Florian Mueller reporting on the lift and why it is actually a good thing for everyone:
>As odd as it may seem, I think that even Apple should actually welcome (even if not publicly) this ruling. Cupertino looks like a loser today, but if that injunction had been upheld, the underlying legal standard, which was just too low, would have come back to haunt Apple down under. In fact, Samsung is asserting patents against various Apple products and requested a preliminary injunction against the iPhone 4S.
Category: Links
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Australian Appeals Court Lifts Galaxy Tab Ban
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‘The Personal Computer Is Dead’
An interesting essay from Jonathan Zittrain arguing that nerds should be angry over the controls being placed on our computing devices. Controls like App Store regulations and the relationships that those cause for developers with vendors.
I don’t agree with the argument that this is something to be angry over — yet — but I could easily see these controls becoming bad. That said I think history, thus far, has shown us that if anything the controls loosen over time.
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Open and Secure…
David Kravets:
>Though the software is installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until 25-year-old Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut analyzed its workings, revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience — ostensibly so carriers and phone manufacturers can do quality control.>But now he’s released a video actually showing the logging of text messages, encrypted web searches and, well, you name it.
That’s some serious “quality control”.
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How to Choose the Perfect Survival Knife
A good overview on choosing a survival knife. I like the knife that is shown, but I like the ones that I have better.
I am a huge fan of SOG knives, here are the three survival knives that I have from them:
[NW Ranger](http://sogknives.com/store/S240.html) is by far my favorite and according to other [reviews](http://www.woodsmonkey.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=527:sog-northwest-ranger-review&catid=34:knives&Itemid=55) it is full tang. The version I have is an earlier one that is partially serrated — now that they make one that is not serrated I will be getting that too.
[Fixation Bowie Knife](http://sogknives.com/store/FX-01.html) I got a great deal on Woot one day. It’s nice, but damn is it heavy.
[Field Pup](http://sogknives.com/store/FP3.html) is a really great knife. Small and light, but still full tang — start here. This is the knife I take on day hikes because of how light it is. (Note the steel grade is not as high as the NW Ranger, which is why I prefer the Ranger as an actual survival knife.)Either way, SOG makes some great stuff and good prices — I am a big fan.
[via an email from reader Myer] -
Google Mulls Leaving Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer Martinez:
>Google is considering ditching the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out of frustration with its support for legislation that would force Internet companies to police websites that peddle pirated movies and fake Viagra.This is over the recent bullshit legislation that is trying to be passed: SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act. This article says that Yahoo already left over this also.
MoveOn.org has an [online petition](http://civic.moveon.org/googlechamber/?r_by=-20373118-oXvAJ9x&rc=c4_googlechamber_letter.email.g1) to ask Google to leave the Chamber over this, as this would be the non-evil thing to do.
[via an email from reader Sam] -
Is The Feds’ New PR Campaign Against Film Piracy Even Legal?
Jeff Roberts:
>These provisions mean it is hard to figure out the legal basis for what Homeland Security is now doing with the seized websites. The law seems to demand that the federal government sell or dispose of the domain names—not commandeer them for a public relations campaign. What the agency is doing would be akin to the FBI seizing a cocaine baron’s Lamborghini and then keeping it for a drug awareness project.
Is it just me or is it absurd that the government is still operating off of 1970s era drug seizure laws? Ridiculous.
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HP. Printers. Fire.
Jon Brodkin:
>Security researchers at Columbia University have accused HP of selling printers with a flaw that could let hackers gain remote control over the devices. Once compromised, the access can be used to steal personal information, attack networks, and even set printers on fire by feeding them a continuous stream of instructions designed to heat them up.Sweet, on fire? Sounds promising, but then:
>An HP spokesperson acknowledged the security vulnerability revealed by the researchers, but denied that it could be used to start a fire under any circumstances. “Speculation regarding potential for devices to catch fire due to a firmware change is false,” an HP spokesperson told Ars. “HP LaserJet printers have a hardware element called a “thermal breaker” that is designed to prevent the fuser from overheating or causing a fire. It cannot be overcome by a firmware change or this proposed vulnerability.”
Huge. Let. Down.
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TouchPad 4.0
Sweet update to an app I use every night:
>If you have a iPhone 4S, open the virtual keyboard and tap on the dictation key to launch Siri. Dictate whatever text you want TouchPad to send to your remote computer.
That’s choice.
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Microsoft Office for iPad?
Matt Hickey:
>The full versions of Office for Mac and Windows 8 are expected to launch near the end of 2012, though the iPad version could come well ahead of that date.I wonder what percentage of the iPad screen the Microsoft ‘ribbon’ will take up? 40%?
