No,no, I *have* the space. And half an hour ago when I posted that, I didn't know about MapDroyd.
So, Mapdroyd+Wikidroyd = 8GB of space I wasn't using anyway, and now I have detailed maps of North America and a full copy of Wikipedia, available offline, on my phone.
Yup, that's very cool. I'm becoming a serious Android fanboy. Now I just hope the Nexus S comes out quickly here in Scandinavia because that looks droolworthy.
Oops, sorry, sometimes sarcasm is the safest assumption! I don't have tons of space or the money for a gigantic microSD card, so I'll have to wait for all these things...
There are tons of phones called Droids (maybe more common in the US?)—Droid, Droid X, Droid Eris, Droid Incredible, Droid this, Droid that. IME, Android generally isn't referred to as Droid, except by people who are confused because of all those phones and their ubiquitous advertisements. And I know a lot of Google people. But YMMV.
Strictly speaking weaselking is right as all Droid™ ads have a little caption at the start of them that points out that Droid™ is the trademark of lucasarts.
They are also stupid and sexist ads.
I honestly want to know what the hell was the thought behind that naming though "yeah, we're selling a top of the range phone that has to be sold at a higher price than our main competitor in this niche market, what do we call it?"
"How about something proprietary that will require us to pay a licensing fee to use it?"
I have a Galaxy. It came with a 16gb internal card - so spending 8 of that on Wikipedia + Maps Of Everything is kind of not really a problem for me, and I can get an external card if I ever need more space.
And yeah, I can kind of see how I might have sounded sarcastic. No, I was just happy about it.
I've only ever really heard people talking about "Android" and shortening it - locally, for example, people talk about their "Droid" to clarify that it's a smartphone, and not a Crackberry or iPhone, without talking about a specific model beyond that.
(And I don't think I've ever seen an ad for an Android phone in my life. But, then, I go through life with 99% of advertising specifically blocked out because I don't watch live TV, I block ads vigorously on the internet, and I turn off the radio rather than listen to advertising.)
(And I figured that since Lucasarts owns the word "droid" and vigourously defends that trademark, nobody would be dumb enough to use that as an actual product name and pay licensing fees - all official documents would say "Google Android(tm)", in the same way that "Adobe Photoshop(r)" is the only acceptable-to-Adobe way of saying something is photoshopped.)
Yeah, in my experience in the U.S., the only people who refer to phones as Droids are people who actually have "Droid"-branded phones (or who know they are specifically talking about one) and non-Android-users who say, "Ooh, is that a Droid?" These people invariably have no clue that there is a thing called Android and it's an operating system that runs on many phones, not all of which are called Droids.
I'm like you with ads, except for the roughly one hour a month I feel like watching something actually on TV, and I usually watch the commercials then, just because I find them mesmerizingly bizarre when I'm not used to them. I also ride Metro, which is plastered with ads, and tend to look at them then too, again because they are so weird to me. And I've seen a few extra Droid commercials because they've occasionally been obnoxious enough to be featured as a bad example on the feminist sites I read. ("IPHONE FEMININE THEREFORE BAD. DROID MANLY THEREFORE GOOD!" being the general message.)
As for the trademark, you would think, wouldn't you?
Heh. Whereas I'm all "I'm a sysadmin. Storage is something that happens on STORAGE DEVICES."
I totally will run my 16GB out eventually. And when I do, I'll buy an extra 32, or 64. But in the mean time, 16GB *on the phone itself* is plenty for my default workflow.
That's why I got my desktop (plus other assorted places) where I backup my shit. :D
At the moment I got some 8 GB of music loaded in, all the essential stuff to distract me with noise, comics in cbz/cbr format, and I've been snapping some pics as well.
If I can get my kitteh Orcus do something funny, maybe filming a snip or two... but, I tend to treat this space as "In Case of Emergency".
They own it in a particular context - it doesn't stop another company from using the word in a context that's not likely to cause confusion with Lucasarts' products. Same as I can trademark "McDonalds' Electronics" etc.
(Of course, since frivolous lawsuits with no solid foundation in law can still be enough of a menace to bulldoze people, it helps if that other company has enough money to fight frivolous suits.)
From 0:27 onward (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w83UQkiuNZQ), watch for the little blurb at the bottom of the ad that says that "DROID" is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.
