On iPhone, Searching For Kama Sutra = Porn 283
heychris writes "Eucalyptus, an ebook app for iPhone, has been rejected from the App Store for 'objectionable content.' What's so objectionable? The Kama Sutra, available from Project Gutenberg, which is available on other ebook readers as well. Not only that, but the screenshot shows that you would have to search for Kama Sutra to get it; it's not built in to Eucalyptus. The author is reasonable but frustrated, while Herr Gruber is more succinct." I wonder how good the now-cheap Nokia 810 is as an e-book reader.
As to the question of the Nokia N810 (Score:4, Interesting)
Nokia N810 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Here's a suggestion: (Score:5, Interesting)
I couldn't agree more. Continuing to buy iPhones and other Apple products only encourages them to continue behaving as they have. Since when is it up to a company to censor products, especially when the censorship is so unevenly applied as to allow other eBook readers to access the Kama Sutra?
Unfortunately, the simple fact of the matter is that people will not boycott Apple over such behaviour. In fact, many of their hordes of minions will probably be more likely to buy, claiming that Apple is "family friendly."
The Nokia 810 is okay (Score:5, Interesting)
From the summary: "I wonder how good the now-cheap Nokia 810 is as an e-book reader."
I have an N800, which is very close in specs. It's okay as an e-book reader, but nothing to write home about. I'm using FBReader.
As a general purpose internet laptop killer, it's awesome, though. Especially if you couple it with a bluetooth keyboard. I've written novels on it, VNCed, SSHed, played some games, diagnose networks, listened to podcasts, and even played Ur-Quan Masters on it [longtailgamer.com].
I barely touch my laptop anymore unless I need something that genuinely calls for a larger screen, like a spreadsheet or balancing my checkbook. The fun stuff, I leave to the N800.
The interface and page turn animation is amazing. (Score:3, Interesting)
http://th.ingsmadeoutofotherthin.gs/eucalyptus/ [ingsmadeou...herthin.gs]
Just watching the demo video of Eucalyptus's interface makes me want to purchase it. The search methods, content organization, page zooming, and page turning seem very well designed and polished to me. Integration with Project Gutenberg is a fantastic bonus.
Disclaimer: I have no relationship with either Eucalyptus or Project Gutenberg. I'm just a very impressed hopefully-soon-to-be user.
Re:Looks good (Score:3, Interesting)
The funny thing with apps is - can you tell where the app ends and the downloaded network content begins?
A number of apps make remote content appear as if it was local - sure things may be streaming and fetched from webservers and displayed in embedded WebKit frameworks, but they have the look and feel of the app itself.
Using Safari, one knows they're accessing content on the Internet. Using an app, it can be quite difficult to tell what content's coming off the Internet, and what content's actually stored in the app itself. Especially since some apps hit the network to retrieve the content, while others build it in for offline use. It can be hard to tell - unless apps start putting up a big banner saying "You are now accessing online content" screen you have to tape through like some websites do when hitting 3rd-party links.
(The same issue will happen with the Pre - the Internet is so seamlessly integrated that where the app ends and online content begins is very blurry).
As for a sweatshop in Asia, well, it would explain it - local customs and all...
Because it's not (Score:2, Interesting)
Why are people so resistant to simply admitting it's a fashion accessory?
Maybe before we actually discuss the issue, we could get some idea from you of why people seem to think they've shown some kind of deep insight when they say things like this.
Re:Here's a suggestion: (Score:3, Interesting)
You just made up a bunch of arbitrary search criteria. Try this: select from phones where DON'T SUCK. After that, you can worry about relatively trivial issues like multi-touch screens. I'll take DON'T SUCK and buttons, any day, over SUCK with a neural interface.
Re:Nokia N810 (Score:3, Interesting)
I have an N800 and I only sorta like it.
I could spend all day complaining about it, but suffice to say that in regards to reading e-books... it's not much of a long-term solution. The screen has incredible resolution for its size, but the size of the screen is still small. You either need to hold the tablet close to your face or suffer eye strain.
