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Economist Looks at the Digital Home
spisska writes "There is an excellent article this week in The Economist looking at the "digital home" and at what cable, telecom, internet, and hardware companies are doing to create the new entertainment nerve centers of the future. The article touches on what exists today (CDs, DVDs, etc), what is in production or preparation from various companies (MS MCE, IPTV, music downloads, etc), DRM, interoperability, and competing standards, among other topics. Although there is no mention of MythTV or Linux, it is a pretty solid analysis of the market as it is now and concludes that vendors are trying to hype a market into existence where there is no great consumer demand. A choice quote: "'If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed,' says Peter Lee, an executive at Disney". The article concludes: "As John Barrett, research director at Parks Associates, says, 'it seems that we've concocted a new variant of the 'paperless' office.' This, you recall, was the consensus a decade or so ago among technophiles (but almost nobody else), that computer technology would save our forests by freeing us from having to read and write on paper. Today's variant, says Mr Barrett, is 'no more tapes, CDs, DVDs, discs.' In other words, expect them to be around for a very long time to come.""
... is Digital Viagra, the Ultimate Entertainment!! ;-)
For this non-paper media to truly catch on, we need digital devices that offer all of the benefits of paper: flexibility, portability, and inexpensiveness. While such devices exist, they are currently not widespread enough.
These all-digital office will truly catch on once people have a piece of digital "paper" that they can use to send emails from, read specifications with, and even watch a movie with on the way home. Laptops are just too bulky for such tasks.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
...but I certainly find they had a point. I really don't archive much physically anymore. Virtually all my documents are archived only in electronic form.
:P
Still, of course I often still print 'em when I am going to read them through / pass them on. Reading on paper is still better, but processing and archival has been taken over by electronic documents. So, were the paperless people right to two thirds?
Is the paper/plastic industry putting up any sort of a battle against these media giants who wish to move away from the use of paper/plastic? Unless these paper/plastic companies successfully transition themselves into manufacturers of these devices meant to replace paper/plastic, they may take a significant financial hit.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
In other words, the whole plan depends on defrauding the customer into buying something other than what they were told they were getting.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
It's going to be how little people have to work to use it. Nobody wants another gadget that they can't figure out how to use. That said, nobody wants DRM that won't work properly. Everybody (including geeks) wants things to work out of the box and that's where these companies should focus on.
They should make lots of mockups. They should get people to let them install this crap in their homes and see how they like or dislike it. The company that rushes some central media player that can only do what my modded xbox can do now isn't going to do well. It's going to take a lot of testing to get the final product done right.
My guess is Apple might come out with some interesting products and I'm going to be watching out for what they do.
You raise an interesting point: the secure storage of digital data over long periods of time.
Indeed, traditionally when one must store a paper document of value (ie. a will, a deed, bonds, etc.) they are deposited in a bank's safety deposit box. There would have to be an equivalent for the digital world.
While the data could be dropped onto a tape or a hard drive, which is then deposited into an existing safety deposit box, such a solution would be less than ideal. Future technology may not be able to interact with the tape or drive. The storage device may degrade over time. Indeed, there are many problems.
We are now finding out that CD-R's do not last more than a few years before they start losing data, if not becoming completely unreadable. So while a financially viable solution, and most likely future-compatible, they are unable to offer the durability required for archiving important digital documentation of an individual or even a small business.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
"'If consumers even know there's a DRM. . . we've already failed,'"
Well Sparky, you kinda let that cat out of the bag when you forced people to watch ten minutes of ads every time they just wanted to watch a DVD, didn'ch'a?
KFG
The case law today is being made by judges who have swallowed the "digital is different" line and are allowing vendors to do with bits what the Bobbs-Merrill Court wouldn't let them do with paper.
Under the circumstances, vendors have a powerful incentive to replace paper with bits.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Only a foolish customer would allow themself to be defrauded. An intelligent, wise consumer always investigates before making purchases. And such a consumer would very likely run into discussion concerning such DRM. Thus, such a consumer would not purchase said product. If this happens on a large scale, then the producer will not do well financially. They will either fold, or produce an unencumbered product.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
...flexibility, portability, and inexpensiveness...
Gas is about $1.35/litre in Ontario right now, and this price (if you convert it to gallons) is approx 3.785 litres in a gallon. That's $5.10 Canadian for a gallon. Converted to USD? $4.30/gallon USD.
