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Rupert Murdoch Hates Google, Loves the iPad

Hugh Pickens writes "The Register reports that News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, reiterated his disgust at how search engines handle news and called on old media to rethink how their stories are distributed on the web. 'It's produced a river of gold, but those words are being taken mostly from the newspapers,' said Rupert. 'I think they ought to stop it, that the newspapers ought to stand up and let them do their own reporting.' Murdoch added that the iPad was a 'wonderful tool' for listening to music, watching videos and reading newspapers. 'It may well be the saving of the newspaper industry,' by making it cheaper to distribute content to a broader audience, Murdoch said. 'I'm old, I like the tactile experience of the newspaper,' Murdoch said. '(But) if you have less newspapers and more of these, that's OK. It doesn't destroy the traditional newspaper, it just comes in a different form.'"

101 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. Endorsement by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is sort of like an Endorsement from Satan right?

    1. Re:Endorsement by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Funny

      Right, except there's a logic to his madness. Murdoch loves the idea of people paying 15 dollars a month to read foxnews.com or the WSJ on the ipad. Its a tempting offer, I hear every new subscriber gets a free vial of Glenn Beck's tears and a used mustache comb once owned by Geraldo Rivera.

    2. Re:Endorsement by mysidia · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it's like an Endorsement from Beelzebub.

      The CEO of Microsoft didn't endorse it, at least not yet, that I know of.

    3. Re:Endorsement by Jurily · · Score: 2, Informative

      He did, it just got drowned out by the sound of breaking chairs.

    4. Re:Endorsement by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Right, except there's a logic to his madness. Murdoch loves the idea of people paying 15 dollars a month to read foxnews.com or the WSJ on the ipad.

      For once Murdoch and I have something in common. I'd love to see all Murdoch's sited completely covered by a paywall, I long for the day when I wont accidentally stumble across one of his poorly written tabloids which contains little more then thinly veiled propaganda.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    5. Re:Endorsement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


      I long for the day when I wont accidentally stumble across one of his poorly written tabloids which contains little more then thinly veiled propaganda.

      Which 'content' in the overwhelming majority of cases they have not even created themselves (Murdoch's business model has no money left for good investigative journalists): they just syndicate the news from AP (which does get paid by Google) or steal it from some blogger (who does not get paid by Murdoch), add their propaganda to it (which Murdoch should be paying for for us to read. A lot.) and then they slap their advertisements on it (which Murdoch should be paying us for as well - my attention has value and Murdoch should not expect to be able to steal it for free).

      Google on the other hand provides good functionality (a good, unbiased search index and good apps) in exchange for my attention.

      Really, Murdoch should not feel so entitled to the resources of this world. He should compete for them like the rest of the planet does. Right now, as far as I'm concerned his business offer to me falls far short of being as competitive as Google's.

    6. Re:Endorsement by mjwx · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Which 'content' in the overwhelming majority of cases they have not even created themselves (Murdoch's business model has no money left for good investigative journalists): they just syndicate the news from AP (which does get paid by Google) or steal it from some blogger (who does not get paid by Murdoch), add their propaganda to it (which Murdoch should be paying for for us to read. A lot.) and then they slap their advertisements on it (which Murdoch should be paying us for as well - my attention has value and Murdoch should not expect to be able to steal it for free).

      In case you missed out on the last 40 odd years, Murdoch didn't get rich by being honest and forthright.

      But karma's a bitch, if a little slow moving.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    7. Re:Endorsement by Virtual_Raider · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think you're spot-on. And so is Murdoch, kinda. At least the part about this being just a new medium in which to deliver his product. I think the way he would like to price it isn't viable in the long run but that's just me being cheap. I get free news from reputable newspapers for free in my mobile and on the papers' websites. I even get the actual dead-tree version for free with my groceries purchase so any subscription of more than a couple of dollars for something intangible and pretty much ephimeral by its very nautre won't appeal. I'm guessing a very large and increasing group of people will be on the same boat.

      --
      +Raider of the lost BBS
    8. Re:Endorsement by Interoperable · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hooray! No one will target content towards you! Goodbye /., you will be missed.

      I would be interested to see how many people adblock /. and deprive this wonderful site of revenue. It's likely similar to the percentage that do so to Ars.

      --
      So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
    9. Re:Endorsement by Haymaker · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There are some people who's adblock behavior is kinda on principals rather than "block everything unless it breaks"

      Early after I made my Slashdot account I had adblock on but didn't pay it any mind, and then I saw the "thanks to you contributing positively to this board, you are eligible to turn off ads"

      I felt it was such an honorable and honest system that I disabled adblock for Slashdot and didn't opt-out of the ads. It also made me disable it for other sites I appreciate, like Hulu or even Google.com. Reddit has a "Thank you for not using AdBlock" graphic in place of an ad sometimes. I think it's what Google was saying some time ago: adblockers aren't ruining free websites, people will eventually use them to block out annoying or undesirable ads while choosing to support the websites they would like to support.

