicles, for such purposes as running forced induction/large camshifts for drag racing applications. Additionally there are spliced-together operating systems for applications such as running engine X with transmission Y, even though GM never put those two items in one vehicle.

I don't know the true history of it, but I believe reverse engineering was involved. Given the large tuning market for GM products, it was apparently cost effective for multiple companies to do it.

I know of similar systems that exist for Fords, a few models of Honda (mostly Civics), Subarus, and Mitsubishis. Not certain on Chrysler. As I understand it, nothing exists for Toyota.

In my opinion, the presence of these devices removes most all of the big-scary "it's all electronic, you'll need a team of technicians to even open the hood" stigma that is commonly associated with new vehicles. Using EFILive, I've managed to improve both the performance and mileage (at the same time) of my brick of a vehicle, and diagnose trouble codes as well. If you plan on keeping a vehicle for a long time and doing the maintenance yourself, I find such a device to be a must-have.

http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/samsungblueearth2.jpg

I don't get it. How are you saving trees with this phone? Has Samsung employed a gang of vigilante loggers to cut them down if you do not walk a certain distance per day using the phone as a pedometer in "Eco walk" mode? Has there been a new scientific discovery that CO2 may in fact kill trees, negating the previous data that it is neutral or possibly even beneficial toward plant growth?