The point I'm making is that as gas prices rise, people will want to think about portability of everything, including entertainment. We won't want to go to the store if we don't absolutely have to. We will want to download to our computers, have items delivered with free delivery.... etc.
These all-digital office will truly catch on once people have a piece of digital "paper" that they can use to send emails from, read specifications with, and even watch a movie with on the way home.
I think we could even see some kind of electronic transportation via mollecular rearrangement. There are systems now that can manipulate physical matter, in a crude form. I think that these systems will expand into the entertainment market soon enough.
I know that I won't buy anything unless it's conveniant for me to do so, and the value is there. Going to the movies might be a thing of the past pretty soon... (don't get me started on the price of popcorn, that more than quadrouples our current gas price!)
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
I think Disney is prepared lose a handful of sales worldwide.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
A friend of mine recently saw a really good deal on a Dell PC. He bought one for his uncle and is thinking about buying another for himself.
The funny thing was that although they were priced about $300 lower than other roughly equivalent home PC's, these were bundled with WIndows XP Media Center instead of Windows XP Home.
They had no video-relevant hardware other than a DVD-burner.
It took my friend an extra half-hour to make his purchasing decision because he was going crazy on the Dell and Microsoft websites trying to find out exactly what Windows XP Media Center was and to convince himself that it was not ''missing'' anything in Windows XP Home Edition.
Oh, yes, the bundle included a 15" flat-screen monitor. So, the bundle contents were put together by someone who does not expect the PC to be connected to an existing TV. And with a 15" monitor, I don't think they expect it to be used in place of an ordinary television receiver, either.
These PCs are definitely not going into living rooms.
Keep this in mind the next time Microsoft starts trumpeting the great sales results it is having with WIndows XP Media Center.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Never happen.
When photocopying came about, everyone was saysing how this would reduce paper! No more need for carbon copies.
Instead, paper exploded. Everyone wanted a copy for themselves.
Computers were supposed to reduce paper as well. Instead, there are now entire SECTIONS of bookstores devoted to computer books.
My next laptop will not have a CD reader/writer. E.g. To load a new O/S I'll download the bootable image onto a USB key. Or netboot. My music CDs are never taken out of their cases anymore. Same will happen to my DVDs, sometime. So all that off-line media which is only machine-readable will go. The article is wrong.
But paper? I carry a notebook and pen and will do so for a long time to come. No PDA for me. The article is right.
Paul Beardsell
Gee, I didn't know DRM is so important ... gotta find out more about it. Hmmmmmmmm .... wouldn't want any economist to fail now, would I?
... why are the words "interoperability, and competing standards" in the same sentence alongside it? Just doesn't make sense.
Oh, and BTW, from what little I do know about DRM
The comments about how he just means "seamless" and "transparent" are nonsense. DRM is always seamy and murky. It becomes seamy and murky at the exact point when you try to lend your friend a recording and it won't play on their machine.
Or when you buy a new computer, copy all your stuff over, sell your old one, and find that you can't play your stuff because your new computer isn't authorized, and you can't authorize your computer because your old computer hasn't been deauthorized, and you can't deauthorize your old computer because you haven't got it.
What "transparent, seamless" DRM does is to conceal the real nature of the bargain from the customer until it is too late for it to affect their buying decision.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
First, skip the DRM... it is a pain and is something that adds no value to the consumer thus will eventually die. Those systems that will survive will not have DRM, or deal with it so smoothly the user will not know it exists, and be cheap. Consumers are not going to pay billions or closed, proprietary DRM when they can DIY for a fraction of the cost.
The recipe is only older PCs, or perhaps small PCs like Sokris and a wireless card.
A list of such sites you might want to visit include:
http://www.mythtv.org/ (entertainment)
http://www.soekris.com/ (custom controlers)
http://openwap.org/ (Customized wireless access point)
http://fedora.redhat.com/ (General server for hold those mp files)
http://www.atheros.com/ (You can get Linux/BSD drivers for the 54g wireless stuff, eg. DWL-AG650/AG520 or perhaps a prizm 54g chipset)
http://www.bbdsoft.com/iocard_digital.html (digital I/O cards for signaling, security and control
http://www.zorg.org/homeauto/index.shtml (Get X10 and interface to it)
http://www.dlink.com (Get a video cam or two)
Had I run into such a scenario, when I cannot find information regarding the product within a reasonable amount of time, I would have decided not to buy the product.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Bingo.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
American prices come within prices in Europe, and everyone thinks it is the end of the world.