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Facebook Settles FTC Charges
An FTC release:
>The proposed settlement bars Facebook from making any further deceptive privacy claims, requires that the company get consumers’ approval before it changes the way it shares their data, and requires that it obtain periodic assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors for the next 20 years.I hope the FTC isn’t patting themselves on the back just yet. I don’t know a ton about the FTC or the laws surrounding this “settlement” but in the note at the bottom of the release the FTC states:
>When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
So $16k isn’t that much money to Facebook, it’s nothing actually. Where it is interesting is the “each violation” part. Does this mean that one rule break is actually multiplied by the amount of current users? If so, then one violation would be a potential penalty of ~$12,800,000,000? That’d be a sweet incentive for Facebook.
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‘Putting iPads Where There Weren’t PCs Before’
Dan Frommer:
>This is where some sort of iOS “guest mode” would be neat, to be able to sign into your iTunes account for a few minutes, download your favorite app or two, maybe a TV show from your iCloud library, access your email, and then sign out when you’re done and wipe your data off the device. This would also be useful when you’re visiting friends or relatives and want to access your stuff from their iPad.>In general, iOS doesn’t seem to be set up very well for sharing, and if the iPad is going to become a public-use device, it would be nice if Apple improved that experience. But for now, it’s better than nothing, I suppose.
This is high up on my wish list too, but in a slightly different vein. I just would like to be able to let someone else use my iPad without them being able to access my email and other stored data. A guest mode: yes — just perhaps one that allowed someone to use just Safari and apps that I designate, where everything else remains walled off. That’d be pretty useful.
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Gruber on ‘Save As’
John Gruber:
>Good point from David Chartier: perhaps the biggest problem with Duplicate is that Apple didn’t give it a standard keyboard shortcut. I’m going to assign Duplicate the old Shift-Command-S shortcut, and see if that helps.I like that tip, so I did that (you can too). Just go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, click the Application shortcuts and add [this](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/duplicate.png).
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A Hack to Get Back “Save as”
Shawn Blanc has a nice `Save As` hack using Keyboard Maestro to get that functionality back to Lion enabled apps. It works well in my testing.
One thing I would caution against is relying on this type of a hack. Apple isn’t likely to double back on this change and so it really is in your best interest to get used to the `Duplicate` functionality.
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How to Comment
Matt Gemmell turned off comments on his blog yesterday (well done) and offers three ways to comment on his site instead. His first way is:
>Write a response on your own blog. Considered, long-form follow-ups by an identifiable, accountable person are the ultimate form of feedback and discussion. I’d love to read what you have to say. Let me know about it via email or a tweet.He also adds Twitter and Email to the list, but the above is his preference. It is my preference too. When you comment on something I write by posting on your own blog you are doing two important things:
1. Owning what you say.
2. Allowing me to publicly respond if I want too.Many people think that commenting this way is a surefire way for it to not be seen. To address that let me tell you how you can make me aware of it:
1. Click a link that takes you from your comment to my site. Then you show up in my referrers and I try to look and read what and who is linking to me. Obviously the more traffic you have the quicker I notice this.
2. Shoot me a link on Twitter. That makes it dead simple for me to send the link to Instapaper, thus ensuring it will be read.
3. You can email the link to me, but I archive a large portion of email while only scanning it. Sorry, but that’s the truth — emailing me a link will likely not get the link read. That’s not the universal case, but if I don’t respond “Instapaper’d” then yeah… -
RIM Offers Device Management for iOS and Android
You know what would make your iPad really great? RIM putting its greasy hands all over it.
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iA Writer with iCloud
My favorite writing app, iA Writer, just came out with an update to both the Mac and iPad apps that adds in iCloud support and folder support for Dropbox. In the few minutes I have had to play with it, the iCloud support looks fantastic — along with a bunch of other nice touches.
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Malls Cancel Plans to Track Shoppers’ Movements via Cellphone
Well [that](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/mall-heatmaps/) was short lived. Interesting quote Maggie Shader has from Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY):
>Personal cell phones are just that—personal—and should not be used as tracking devices by private companies.I wonder what implications that has for the [Apple Store system](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/apple-pick-up/) that locates a person in the store…
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Facebook’s “Entire” Business Model Is Under Fire in the EU
This is an interesting position that the European Commission is putting Facebook in. If I read this correctly they are essentially telling Facebook that Facebook can only use the information they collect for advertising and such “in the manner that its users expect” if the user gives consent. Even though you basically give consent when you sign up for the service.
Perhaps the EC wants it explicitly stated in clear and simple terms all by itself? I am all for that, but it won’t change anything.
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Evangelist
Mike Swanson:
>I created a “novelty” app primarily because I didn’t have time to maintain servers or other back-end infrastructure, and I wanted a fun app that nobody would depend on. I also needed an app that the press wouldn’t find very interesting. After all, my day job was still as a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft, and nobody needed that article.From Microsoft Evangelist to iOS app developer. I’m not implying he hated his job at Microsoft, but I find it pretty interesting that a Microsoft employee of 11 plus years with the title he had left to just work on iOS apps full time.
That’s a testament to both the iOS app ecosystem and how healthy it is and to Microsoft’s ability to keep people how have been with them for quite a while.