Google led the creation of Open Handset Alliance, a consortium involving a number of telco and manufacturers . As its first act the Alliance released Android, an open source operating system for mobiles complete of SDK and API. The SDK includes a working emulator and half a dozen example applications. The idea to establish an open platform for mobile developers is very good but not particularly new: project Openmoko has been working to a similar concept for several months and went as far as to release a developer version of the handset.

Currently there are several competing platforms with a significant presence on the market: Symbian OS, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone, Motorola MotoMAGX, Qualcomm BREW and RIM Blackberry to name a few. Trying to build a business on top of mobile applications is very difficult because you have to make several different versions of your application and the market is very fluid. Now, with the huge money and pressure that Google can inject into the field there’s a chance they can impose a common platform.

They chose to build on top of several open source technologies: Linux, OpenGL, SQLite and Webkit. The latter is particularly interesting because it’s a rendering engine derived from the KDE project (and going to be merged back into konqueror) and already powers the iPhone, s60 and Safari. This could become the rendering engine widely used both on the web and on mobile handsets.

To bootstrap the project and quickly build a critical mass of third party developers, Google issued a contest with a 10 million dollar prize for the best applications that will be developed in the next few months. There are a few countries not allowed to participate to the contest. As usual there are countries forbidden by US laws (Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, and Myanmar) and on top of that there are countries excluded because of local restrictions: Quebec and… Italy!

So Telecom Italia is one of the members of Open Handset Alliance, but Italians can’t participate to the challenge. Great. How is this possible? Simple: in Italy contests are regulated by a very strict law requiring that issuers create accurate documentation, put the prize in a protected guarantee fund and seek permission of the Ministry of Economy. Google probably found that going through all of this was not worthwhile. Italian bureaucracy and over-legislation at work. Do you remember my last post on this topic?

Last night I wanted to go to the movies, even if unfortunately in August you take what is available. The only open-air theater in town ran Borat. I knew I wasn’t going to like it, but I thought I had to see in order to better criticize…

The plot of this movie is very simple. Borat is a Kazakh reporter. He lives in a poor village where ignorance, racism, sexism, prostitution and lack of hygiene are the standard. He is hired by local goverment to fly to the US and make a documentary about American customs and culture. There, he does lots of mistakes due to his cultural difference, creating embarrassing situations.

How this movie managed to get an Oscar nomination is beyond me. The way it denigrates Kazakhstan, expecially in the first 20 minutes, is outrageous. It does heavy use of stereotypes about poverty, ignorance, sex promiscuity, sexism, religion, attitude toward mental handicaps and everything else. It depicts Kazakh people as if they lived like animals and hated Jews and Christians. What tries to be humorous, ends up being sad.

In the second half the movie tries to criticize American culture by building an implicit parallel, showing neo-nazis, creationists, people with prejudices against homosexuals and prostitutes, sexist students, war supporters and so on. Unfortunately, the critique against US hypocrisy is way weaker than what was shown for Kazakhstan.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
USA, 2006, by Larry Charles, Comedy
IMDB 443453

In 2004 a new European Commission had to be nominated. José Manuel Barroso was going to be the President while Italian Government (back then ruled by President Berlusconi) proposed Rocco Buttiglione for the Justice, Freedom and Security portfolio. Unfortunately, Buttiglione’s view on sex, family and homosexuality was so fundamentalist conservative that after just a couple hearings the Parliament was totally upset with him and the entire Commission was at risk of a rejection (something unheard of). Among others, a remarkable quote:

The family exists in order to allow women to have children and to have the protection of a male who takes care of them.

Italy had to repair the problem, so Buttiglione’s nomination was withdrawn and eventually changed with Franco Frattini.

Now, in three years of being Commissioner, this man:

• asked for a European ban on the “Rule of Rose” adult videogame and was backfired by Commissioner Viviane Reding;
• bowed to the US, authorizing them to gather personal data of European Citizens through SWIFT, a private company based in Belgium, and to retain that data for fifteen years;
• is planning to make illegal every website that contains material useful to terrorists, to make Internet providers responsible for the traffic they convey, and eventually to build a China-like pan-european censorship firewall.

and that’s just what came out after googling 10 minutes.