What is ironic, is the government should have been taxing petrol up to this level for years, to pay for better education and reduce fuel consumption, and promote more healthier lifestyles.
Low petrol costs damaged the countries coffers, damaged the countries health (and thus cost them), vastly inflated the transit economies, which will now crash.
The whole system seemed on a knife edge. To think that all western countries tax fuel to the hilt, and the US are always trying to drive down the cost, promote WASTE of fuel (by using TAXES to sponsor the purchase of SUV's for those who can afford them already, and heck, why not give aforementioned people a tax cut to help them with their low cost fuel.)
Now all this fuel consumption may be the reason you have already had 13 hurricanes, whereas the norm is 4.
Just how it looks.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
What is a marketing claptrap?
They exist only as source data in my home. The first thing done with any CD is to rip it, the first thing done with any DVD is to rip it. CDs get put into iTunes then streamed into my amp via an Airport Express, DVDs get converted to MP4 and streamed via an Elgato eyeHome. I have a (UK, so Series 1) hacked Tivo which handles VCR-type needs and then some. With a few hacks here and there, that also handles streaming of recently recorded video and I wrote a quick app to handle creation of a podcast from any radio programmes I'm interested in (here, if you're interested. Perl so should be cross-platform).
Obviously that's an OS X set-up I'm talking about, but that kind of thing is possible on Linux and Windows too. It's also not an especially hard process. My bits and pieces to produce it accumulated over the years, were I starting from scratch now I think MythTV would be what I'd look at.
Anyway, regardless of specific tools or platform the idea of no CDs or DVDs in the home is a reality right now for me. And I doubt I'm unique in this.
Cheers,
Ian
I've got computers in nearly every room in the house. Every one has a tuner. Every one can pause, fast forward, rewind live television. Every one can access all the shows I've recorded. Every one has access to my collection of over 400 movies I ripped to divx. Every one has access to my collection of over 1200 CDs. I've had this system in place for years. Why is it taking so long for everyone else to catch-up?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
DING! We have a winner! Almost everybody will go right along buying individual components as they always have done, and not caring if they're interoperable or not. How many people even bother to buy a universal remote to replace the four or five you'll find in most homes now? (TV, DVD, VCR, CD, cable...)
'Convergence' of entertainment devices in the home has one very big problem - "What if it breaks?" Since the PC has a reputation of being the most complicated and troublesome gadget in the home already, piling in all the functions from every other box is not going to make people feel safe.
If your DVD player packs up, you buy a new DVD player - these days, you can pick them up from the supermarket with your groceries for little more than the price of an actual DVD. But if the DVD player in your super-duper Media Center PC packs up...
And if the computer itself packs up, then you lose all your entertainment systems in one go, not just one element. And what if, in this fabulous all-digital future, you've bought music, movies, TV shows, etc, that exist as nothing more than data on a hard drive? Are they all lost too?
MS can go on about 'educating' the consumer all they want (and the line from some MS guy along the lines of 'the consumer doesn't know what they want until we show them' really was a perfect example of that company's arrogance), but most people are unwilling to put all their eggs in one basket. Especially with hardware that is associated with the words 'crash' and 'virus'.
You must think in Russian.
PCs had been ubiquitous for several years, but it took a while for the everyone to get sufficiently comfortable with the tools (mainly MS Office) that we could be sure that all the recipients would be able to open and read whatever we sent out.
For the last several years, most of what I printed were long documents that needed careful review, anything that was easier to scrawl on with pen or pencil (often marking up for revision) or short bits that I needed for quick access.
The problem with the consumer electronics market at the moment is that they are now targeting a mature and saturated entertainment market. In addition they are concentrating on extracting more money from "old" content, much of which has been in existence for years, if not decades. There will come a point where the consumer will demand a lot more from the products they are offering, before they upgrade their existing system.
It could be argued that DRM is actually nothing new. If you think about it, subscription based television services, in particular those like Home Box Office and Pay Per view are effectively a form of DRM, in that you have to pay a fee to the broadcaster in order to view the content. In addition much of the content on these systems has been restricted using macrovision to prevent viewers from recording the programmes on their VCR.
