Here is the software I will not browse the web without:

• Waterfox, an ethical user-oriented upgrade of Mozilla Firefox, from Alex Kontos.
• Privacy Badger, to block tracking cookies, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• uBlock Origin and uMatrix, content and request blockers from Raymond Hill.
• Decentraleyes, replacing CDN requests for common libraries, from Thomas Rientjes.

If I cannot use Waterfox (or equivalent hardened Firefox), with those extensions installed, I will not browse from that device.

Whilst there are Android versions of all of these, I do not browse the web on my mobile, and this does not have any negative effects on my life.

The above software are essential for reasons of privacy and security, but it is important to stress how they also provide considerably faster and smoother browsing, and would be worth installing for that benefit alone.

I have an unrooted Nexus S and recently the power button stopped working - the only way to turn my screen on was to plug in a USB cable, the only way to turn it off to wait for the timeout to kick-in.

Apparently this is a common problem with the Nexus S range of mobiles - some people even going so far as to say it is deliberate sabotage (though it's more likeky just about cost cutting and companies caring about making products that last past their warranty period), but despite being such a frequent problem finding a solution was far more difficult than it should have been, so I'm writing this in the hope it helps other avoid wasting the time I did.

Searching for how to solve this by remapping another button to act as the on/off button, everywhere was talking about root access - or simply assuming it that it was done - and providing solutions that depend on it. I already have enough things to worry about without adding rooting my mobile device to that list.

The good news is, you do not need to root your device to get around this problem.

I found two applications that together allow me to turn the screen on and off (without plugging in the cable).

The first is Wake All, a 20k app that allows any physical button to wake up the device - for the Nexus S that means using the volume buttons to turn on the screen.

The second is Screen Off and Lock, a 492k app that has various sound/animation options I don't care about, but those can all be left alone and it can be added as a shortcut to press and turn the screen off.

These both work on Android 4.1.2 without needing a rooted device, though there is one oddity that I have noticed: after turning the device on, the slide to unlock screen works as usual, but after this the screen is unresponsive - I need to press the home button to fully wake up the device. I don't know if this is a bug with either application or with Android, but - now that I've figured this out - it's not a big deal.

Hopefully this is helpful for others in a similar situation.

Hello. So this is one of those awkward posts, where I'm talking to you without having any idea of who you are or why you're here, nor indeed do I know if you know why you're here and who I am.

Well you can figure out that last bit yourself, if you're interested, and as for the rest, the waffle which follows intends to be addressing the why, because the point of this post is to give a brief history of this blog along with indicating my intentions for the future and beyond.

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Most sensible people have known this for years, but here's yet another study proving what the RIAA & others refuse to comprehend...

Tim O'Reilly originally shared this post discussing an article by the American Assembly:

Online file sharers buy 30% more music than those who don't share. In other words, "pirates" are the music companies' best customers.

Article: Where do Music Collections Come From?

Christian Cantrell originally shared a post highlighting this NYTimes article on patents:

In the smartphone industry alone ... as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in the last two years � an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases exceeded spending on research and development of new products, according to public filings.

Article: In Technology Wars, Using the Patent as a Sword