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Comment Sony PRS-T1 (Score 1) 291

by MotorMachineMercenar (#37604006) Attached to: So Far, More Than 50,000 Kindle Fire Pre-Orders Per Day

I'm looking for my first ereader now that the prices are reasonable. Sony PRS-T1 has a similar feature set as Kindle Touch, but doesn't have vendor lock-in, draconian Amazon policies of coming to your home and stealing YOUR books, and banning books they don't like. Sony is slightly lighter and smaller as well, and has native ePub support for easier and better access to non-DRM books. Sony is 10 USD more expensive than similar Kindle. It also comes with offline English and non-English dictionaries, not sure if Kindle does.

It's not all good news, though: it's a Sony.
Apple

Submission + - Financial Times Snubs Apple, Launches HTML 5 Pages (businessweek.com)

Submitted by MotorMachineMercenar
MotorMachineMercenar writes: Financial Times launched HTML 5 pages in an attempt to ween their subscribers away from FT.com iOS app and take back full control of their content.

According to the Business Week report, this is a "strategic move" for FT to get back unfettered access to their customers' app usage and demographic data, and saves them money on development by writing one set of pages instead of an app for each platform, and because they don't have to pay fees to Apple anymore. Going HTML 5 also means they don't need approval from Apple for each update of their software for faster update cycle.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Apple will not be able to censor the app. This is probably not an important feature for FT, but certainly one for publishers receiving rejections due to Apple's policies on content, such as scantily clad women in a newspaper, South Park app and more.

Perhaps this "shot across the bow" of Apple will mean other publishers and content creators will follow, and everyone will get the same content and experience regardless of platform, not encumbered by Apple tax or held hostage by Apple's content policies.
Cloud

Submission + - ASK SLASHDOT: How to build a personal cloud? 1

Submitted by MotorMachineMercenar
MotorMachineMercenar writes: Recent announcements from Google, Apple, MS, etc. about cloud services have left me cold: most of them would require me to pay fees, get attached at the hip to a service provider, or don't offer everything I want so I'd have to sign up for several services. Perhaps most importantly, I would be at the mercy of fickle service providers who might go offline without warning. So I've thought about building my own personal cloud for my music, movies, TV series and photos.

I could provide the server with my desktop PC, could use one of my internet domains to host FTP or whatever else is needed for the cloud. I would like to push and pull all the content to/from my devices, mainly desktop and laptop PCs and Android phone. It would be ideal if I could share the content with friends as well. Open source would be a huge plus.

Is there anything like this available already, or is there anything in alpha or beta?

Submission + - KPN Admits To Using Deep Packet Inspection (wsj.com)

Submitted by stiller
stiller writes: In order to make up for the loss of income on its mobile network due to services such as whatsapp and skype, KPN — the largest fixed-line and mobile operator in the Netherlands — has taken severe measures: deep packet inspection of all mobile traffic in order to bill various services at different rates.
Security

Submission + - Baby's First TSA Patdown 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Is there anything cuter than baby milestones? Baby's first steps. Baby's first word. And now, baby's first TSA patdown. 'Well,' writes Anna North, 'it finally happened. Airport security officers gave a pat-down to a baby.' A post on the TSA blog defended the move: 'The child's stroller alarmed during explosives screening. Our officers followed proper current screening procedures by screening the family after the alarm...The [8-month-old] child in the photo was simply receiving a modified pat-down.' Hey, at least they didn't make a federal case of the 4 oz. of liquid found in the little tyke's Pampers.
Spam

Submission + - Spam kills - literally (thenewage.co.za)

Submitted by MotorMachineMercenar
MotorMachineMercenar writes: Recent news from Russia show that spam can kill, literally — and not in the metaphorical sense of the word "literal."

"North Caucasus militants had planned a suicide bombing in the midst of the dense crowds thronging the streets to see in the New Year in Moscow on December 31. But the explosive charge went off accidentally some hours before the chimes of New Year, possibly because the female bomber's mobile phone had received a spam SMS congratulating Russians on the New Year."

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