The problem arises in a market where companies are trying to increase their profitability margins by placing more restrictions on the product in the hope that the consumer will want to pay out more of their cash to view the same material on a new piece of equipment. The old term "money for old rope" applies here. Unfortunately, unlike in the 1980's when CDs were introduced and music lovers purchased CDs to replaced well loved but worn out vinyl, most of the current new consumer devices offer nothing new with regard to improving the entertainment experience, apart from perhaps making your music a little more portable in the case of MP3 players.
I for one used to subscribe to Satellite television (Sky Digital here in the UK), but stopped subscribing when the quality of the television content nose-dived, while the cost of subscribing went up. Instead, I decided to subscribe to broadband, which I find much more interactive and stimulating. I could go back and subscribe to Sky at some point in the future, but you know what, I think I would prefer to spend the money on going out to the cinema instead. At least if I don't like what is on offer, I don't have to go.
The rise of High Definition Television will possibly be a draw, especially as it has the potential to offer the cinema experience at home. The only problems I can see at the moment is that the equipment is an expensive luxury, is not yet available in the UK (until next year) and that I haven't got a big enough room to get the benefit.
Too be serious though, rather than produce devices that provide me with more entertainment, I would be far more interested in devices that either require less energy to operate, or save me time. How about integrating a WiFi system with the heating and home security systems? Surely then the system could be given a nice easy to use interface that could be operated from the web browser of my computer, and it could even decide how to heat the house based on the whether report for the day (downloaded from the internet). It could even ensure I've locked the house up properly in the morning when I've gone off to work.
If there is one thing that history teaches us, it is that the technology that always wins in the market place is always among the least proprietary. Not the fastest, not the best, not the prettiest, and not the most well engineered.
This is because the free market is 10000 times bigger than even the biggest company. And now that the 3rd world is getting into the picture it is making that even more true.
The truth is, many of these companies don't want convergence, what they want is a proprietary lock in of the masses. Sadly, it shows that many of them couldn't understand a free market if it beat them to a bloody pulp (which it soon will). Many of these companies believe that some magical force is driving the convergence which they intend to expolit for unlimited profit, just wait till they find out that that magical force IS ADVANCES IN NON PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY what will doom them and lock them out.
> An intelligent, wise consumer always investigates before
> making purchases.
Although your idea to get more "intelligent consumers" is admirable, it's misplaced. Basic understanding of consumer behavior indicates that "investigation" does not necessarily proceed the purchase, regardless of the "intelligence" or "wisdom" of the consumer.
There are considered to be three types of decision making processes for consumers:
a. Extended problem solving
b. Limited problem solving
c. Habitual or routine
Extended problem solving is used for high value, high involvement goods, like cars, houses, etc. Limited problem solving is used for low value, low involvement goods. Habitual is used for low involvement items that people purchase frequently.
For extended problem solving, the process looks as follows:
1. Problem recognition (the consumer recognizes a "problem")
2. Internal search (the consumer thinks of possibilities)
3. External search (the consumer does research for other possibilities; i.e. investigation)
4. Alternative evaluation (the consumer considers the different choices that came up from internal and external searching)
5. Choice (the consumer makes a decision; i.e. purchases)
6. Outcomes (the consumer evaluates their results for determining a solution for the next time)
For low involvement decision making, there is a limited decision making process that's fundamentally different:
1. Problem recognition
2. Internal search (the consumer thinks of possibilities)
3. Choice (the consumer makes a decision)
4. Outcomes (the consumer evaluates their results)
5. Alternative evaluation (if the consumer is unsatisfied, they seek out other alternatives that will be considered for the next time they purchase)
(I'll skip Habitual here)
"Investigates" implies external search and alternative evaluation, and you can see that those only occur before the purchase in an extended decision making process, but they do not occur in a limited decision making process. In a limited decision making process, the user may consider alternatives if they're not happy in the last step, so the next time they may do an extended decision making process and then they'll do an external search.
Now no one is going to go through extended problem solving whenever they want to buy a Coke, but they may either go through extended or limited when they're going to buy a car. Often times, that's the purpose of a coupon -- to push people out of a limited decision making process or habitual process and into an extended decision making process so they'll consider the product. You can also see that limited problem solving when IT managers at companies play the game "no one was ever fired for buying XXX".
