I have a Samsung Exhibit! I figured all Android phones were like that. I'm confused about Apple's claims. No one else is allowed to double-tap zoom or one-finger scroll? Those seem like basic functionalities.

Apple might argue that they only seem like basic functionality now because they were invented by Apple and were so brilliant as to seem obvious in hindsight.

I don't particularly believe it for those two examples, but there are definitely cases where that's true. I think many of the things Apple came up with for iOS would have been come up by anybody developing for an all-touch-screen device (which only became possible right at the time of the iPhone's release, due to the rise of affordable capacitive touchscreens) but they did do it first, and it's very hard, in hindsight, for me to fairly say what they came up with that was obvious and what wasn't.

I still think the whole fight should be invalidated, however, because there are plenty of examples of competition inspiring better design in both directions. iOS's notification drawer is many times better than the notification system they had before and comes straight from Android, as an obvious example. Siri is a more powerful (and admittedly way better packaged and marketed) version of Google Voice Actions, which had already been improved by both HTC and Samsung, and came on the heels of advertisements by those companies pointing out the power of voice control. You even launch Siri in essentially the same way you launch Voice Actions on most Android phones: press and hole on of the bottom buttons. Going back in time, the Apple icon grid is basically a prettier version of the Palm icon grid that had been the standard of smartphones for years before Apple came along.

So far, software patent battles haven't destroyed this type of back-and-forth innovation-and-improvement, thank goodness, but they certainly stifle it.

Does anyone have experience using WiFi as WAN?

Here's my story. I used to have a USB modem dongle. Then I upgraded to MiFi 2200, which is Verizon's mobile hotspot. It could be tethered via USB, so it functioned just like the dongle at home, and then was its own wireless router on the road.

Both of those I could tether directly to my computer, or I could tether to my Cradlepoint router, and then everything tied to that router could use the internet.

This summer I had some extra travel, and I got a brochure in the mail, so I went in the shop and upgraded for free to the newest mobile hotspot, the MiFi 4260L. They assured me that the plan would stay the same, that in fact I could add the old hotspot back in as a prepay and quit it when the summer travel ended, and that I could still use it with the router.

Two out of those three things have already proven untrue and I haven't tried the third yet. The plan is more expensive per gig because the new device is 4G, a change which is immaterial to me, because 4G coverage will never get here. And while I can tether the new device directly to the computer, I cannot tether it to the router. I haven't tried to quit the other plan yet.

I think I have the following options: 1) work on a nefarious way to be on multiple wireless networks simultaneously. 2) only print when I'm connected via the wired network (which allows me to also be connected to the internet via the mifi's wireless network). 3) buy a new router that allows WiFi as WAN. 4) picket outside verizon and/or novatel and/or cradlepoint's offices until they enable functionality that technologically should absolutely already be possible.

So I guess I'm asking, if I go through all the expense of getting a router capable of WiFi as WAN, will I notice an appreciable slowdown in connectivity or anything? Will there be dormancy issues?

le nubian tech support to problem-solve time warner bullshit continues unabated.

since after the first week, we have had slowness in surfing the web, etc. this is all particularly irritating because I am paying for high speed tier of Internet. today was the last straw. I (to add insult to injury) could not pay my TW bill online because their pages would not load.

WTF?

Against my better judgment, I did online chat with them and their suggestion was for me to download firefox and try that.

Bullshit.

They gave me a motorola router/modem combo and after mad googling, I disabled the wireless part and put our apple extreme router in the chain and set up our network again. so far so good.

And, I can pay my TW bill.

Against my better judgment, I did online chat with them

Ahaaa haaaaa haaaaaa. You should know better. I mean, so should I by now but you've proven you know more than they do.

I am trying to get to where I can pay my bill online now as well. But I am cranky that they think Chrome is fine as a browser in Windows but not on a Mac. Mostly I leave the tab open because it shows up as "(their logo) Failure" and I find it fitting.

Oh and if you ever need escalate a complaint with them? Do the usual stuff and obviously get nowhere. THEN you can write to their Office of the President. And, if you are as angry as me, the Better Business Bureau. But Office of the President is where they finally seem to pay attention. t /TheMoreYouKnow

well, Beau and I are on the edge of canceling our cable service with them (keeping Internet) and doing DirectTV. The previous owners bought the dishes. If this cable bullshit continues and fucks up "Haven" I am going to be one pissed off Nubian.

[redacted for location]

ita,

if that post was for me, feel free to email.

It was just overwhelmingly nattery. Not a big deal.

I synch my iPod through the PC, but I used to plug it into the old Mac, and it would back up the purchased songs. Which were then also niftily on my laptop.

Since the move to a new laptop, it's asking if I want to synch and lose all that content. I did say I wanted to back it up, not to synchronise with the (empty) iTunes install, but that's not the answer.

What do I need to do to set it up for backing up again?

(I also Doubletwist that to the Android devices, so I have a snippet of my collection on all my stuff)