Sorry, I'm not trying to say that this wasn't yet possible, just that I want to see a number of people doing it. Are the reports good? does it work very well?
Definitely Motorola has a more formidable patent portfolio but HTC has been selling Android phones way before Motorola.
HTC is behind the G1, MyTouch, Sprint Hero, Droid Eris, Nexus One. Moto has Droid and Cliq, and now backflip but only Droid has much traction.
Regardless symbolically HTC is also more symbolically representative of Android, they both produced the first Android phone and Google's own Nexus One. To me it seems like Apple is taking a jab at Android more so than HTC.
I'm not professional developer, but I'm a passionate computer hobbyist. I make a good income with my day job - I'm a medical doctor - so I have no financial motivations when it comes to programming, it's just something I like to do.
When I became interested in web development I spent some time learning Django. As a result, I put together Instant Django, a no-installation-required Django development environment for Windows, and I also wrote an introductory tutorial. Over the last few years I've had a couple hundred thousand downloads. I don't make any money from it, but a couple times a week someone emails me a thank you note, which gives me a little thrill.
Last year I decided to learn to program the iPhone, because it seemed interesting, and my 3 year old daughter loved to play with my phone. It looked like a great way to share my hobby with her. I've spent the last few months writing an introductory tutorial for iPhone game programmers, based on the Cocos2d framework.
I've been unhappy with Apple's policies up to now, I especially thought it sucked eggs that I had to pay $100 a year to run software on my own phone, but I tolerated it. With this latest move, I've decided to drop the whole thing.
I purchased an AT&T Nexus One, and I've begun learning how to program for Android. I've also started to rewrite my tutorial.
Will Apple miss me? Nope. But I'm a passionate user, and they've lost me for good.
I read Daring Fireball, and I think the writing is excellent, but I've always thought it was a close cousin of astroturfing.
Here's how it works in my head:
1) Gruber writes stuff Apple likes
2) Apple feeds Gruber exclusive information
3) More people read Gruber for exclusive information, seeing a message that Apple likes
4) Gruber profits from increased traffic, and tries to continue to please Apple
Maybe I'm way off base, but Apple is so damn secretive that the information he gets must somehow be approved. It's like Apple doesn't allow their employees to blog, except Gruber.
That's not astro-turfing, it's traditional journalism. Sources generally give more details to reporters who they like. Astro-turfing would be if Gruber actually worked for Apple while writing this stuff. It's generally true that the result is sources controlling journalists more than they should, but at worst, Gruber's as ethically shady as WashPost journalists.
Further, Gruber's not been afraid to come down on Apple for things, like when Apple announced the iPhone tethering and MMS and in fine print said "Not in the US", or many of the App Store shenanigans prior to this one, and for the iPhone developer's NDA, just to name ones off the top of my head.
If you're going to issue unsubstantiated smears you should at least use the correct terminology: Astroturfing is the simulation of an entire grassroots movement, not merely the simulation of one guy's unsolicited opinion.
Further, astroturfing by definition involves employment or contracting. If you aren't directly or indirectly paid for it, it's not astroturfing, it's misrepresentation.
Gruber may benefit from Apple because employees at apple give him good information, but he doesn't hide it. Furthermore, especially in this case, he's calling them out. He usually doesn't let his love of the company from clouding his appraisal of their actions.
I'm using Weave (just for bookmarks), and couldn't be happier. On any given day I might use a Windows PC at work, my Macbook Pro at work or at home, my wife's Windows laptop at home, or my main desktop at home which dual boots Vista and Leopard. Weave just works, and I have all my bookmarks synced on all of these computers.
Hey, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, you don't have time to post replies on HN. Django 1.1 is two months late, and I still see 20 open tickets. And would a status update on the Django blog kill you? Also, while you're at it, I've been hearing a lot about the GIL on reddit and HN lately, can you fix that? Thanks.
Funny, I've got both 24" and 30" Apple monitors, and decided that the 30" was just too large for my field of view (plus the newer 24" LED displays are just too beautiful not to use).
But your point is well-taken.
Fitt's law helps here, though--you can ram your pointer up top and generally hit the menu bar.
It includes a portable Django development environment for Windows, no installation required, and it even runs from a USB thumb drive. The tutorial walks you through creating a simple website, and explains what is happening each step of the way.
The website is overdue for some updates, and I really need to finish writing the second chapter, but you might find it an interesting way to spend 45 minutes.
