Anybody read the application?

Does anyone ever read the application before knee-jerking?

It's a "Service Mark" for "Retail store services featuring computers, computer software, computer peripherals, mobile phones, consumer electronics and related accessories, and demonstration of products relating thereto" and comprises of "The mark consists of the design and layout of a retail store. The store features a clear glass storefront surrounded by a paneled facade consisting of large, rectangular horizontal panels over the top of the glass front, and two narrower panels stacked on either side of the storefront. Within the store, rectangular recessed lighting units traverse the length of the store's ceiling. There are cantilevered shelves below recessed display spaces along the side walls, and rectangular tables arranged in a line in the middle of the store parallel to the walls and extending from the storefront to the back of the store. There is multi-tiered shelving along the side walls, and a oblong table with stools located at the back of the store, set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall. The walls, floors, lighting, and other fixtures appear in dotted lines and are not claimed as individual features of the mark; however, the placement of the various items are considered to be part of the overall mark."

Instapaper

Hey, even Arc acknowledge they lifted the idea from Marco Arment's superb Instapaper and you don't see him complaining.

If Arc didn't want the code to be used this freely, they would have used a more restrictive license; this is why they chose this specific license!

and …

Cue the rabid nutbars from both sides.

I anticipate mostly comments on how two million people could be that stupid or that it's a victory of style over substance.

Congratulations on Apple to a successful launch and of making science fiction a little more science and a little less fiction.

Eventually?

Eventually? Try Today.

Picture: http://23x.me/Dy

Zero Sum

It's not a zero-sum game. It's not Highlander.

For one to win, all others don't have to die. You can have more than one winner; there can be more than only one.

Android v iPhone is great for consumers; may the battle keep going. If one obliterates the other, we all lose.

California Law

Seriously, people, look at what California law has to say about lost property before you say it's not theft. Under California Code - Section 485:

"One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft."

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/PEN/3/1/13/5/s485

Could not be clearer: It's a stolen phone.

Can we move on now?

Mine arrived today

Mine arrived today, but I got the 3G version. I chopped up an old Three.co.uk SIM and shoved it in. A tenner a month for 1GB of data will do nicely.

Gianduia not a Flash killer

So, now it turns out Gianduia is just a WebObjects Javascript framework, where does that leave all the gnashing and wailing?

You know who?

You know who buys iPads? People do.

At $500 (plus fedex or whatever) it's not as expensive as a nice watch, a decent TV or whatever else could be considered a luxury impulse buy. I'd guess most Reg readers could afford an iPad if they thought it'd suit their needs, but because it's made by Apple, it's deemed style over substance.

I tried an iPad last week here in the UK, and my 3G arrives tomorrow. We've had since January to save up, so it's not just a toy for the rich.

Still, if you, like Yahoo, want to pigeon-hole a broad cross-section of tech buyers, just so you can feel superior to them, then who am I to stop you. Carry on; I'll be quietly enjoying my iPad for a year before you finally succumb to the call.

Eh?

I thought most Register readers said they weren't going to buy one of the fanboi's Jesuspads, or whatever derogatory terms they decided on in the end. What does the pricing on something you were just going to sneer at anyway matter?

Besides, others have done the maths and have shown that unless you're smuggling them, the Taxman makes it about the same cost, wherever you buy it.

Is that what you take away from this?

So, how is this a Flash killer? If it's just for mobile devices that don't run Flash, it's hardly a killer.

Once again, tech is a zero-sum game. One thing doesn't have to kill another to be successful; the sooner blogs and news outlets like this one understand this, the sooner we'll get less comments wars and the pageview count can go down to a … oh. Right.

Even handed

Nice work.

An excellent even-handed reading of the events. I had to keep checking the URL to make sure I was still on El Reg as I didn't expect anything as well-presented and unbiased as this. It read like it was presented by looking at the facts, instead of taking sides and fitting it to a pre-determined narrative.

I suspect the comments, however, will be a hotbed of uninformed name-calling on both sides. I can't wait!

Leak?

If you think this was a controlled leak, you've not been paying attention.

This was not planned.

UK Libel laws

Anyone that has been following UK libel reform should understand why Apple doesn't allow Apps that satirise public figures.

Books? Films? TV Shows? Sure, they're not the publisher. Apps? They're in the firing line.

Doesn't disappoint

As expected, the comments section for an iPad article is stuffed full of iDiots jokes and how evil Apple is. It's "Speak you're Branes" with a technical twist.

$10 isn't that much for software unless you're used to piracy. Besides, if you think it's too expensive, don't buy an iPad or the apps. No one is holding a gun to your head, making you give Apple money.

Or, just get back to your sanitary towels and gurgle about how free and open Android is while the rest of us get on with the future.

Oh yeah

It's a coincidence that they've had loads of great reviews after taking on what would appear to be an Indian PR company. Yeah, pure coincidence.

How companies think they can get away with it in this day and age boggles the mind.

How to be sure?

Dead simple: Honeypots.

If you have total control of a zombie and its supporting infrastructure, you can trace the commands coming in and the previous step in the chain.

Magazines

If you're an established magazine, you're safe. It's that simple.

Apple want iPads to be accepted in schools and to do that, they need to clean the wobbling boob apps and £0.59 best boob underwear photoset apps out. Sure, keep the established magazines in because parents are familiar with the brands and kids see the covers in the local RS McColls anyway.