It has nothing to do with "intelligence" as it has to do with the personal involvement with the purchase. And for a $100-200 MP3 player, a consumer isn't necessarily going to go through the extended decision process; they may recognize an iPod, file it mentally away, and tap into that knowledge when they do the internal search for a limited decision making process.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
For this non-paper media to truly catch on, we need digital devices that offer all of the benefits of paper: flexibility, portability, and inexpensiveness. While such devices exist, they are currently not widespread enough.
Paper more than likely won't disappear. The paperless office hasn't been realized because people want something physical to hold in thier hands. Then there are some like me who find it difficult reading long pages on a screen. I can read print all day but can only stand looking at a screen for a few minutes at most at a tyme, I have to look somewhere else or my eyes will strain and if I keep going I'll get an eye or headache. Because of this it takes me longer to read online and in this case write.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Gee, I didn't know DRM is so important ... gotta find out more about it. Hmmmmmmmm .... wouldn't want any economist to fail now, would I?
Oh, and BTW, from what little I do know about DRM ... why are the words "interoperability, and competing standards" in the same sentence alongside it? Just doesn't make sense.
You do realise that you were reading a summary of the topics that TFA talks about, not TFA itself?
You do also realise that it's not about an economist, but The Economist , the most comprehensive and well-respected weekly news periodical in the world (At least among people who aren't complete fucking morons like you)?
As long as DRM is restrictive the consumer will always know what it is. Even the tunes DRM restricts the user to using the Ipod if they want to (legally) play music from ITMS on a portable unit.
Here in Britain, what are high petrol prices for you North Americans are normal petrol prices for us. As such we've adapted. Many people here ride bikes. It's not uncommon to see somebody riding a bike with a wagon on the back, used to cart groceries.
Unfortunately not enough but a lot of people in the US ride bikes too, I used to and knew quite a few others who did too. Though I owned a car I used to ride my bike more than 100 miles a week, however this ended when I had an accident while riding. Someone driving a moving van hit me almost 9 years ago. I doubt I've ridden more than a couple of hundred miles since.
FalconShould there be a Law?
We need our homes to be like Walden once in a while. There's this places called outdoors, that we should explore on occasion.
I hate sigs.
Could someone explain to me why this continues to be put out there by the media? Last I checked, a wireless router at Best Buy and their counterparts was under $50 for the basic model, and USB-WiFi adaptors are not much, either (if your PC doesn't allready have a WiFi adaptor built in). XP searches for available networks, and pops up with a ballon when it finds one, just begging you to connect to it. The darn router comes with a poster that clearly shows how to hook everything up (1 power cable, 2 Ethernet cables, or one Ethernet cable if going totally wireless). Power cycle everything and you're online. I don't know of anyone who has trouble setting these things up. The fact is, they've never been tough to set up, unless you count setting up a NIC on Windows 95.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
What is ironic, is the government should have been taxing petrol up to this level for years, to pay for better education and reduce fuel consumption, and promote more healthier lifestyles.
While I wouldn't mind seeing higher fuel taxes, the money thus generated by these taxes should be applied to transportation not to education or other things. Higher fuel costs will reduce fuel consumption as well as make people keep in mind how they can reduce their driving, maybe encouraging them the walk or ride bikes more. As for education, that's one thing property taxes are for.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
It does feel like MSFT and other companies are trying to get products into the living room before they're completely ready. Reminds me of a technology manure spreader. Keep throwing crap out there and hope something sticks. Doesn't seem very well thought out, as you mentioned.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Is the paper/plastic industry putting up any sort of a battle against these media giants who wish to move away from the use of paper/plastic? Unless these paper/plastic companies successfully transition themselves into manufacturers of these devices meant to replace paper/plastic, they may take a significant financial hit.
Some companies are already making transitions. Lat year Kodak annouced they were fazing out thier film cameras and increasing their digital capabilities. There's a debate in the photo industry on whether film be compleatly replaced with digital cameras or not. There are diehards are both sides, with ditigal proponents saying technology is getting better and better and will soon surpass the quality and resolution of film while some film proponents love to work in darkrooms and don't want to do digital. Me, while I love working in darkrooms developing film and making enlargements I'm getting ichy waiting to get a digital camera. I'll have to wait at least one or two more years though, the closest that a camera comes I'm looking for is Canon's EOS 1Ds Mark II which is listed at $8,000.
