No. from the page "It uses Native-Client to connect directly to ssh servers without the need for external proxies." it IS a ssh client. no http proxies.
It's hard for people to realize now how inconsequential YC seemed at the time. I can't blame people who didn't take us seriously, because we ourselves didn't take that first summer program seriously in the very beginning.
I attended the "How to Start a Startup" talk in 2005. I remember going home and reading pg's website, the whole thing, cover-to-cover. Later that year I met Steve Wozniak at the first Startup School held in Cambridge. Woz, Chris Sacca and pg left a lasting impression on me. I had never witnessed that level of information density and knowledge sharing. Amazing to look back at those humble beginnings. Always grateful for YC and the HN community.
Amazon offers 2 price points, emphasizes the ad-driven one, and somewhat obscures the fact that it's ad-driven. I don't see how that relates to the free (and Creative Commons free content of) marco.org, and the fact that he syndicates ads from a network he trusts there.
Both methods are indirect ways to make money off of the user, but affiliate links aren't really advertising. It's reasonable to include links to the products he's talking about, and it doesn't hurt the user experience of going to amazon.com.
If you buy an ad-supported kindle, you'll see ads every time you put it to sleep. If you click an affiliate link (vs a standard link to the product), there is no difference in content at all.
Ignoring the nitpicking about 'impacting the content':
It impacts the time scale. If I click on one of his links and buy a gadget, I get the very same thing. He gets a one time bonus that _I_ didn't pay and the experience is the same (granted, if I want to buy the thing in 3 weeks I'm going to Amazon's site and search/buy it there, not looking up his links to do him a favor).
The ads on the device, however, are semi-permanent and are going to stay with you. You trade _your_ money for things that are shoved in _your_ face.
I don't even understand where a comparison between these things (affiliate links vs. ads on the device) are meaningful..
Marco's opinions about pricing products and services are tiresome. No, the Kindle prices are not misleading. The Kindle ads are not uncivilized or lacking self respect. Charging to use a web service is not inherently admirable.
I was checking out the specs on the Fire at Amazon's product page and got to the bottom, where they talk about Amazon Silk -- the 'split browser' used on the Fire.
It appears to offload intensive processing to Amazon EC2 instances.
Very cool stuff and, to me, more newsworthy than the launch of a tablet. I'd like to hear more details on Silk.
As others have commented, it's a licensing issue.
One workaround is loading the Amazon Video Player in Safari on a Mac, then mirroring the display on AppleTV. Looks best in full screen mode.