I don't want to come across as an apologist, I like naked women as much as most men, but it makes sense and Apple are not evil for doing this.

BBC Agenda?

The BBC doesn't have a particular bias, but the writers certainly may. Pointing at the Beeb for the political tones of one of its shows is kind of missing the whole "writers are human" aspect of it all. I'm sure if you wanted, you could find lots of Tory undertones if you really looked, but as that doesn't support that narrative, no one really turns that stone over.

ps. Down with Thatcher, etc.

Excellent

I'm glad you've nailed your colours to the mast. In a year, we can look back on this post, and many others like it, and judge it properly.

Batman

Aidan Moffat, the frontman for Arab Strap, called his son Samuel Keppel Batman Moffat.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/39He-still-owes-me-a.4625727.jp

Loving the knee-jerks.

For a device that hasn't even been announced yet, let alone previewed, an awful lot of you are getting hung up on what you believe it'll not do. Apple haven't even acknowledged that they may or may not be working on a tablet, yet you're already upset because the battery life sucks?

If you're already prejudiced against it because of what fellow knee-jerkers are guessing it'll not be able to do, then you have both my scorn and pity.

Imagine Apple have been working on this for as long as the rumours say; don't you think they'll have come across and dealt with all the problems you're coming up with after 15 minutes of speculation?

I'll reserve my judgement for after the announcement, if it even exists at all. I'd suggest you all do the same, but I know that's far too much to expect.

Legal details

Anyone looking for the legal details of this case should check out Groklaw.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091215225827172

There's only one outcome this case was ever going to have. Psystar were insane.

No taste

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They absolutely have no taste and what that means is ... I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way" - Steve Jobs, The Rise of Silicon Valley

Such blatant shilling is quite appalling and reeks of the bad taste Jobs was talking about way back then. How can anyone take the servile Brad Slavin seriously?

Apple dun it?

Why do people think Apple would be in any way involved with this? While they'd rather you didn't jailbreak your phone, they don't lose any money by your doing so. It's simply not in their interest to cause this kind of press shitstorm, especially when everybody knows that it'd be reported in a way that's negative for Apple.

When seeking the culprits, look at risk/reward. Apple gain very little and would risk a lawsuit that could possibly end them if they did this. Simply not going to happen.

Oh, and it's not a secret iPhone vulnerability that only Apple's developers would know, it's a default password. No skill at all is needed to 'crack' a login and password prompt when you have both the login and the password.

Vitriol

Unfortunately, because this is about the iPhone, it's impossible to print the facts or any form of unbiased analysis without being called a "Fanboi".

This isn't an iPhone weakness as much as it is a jailbreak sploit. The people who will not be affected are those smart enough not to jailbreak their phones and those smart enough to jailbreak them properly. An off-the-shelf iPhone is completely 100% immune to this worm; it's as if you have to go out of your way to make yourself vulnerable.

Full restore

My iPhone 3G started being slow to wake up recently. It would just drop off the network and required a reboot before 3G or the telephone features would work again.

I did a full wipe and reinstall (took a while to wipe - the reinstall was painless) and have had a pain-free couple of days. Back to how it should be. I assumed it's because I was on the developer's 3.0 beta previously, or that I was using a custom provisioning. Sometimes it's not APple's fault.

Oh, hang on, this is El Reg. I should go on about how iPhone users are sheeple and it's all marketing, no trousers. Let's just pretend that's what I did.

The word isn't out yet

http://monaxle.com/2009/07/08/section-44-in-chatham-high-street

"The same line of questioning and responses followed. We were then joined by officer xxxxx who again came from the Rochester end of the High Street. Once again the same line of questioning followed until such time I was arrested. At no time did I refuse to give an account for myself and my activities in the High Street."

Oh ...

What a twat.

Best?

When I moved from London to Paris, I realised how bad London Transport was. London has the best mass transit system in the UK, but that's about it.

Buy out your contract?

I spoke to O2 this morning and to buy out my contract will cost me the same as keeping it going; just under £35/month for the next seven months in one hit.

Yes, that means if I want to get a phone next Friday, I need to slap down £514 for the 32GB and start a new contract.

It's the exact same cost as buying a new phone/contract and keeping my current contract running and giving the old phone with the new SIM with its seven months of free minutes and SMSes to the missus until January.

As a guaranteed customer, I'm now thinking I'll wait for the v4 next summer as if I sit out my contract, it'll be next year when I can get a new one.

18 month contract and 12 month product cycle. Retarded.

O2 don't help

O2, unfortunately, will only allow you to upgrade if you buy out the remainder of your contract.

If you bought an iPhone on day 1 in the UK, then upgraded to a 3G, you're going to be waiting until January 2010 before you can get the same benefits as a newcomer.

On top of that, the additional tethering charges (nope, it's not part of your unlimited data) are rather horrific.

Thanks for rewarding us early adopters. We really appreciate it.

Zune Phone?

Will it be shit-brown?

$GODWINS

"I'm Hitler and I'm a vegetarian"

No, he wasn't.

Not going to happen

I simply see no win for either party.

Blocking out

Isn't the blocking out feature to remove adverts off EyeTV content?

Like I was once told ...

"Sure, [Stallman] is a genius coder, but he should try doing it for a living." - SWW