FalconShould there be a Law?
The article is absolutely spot on - nothing more to say. All these companies are falling over themselves thinking of how much money they're going to make, but in the consumer world all people want are simple, cheap (this isn't the business PC world remember - none of those margins here) devices that actually damn well work most of the time. Even if the digital home is made a reality, consumers want it cheap, cheap, cheap and there are nowhere near the margins that IBM, Intel and Microsoft have enjoyed in the business PC world. They really are staring at an oasis in the desert, just as we got all these analysts telling us how much would be spent on goods and services from mobile devices.
;-).
This I found very revealing:
The digital home, and all these new fancy Blu-ray formats (wonder what happened to DVD-Audio?), are going to be a very expensive failures simply because people have what they need and it actually works - most of the time
"When you ask customers what they want, they will never tell you. You have to show them first," says Microsoft's Mr Mundie.
I really didn't think they did not understand that much, and they don't even understand their own business model. This is not the business PC world. In a company an IT manager is not spending his/her own money. In order to get something that just works he/she will simply say "OK, we'll buy that" or "OK, after a few years we'll upgrade". The home is a completely different kettle of fish because the IT manager/consumer is spending his/her own money. They don't want expensive devices that hardly work and they certainly do not want to sign up to any sort of subscription that drains their bank balance. If you tell them what they have to buy they'll just politely show you the door, which is why the vast majority of consumers are extremely hesitant to use any sort of computer equipment in their own homes today. Microsoft doesn't seem to realise that computers and Windows amongst ordinary home users does not exactly have a good reputation.
You do also realise that it's not about an economist, but The Economist [economist.com] , the most comprehensive and well-respected weekly news periodical in the world
Yea, I get "The Economist" off the newsstand occassionally. One of the things I like about it is that it covers issues other than just economy.
FalconShould there be a Law?
The same was true in the 50's and 60's about TV. Gosh... am I *that* old already?
What is symptomatic about the present discussion is the fact of talking about the home consumption of electronically transmitted/recorded entertainment. Just like in the old days when the then-pundits discussed fiercely if TV would eventually kill Theatre, Cinema, Newspapers and Social Life as a whole.
Well, it didn't. The very same is true about the digital home, which is already a reality. Some use it extensively, some not, some will start to use it a couple of years, some not. Nihil novi sub sole.
In my opinion, we actually need more efficient gear. A TV-set is an extremely easy to use piece of technology, a computer not quite so. Therefore, I think that it is not necessarily a computerized home what looms into the future, but rather a home with some appliances of embedded logic.
Quality logic is not a complicated one. At least it doesn't dare to be complicated to use. Easy use of quality gear is what makes life more pleasant.
The costly investment in the new gear will however probably take place first in home medical systems and energy-related appliances; entertainment and show-biz waiting for their turn.
Yours,
Waran
Sig? What sig?! Ah, sig! Sigh.
You had me untill the hemp part. Why do you assume switching to hemp would SAVE forests? Experience indicates the opposite:
In 1916 the USDA reported that hemp hurds could produce four times as much paper per acre as trees. With increased yields and improved technology this may now be higher. In addition, hemp paper is stronger. can be recycled more often, and lasts longer than tree paper.
Benefits of Hemp Production
...
Less than twenty percent of the harvest is used as raw lumber for planks and beams.(21) A dated United States Department of Agriculture ("U.S.D.A.") report claims that an acre of hemp can produce four times as much pulp and fiber as an acre of trees.(22) However, recent reports from Europe, Australia, and Canada indicate that the pulp and fiber return from hemp may be even greater than the old U.S.D.A. estimates.(23) Additionally, unlike kenaf and other alternative paper crops, hemp can grow in a variety of climates.(24) Farmers claim that they can grow hemp without pesticide or herbicide application because it grows quickly and is not likely to fall to disease.(25) Hemp also has water and fertilizer requirements similar to corn and wheat.(26)
What Thomas Paine says:
" In almost every article of defence we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage."
What do we have more of, endangered spotted owls which we don't eat or ugly smelly tasteless cows which we do?
Other than logging endangers spotted owls I'm not sure what this has to do with hemp. The fact is though is that hemp is one of the most industrially versatile plants there is, which is why it was made illegal via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Thomas Jefferson even wrote the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.
FalconShould there be a Law?
