I also love my N900. Too bad most americans probably won't be seeing it. There is no way any carrier will subsidize N900.

Why?

• Tethering (usb/bluetooth) - Bluetooth makes this too easy, No need for extra software, no need to even take the phone out of pocket
• Loads of free apps with stuff like Star Control 2 (includes 130 Mb voice & music pack) - lots of network traffic with no slice for the carrier
• torrent client (Transmission) - carriers will love this ;)
• When you try calling someone, N900 opens a list with GSM / Skype / SMS /Email /IM for the person - Guess whether people will choose GSM or SMS if they have choice...
• The same internet/video traffic that iPhone has plus then some from using apps like Google maps, other Flash stuff etc.

I haven't said anything about making more money. That is not the point. What I am saying is that when comparing prices of software or electronics 1 euro in EU usually means 1 dollar in US.

Couple more examples...

Windows 7 Ultimate edition - Finnish web store 289.90 Euros - Amazon.com 285.50$
Apple iPod classic 160GB - Finnish web store 248.90 Euros - Amazon.com 229.95$

I am perfectly aware of current EURUSD conversion rate. What I am trying to say is, most electronics and software in EU is priced like the conversion rate would be 1 dollar = 1 euro. For example computer games on steam are priced about 50 dollars in US and about 50 euros in EU (I am talking about english version in both cases). I do not think anyone could explain the current difference based on actual expenses.

I know the rates wary from case to case, but while the actual value of dollar has gone down and euro has gone up, the actual prices in US haven't risen at the same rate and prices in EU certainly haven't gone down. Most big companies seem to charge what ever the market can take.

Most americans seem to have quite a hard time comparing prices simply because most of the time your carriers subsidize so much of the actual price.

Here are some prices from one of the cheaper web stores in Finland. Please note that these have taxes included and probably the "europeans are idiots" bonus (1 dollar = 1 euro)

• iPhone 3GS 32GB - 528 euro (+ 12 month contract with "normal" prices)
• iPhone 3G 8GB - 396 euro (+12 month contract with "normal" prices)
• HTC Hero - 489.90 euro (no contract)
• Motorola Milestone - 549.90 euro (no contract + 50 euro for localized keyboard)
• Nokia N900 - 569.00 euro (no contract)
• Samsung Galaxy i7500 - 489.90 euro( no contract)
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android - 749.90 euro (no contract)

Based on these it would seem that most top of the line phones actually cost around 500 - 600 euro (that is probably 500$-600$ in US) and even correlates pretty nicely with release schedule. Don't get the price on the Sony Ericsson, though it isn't actually out yet I think.

It's not just that. You also need something that comes with a sane migration plan (ie. doesn't require you to get 2,000 people to change simultaneously).

Most F/OSS Exchange "alternatives" were put together by people who have heard about Exchange but never appear to have actually used it.

How exactly do you want to be anonymous when you buy something online? It may be easier for downloadable things, but if you want something shipped to you, you need to give them your address and full name.

I think the breakthrough sector for Linux could very well be mobile phones/computers. This is an area where there simply isn't enough processing power to run Windows and even when there is, Linux will win hands down on battery life, ease of interface customization, support for non-desktop hardware(ARM) etc.

Platforms like Android, Maemo and Bada could very well start a landslide where most people end up using Linux daily. Once people get used to apps like mplayer and evince on their phones, moving to Linux on desktop will be that much easier. The increasing support for software development from major companies can be a huge boon. I also think that at least with Maemo we will see software designed for phones ported to the direction of Linux desktop.

Disclaimer: I've been using Maemo based N900 for three weeks now and the potential of the hardware & software stack makes me giddy. Every Linux geek should definitely try it =)

Americans aren't doing shit about it and haven't had the balls to protest much of anything since the Viet Nam war.

They are stupid, frequently religious (essentially the same thing) fools who want to be entertained.
Americans are, except for a tiny few, as bad or worse than the stereotype. (None of this means foreigners are any better, BTW.)

Both Democrats and Republicans are at least as awful as they describe each other.
Too bad Flight 93 didn't slam into Congress, fuck 'em all.

The last two major organizations that fight for freedom are the NRA and the ACLU, though they only like specific, different bits of the Constitution and hate each other.

I went through these patents earlier and I also thought the list was surprisingly weak.

Only one of these patents seems to be an actual "iPhone patent".

No. 7,469,381, B2: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display

I understood this one to be basically scrolling a document with your finger on touchscreen (instead of hand cursor and mouse). It was applied for in december 2007 so I would be surprised if it didn't also have prior art.

Apple's rhetoric seems to try to imply that Nokia is simply copying iPhone, and yet in the brief there isn't all that much about iPhone related accusations. In fact they are even going after something like Carbide.C++ that is a Symbian development platform running on Windows.

Hadn't heard of JooJoo aka Crunchpad before so did some googling.

For those who are as clueless as me, it seems to be a tablet pc with a 12 inch touchscreen. Runs a custom version of Ubuntu on Intel Atom.
Sounds a bit like a bigger version of N810. Sounds a bit interesting, but it's all up to implementation.

Does anyone know whether you could bluetooth tether this to use internet through something like N900?