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Developers have created more than 100,000 apps for Windows Phone, as Microsoft continues its efforts to make the platform a viable alternative to iOS and Android for app developers. But how are those efforts going down? To find out, I posed some questions to five companies who've recently released Windows Phone apps, asking about their motivations for supporting the platform, how they've found it, and how they'd like to see it evolve. Is Windows Phone a lucrative – or even just a viable – platform for developers?
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eBook DRM is not only undesirable for digital products, it denies users a fundamental function of a book: sharing. Clearly a reader cannot (easily) share an eBook that is “protected” by DRM. And publishers like to “protect” their content so that they can make dat money rather than have their content just given away and shared around. But, there is another side to the argument, beyond sharing, that is essential to understanding this issue: the ways in which people interact with books is an expression of their identity. Ebooks aren't free books.
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I'm pretty sure I've heard of one of the popular eReaders being capable of "lending" an eBook. I guess that would mean that one person could access the content at a time. Sounds like an ok model to me.
As far as display, would be nice if you could just lay your eReader on a table and have a slideshow or gallery of the eBooks you own. And then there are possibilities for "social" features, such as having a Facebook section for your "bookcase". If it were well integrated, you could even lend from Facebook.
These problems are solvable even with DRM, if done properly. Though, I do question if DRM is necessary. I'm pretty sure all iTunes content is now DRM-free, so maybe eBooks could go the same route. One big problem I have with eReaders is that I'm locked into their format and their DRM, so if I get a new eReader (e.g., I decide to toss my Nook and get a Kindle), I can't transition my eBooks to the new device. Though, this would be solvable if there were a central license repository shared among all eReaders (so I can download the eBook on the new eReader).
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Hadoop is on its way to becoming the de facto platform for the next-generation of data-based applications, but it’s not without flaws. If the growing number of options for replacing HDFS signifies anything, it’s that HDFS isn’t quite where it needs to be. Here are eight products and projects whose proprietors argue can deliver what HDFS can’t. Big data, no whammies!
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I was in charge of scaling Dropbox for a while, from roughly 4,000 to 40,000,000 users. For most of that time we had one to three people working on the backend. Here are some suggestions on scaling, particularly in a resource-constrained, fast-growing environment that can’t always afford to do things “the right way” (i.e., any real-world engineering project). Simplify your life... by keeping those servers humming!
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Password reuse—using the same password for multiple sites or services—is both rampant and dangerous. There is real evidence that people are getting robbed because they are reusing their passwords. Thieves systematically exploit reused password to pay for retail items or hijack accounts for other intentions. And yet, we are reminded again this week by the recent leak of almost half a million Yahoo passwords that a majority of people just can’t stop reusing passwords. I’ve seen password reuse and the damage done.
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We can learn from the problems that lead to catastrophes and loss of life and apply them to the field of web operations, because the similarities in the systems and their operations are striking. The rather sad news is that only recently have these other fields and instrustries started to openly discuss failures in complex systems and how to respond to them. They're no different from us. What we have is the advantage that we can iterate quickly and make changes to improve our application's resilience. Let's build systems with humans in mind.
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missing a link?
Be The Noise
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Karl Sanford wrote: missing a link?
Omg, thanks! I've updated the original post with the link
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Thanks
I'll check out that link.
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Facebook has added sleuthing to its array of data-mining capabilities, scanning your posts and chats for criminal activity. If the social-networking giant detects suspicious behavior, it flags the content and determines if further steps, such as informing the police, are required. CNET[^]
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In this case, it seems to have done some good.
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As opposed to absolutely what - complete privacy and zero security? No such thing on the Internet.
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That is true. I would eliminate the media from people's personal lives until someone has been found guilty and not before. Start making the media pay obscene amounts of money for false claims and you will see an improvement. Eliminating surveillance is just dumb in my opinion.
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I agree. It always leads to t-y+r-a-n+n-y and o-p+p-r+e-s+s-i+o-n. The dark side of the issue is when those who want to protect f-r+e+e-d+o+m, are apprehended by this mechanism, and then labeled as ???? and reported by the media as another foiled attempt to further reinforce the mechanism to the viewing audience.
Perhaps on the light side, someone in nyc will get caught buying a 64oz Coke.
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The core problem I see here is that we gradually hand over a fundamental freedom - that of expression - to the limited responsibility of private companies.
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Corporations have always been spying on people, whether thru mail-in rebates, polls, or the census. The technology has just improved so much that we're upset that we don't see it when it happens, and it's happening all the time. Personally, I don't care just as long as innocents don't end up in jail (for an extended period of time - mistakes will always happen).
If they wish to read people's email about this and that, who cares, as long as they don't publicize it. Yes, I don't like FB sharing my sites' likes with any of my freinds, so I disabled social ads and partner sites. If I was paranoid, I'd opt out completely. However, if they wish to take my info to target specific advertising to me in a private way that no one else can see, then I'm fine with that, as long as it's some algorithm, and not a person, that determines that I like whips and chains. However, if something stands out as a potential threat (i.e., purchased a few machine guns instead of whips and chains), then arresting someone without actual proof of intent to harm is a problem. Snooping and wiretrapping is how the government determines intent to harm. Detaining people for extended periods of time without any legal consultation and quick due process would also be illegal (i.e., Gitmo). That is what we need to make sure doesn't happen. Stopping them completely from snooping is not going to work because bad things are always going to happen and people will cry foul when the government didn't stop it.
In the end, there's no perfect solution. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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Carnivore and ECHELON are the ones they allowed us to know about.
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I would totally agree with this, IF the posts were not public. However, if your posts are public, I'm totally ok with Facebook/The Police/The gov't/E.T. scanning them (after all, this is why they were public in the first place, for other people to see it, right?)
But if my posts are not public, then I'd have a problem with this kind of thing.
And anyway, whoever posts on Facebook that he's going to drink and drive / kill his boss / throw himself off a window / etc, deserves to get caught by the police, IMO
I don't agree with people listening on my phone, as I don't agree with companies (Google, I'm looking at you), listening on stuff they shouldn't be listening on.
Disclaimer: I have no Facebook, so I don't really care about this particular case . The point in principle still stands though
Full-fledged Java/.NET lover, full-fledged PHP hater.
Full-fledged Google/Microsoft lover, full-fledged Apple hater.
Full-fledged Skype lover, full-fledged YM hater.
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