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No one has ever thought to take a picture of the area behind a monitor and set it as the wallpaper before.... https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-transparent-screen-trick-photos/

Sorry, but there's a ton of bullshit above, and you- you just need to be called out on it.

The films marketing consists of a billboard on la brea with a cryptic phrase and a billboard on la cienega with three birds and a charred facade but no mention of the film, its opening date, or even that its a film...

Oh jesus, seriously? There's a giant billboard on Highland and Hollywood and it's pretty damn clear it's a movie and that the 20th was the opening date. In fact most of the dozens of billboards make that pretty clear. There are billboards all over LA that refer to "the movie" and highlight the opening date. Go on, look at 'em!

The films marketing is just a confusing billboard on la brea? are you fucking kidding me? There are giant buses everywhere around LA and SF too apparently. And that's just the tip of the marketing iceberg. Sony spent $100m according to the article on marketing!

Strike one.

Next, your criticism of "pushing a film by yourself" (and partnering for distribution) as a strategy, well, it's *exactly* how Pixar got their start. They self-produced and distributed through Disney all the way up to about 2006. So again, you don't know what you're talking about..

Strike two.

Yes, in the short term, doing this can net you a few million in revenue taxed at a very favourable US rate.

What does that even mean? You're implying something, but I have no idea what. Worldwide box office receipts are taxed in the country where it is earned, for one thing. Both in sales tax for the person who buys the ticket, and then the distributor pays income taxes-- in some countries like China the government takes a percentage of the distribution itself. Then the distributor is taxed in their country as well when they take the money home. So if Rovio is making money (they are), and they're based in Finland, they'll pay Finnish corporate taxes. Sony will too for box office profits in accordance with their agreement with Rovio. Whoever owns merchandising and other licensing rights and sequels etc. will pay taxes as that makes money across the planet as well.

So.. like, what the hell are you even talking about? Sounds like Rovio put their own skin in the game and now they get to benefit from that. Where's the problem/stupidity and what's the tax break you're referring to?

Blockbuster teams like Weinstein and Warner crank out 4 sequels a year and thats sometimes with recurring losses baked in. those sequels exist only to sell toys and shirts and food.

Wait-- what do you mean by "those movies"-- Weinstein doesn't crank out sequels-- they've had the "Arthur" movies and Hoodwinked Too and that's the only sequels I can think of. Weinstein and WB may make movies to sell toys and shirts (and Food? Huh? You mean tie-ins like Batman themed cereal?). But anyway-- so does Rovio and Rovio does it much more aggressively. Or have you not seen Angry Birds toys, plushies, clothing, etc everywhere you look? Maybe you don't have kids. Hell, I don't have kids and I STILL see those stuffed red birds everywhere.

There is no lack of AB franchising so I seriously don't know what you're talking about.

This is like strike three.

? Was this an attempt to get around huge industry margins for films like those out of marvels wheelhouse? Those are unavoidable and it speaks to corporate greed if you did cartwheels to explicitly avoid players in Hollywood.

This is the most nonsensical part of your post. Making a film OUTSIDE of the Hollywood studio system translates into "corporate greed" ??? What in holy fuck are you talking about? You're suggesting you have to go through the Hollywood corporate system to avoid being corporate?

Never mind the fact

Adobe went that way with Creative Cloud, and people basically have no choice but to keep paying forever.

Considering that the ancient Photoshop 7 is still better than most alternatives, I bought CS5.5 and am holding off as long as I possibly can. If I can make it the rest of my life without upgrading, I will be perfectly capable. They haven't added much, really. Even screenshots from 1988 are recognizable to today's users.

Better idea: Use an online IDE. I've been using Cloud9, and it keeps its state between sessions, up to and including running terminal programs. It's even open-source (to some degree) so you can install it on your private server. Syncing IDE files from place to place is not a very good solution, it's better to either have a central server to remote into. The cloud services can be good ways to take the server management off your hands. It has many of the same drawbacks as a remote desktop, but RD has heavier bandwidth requirements, and possibly other software-related issues.

There was a guy who dreamt about being a great poet who could truly touch people's feelings. Unfortunately he lacked talent for coming up with rhyme, analogy, insight and so on.

But he found employment at Microsoft, where he finally made his dream come true as an error message writer, with classics such as "BSoD", "Press 'OK' to continue.", "Catastrophic Failure.", "Abort, Retry, Fail?" and many others that have touched a nerve on each of us over the years.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/windows-8-keyboard-shortcuts/

you're doing it wrong....

You may just need a primer for windows 8 shortcuts

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/windows-8-keyboard-shortcuts/

Not so much. There a ton of alternatives to paypal, all more secure and reliable for the seller AND the buyer. http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-alternatives/

and that's just the first google result.

This actually seems like a worthwhile invention.

Sadly, like most recent Microsoft "innovations", it's a copy of other people's work being patented in an effort to block competition (likely including the original developers) and/or extort money from people with a real product.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-sites-to-create-cartoon-characters-of-yourself/

Lotus Magellan. Not as old as some of the real oldies like Viscalc, but in the early 90s it was the absolute best file explorer available. Really haven't see the same ability to browse, manage and view file contents (without launching them) again.
Vintage print ad

Ever wonder why Foxcon didn't just grab android and make an iPhone clone?

Because if Foxconn did that, their whole business as a company that makes stuff for other companies is gone. Nobody will get them to make stuff for them.

By the way there are plenty of companies in China making iphone clones: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/10-iphone-clones-you-never-see-before/

They aren't as successful as Foxconn. And even if you abolish patent law, I doubt they will be as successful either - since Copyright law would remain and they won't be able to use Apple's IOS in USA with impunity.

These look finely edited to me.