Interestingly, when Cyanogen (homebrew Android ROM maker) was C&D'ed by Google, someone wrote an app to support him (simple voting/contrib app). Of course since there's no approval process needed, it shot to the top of the popularity charts in no time.

The problem is that the skriptkiddie virus kits all get written by a few smart folks, who pass around techniques like patching netstat (or the network stack). So it's not that the botnet author worries about this, it's that it's a known technique so all the rootkits just implement it as a matter of course. Hang around the cracker groups a while and your eyes will be opened.

Android's open source, people have root access, they can flash new ROMs any time, and you don't see cell towers bursting into flames from this. Apple's just spreading FUD. That horse has already left the barn, and Apple is left holding the door.

What do you think a subsidized e-book would go for? -$5.00 perhaps? :-)

I'm partly serious. There are still production (scanning, proofing, formatting) and distribution (whispernet) costs even though they're smaller than with hardcopy, and royalties which are unchanged.

They do subsidize the books (if by subsidize you mean "sell for less than hardcopy"). I just bought Outliers for Kindle for $9.99; hardcopy is $14.83 from Amazon, or $18.19 from B&N.

• there are hardly any Palm OS users left anymore, they all left for iPhone or WM

• Palm squandered their market leadership and consumer confidence years ago

• Pre is a completely new untested OS

• the market is already crowded

• Apple owns the "Custom-designed" smartphone market, WM6 and Google will own the "Commodity hardware" smartphone market, what's left for Pre?

• Pre's claim to fame is integrated calendaring, which is just an app on the other phones -- should not be an OS feature.

I agree with you, and as a would-be Android dev and ADP owner I want them to succeed too. They had to do something, knowing it would be broken. They could have done a little bit more than install into a private dir. But it wouldn't have taken any longer than it has to break it, and the results would be pretty identical from a user's perspective. I think the Pre is DOA though

There is no more solid solution. ADP phones got root, and the OS is fully open source (no HDMI-like "protected path").

End of story.

What about folded optics? Minolta had a camera like this with a 45 degree mirror behind the lens and the sensor down one side a few years ago. Gives longer focal length in a slim body. Don't know if any of the camphone companies are doing this though, there's probably not enough empty space in the case.