It is possible for them to put you in music heaven to temporarily get you to go along with a sweet deal that involves strong DRM, cheap songs and a EULA that lends you back some freedoms, but then after enough people have bought into it they can just change the terms of the EULA to something really draconian at any time without even telling you that they have done it. That leaves you, the consumer, with very little leverage.
If you don't believe me that they can be so bold about it, check this article on the unfairness of EULAs to consumers. A quote from one such EULA:
I'm not sure why, but all the HTPC companies are going about it way wrong. First off, most have pentium 4's. Wrong answer right off the bat, they use to much energy and create to much heat. Second off, they have video cards. Most people who play video games and/or would by an HTPC already have a XBOX/PS2 or Gaming computer. Integrated video is fine for most people, and saves a lot on cost. Finally they are craming to much crap into it, and adding uneeded cost. I have constructed one for home use using Chaintech Socket A board (IGP With integrated TV out) that I got for 50 bucks on newegg, an AMD Duron 1.8 GHZ that I Got for 40, and some cheap 512mb ram, and Large capacity ATA hard drive. Throw everything in an old VCR Or DVD Case, and bam, the perfect HTPC for anyone who cares about a budget. This is what companies should be selling, not these bloated heaters that I see everywhere.
The convergence products that are being designed are very very massive. The future of home entertainment resembles aerospace in its complexity. Instead of 1 company designing and shipping 1 product, there are consortiums of 10 or 20 companies designing 1 product. Dozens more companies are hired to implement modules in these single products.
If every feature on a modern convergence product was documented in the manual, the manual would be thousands of pages long. While previous devices may have had 10 or 20 people in a single company involved in their design, today's convergence projects have at least 200,000 people spread across 20 companies and 10 countries involved in their design.
Each company takes on a segment of the product. One company specializes in 100 acquisition pathways for video. Another company designs 100 acquisition methods for audio. Other companies design the DRM methods, playback methods. Still more companies design the storage and searching methods. It takes up to 5 years and thousands of people to define exactly how each module works and tape it out to India for implementation.
So many different pathways of information retrieval are being designed into these products, so many algorithms for managing the data, they rival human beings in their ability to acquire and display information.
It's not an easy thing to change, is it? Even in this day and age.
My pet peeve is meeting agendas. A three page agenda for a 10 person meeting equals 30 pieces of paper that get used for an hour or two then tossed.
I started putting the agendas on the projector in the conference room about 6 months ago. A few people stopped printing them since, but most folks just don't feel comfortable without a hard copy in hand.
This digital home bizzo in some respects sounds as cool as can be. Has anyone thought(!) perhaps just what it might be like living in one of these places where entertainment is just waiting to be shoved in one's evey orifice morning noon and night? The more opportunity there is for entertainment, presumably the more you are going to consume. There is only limited waking hours in a day so this basically means you are going to devote less time to thinking about stuff, less time pondering, less time just sitting in your comfy easy-chair musing, considering, daydreaming. Less time talking with other *people*. Some of the giants of yesteryear like Newton and Einstein were not distracted by TV and videos and games and portable MP3 players and phones that can engage you every other spare moment. Go outside for a little and look at the shape of the clouds, the trees, the sound of the birds. When I was a teenager during the 70's I was totally immersed in the elecronic technology of the day and as far as I was concerned, that was all that really mattered. I did not give a stuff about anything else. Now, at the seriously old age of 47 I realise there is much more than having to be entertained at every step and in every way, shape and form. Technology and entertainment is fine per se, but let's not swallow the line from the purveyors of such (or for that matter allow ourselves to be conciously or unconciously manipulated by them through the media they supply) that it is a most necessary, vital and indispensable part of our "digital lifestyle". (translate - existence).
They have failed, at least with me. I know about it and won't touch anything from the major players because it is DRM'd; and when "Trusted Computing hardware ships, I won't touch that, either. I'm already loooking at box-makers who ship Linux or FreeBSD boxes. "Window Media Edition" is Windows Slavery Edition in my book.
It would almost be different if albums and movies were being sold at a rational price, but they're not and that's that. (I guess tons of heavy drugs and armies of crack-whores cost a lot.) Around 95-99% of their products are crap. Frankly, I hope Disney & the rest of the MPAA and the RIAA all go tits up. In other words, I wish for them, what they wish for us.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
This is off the narrower topic of entertainment appliances but on the larger topic of appliance intercommunications and home networking.
