Shallow thoughts over morning coffee

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Sunday March 20, 2011 · 10:13 PM PDT

2011/03/20 · 22:13

I brew French Market coffee, and I brew it up strong. Few black coffee drinkers are brave enough to get out a knife and fork and try my morning go-get-'em juice. I'm a wimp for adding cream and sugar, until they ask for the same after the first sip. The problem is, over the years I've developed such a tolerance for this stuff that it takes a few cups to kick-start the ol' brain.

So here's my shallow thoughts this morning while slurping down the strong stuff. Don't expect anything profound.

levjoy

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Sunday March 20, 2011 · 10:13 PM PDT

2011/03/20 · 22:13

There's simply no way to improve upon the headline for Ryan Singel's post in Wired this week: "Wireless Oligopoly Is Smother of Invention."

So instead, I’ll amplify it. In his piece, Singel compares the wireless industry — unfavorably — to television and wireline Internet service providers. His basic point is this: Neither of those industries could get away with the consumer abuses perpetrated by mobile carriers (though they certainly have their fair share of other abuses). So why do we allow the wireless industry to kill innovation and hurt consumers?

Julie Waters

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Sunday March 20, 2011 · 10:13 PM PDT

2011/03/20 · 22:13

There is currently an app available in the iTunes store which is from Exodus International, an anti-gay organization which promotes the fallacious notion that you can cure homosexuality by praying it away. The app, for those of you who have iTunes, can be found here.

There is a fairly well written and reasoned diary about this, recommending that Apple delete the app from the store. It contains links to a petition to remove the app and a little commentary.

I have a lot of respect for this approach, but I suggest something different.

A Dark Evil Omen

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Sunday March 20, 2011 · 10:13 PM PDT

2011/03/20 · 22:13

Apple has been insistent about maintaining editorial control over the apps on the iPhone App Store. They claim that this allows them to vet submitted apps for quality and content. Why, then, has an organizational and propagandizing app for the anti-gay hate group Exodus International been posted to the App Store with a 4+ (no objectionable content) rating?

Steven D

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Sunday March 20, 2011 · 10:12 PM PDT

2011/03/20 · 22:12

One big reason why multinational firms send jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs, overseas is to avoid US worker safety and environmental laws. Many of us remember the Bhopal tragedy in India in which as many as 15,000 people died from a poisonous gas release at a plant run by Union Carbide, due in large part to lax safety standards.

What people don't know is that many companies, including Apple, may be replicating the same disregard for environmental protection and worker safety laws in China according to a coalition of Chinese environmental groups. Not through direct ownership of the plants that produce components for Apple products but by relying upon suppliers with a record of environmental pollution and employee related deaths:

RSS

Shallow thoughts over morning coffee

Why Mobile Phones Are Political

"Exodus International" iPhone App: a different approach

"Exodus International" iPhone App: Why is Apple supporting hate speech?

Your iPhone may be killing people