these policies are at the university or state level. most university policies of this sort are not enforced (cost:benefit prohibitive, as exemplified here), have loop-holes (cannot collect royalties on books they require for their own classes, so professors collude and require each other's book). i haven't heard of (and couldn't find) a state prosecuting a professor who broke a relevant law.

all of my classes that i felt required a textbook to get an A, the book happened to have been (co)authored by the professor.

academic instruction as an avenue for royalties hooooo

Or are not all attention spans created equal?

chinese political prisoners are already rich chinese citizens (if they weren't rich, they'd be dead instead of in prison). tax-deduction money wouldn't effect any change here.

this is about funding organizations to assist governments in disrupting human trading.

YOUR UNINFORMED PET CAUSE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS

now i have to use that site with zero logins instead of my usual zero.

haha please with the car analogies

comparing an operation requiring expensive specialized equipment and several hours, to an operation that requires a .99 USB cable that came with the phone and 16 minutes...

that is the perfect example of apples to oranges.

i don't feel like this is a super valid comparison, unless you mention that the iPhone ran like horseshit on iOS 2 onward, and the iPhone 3G always ran poorly. now my wife's 3GS runs like butt on iOS 5. further, all the products are not on the latest version of the OS: the iPhone caps out at version iOS 3, and the 3G caps out at version 4. history suggests that iOS5 is the last straw for the 3GS.

if, perhaps, you mean that all the iPhones currently for sale are on the latest OS, i would point out that all the Nexus phones currently for sale are on the latest OS, and that will be true when ICS is released, also.

a more accurate comparison of HTC and Google's upgrade path to iOS:
the original iPhone used the current OS until it didn't get iOS 4, so from 2007-06 to 2010-06, three years, half of which it ran poorly. you have no options for upgrading for new features even if you wanted to.
the iPhone 3G used the current OS until it didn't get iOS 5, so from 2008-06 to 2011-10, three years and some change, all of which it ran poorly. you have no options for upgrading for new features even if you wanted to.
the Nexus One is using the current Android phone OS until it doesn't get ICS, so from 2010-01 to ~2011-11 or 12, just under two years, all of which ran excellently. you will have the option of installing custom ROMs with ICS features if you choose to.

anecdotal, my nexus one also had the defective power button, but since it had previously been dropped onto the highway from my motorcycle (whoops), it was in too ugly a condition for me to send back to the manu for a repair: i figured repair center drones would return it to me as user abuse, and that they'd be right to do so. since i have the option of rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM, i did so and use an app to power down the phone, and the volume buttons to wake it up.

considering it survived a 75mph bounce and skid on the highway (i had to file down burrs on the metal face), i forgave HTC for the eventual failure of the power button. it is my first HTC phone, but they've sold me on their build quality. my first-gen iPhone was had an unusable crack on the screen that needed replacing after a three-foot drop, and once i repaired that, i found that the impact had also killed the battery, as it wouldn't last longer than half an hour idle, or a few minutes in call.

HTC's build quality despite my abuse, and their vow to not stop hobbyists from rooting Android phones has guaranteed that my next phone will be an HTC again; probably their first ICS phone that supports NFC. my wife's next phone was looking to be an Apple, but now she's frustrated with how poorly it has been performing this last month so we'll see.

last thing, i don't agree with Synerg1y's take, "Ya but u can do more on any build of android than any ios build so the comparison isn't really that fair." while the capabilities of the OS are pretty similar, the fine details is pretty objective: i definitely respect that some people (my wife) just want a simple, option-less phone that also connects to the internet. what i mean is, the feature set does not need be mentioned in the same conversation as build quality (though build quality perhaps need be mentioned in the conversation about feature set).

i've read a few (only ones that have been front-page story'd on slashdot) and they all seemed reasonable and factual so far. from what i understand the guy has written several entries per week for the last umpteen years, i think just directing me to his hundreds of entries is a bit unreasonable. if you don't want to go link diving, that's fine, i don't want to go digging either. do you remember any particular topics that he lied or misrepresented, so that i might try my google fu for a couple minutes?

i don't mind being wrong, and would like to be as informed as possible. could you link to me an article he wrote containing verifiable lies?

said it before, still relevant:

not sure what the /. issue with the guy is.

ed bott makes a living writing publicly (for news sites and publishing his own books) on technology topics, mostly about windows - he likes windows, he writes about it, and publishes his work. getting paid to do what you like in a field that you like doesn't make you a shill. it makes you happy. it's a pretty cynical worldview, to assume that people aren't doing honest things because they like them, but instead dishonest things because a MegaCorp is paying them BIG BUX.

choosing to remain in your echo chamber will leave you with few new ideas. if that's your prerogative, though, knock yourself out.

Ben Franklin did not say this. People on the internet - trying to make their goofy arguments sound intellectual and/or support a non-literal interpretation of the second amendment - said this.