One area where it would be beneficial for consumer appliances to communicate is an area where most consumers (except for a few home automation or alternate energy buffs) don't yet realize the need (not that many consumers aren't ignorant of the potential benifits of entertainment appliances interoperating seamlessly) And in many ways, energy is the more important area for interoperation.
As cheap energy becomes more scarce it would be useful if the Inverter (Photovoltaic, wind, or fuel cell cogeneration plant) and heavy power consuming appliances interoperate reducing peak load. Examples would be electric heaters, air conditioners, Washing Machines, Dryers, Dishwashers, Lights, Microwaves, crock pots, stoves, refrigerators, and toaster ovens. Pop a burrito in the Microwave and the Washer, Dryer, and/or dishwasher automatically pause. Pop a load in each of the washer, dryer, and dishwasher before going to bed. The washing machine waits for the dishwasher to finish before it starts and the dryer waits for the washing machine. The $50 more you spend on each appliance (if widely produced, several hundred if not) is offset by the lower cost of inverters and solar panels.
Some cheap power consuming appliances such as microwaves and toaster ovens can perhaps be passive participants. When the load on the inverter is too high because you are toasting a bagel, it tells the smarter large appliances to pause. But there is a small advantage to having the microwave and toaster oven warn the inverter a second before they start hogging power.
Many devices can potentially delay their energy use at least some of the time. Dishwasher, Washer, Dryer, heater, AC, refrigerator (if the door hasn't been opened or it has phase change thermal storage), crock pot, etc. Most electric cooking appliances want instant gratification.
Even those who are connected to the utility grid as their primary source of power could benifit in the long run from time of use metering. In times of low demand, the utility can charge a lower price. Some appliances (washer/dryer/dishwasher) can delay their electricity use until after the 3PM power crunch on a summer day (when everyones air conditioner is running). In a better designed house with thermal mass, the AC might run at night instead. Time Of Use metering already exists but is primarily used by people with grid tie solar systems and certain commercial users. If you have a house with photovoltaics, you are more likely to be aware of the savings. Paying an extra $1K to reduce the cost of your solar system from $30K to $25K is an obvious win. Of course, these would often be combined with other conservation features so you might pay $3K extra to save $10K. If you are connected to the utility grid, you are still paying the extra $5K to 10K (on power plant construction, operating, fuel costs, carbon emissions certificates, nuclear waste disposal costs, etc.), but the cost is spread over time and the cause/effect relationships are largely hidden from the consumer. And when oil shortages and global warming require us to shut down fossil fuel plants in favor of renewable energy plants, the capital costs passed on to consumers will get higher. Even if you use nuclear power instead of renewable energy power plants, it is cheaper and better for the environment to build 2 power plants and minimize peak load than build 4 plants.
Some appliances can wait a certain amount of time for cheap power before resorting to using expensive power. So, they might wait until the sun is shining or the wind is blowing; whether you are off grid, using grid tie, or buying power from an electric company that has some renewable energy plants (that therfore need less storage capacity), the benefit is still there.
Some appliances can potentially store energy cheaper than using regenerative fuel cells or batterie
I think it was slashdot that first referenced this speech Cory Doctrow gave to a Microsoft audience about DRM:
http://www.craphound.com/msftdrm.txt
Briefly, he urged that the digital-media market would go to the machine that 'plays everybody's records' - urged them to give up on hopeless DRM and indeed break everybody else's with their players.
Wonderful set of anti-DRM arguments.
With OSS you get a straight, honest answer. It may not be the answer that you want, but you know where you are standing.
With commercial companies you get marketing bullshit that tries to hype the pros while hiding the cons of a give product (that is their job, isn't it?).
I know what is why I prefer, no matter how much "arcane" text commands I have to type.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
As for CD's/DVD's, they get exactly one play on my system and that's to image it to my hard drives where I watch them ever after using Daemon. I do own these discs, but I see no reason to wear them out each time I use them and that's true of every disc product. If that's a problem with the copyright holders, frag 'em. I'm already on my fourth set of Diablo II discs, that's enough money sent Blizzard's way, don'tcha think? Ditto the other copyright holders.
As for the article, it'll take time for users to adjust to the new ways of doing things. It always does. I still wander the world setting the time in VCR's {chuckle}.
"[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go