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EVO 3D shipping with locked down bootloader, but HTC may reconsider policy
We've got some good news and some bad news. Let's do the bad news first: much like the Sensation, Thunderbolt, and Incredible S, Android Police has confirmed that the upcoming HTC EVO 3D will also be sporting a locked down bootloader of similar fashion, meaning custom ROM modders will have a hard time glamming up said phone. Not that anyone should be surprised by this finding though, given the sad trend. That said, there is still hope: earlier today, HTC announced on Facebook that it's "reviewing the issue and our policy around bootloaders" -- looks like someone's pulled a page out of Sony Ericsson's good book. If all goes well, we'll just have to wait and see whether HTC will beat Motorola to making their fans smile again. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
EFF technologist on DRM, Apple's role and the bigger picture
Seth Scoen, an EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) staff technologist, has an interesting blog post in which he analyzes some of the arguments surrounding DRM, Apple's role and how DRM affects the market in more ways than simply locking down content. He also hopes to remind those who have gone astray from the meat of the topic that getting caught up in the Mac vs. PC (and Apple vs. Microsoft) debates in the DRM world only serves to muddy the issue, much like many political debates get too caught up in 'Democrat vs. Republican' rivalry.One of the more important arguments that Seth examines in terms of DRM as a whole and how it affects market competition is that of 'it's the record labels, not Apple who are to blame for the use of DRM'. Seth cites an EFF post from May, 2004 in which their own Fred von Lohmann wrote about his chance to ask the iTMS head lawyer as to whether Apple would stop using DRM if the record labels got really drunk one night lifted their requirement of it. The lawyer reportedly answered "no", which prompted Seth to remind us that DRM clearly isn't just about protecting content - it's also about protecting profitable and closed products like iTunes + iPod, and, perhaps even more importantly, Apple isn't the only one trying to do this.Seth's post offers some interesting perspective on these DRM arguments, and it refreshingly delves deeper than the "Apple's solution is terrible which means you should use Microsoft's" banter. Check it out.[via BoingBoing]