Guys, as an Italian I am very sorry. Europe deserved a decent Commissioner. Please accept my apologies.

After reading this post I went further investigating this matter and discovered there are western countries that declare themselves secular and yet fail to stick to it, to the point that in some cases religion is more or less mandated by law! I found the following examples for the US:

Constitution of Arkansas in article 19.1 says:

19. 1. Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness.
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court.

Constitution of Maryland in article 36 and 37 of Declaration of Rights says:

Art. 36. That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; [omissis] nor shall any person, otherwise competent, be deemed incompetent as a witness, or juror, on account of his religious belief; provided, he believes in the existence of God, and that under His dispensation such person will be held morally accountable for his acts, and be rewarded or punished therefore either in this world or in the world to come. [omissis]

Art. 37. That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; [omissis]

Constitution of Massachusetts, in article III of Declaration of rights says:

Article III. As the public worship of God and instructions in piety, religion and morality, promote the happiness and prosperity of a people and the security of a republican government; [omissis]

Constitution of North Carolina, in article 6 says:

Sec. 8. Disqualifications for office.
The following persons shall be disqualified for office:
First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.

Constitution of Pennsylvania, in Section 4 of Article 1 Declaration of Rights says:

Religion
Section 4.
No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth.

Constitution of South Carolina, in Section 2 of Article 4 says:

SECTION 2. Qualifications of Governor.
No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor who denies the existence of the Supreme Being;

Constitution of Tennessee, in Article 9 says:

Section 2. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.

Constitution of Texas, in Article 1 Bill of Rights, Section 4 Religious tests, says:

No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.

In other words, if you live in one of the above states you either believe in God (whatever this means) or your rights are somehow limited, e.g. you are ineligible to work in a public office. Now, it’s true the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution makes all of the above statements invalid, but then why don’t they clean up this mess? Are they so proud of such relics of the past? Maybe yes, after all they have the words “In God we trust” printed on their dollars.

Say you are a journalist, one working in a famous and heralded newspaper. You have been assigned to write an interview about an hostess who enjoys selling her body as a second job. Now, your article would surely attract more attention if you add a nice picture, wouldn’t it? Too bad you forgot to take a photo of your interviewee and to ask her permission for publishing.

Hell, who cares, Internet is so easy… Let’s try to Google for generic hostess images. You feel lucky and the first hit is this wonderful girl on a Portuguese blog. She’s darn beautiful, she is an hostess on a plane and has this glamorous smile. Can you resist? It looks like the perfect picture!

Ok, you have no right to publish this picture, you don’t even know who she is. As a good journalist you are supposed to ask permission, at the very least, and then maybe pay back some quid. But hell, you have no time. After all, nobody will ever discover where this image comes from, right?

I’m sorry bad journalist, we’re in the 21st century and the Internet is way smarter than you. Blogs connect people and they found the original picture in a matter of days. This innocent Portuguese girl was probably accused of being an whore. She was probably going to sue the newspaper for illegal use of the image. At end of the day the newspaper had to publish apologies and remove your article.

Now, I can understand when similar mistakes are made by unknown bloggers, people who write just for hobby or for fun. But a journalists does it for a living, it’s his profession and he is supposed to be professional. This is the kind of errors that make a journalist deserve to be fired.

Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact.

This incredible statement comes from this article on Newsweek talking about American beliefs and no, unfortunately it’s not April fools yet.

So here I am again, bashing Apple. In the last few days everybody and his brother was talking about how cool the iPhone is and how they can’t wait to buy one because it’s sooo hi-tech and yadda yadda yadda. Actually, you just have to look at the specs to be deluded:

• Cingular only
• no UMTS
• battery life just 5 hours talk
• 135 grams
• no camera zoom

Ok, there are nice sensors, a multi-touch screen and a neat user interface, but at the end of the day who cares? Since I have a phone in my pocket 16hours a day the most important features are small size, light weight, battery life, audio quality. I’m sorry I can’t trade my own comfort for any UI, however cool it is.

