FTA: Somehow, I'm thinking that Steve Jobs circa 1984...would have told U.S. senators sending threatening letters about computer-based info sharing to take a hike.

All companies that go public will eventually drop or morph core values when these conflict with shareholder value (variously defined as profit or share price). Apple are no different.

I have never, ever, bought a network-locked handset. Sure, I pay more, but the freedom to travel the world and pop in a SIM wherever I go, plus the leverage when dealing with telco's at home more than compensates.

As pretty as thas is, this is Slashdot and I'd have expected one or more of the following features:

      (1) Internet connection
      (2) Out of circuit, redundant internet connection
      (3) A link to some DHS Threat Level status source with automated update of the status on the device
      (4) some stupid social networking linkage (since it's so bloody ubiquitous...)

But, nice box.

One San Francisco brewery is offering a free beer to people from Yahoo who show their termination letters.

I see a huge business opportunity there - www.yahooterminationletters.com

Not naked, but certainly in an adult-sized romper suit. No pockets, no metal, comfortable. No hand baggage either. Breeze through security.

Might attract attention overseas, but should fit right in at home...

because it's not Microsoft they just can't consider it "reliable".

Tell them Open Office comes from Oracle.

God no - don't tell them that - they'll think they have to pay for Larry's yachts....

Just as soon as there is something similar in other countries, expect a LOT of people to get on twitter to organise dissent.

Not necessarily. Once a country gains the capacity not merely to block Twitter/Facebook/Whatever (that's too simple) but to trace the messages back to their sources - not necessarily on the day or in real time - then it's game over. If you know that the goons will come knocking at three in the morning, you'll be loathe to use the likes of TwitBook.

What's needed is a truly secure solution - because we know that the bad guys are likely to find needles in the haystack...

....."you seem a little tense, would you like me to book you a massage?" will be beaten to a pulp and thrown over the side of a bridge.

I'd like Intel to focus more on power efficiency and less on emotional claptrap.

"Conclusion: Steve Jobs was right; flash doesn't belong on phones and I'm glad he is killing it, even if he is still an annoying control freak."

How about just make Flash work on phones - in the very, very near future, I will stop carrying a notebook or a netbook with me. Billions of others round the world will never buy a netbook - but they will buy a powerful phone. The argument for making any platform mobile is too strong.

Daring Firewall has this to say:

"The App Store platform could turn into a long-term de facto standard platform."

I'm sorry, but App Store is a revenue model, not a platform.
 

You'll need an IP lawyer to tell you whether this approach is legal. And this might cost you more than whatever you might have to pay the original client in order to get a licence or share of the original IP. Seems a terrible waste of effort to reverse engineer and code from the ground up.

Unless of course the original client is Microsoft and the product is Vista. In which case, off you go.....

....yawn.....