The Nokia Gecko browser is a joke. It's very slow, has limited options, and is very very buggy. Quite often it stops working completely until you do a reboot. I can't believe the lack of quality control on the central piece of software for a device proudly proclaimed to be an Internet Tablet. Some bloke is working on a WebKit browser right now and while the UI still needs a lot of work, it is at least several times faster than Gecko and relatively stable.
So far, my preferred use of the N800 is for podcasts. It's quite nice to be able to just download the podcasts right to the tablet over wifi and then carry it along with me wherever I go. Music streams drain the battery something fierce, otherwise it would be good for those as well.
Re:The Author's Blog response (Score:5, Interesting)
Heres a related article:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/05/easter-eggs-may-get-apps-approved-but-could-hurt-app-store.ars [arstechnica.com]
From the article:
Jelle Prins created an iPhone app called Lyrics that allows a user to search for the lyrics to any song--even NWA's "F*ck Tha Police" or Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name." Of course, Apple promptly rejected the app citing the "objectionable content" clause of the iPhone developer's agreement
What. The. Fuck?
So an application which does not specifically prohibit iphone users from searching for 'objectionable content' gets rejected?
This isn't just about apps that *contain* 'objectionable content'.
Its about apps that *permit* the user to *search* for 'objectionable content'.
To me, and I'm sure to most reasonable people, this is in itself objectionable.
This will eventually kill their developer base (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm willing to bet that once Android phones are really available, you're going to see the smartest developers moving over. Not because Android is technically superior-- it may not be-- but because no one wants to PAY for a SDK and pour loads of time into developing and refining applications, only to have it blocked by Apple for some arbitrary or unknown reason. Couple that with Apple's long history of incorporating good ideas into their own platform at the expense of developers, and I think their App Store will eventually marginalize itself.
Right now, the iPhone is really the only slick thing out there (I speak as a Blackberry user and administrator, which is a platform that works but not well), but how long do you think this will be the case?
Bug Report (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Here's a suggestion: (Score:3, Interesting)
Multi-touch is a gimmick, you have a good point there. But a responsive touchscreen is an important feature.
Wait, why is touch screen an important feature and yet multi-touch is only a gimmick? That doesn't make sense to me.
I don't own an iPhone and I don't ever plan on getting one, but the multi-touch interface is very nice in my limited experience with it.
Re:The Kama Sutra isn't porn (Score:3, Interesting)
Dullest book about sex I ever read.
Re:Just Resubmit (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple simple does not believe in the power of the free-market, I guess. Instead of letting the free and unfettered action of the marketplace decide which apps and content will be run on the iPhone, as god himself intended, they have decided that they have to protect...somebody, most likely themselves, from some user somewhere actually making a decision for themselves.
Oh, FFS. Do you really believe that "the power of the free-market" would solve this problem? This is the free market; Apple is a corporation, not a government agency. They're making decisions based on what they think will ultimately lead to the greatest profit. They may very well be wrong, of course, but they're doing what corporations always do when they're, um, free to do so. Which only goes to show that boneheaded bureaucrats are boneheaded bureaucrats, whether they work for the Eeevil Government or the Holy Private Sector. The great Invisible Hand(R)(C)(TM)(Pat.Pend.) can be just as mindlessly destructive, just as inimical to initiative and hard work and individual achievement, as the Specter Of Socialism.
Re:The Kama Sutra isn't porn (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The Kama Sutra isn't porn (Score:5, Interesting)
Dull? It contains sentences about how you have to painfully slap your girl before sex, so she gets in the mood.
It also contains some fetishes, that still are seen as perverse nowadays.
I don't know about you, but I think even nowadays that does not count as "dull". ^^
Oh, and it's not about sex only. Much is about foreplay. So it's more a book for girls, who still enhance their sex with their imagination. :P
You are wrong (Score:3, Interesting)