It's not Google's problem. Getting themselves involved has the potential of making matters worse for not only themselves but the OEM's as well.

Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
Proverbs 26:17

Apple opens up a new plant in Brazil. Production could start as early as November. Perhaps then, we could see the new IPad 3.

Source:
Report: Apple Part Maker Foxconn to Open Brazil Plant

The Brazilian government has released a statement about the ACTA giving four reasons of concern to the country.

1. - The agreement would shift the balance between right holders and consumers.
2. - Brazil prefer these negotiations to happen in either the WTO or WIPO. Both seem a lot more open and transparent.
3. - The agreement proposes only one remedy to the situation, repression.
4. - The agreement encompasses more than just an understanding between a few nations and creates a whole structure that extends to other countries.

Source: Brazilian intervention at TRIPS Council: ACTA

Just because my parents paid for my car doesn't mean that I don't value it and treat it with respect.

If you haven't worked for it, chances are your understanding of respect are quite different from those that have.

The military isn't perfect but to claim that it's only made up of "inbred hicks" is absurd. I'd like to see you have the balls to make that statement on the street anywhere in the United States as opposed to making it as an anonymous coward on /.

You confuse bravery with stupidity. That is why you defend the military so ardently.

I'm one of these types of people myself. If there is a software product that I'm personally very fond of and I feel that more folks might benefit from it than do, I'll actively attempt to support the product through this type of forum activity, giving advice, tutorial writing and generally ranting about it on my travels around the web.

I ran two Linux Install Fest at my university. I built a web site, got several people to help me set up the room, clean up afterwards, got someone to give and introductory speech on Linux, and helped install the distros on the computers.

I did because I really like Linux, and I think a lot of other people would like it, if they could've been exposed to it.

What I did find out was that most people take everything for granted. They will complain about what they get for free, and if you ever think about asking for money to pay for anything (like paying for the disks you burned) they will point out how they could get it free somewhere else in front of everyone and make you feel like an idiot for even helping them.

I quit doing after the second time. I got nothing out of it but headaches.

I talked to my manager today, he said we were going to use Postgres instead of MySQL for out next web project.

In his opinion, the latest stable release had poor support for stored procedures and now this acquisition puts further development into question. He wants to move everything out of MySQL at some point.

Since I have never used Postgres before, I couldn't comment on anything, but from my perspective, MySQL had been moving forward with their database. Even if the stored procedures were not on par with the other DB's out there, they would mature in time.

I was ready to speak up, until I thought about MySQL passing hands for the second time, talks about forks, and finally the developers leaving the company. All those things cannot be good short term, and long term will depend a lot on the parent company.

So for the time being, I think my manager is correct and I did not protest his decision.