Real Competition From Redmond: Windows Phone 7 "Mango" →

With Mango, Microsoft has got the smartphone operating system right. It's fast, it's fun, it's easy to use, it does everything you need, and it looks great. It takes the things that made the original release unique and makes them better, and it addresses nearly every criticism made of that version. As a piece of software, it's a triumph, and it's more than good enough to take on Android and iOS.

I really love mine, and the update is fabulous.

Samsung to Pay Microsoft for Every Android Device They Sell →

Google's dream of making a free and open mobile operating system is starting to look like a nightmare. While it is still true that no one has to pay Google to put Android on their phone or tablet it seems as though they will have to pay Microsoft.

So, Microsoft's making money off of Android but Google's still not.

Facebook Defends Getting Data From Logged-Out Users →

Facebook responds to the tracking allegations with comments to the Wall Street Journal:

Facebook on Monday defended its practice of gathering data from "Like" buttons even after users have logged out, saying that the collection is part of a system to prevent improper logins and that the information is quickly deleted.

Sounds like no one's denying this is actually true.

Arturo Bejar, a Facebook director of engineering, said that the data is required to prevent spam and phishing attacks and to help keep users from having to go through extra authentication steps every time they log in.

"The onus is on us is to take all the data and scrub it," said Bejar. "What really matters is what we say as a company and back it up."

That's funny, Facebook. I really don't trust what you say.

Logging Out of Facebook Is Not Enough →

The privacy concern here is that because you no longer have to explicitly opt-in to share an item, you may accidentally share a page or an event that you did not intend others to see.

The advice is to log out of Facebook. But logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application. A number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions.

Subsequent requests to Facebook as a signed-out user still send nine different cookies, including your account number, to Facebook or to any page that interfaces with Facebook.