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Comment: Re:Establishes that you do not own your hardware. (Score 1) 475

by vovin (#42692061) Attached to: Unlocking New Mobile Phones Becomes Illegal In the US Tomorrow

StraightTalk is another great option. You can use the ATT or T-Mobile infrastructure (you choose when you order your sim). $45/mo unlimited (there is a 2Gb limit on your unlimited data).

You can get the T-Mobile from WalMart and use their 5GB w/100 voice minutes plan for $30/mo if you really don't use voice calling it's an even better deal.

(AFAIK StraightTalk is walmart brand of trac phone that contracts usage on ATT and T-Moblie networks).

My advice for *most* people is to buy the Google Nexus 4 outright and get a StraightTalk plan.
My advice for *data centric/only* people is to buy the Google Nexus 4 outright and get a WalMart/T-Mobile plan.

Comment: Re:Anything with Mali-400 is a problem (Score 1) 111

by vovin (#41984739) Attached to: Fully Open A13-OLinuXino Single-Board Linux Computer

It seems that Mali is trying to open up:

http://www.malideveloper.com/developer-resources/drivers/open-source-mali-gpus-linux-kernel-device-drivers.php

... provides the low-level access to the Mali-200 or Mali-400 GPU. An important, secondary component is the Unified Memory Provider (UMP) which can be used in a variety of ways to facilitate zero-copy operations within the driver stack. An additional component, the Mali Direct Rendering Manager (DRM), is provided to integrate the Mali DDKs into the X11 environment and for enabling the Direct Rendering Interface (DRI2).

Disclaimer: I don't have a Mali to play with so I can't say how well the driver works.

Comment: Re:slightly OT but related: AT&T is an abusive (Score 1) 74

by vovin (#41910577) Attached to: AT&T To Pay $700,000 For Overcharging Consumers

IF it's already on your credit report. You can NOT remove the mark by paying now.

If you pay now you are admitting guilt and enriching the collection company that bought the junk paper. AT&T already got paid by the collection agency when they sold the junk paper (your debt, aka the bill).

Your best recourse is to contact the credit agencies and have the disputed bill noted (for any agency that has it on their credit report).

For future reference, the only way to keep such crap off your report is to pay *before* it goes to collections and then demand the money be reimbursed. You may have to file a suit in small claims court.

Comment: Re:Hmmm... (Score 1) 946

by vovin (#41625353) Attached to: Alan Cox to NVIDIA: You Can't Use DMA-BUF

Most binary kernel modules are assumed to be 'not derived works' ... just 'cause nobody wants to argue about every little thing.
This assumption nature of derived was later refined and codified by the use of EXPORT which defines the Kernel ABI which can reasonably be presumed is common to to non-Linux kernels and GPL_EXPORT which defines a 'GPL ONLY' Kernel ABI which one would call specific to Linux. The presumption is then that a kernel module using a GPL_EXPORT feature is being *written for* Linux and not being *ported to* Linux.

In other words by DMA-BUF implies that NVIDIA is writing a driver *for* and not porting an existing driver (from Darwin or Solaris for example).

Here is a discussion of a similar situation http://lwn.net/Articles/73121/
Here one of Linus original statements on kernel modules: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Kernel/proprietary-kernel-modules.html
And here is a more recent one: https://lkml.org/lkml/2003/12/3/228

My (hypothetical) opinion is that if NVIDIA where to show their driver on OSX and that the use of DMA-BUF was an insignificant architectural change then the would likely prevail as a non-derived work should they choose to go forward. If however the use of DMA-BUF would be a signficant architectural change then the non-derived argument would be not be easy to make.

Comment: Re:Service (Score 1) 375

by vovin (#41544995) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Cell Phone Carrier In the US?

You just have to fix your APN (Access Point Name).

On Android phones go to: Settings | More ... | Mobile Networks | Access Point Names

It's in the Straight talk FAQ for their apn (the use ATT network OR T-mobile network you have to pick when you buy the SIM).
See the att.mvno APN

The ATT APN is pretty easy to find.
The PTA is for people with the LTE SIMs
The wap.cingular is for people with 3G SIMs
The ATT stores do not have "technical" people in my experience. The sell ATT phones pre-configured for ATT SIMs and that is what they know.

Comment: Service (Score 1) 375

by vovin (#41534303) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Cell Phone Carrier In the US?

Bring your phone from korea. It will work on ATT. Get a pre-paid straight talk SIM but do NOT use over 2GB of data/mo. They have a very lame hard limit grrr.
If you have a penta-band (Galaxy Nexus is the only I know off hand) then the T-Mo options for a data lopsided plan is fine if you don't take voice calls (100 min/mo is designed to be too little, of course). But the 5GB of data is sweet, esp since it just gets throttled to edge if you pass it.
If you feel the need to overpay for your phone on a lame contract then pick any of the big 4. They all suck for the price the charge.

FYI: At $25/mo is break even for unlimited service in CONUS. If you pay anything more you should expect *something* right?

Comment: Re:I'll just eat sausage instead (Score 1) 137

by vovin (#41514397) Attached to: US Agricultural Economists Say Bacon Shortage Is Hogwash

Simple economics.
'Round here you can find the same grocer in the same city selling pork ribs from 1.59/lb to 3.99/lb depending on the part of the city. Spare ribs are cheap where the posh people are and expensive where poorer people are. The reverse is true for baby back ribs. Basically people prize what they are most familiar with.

A good country ham (salt cured and air dried) is excellent for making razor thin cuts (prosciutto-style) or soaking and roasting ... Often I find good ham is quite pricey when it's available.

Personally I will just some smoke my own pork pick nick or butt .. waaay cheaper than bacon and when done correctly the flavor profile is similar, or more intense, depending on which woods you use in your smoke.

Comment: Re:RTFA (Score 1) 543

by vovin (#41343565) Attached to: iPhone 5 Scorns Standards Promise To European Commission

The Samsung Galaxy S III doesn't charge from a microUSB port. It has an 11-pin monstrosity that looks like a microUSB port that they can't legally call a microUSB port.

Huh?

They why does my S3 charge fine from my old blackberry charger? It also charges fine when plugged to Motorola car charger.

Weird.

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