Molly Rants

Now that we've had a few days to digest the MPAA-backed Stop Online Piracy Act (PDF), can we all finally agree that the MPAA is evil and Hollywood wants the Internet to die? And then can we stop letting them write laws for us?

SOPA is the latest--and perhaps the most brazen--effort in a string of attempts by the MPAA and RIAA to bend the Internet to their corporate will and undermine all kinds of consumer rights. It's a breathtaking piece of work that would give Hollywood and private companies free reign to censor, remove, or prevent the … Read more

The morning of October 4, I had my credit card in hand, ready to buy an iPhone 5 and wave good-bye to Android forever.

Sadly, the iPhone 4S isn't quite what I'd hoped for: it's too expensive for the high-capacity models I'd prefer, I want a bigger screen, there's no 4G, and I'd hoped for integrated turn-by-turn directions. The 4S has left an opening for Android to reassert itself and win my continued loyalty...but it's a tiny opening, indeed. This is Android's last chance, and here's why.

Fragmentation (still) I'… Read more

In retrospect, it shouldn't be a surprise that Apple released a half-step iPhone this week, instead of a revolutionary and redesigned iPhone 5. Think about it--the real reason for the iPhone 4S is the same as for the iPhone 3GS: carrier contracts are two years long.

The 4S isn't meant to be an upgrade for iPhone 4 users--it's a lure to get new iPhone users in the door, and you iPhone 4 folks will get your iPhone 5 upgrade just in time for a new contract. And if you decide you can't wait and spend big … Read more

commentary Amazon, not Apple, just mainstreamed the tablet market.

The company's new Kindle Fire tablet, a 7-inch touch-screen device powered by Amazon's content ecosystem and priced at just $199, may be an orange to Apple's iPad apple, but I'd argue that it's an iPad killer all the same.

On paper, the Kindle Fire has half the features of the iPad. In fact, it's almost literally half the features--here's a handy comparison chart so you can see for yourself. There's no camera, front or rear; the 8GB of onboard storage is half the … Read more

It's a pretty old story. At some point, when your team is up by 20 or 30 points headed into the fourth quarter, a little complacency sets in. You get cocky, thinking you've got it in the bag. You bench your starters and let the new guys with the big ideas start trying out some new things. You start tinkering with the formula, running some new plays, maybe even showing off a little.

And that's exactly how you end up in the losing column of the greatest comebacks of all time wrapups that will inevitably include the … Read more

It's the end of my second week of life with Windows Phone 7 Mango, and it's time to render a verdict. I should say at the outset that two weeks doesn't sound like a lot of time to live with an entirely new platform, and I might have lasted longer but for serious problems with the HTC Trophy I've been using (one-day record for spontaneous reboots: 15, including 3 in 15 minutes). That said, since my smartphone is a device I'm using almost constantly, I feel like I got to know the thing pretty well. … Read more

It's the end of the first full week of my Windows Phone 7 Challenge (catch up with previous installments here), and in simple summary, my feelings on Windows Phone 7 Mango are decidedly mixed--with the exception of the Maps and navigation, which I despise. Read on for that. Oh, and I wish it had a screen capture feature, which would make these blog posts a lot easier.

It's probably easiest to do a simple list of pros and cons. And, for context, this week has just been about setting up the phone, establishing basic use, getting familiar with … Read more

Here's the latest update from the world of Windows Phone 7: upshot? Uh oh...where are the apps?

Also, as a post-script, I should say that although I liked the integrated social networking at first, I'm finding it slightly less useful as the day wears on. It seems slow to update; the list of Twitter mentions only says I was mentioned, but doesn't show me the actual text until I click through to another screen; and it's kind of weird to have one live tile for monitoring Facebook posts, and another for monitoring my own Facebook … Read more

Everything was fine in Android-land until the Gingerbread update. Well, then again, "fine" might be a little strong.

I'd been through an original Motorola Droid, which was a nice little keyboard wrapped in a seriously slow-performing phone with a terrible camera and no end of software update woes.

I went from that to the Samsung Fascinate, wooed by its sleek looks, great camera, and big, beautiful screen. Sadly, the Fascinate was loaded down with carrier crapware, including the staggering inclusion of Bing instead of Google as the default system search. It was so crippled you couldn't … Read more