The following is a re-post from The Electronic Frontier Foundations website . Lots of us have smartphones these days and one of the best things about them is that you can customize them to your own liking. Some manufacturers want limits on what you can do with your device. My opinion is that if I bought a smartphone  I can do anything I wish to it, just as if I bought a car and decided to modify it. You of course will have to form your own opinion,  please have a read.

Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime: Tell the Copyright Office to Free Your Devices!

The Problem – Smartphones, tablets, and video game consoles are powerful computers with lots of untapped potential. Yet many of these devices are set up to run only software that’s been approved by the manufacturer.  Modifying a device to run independent software – known as jailbreaking – is important to programmers, enthusiasts, and users. But jailbreaking creates legal uncertainty. Some device manufacturers claim that jailbreaking violates Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which carries stiff penalties.

The Solution – EFF is asking the U.S. Copyright Office to declare that jailbreaking does not violate the DMCA, and we need your help. In 2010, the Copyright Office said jailbreaking smartphones doesn’t violate the DMCA.  This year, we’re asking them to renew that exemption (otherwise it will expire) and expand it to cover tablets. We’re also asking for a new exemption to allow jailbreaking of video game consoles.

How You Can Help – The Copyright Office needs to hear from people who depend on the ability to jailbreak to write, use, and/or tinker with independent software (from useful apps to essential security fixes) for smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. You can submit comments online at this link.

Here are some questions you might want to address in your comments:

• Which jailbreaking exemption are you supporting—smartphones/tablets, video game consoles, or both?
• What's your background (i.e., are you a developer, hobbyist, academic, independent researcher, user, etc.)?
•  What device do you want to ensure you have the legal authority to jailbreak?
• Please explain why you want to jailbreak this device. What limitations do you face if you aren't able to jailbreak it? Is there software you couldn't run, computing capabilities you wouldn't have, cool things you couldn’t do, etc.?
•  If you’re a developer, did an online application store or console manufacturer reject your app or game? If so, what reasons did they give?
•  Is there anything else you want to tell the Copyright Office?

Concrete examples will help show the Copyright Office why they should renew and expand the exemptions for jailbreaking. Send your comments to the Copyright Office athttp://www.copyright.gov/1201/comment-forms/. Where the form says “Comment number(s) of proposed classes of works to which you are responding,” enter a “3” if you’re writing about game consoles or a “5” if you’re writing about smartphones or tablets. You might consider also entering a "4" to submit your comments in support of an exemption request proposed by the Software Freedom Law Center to allow jailbreaking of "personal computing devices."

Comments are due by February 10 at 5 PM Eastern Time. After you send comments to the Copyright Office, please also send a copy of your comments to dmca-comments@eff.org so that we can see what people are saying.

We also encourage you to sign this petition.

Related Cases: 

2012DMCA Rulemaking

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation , Android Central

Android, motion sensing, and awesomeness

YouTuber DDRBoxman has come up with an ingenious way to link an Android device, PC, XBOX Kinect, and a projector for some serious awesomeness. Check out the techie goodness!

'via blog this' Source: Recursive Penguin Blog

President Obama’s Google+ Hangout is Next Week; Find Out How You Can Be Part of the Crew

President Obama’s Google+ Hangout is Next Week; Find Out How You Can Be Part of the Crew:

Source: Phandroid  White House Blog

Since the internet gave me a soap box....

I've said this before to many of my friends and family, and obviously I'm going to say it again. Political correctness has gone too far. I may be in the last generation to believe that every day just isn't your day, and you’re going to have to suck it up and deal with it.I mean I get it. Utopia sounds like a good idea on paper for people, and they think if we "safety proof" life we can eliminate those unsavory experiences. Well in my not so humble opinion "those" people have lost their minds!When I was a kid you played to have fun, but also to win. Some days you won, some days you lost. Win, and get lucky, well maybe you'll get a trophy. Trophies however, were for winning, or at least for 2nd or 3rd. (hold on here folks because this may sound harsh) No you didn't get a trophy for participation.This taught me something important however, which was that if you have a goal and work hard enough it can be achieved. It also taught me that in real life you don't always get what you want first try. You have to want it badly and do the work to get it. (Another shocker here folks) I was not permanently mentally scared by not winning. I should also let it be noted that throughout my extensive playground career (read: entire childhood) I never stopped playing and having fun because I didn't win every time. My friends will attest there are far more sports I'm bad at than ones I'm good at.By this point you may be wondering where I'm going with this. All the things we do to keep our future generations from having a "bad day"    increase entitlement, lack of motivation, and dependency. I'm not saying things have reached critical here, but I see it becoming more prevalent in our society. Oh, I understand the root of the problem. For generations we've strived to make the lives of our children better than our own. I’m sure this sounds like a fantastic idea until you think about it and realize that at some point your future generations will have everything without having to work for anything.I like a break from my work as much as the next person, but I appreciate it because I know what doing work is. I take care of my belongings because I earned them through my working for them. I am not afraid of a hard day’s work because I have done them before.  I know that when things are tough I must be tougher. Not physically necessarily, but mentally. I know that problems can be out thought, and that my disappointments along the way will not be remembered when I succeed.I am hard on my son because I want him to be able to deal with the adversity the real world will throw at him. I want him to understand that only he can do anything he puts his mind to. He will be able to be independent when necessary and not let his fears stop him. He will also be fully prepared to take care of me in my old age (no old folk’s homes for me I tell ya kid!)This is America, and you can do want you want within reason. I have to say it though, (yes this is a blanket statement and no I don't care about your specifics) your kid doesn't need a smartphone. A phone maybe, but not they don't need a smartphone. What does a 10 year old need an iPad for? (Hey kid, how many chores did you have to do for that thing?) I'm not saying kids shouldn't get spoiled time to time, but how about instilling some work ethic, activity, motivation?  After all future generations have a big job ahead of them fixing the problems created by previous generations, and getting this planet back on track.Ok I'm of my soapbox again..... For now......

The new blog - Step 1

For me step one has to be get something posted! Its been too long between posts and I've got to remedy that asap. Looks as though Google is nudging me in the right direction as you will now find this blog tied to my G+ page.