Is Ice Cream Sandwich Out Yet? Another in a long line of articles questioning why it takes manufacturers/carriers/Google so long to get an Android update out in to the field. I do agree that Google should take a leadership role here, but they appear content to let the carriers rule.
I’d be running ICS right now if I could find a ROM that had the camera working for my Droid 2.
I find the situation nearly intolerable. It’s not just that I want to be able to choose my e-reader device and then have free and easy access to any book, it’s that what we’re discussing here are books, the very things that have created and sustained our culture over generations. To allow them to be encrypted and inaccessible without specific software is to limit the dissemination of human knowledge. Imagine if you couldn’t read Aristotle or Confucius because the DRM format their publishers chose wasn’t compatible with your iPad. It’s insanity.
The Verge’s Dieter Bohn. Imagine if Johannes Gutenberg patented the printing press and restricted the use of printed materials.
The Problem With Patents (Infographic). See the full graphic after the jump.
Sony Ericsson committed to supporting independent Android developers. This is something that has been needed to happen for a long time, and it shows the vibrancy of the Android community. I actually run CyanogenMod7 (a third-party firmware) on my Android phone, because it works much better than the stock software.
A security researcher has uncovered a slew of vulnerabilities in Siemens industrial control systems, including a hardcoded password, that would let attackers reprogram the systems with malicious commands to sabotage critical infrastructures and even lock out legitimate administrators…
According to the alert, Siemens discovered the password in 2009 and removed it from subsequent systems. But anyone using pre-2009 versions of the S7-300 firmware would likely still have the password installed.
And people are scared of the security of open source software? Siemens hard-coded a generic password onto a piece of automated industrial equipment (used to make cars AND enrich uranium) AND didn’t fix it for two years after finding out about the problem!
Meanwhile, open source software projects like Firefox and WordPress get a bad rap for security when they fix flaws within a matter of days or even hours.
A comment I left on Digitizd today:
For me, there is one simple reason as to why I prefer Android over iOS: my ability to customize. Both platforms have downfalls, but with Android I have the ability to make things better. I can’t do that on iOS.
New Android tablet app TexTab:
TexTab is an SMS app for Android tablets. It allows you to connect your Android 2.1+ tablet to your Android 2.1+ phone over Bluetooth and send/receive SMS messages on your tablet as if you were sending them from your phone.
This is why Android is amazing. Anyone can create incredible apps that make life easier.
In my Android and “Open” post I listed a bunch of examples of ways to customize Android. Android.AppStorm posted a great list of alternatives to the stock apps on Android.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/01/10-things-that-simply-need-to-be-in-ios-5/
You can get all of these in Android.