Hm. I'd be vaguely surprised if that was enforceable, unless Lucas has been selling something vaguely comparable; AFAIK the tests boil down to "if somebody else uses the name, would it be likely to mislead customers as to who they're dealing with".
But maybe somebody decided it was easier just to pay the licensing fee than try to fight it.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 03:55 pm (UTC)Mapdroyd does that. http://www.mapdroyd.com/
I'd prefer if Google proper did it, but it will do for my travels through the NYC subways.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 03:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 04:15 pm (UTC)So, Mapdroyd+Wikidroyd = 8GB of space I wasn't using anyway, and now I have detailed maps of North America and a full copy of Wikipedia, available offline, on my phone.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 04:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 04:42 pm (UTC)*plays with it forever*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 04:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:00 pm (UTC)A device running Android is an Android device. Android, "droid" for short[1]. How can a device run Android and not be a droid device?
(Is there a specific "Droid" model of phone out there that I'm not aware of?)
[1]: and infringing on a trademark of Lucasfilm, inc.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:44 pm (UTC)They are also stupid and sexist ads.
I honestly want to know what the hell was the thought behind that naming though "yeah, we're selling a top of the range phone that has to be sold at a higher price than our main competitor in this niche market, what do we call it?"
"How about something proprietary that will require us to pay a licensing fee to use it?"
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 05:47 pm (UTC)"Droid" is a ™ of lucasartsfilms plc.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 06:05 pm (UTC)And yeah, I can kind of see how I might have sounded sarcastic. No, I was just happy about it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 06:10 pm (UTC)I've only ever really heard people talking about "Android" and shortening it - locally, for example, people talk about their "Droid" to clarify that it's a smartphone, and not a Crackberry or iPhone, without talking about a specific model beyond that.
(And I don't think I've ever seen an ad for an Android phone in my life. But, then, I go through life with 99% of advertising specifically blocked out because I don't watch live TV, I block ads vigorously on the internet, and I turn off the radio rather than listen to advertising.)
(And I figured that since Lucasarts owns the word "droid" and vigourously defends that trademark, nobody would be dumb enough to use that as an actual product name and pay licensing fees - all official documents would say "Google Android(tm)", in the same way that "Adobe Photoshop(r)" is the only acceptable-to-Adobe way of saying something is photoshopped.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 06:29 pm (UTC)Yeah, in my experience in the U.S., the only people who refer to phones as Droids are people who actually have "Droid"-branded phones (or who know they are specifically talking about one) and non-Android-users who say, "Ooh, is that a Droid?" These people invariably have no clue that there is a thing called Android and it's an operating system that runs on many phones, not all of which are called Droids.
I'm like you with ads, except for the roughly one hour a month I feel like watching something actually on TV, and I usually watch the commercials then, just because I find them mesmerizingly bizarre when I'm not used to them. I also ride Metro, which is plastered with ads, and tend to look at them then too, again because they are so weird to me. And I've seen a few extra Droid commercials because they've occasionally been obnoxious enough to be featured as a bad example on the feminist sites I read. ("IPHONE FEMININE THEREFORE BAD. DROID MANLY THEREFORE GOOD!" being the general message.)
As for the trademark, you would think, wouldn't you?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 07:06 pm (UTC)The clerk gave me a puzzled look.
I said "I'm a sysadmin, there's NEVER too much free space for me."
Ah. A lightbulb went on. He got me a 32 GB card.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 08:11 pm (UTC)I totally will run my 16GB out eventually. And when I do, I'll buy an extra 32, or 64. But in the mean time, 16GB *on the phone itself* is plenty for my default workflow.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 08:15 pm (UTC)That's why I got my desktop (plus other assorted places) where I backup my shit. :D
At the moment I got some 8 GB of music loaded in, all the essential stuff to distract me with noise, comics in cbz/cbr format, and I've been snapping some pics as well.
If I can get my kitteh Orcus do something funny, maybe filming a snip or two... but, I tend to treat this space as "In Case of Emergency".
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 10:41 pm (UTC)They own it in a particular context - it doesn't stop another company from using the word in a context that's not likely to cause confusion with Lucasarts' products. Same as I can trademark "McDonalds' Electronics" etc.
(Of course, since frivolous lawsuits with no solid foundation in law can still be enough of a menace to bulldoze people, it helps if that other company has enough money to fight frivolous suits.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-17 10:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-18 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-18 08:37 am (UTC)But maybe somebody decided it was easier just to pay the licensing fee than try to fight it.