This device is going to be sub-optimal both as a phone and as a computer (no QWERTY, 3.5″ screen). It’s like a tablet: that useless mid-size that makes everybody unhappy.

This week my mother bought a new all-in-one printer and scanner. It’s an Epson Stylus DX4000. Unfortunately she didn’t even call me to ask for advice on what to buy, she just bought a random one.  I spent all night and morning trying to make it work with Linux, even trying obscure japanese drivers but finally I made it.  Anyhow, I hope next time she asks me in advance.
]]> http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/10/06/epson-sucks/feed/ 0 http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/09/24/windows-required-to-pay-taxes/ http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/09/24/windows-required-to-pay-taxes/#comments Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:26:50 +0000 simone http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/09/24/windows-required-to-pay-taxes/ My mother is a self-employed artisan 56 years old and happy Linux user. She pays taxes in multiple tranches every year and so far never had problems, but this year is different.

Italian Minister Bersani recently issued a decree mandating use of on line tools to pay social security taxes (F24 form). This means, starting from Oct 1st you either go to very expensive authorized 3rd party tax professional accountants, or you buy a very expensive on line bank account from one a few authorized banks, or you go to the ministry web site and download an application they provide for free.

She asked to her bank, but they said they’re not authorized. Of course nobody wants to waste lots of money in accountants (their services cost typically around €1000/yr) or in additional bank accounts (€200/yr), therefore she tried to download the on-line software. Problem is, the ministry web site says this application is only available for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac. What if you run Linux or any other operating system of your choice? Well, you are on your own, you moron, just waste your money buying a copy of Windows and shut up. At this point, my mother was desperate and asked for my help.

Previous government issued a directive mandating the State to use open source tools wherever available and to always accept and produce at least one open file format for any data exchange, therefore the government here is violating its own policy. Moreover, smart people investigated the application provided by the ministry and found out it is a java application. Wait, isn’t java supposed to be a portable language running the same across every operating system and platform?

My mother is lucky enough to have a geek son, and after some serious hacking, reading hints on the Internet, I managed to install and run this application on Linux, using some obscure tools and the obsoleted (and end of life) java version 1.3.1.

So why is the government requiring citizens to run Windows/Mac? Can’t they just provide a multi-platform java binary? Are their contractors (SOGEI) so incompetent that they can’t even test this application on Linux? Do they think everybody has a geek son to call for help? What about accessibility guidelines? Was it so hard to build a web application that any browser can load instead of this java crap? Do you think a government endorsing Microsoft/Apple does any good to fair competition in the market?

It’s beyond me.

]]> http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/09/24/windows-required-to-pay-taxes/feed/ 0 http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/08/05/65/ http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/08/05/65/#comments Sat, 05 Aug 2006 15:20:10 +0000 simone http://www.mostly-useless.com/blog/2006/08/05/65/ After a good kickstart, lately our government has been busy at creating laws that make me uneasy. First they cut three years jailtime to almost everybody who committed crime before May 6th, including killers.  They made instantly free about 13k people, one third of the jailed population. This is supposed to make us save a lot of money (they say billions, but there’s no account for the added expenses on social security) but frankly speaking I saw no urgency for this act, I felt like we’re already tolerant enough, expecially after the last government ruled by Berlusconi almost legalized financial crimes.

Now, they want legal immigrants to be allowed to bring their relatives in Italy and to apply for citizenship after just five years they lived here. Apparently this is strongly pushed by the catholic movement. Now I’m OK with this, I love melting pots, I think italian culture is more in danger because of mcdonalds and american movies than because of immigration, but I don’t see what the hell they’re trying to achive. Don’t they have anything more urgent and useful to work on? Can they please explain what’s the deal? And what impresses me the most is that people most upset by immigration are also the most integralist catholics. Totally schizophrenic.

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