I suspect Amazon sees the smartphone as a portable checkout terminal. Rather than leave it open to any competitors, they want to own the OS and get a peek at what you're looking for. It's also a consumption device, and is the hook to selling movies, books, etc. It may be the case that they really don't want to be in the smartphone business, but fear what a competitor might do.

I never had the cruise control malfunction again, but I could repeat the brake issue. Yes, these are two separate issues. But the brake issue prevents the driver from being able to stop the car.

When the car took off (I was on an almost-empty Interstate highway in Texas), I tried to brake and couldn't move the pedal. I put both feet on it and pushed as hard as I could. In the gym, I could push 600 lbs on the leg press. I could feel the pedal arm flexing under the pressure, but it would not move downward. I regained control of the throttle when I shut off the cruise control - leading me to believe the cruise control is at fault.

I demonstrated the brake problem to the dealer. They replaced the master cylinder assembly. As I drove away, someone pulled out in front of me and I could not stop for several seconds. Once again, the turbo was generating positive manifold pressure and the brakes would not move. After the manifold pressure went negative, I regained brakes. I took it back to the dealer. An older mechanic took a look and he said the check valve was worn. Once replaced, the problem vanished.

Summary:
Event 1 - runaway acceleration and zero brake
Event 2 - zero brake on boost
Event 3 - zero brake on boost.

BTW - I have raced motorcycles and cars for years, so I was quite comfortable with the car going fast. Being alone on a sunny day with no curves in sight gave me plenty of time to ponder the cause. I knew I could turn the engine off, so I wasn't in much danger. I was able to evaluate all the suspected causes. Feet on the wrong pedal? Nope. Floor mat or stuck linkage? Nope - it was easy to move and quite loose. The only other thing connected to the throttle butterfly was the cruise control. That's when I tapped the brakes - and discovered it wouldn't move. That's when I realized I was dealing with two faults. Glad I had a dashboard switch to shut down the CC. I was pressing the brakes, and suddenly it started to give slightly. I noticed turbo boost had just gone negative. I hit the gas, built up pressure, and sure enough the brakes wouldn't budge. So that part was very repeatable.

And how do you know that? That was the theory Audi suggested - blame the drivers.

Not at all. I owned the car. I saw the 60 minutes report. People claimed the car "suddenly took off" and "could not budge the brake pedal". This was the exact behaviour that my car exhibited.

Audi claimed (as did others) that they must have hit the gas pedal, and thought it was the brake. That is quite logical. And I'm sure that happened in some cases. But I also know my car did exactly what 60 Minutes claimed.

Interesting that you'd believe a government agency, rather than someone who actually owned the car, had the experience, and analyzed it. You link, however, was crap. He writes:

"When I first heard about the Audi “sudden unintended acceleration” segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes in 1986, I knew instantly that they were blowing smoke. Literally."

So he made up his mind instantly. Well, he's wrong. When my Audi 5000T was on positive pressure (turbo boost), high pressure would leak past the check valve, preventing the brakes from being applied. His statement that the brakes would override the engine does not take that into account.

Interesting. I was never able to duplicate the fault. But I had heard that VW Golf EFI was affected by RF (rumor - not fact) which lead to my suspicion. But a component failure seems quite likely.

That was Audi's excuse - but not the actual reason.

I was driving on an interstate highway on cruise control in an Audi 5000 Turbo, when the car suddenly went to full throttle. I could easily move the gas pedal up and down, so it wasn't stuck. I shut off the cruise control via a dashboard switch, and regained control. The throttle issue was clearly the cruise control malfunction. It never did it again. I could not duplicate the fault, so I suspect poor RF shielding (trucker using a hopped up CB radio?).

Yeah - I contacted Audi with the "good news" and they had zero interest. They would rather blame the customer than recall the cars.

The bullshit was Audi blaming the customers for confusing the pedals. The fault was elsewhere. I know - I owned an Audi 5000T that did this.

