Err, Sony is a media corporation, they have a vested interest in pretending to fight piracy wrt. shareholders. George Hotz didn't precipitate Sony's actions - I think he's doing a favor by showing that DRM is pointless in the end and only harms consumers. Columbia pictures/film is actively tripping up the tech division, and this is why Sony is in the media race with one leg tied. It's why Apple has taken the lead in so many areas. The fact that the PS3 doesn't even talk Bravia protocol to the Sony flatscreens is beyond any logic. Surprisingly, the X360 hasn't broken through into the living room. It's amazing that in 2010, one has: an MPEG2/4 capable Full HD TV, a supercomputer class gaming console, and neither of them can really function as a dedicated PVR, and you still need a set-top-box of some kind to decode encrypted channels for satellite contents. The markets are segmented, I still have 5 remote controls (PS3, STB, TV, amplifier, squeezebox). The future is not what it used to be.

As pointed out elsewhere, Android just happened to be what the author had in his pocket at the time. Of course, a lot of factors made it possible. What's very inspiring about this is the amount of work that was done, without any prompting or formal coordination from any "official authorities". The people on the ground, together with their friends and colleagues from around the world (Google, http://www.nsrc.org/, http://www.afnic.fr/, http://www.pch.net/, US State Department, etc...) made it happen. To illustrate this, check out how continuity of the .HT ccTLD was ensured while the people running it on a daily basis in Port au Prince were unreachable:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bortzmeyer.org%2Fdns-haiti.html&sl=fr&tl=en

  No prior agreement had been made for "disaster recovery" but even so, the right decisions were taken. Of course things would have been much smoother if there had been some sort of contingency planning, but taken into account the circumstances, this was pretty amazing.

Phil

I'll second/third/XXth this. It just rocks. Will be buying more stuff from them over the coming year. Not dirt cheap, but not insanely priced either. That and a SUMOH digital amplifier or the Squeezebox Boom, presto!

Reminds me a lot of Architecture for Humanity. Also check Cameron Sinclair's (founder of AfH) talk at TED in 2006.