08.16.11
Links – More Google/Motorola/Android, Wind Power, Wealth and Political Power
Reader’s Picks
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An Invitation to the Apache ODF Toolkit
More freedom to run your own cloud.
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Environment/Energy/Wildlife
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Shell has a study showing that offshore wind turbines are good for birds and the marine habitat.
They say the same things about oil rigs which have a more visible harm to the marine environment but overall this is good news.
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Finance
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Meet the Global Financial Elites Controlling $46 Trillion In Wealth [and have gotten even richer through the crises they created.]
In context, overall, the richest 400 people in the US have as much wealth as 154 million Americans combined, that’s 50 percent of the entire country. The top economic 1 percent of the US population now has a record 40 percent of all wealth, and have more wealth than 90 percent of the population combined. … If you think people in this income level don’t control the US political process, you are not paying attention. After they caused this economic crisis, they got the government to give them trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, and then, after taking our tax dollars, they gave themselves all-time record-breaking bonuses. 2009 was an all-time record-breaking year for Wall Street executives bringing in a total of $145 billion. And then, in 2010, they raised the bar even higher, breaking the all-time record set the year before by pulling in another $149 billion.
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Anti-Trust
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EU Android ban not EU wide anymore
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Rotten to the Core
Essentially, Samsung is arguing that Apple cannot have it both ways: either it is the general tablet appearance that counts, or the details; but either way, Samsung is in the clear. … [Apple] is not just attacking Samsung in Europe: it turns out that it is also suing Motorola there over alleged infringements on its design. It’s clear, then, that Apple is seeking to stop any serious rival from making a tablet with rounded corners and a border. … This episode exposes not only Apple’s increasingly rotten core, but something even more serious: the insidious nature of the Community design.
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WSJ/Fox News: Court Lifts Injunction on Galaxy Sales
The Düsseldorf regional court said Tuesday it partly lifted the preliminary injunction banning Samsung Electronics Co. from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in most of the European Union. A court spokesman said that since it was disputable whether it is possible for a German court to ban a company headquartered in South Korea from selling goods outside Germany, the court decided to lift the injunction for countries outside Germany for now
That did not last long but it should never have happened.
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Google buys the Patents to End All Patents and One of the Finest Tech Companies on Earth.
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Recall that Microsoft Sued Motorola Mobility Last Year. So did Lodsys
Motorola counter sued and Google stands to collect a windfall if that is still on.
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The Mobile Earthquake – GPL Compliance, Google Acquisitions, etc.If the idea is to scare off potential Android OEM’s or purchasers of Android-powered phones, this sort of scare tactic is just rubbish. It has failed in the past, and it will fail this time.
Groklaw calls out the latest wave of GPL compliance FUD which targets Android this time. There won’t, however, be a truce in the patent wars because Apple and Microsoft are already fighting for their existence and can’t survive free competition.
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Guess who else wanted to buy Motorola?
Motorola found a Google deal more digestible because Microsoft had no interest in running a hardware business and was essentially interested in Motorola’s vast collection of patents. Google moved aggressively, and at $40 a share, Google is now paying a 60 percent premium to Motorola’s recent stock price.
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Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility
Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere. This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.
Nokia is doomed unless they kick out the Microsoft mole.
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Apple: Judge, It’s Rectangular…
evidence Apple supplied the judge in Germany to prompt the issuance of an injunction against importing the Samsung Gallaxy Tab was falsified. Apple changed the aspect ratio of the image to match more closely the iPad
So Apple and Microsoft Florian’s dream, and real damage done, of excluding Android from the EU is pure flim flam.
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PJ Laughs at The Register’s Andrew Orlowski
Hahaha. Andrew Orlowski with his fist in the air. Speaking of journalism and bias. Openness really bugs the guy, I guess. He thought Microsoft was going to prevail. What? You thought Google was stupid? It was going to just lay down and die? Hahaha. I thought the article was so funny, I just had to share it with you, not because I think he’s right about a single thing. …
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Apple user Matt Assay writes about Android, Google’s Moto move spells iPhone doom
Second, it’s critical to remember who buys Android devices versus iOS devices: kids buy Android (“It’s cheap!”) while adults largely buy iOS (“Pricey, but it makes me cool with the other soccer dads!”). … Android hasn’t won because it’s better. It has won because it’s cheaper.
He’s negative, assuming Google will now act like Apple and ignores everything besides cell phones and tablets. Both Motorola and Android have an impressive reputation for quality, sullied to an extent by silly telco demands. The cell phone chart is worth looking at. Somehow, Asay and The Register spin Apple as a bigger villain and loser than Microsoft.
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Motorola deal gives Google even more mobile muscle
… the deal could also boost Google’s faltering efforts in Internet-connected TVs. Motorola is a major supplier of set-top boxes for cable-TV providers.
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WSJ/Fox News:Verizon Says Google Deal May Stabilize Patent Fights
Verizon Communications Inc. said Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. was a welcome development because it may bring “stability” to a recent slate of smartphone patent disputes, though it stopped short of totally endorsing the proposed acquisition.
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PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying
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Journalist Kicked out of ALEC Conference, Threatened With Arrest
See also Facing South rundown of this felonious lobby group that denies it’s a lobby group.
Al Jazeera English was also denied credentials on the grounds that ALEC was not an “international” conference … the majority of ALEC’s conference events and even speaker are sponsored by Fortune 500 firms and trade associations. Governor Bobby Jindal was sponsored by big PhRMA. Dick Armey by Visa. I am not kidding.
These lawmakers were wined and dined by corporate giants on the cheap and perhaps poisoned with more than tobacco and alcohol. While I can heartily recommend my home town of New Orleans’ vast array of sensual delights, only a cheapskate would sponsor a conference in the heat of August. If you are going to have seafood, make sure you are rich enough to do what BP did and fly it in from out of state, but not from Texas and Florida, or stick with crawfish and fresh water catch.
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Civil Rights
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US Citizens were tortured by the US military in Iraq.
it’s clear that the torture of a U.S. citizen by the U.S. military shocks the conscience of the ordinary person. But I hope that the torture of a non-U.S. citizen by the U.S. military also shocks the conscience of an ordinary American and that those cases at some point will be allowed to proceed.
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Families of accused UK rioters are being evicted is a disgusting display of “zero tollerence” group punishment.
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Internet/Net Neutrality
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FCC Probing Wireless Blocking by San Francisco Authorities
Imagine not being able to call an ambulance or police because some local potentate decided that disrupting a protest was more important than free communications.
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Content is available under CC-BY-SA
Needs Sunlight said,
August 17, 2011 at 7:47 am
The link to “Journalist Kicked out of ALEC Conference, Threatened With Arrest” is broken.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:22 am
I have just fixed the link.