I was driving on an interstate highway on cruise control - my feet were not touching the pedals. The car suddenly went to full throttle. I could move the throttle pedal up and down with my foot. The brake pedal would not budge. I shut off the cruise control via a dashboard switch, and regained control. After the turbo boost dropped below atmospheric pressure, I regained brakes. I later discovered the check valve on the vacuum assist was worn, causing the loss of brakes when the turbo was on boost. The throttle issue was clearly the cruise control malfunction. It never did it again. I could not duplicate the fault, so I suspect poor RF shielding (trucker using a hopped up CB radio?).

I contacted Audi, and they blew me off.

To their credit, they stopped using the check valve method, so someone at Audi understood the fault condition. I'm less sure about the other issue. I solved the problem by deciding never to buy another Audi.

As a Android user (Nexus 4) and a former iPhone owner, I'm not so sure the OS is the real problem.

When I used the iPhone, it was very obvious that I was outside the Apple ecosystem. ITunes on Windows sucks, and I could tell that Apple's goal was to push me away from Windows and join the Apple world, where things "just work".

Now that I've moved to Android, it is clear that Google wants all my systems to work together, regardless of what it is or who it came from. My files stay synced between all my PCs, laptops, tablet, phone and even my old iPhone (now being used as an iPod). This is the killer app for me. Both Apple and Microsoft want their stuff to work better if you stick with their products. Google changed that game.

Sorry Microsoft. Even if you fix the OS so it's the best, and give it away free, I'm still not interested. As Sun used to say, "The network is the computer", and Google gets that - while Apple and Microsoft want to build a walled garden. If Adobe and Solidworks ever offer a Linux version, I'm gone.

Likely. When Windows Server first came out, it had no CALS. Novell Netware charged a price based on the number of users. Microsoft only charged for the OS, and was much cheaper. After they had sufficient market share, they added CALS.

My Nexus 4 has a lock screen that looks like a Windows Phone 7 screen. But I wasn't prepared for the thief to come back and go into a rant about me being a tool.

If Google is so confident that it is driver bugs causing issues, then I'm sure they can put together test code to test for and expose the bugs. In other words, instead of complaining, give the vendors code that will show them the issues and allow them to resolve them. You don't have to cover every issue - just share the code you intend to use and let the vendors fix their drivers - OR - show you where your own code is responsible.

In cases like this, I create a resource in MS Exchange that can be reserved. Bill against that reservation. It isn't perfect, but after someone gets kicked off by someone who reserved it, they begin to use the system. This makes the guy that pays for usage the prefered user.

I've used Keurig coffee makers for a number of years. Frankly, it doesn't hold a cup to a french press, or several other methods. It it does make sense in an office where you want coffee-on-demand.

Now that the patent has expired, I think it is time for an open source project to build a K-Brew coffee brewer that uses the old K-cups. Clones already exist from Mr. Coffee and Cuisinart. But since many of us have 3D printers, I wonder if anyone is interested in creating an open design?

BTW - I use a 1.5L french press, and put the brewed coffee into a vacuum thermos. Stays hot all day and is much better than K-Cups. Cheaper, too.

After I read TFA, I thought it might be a fun thing - like an XKCD version of Facebook. Then you mentioned Bit Strips, and my vision turned to horror.

God, I hate bit strips. Can't really say why, but it annoying really fast. I think it simply gave the masses yet another reason to say something stupid.

I'm be more interested to know if they shared their private key for SSL/TLS. Since Apple's Safari (to the best of my knowledge) does not support perfect forward secrecy (PFS), someone recording the encrypted session could later decode the session contents if they ever acquired the private key at any point in the future. The conversation might go like this:

NSA: "Hey, we won't bother you all the time with requests if you'll just give us a copy of your private key."
Apple: "Well, that would save us a bunch of time, effort and expense...but if the users ever discovered..."
NSA: "No worries. Just hand it over whenever you get a new one."
Apple: "Yeah, I guess we could point out we never give out the current one, only old keys we no longer use."
NSA: " Well, just deny it, saying you did not give out the current keys. You can leave out that little detail about the old keys."

I should point out that IE doesn't support PFS either, so Microsoft could be in the same boat. I think Chromium and Opera support PFS, but I'm not 100% certain.

(This is not my field of study, so if I have this wrong, I'd appreciate a correction.)