I have a slightly used one, if you really want it.

Hey, I never said that it was perfect. I was commenting on the article.

Yes, it is a Chinese tablet and HSG X5A-G to be exact. The UI is not sluggish (and it can be bloody fast if you overclock it to 1GHz) but the screen is resistive so it does need tapping. It does come with android market though, and the apps are fine.

I got it for a project which required cheap processing hardware, two USB ports to use for sensors and WiFi for data upload. The screen and battery are nice additions which means that I can see what is going on in something bigger than a two line LCD and that it will gracefully handle the odd power outage.

In addition, it plays back full HD perfectly on my plasma.

So yes, it is nowhere close to an iPad, or a Xoom or a Tab, but as cheap project hardware that is a nice home entertainment device, its fine for $99.

It also means that I saved myself a days of H/W development time, so in my books I am impressed as are my project mates and my boss since I saved the company quite a bit of project money.

Repeat after me:
The iPad is a tablet, but not all tablets are iPads.

I own an Android tablet with USB host functionality (2 ports, weep old macbook air users!), which is sold for $99, has multitasking, can use a keyboard, does not use iTunes and supports SD cards.

Granted, I would never write an essay on it, but tablets are not meant to be user as PC replacements: They are information retrieval devices, not data entry ones.

Not really - the line about the void warranty on website visit is about the fact you can jailbrak an iphone by visiting a page.

What I am saying that you need to accept certain responsibilities when you have a smartphone, no matter the brand.

The fact that android was targeted this time does not mean that WM7 or the iphone wont be targetted next (and according to pwn2own the iphone just failed).

Its not a matter of considering the net a live entity, but it is a complex mesh of devices, each of which has a specialised function and the sum of those devices makes information flow based on certain decisions.

As large amount of decision making on routing, load-balancing, reflowing and path finding is automated and based on certain stimuli (broken links, bandwidth thresholds, lack of net neutrality, etc.) then the system in question -the internet- exhibits a behaviour which is dependant on those stimuli. Routers do have the ability to "observe" a break, "act" on it by trying to discover new routes and attempt "heal" the damage by choosing to route around the break without any human interaction.

So essentially, automated systems do exhibit behaviour patterns and you can say that "the interned routed around the problem", same way that you can say that an emergency generator "went on" by itself or that "my alarm did not ring today".

*Custom GSM firmware could theoretically connect to a less than ideal base station and fool the trackers as to the location*

You can still track at that point, but with reduced accuracy. The neighbouring Cell towers will still record your mobile phone as it attempts to enumerate its neighbours.

In all fairness,
How will you tell your mother that her warranty was broken because she visited a website? Not to mention, that things go through the apple app store as well.

The main problem here is perception:
What you are using is not just a (smart)phone - it is a miniature PC.

You have to treat it as such, and follow the same rules as with a laptop:
1. Don't install stuff from people you know nothing about.
2. Don't open attachments from people you know nothing about.
3. Don't click links that point to websites that you know nothing about.
4. Don't store on it stuff that will make your life a living hell if you lose it or it gets compromised.
5. Don't link it to stuff that will make your life a living hell if you lose it or it gets compromised - such as certain email accounts.

If someone can't understand the rules or is unable to follow them (due to lack of technical skills), they should have a dumbphone.

Here is a list of Myournet's apps and their package names (to avoid false positives). These are all his apps, not only the ones pulled.
Source: http://www.androlib.com/r.aspx?r=Myournet - although this will be purged quite fast I suspect.

: com.spider.man
: com.droiddream.fallingball
_Falldown : com.fall.soft.down
_PewPew: com.droiddream.pewpew
APP Uninstaller: com.app.aun
Advanced Currency Converter: power.power.rate
Chess: com.free.chess
Dice Roller: com.dice.power.advanced
Falling Ball Dodge: com.dodge.game.fallingball
Falling Down: com.fall.down
Funny Paint: proscio.app.nick.ypaint
Hilton Sex Sound: com.sexsound.hilton
Hot Sexy Videos: hot.goddchen.sexyvideos
Photo Editor: com.editor.photoenhance
Scientific Calculator : com.advanced.scientific.calculator
Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls: com.sex.japaneese.girls
Spider Man: powerstudio.spiderman
Super Guitar Solo: com.power.SuperSolo
Super History Eraser: Super.mobi.eraser
Super Ringtone Maker: com.super.mp3ringtone
Super Sex Positions: com.droiddream.lovePositions

For some reason, Chinese characters are not displayed in the post, but hey....

Once an app has root access, it doesn't matter anymore.

A "standard" AV app for android will police only Dalvik applications.

For an app which can scan everything, it will need to operate from the Linux layer, but even then - as in any other Linux system - once an attacker gets root, all bets are off.

In principle here is no way of knowing if the phone has been compromised - unless you root yourself and do an md5 hash of all files in System and then compare the hashes with the someone else.

Its the same as with any other similar situation, except that in a server you can format and re-install.

The most sure-fire way is the flash a trusted ROM, which is the equivalent of the format/re-install process. Some, but not all, carriers and manufaturers offer non-OTA flash options in their websites. HTC has RUUs, Samsung has KIES (and another -more unofficial- program which I can't remember).

But in essence, you have to trust that the carrier has flashed the replacement phone you receive OR make sure you get a new phone.

Because the device was rooted. At which point nothing stops the malicious app from downloading compromised copies of core applications (or to download and install a new service, or get a server running) and install them in the System partition. If you factory reset, you will wipe the Data partition but the System partition remains intact (as there is no way for the device to restore it since it does not have a copy). Alternatively, you can re-flash a stock (or custom) ROM.