      Not that I'm saying this behavior is in the majority, but it might grow with the usage of AdBlockers.

    10. Re:Endorsement by icebraining · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, my problem is that although I'm "eligible to disable advertisement", I didn't disable it and yet they don't show up. I don't have Adblock installed either. It probably has something to do with NoScript, although I have the whole site allowed. I'll probably just subscribe when I start earning something :|

    11. Re:Endorsement by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Informative

      Any true geek should have watched enough MacGyver to know that Murdoc is the bad guy.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    12. Re:Endorsement by Teun · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I'm perfectly happy to have advertisements included in the pages I watch, over the years I've come to disregard them anyway. And I do appreciate they pay for what I enjoy so I won't take the offer to switch off Slasdot advertising.

      But I do use flashblock as I think advertisements don't need flash to reach me plus it's a noticeable drain on a slow connection.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    13. Re:Endorsement by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Murdoch didn't get rich by being honest and forthright

      Yes, uniquely amongst extremely rich people, he's not a nice man.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    14. Re:Endorsement by mwvdlee · · Score: 2, Funny

      I mostly watched The A-Team, and I've learned Murdock was a nice guy. And insane.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    15. Re:Endorsement by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem I have is this...

      Ads take up my allotted amount of data i can download per month.
      If I hit 5gb on my phone or 250gb on my land line- I get penalized- not the advertising company.

      I am okay with small, polite ads. I'm not okay with large ads, flash ads, etc.

      They had an ad on another site which downloaded 30 jpg's and then flipped between them to make a rolling banner ad of different products. Every time I went to that page, it redownloaded every image. I didn't notice it for the first few weeks but one day it was screwed up and it displayed the images all at once as they downloaded and I went "holy crap, that's downloading a lot of pictures!" So I blocked it.

      And since then anything that moves a lot- I block the entire ad domain.

      I don't like company "A" saying, "keep your usage down" and then company "B" says, "here's a few megabytes of data every time you browse this page".

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  2. Logically... by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Rupert Murdoch praises something, it just can't be good.

    1. Re:Logically... by blankinthefill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It really makes sense that he would praise it, too. The strict control that Apple keeps over the app store is something that our good friend Rupert would love to see people get used to, since it falls right in line with his paywall schemes.

    2. Re:Logically... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The next logical step to ask is who paid him to endorse iPad. Google? Microsoft? ~

    3. Re:Logically... by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, the Old Media fixation on the iPad and their false hope of how it will revive their failing empires will only help to hasten their destruction, so it is a good thing.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    4. Re:Logically... by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I was actually quite shocked when the Economist site went free. Beats me why - those were high-quality articles I was willing to pay for. As in, pay to access the site.

      Here's what's not cool though: bitching that Google is stealing from you, when you're not even following Google's suggestion on how to prevent Google from indexing your content. That's just pure whining and ass-hattery.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    5. Re:Logically... by shentino · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Paywalls are just a pain in the ass to deal with.

      I don't object to them much on moral grounds as long as the fees aren't exorbitant.

      But whipping out a credit card for a sub-dollar transaction is hardly worth the time it takes to track down my wallet.

    6. Re:Logically... by iNaya · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, it's simply ad hominem. Could also call it "reductio ad Murdoch", but it's simply nothing to do with Hitler, or Nazis, and is not Godwinish at all. Your comment, however, is.

      --
      The Unicode standard is over 20 years old. Why does Slashdot not support it?
    7. Re:Logically... by Rennt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not at all - it is not that Murdoch likes the iPad, but the reason he likes it. It is a locked-down device designed for passive media consumption.

      If the fact that Murdoch is promoting the iPad really should be setting of alarm bells in your geek psyche.

    8. Re:Logically... by Rennt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Posting anonymously because the mentality in slashdot...

      I see. So you only stand behind what you say when you know its gonna be popular, eh? Seriously, if you are going to fling poo from the sidelines spare us the justification.

    9. Re:Logically... by calmofthestorm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The whining is because he wants google to cut him checks in exchange for the status quo, but they know he needs them more than they need him.

      --
      93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
    10. Re:Logically... by kholburn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No there's nothing wrong with paying for apps that have been lovingly crafted and gone over by apple with a fine-tooth comb.

      But it's wrong when they stop everyone downloading free apps or digging into the OS themselves if they want to are are willing to forego the guarantees.

    11. Re:Logically... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 3, Informative

      I was actually quite shocked when the Economist site went free. Beats me why - those were high-quality articles I was willing to pay for. As in, pay to access the site.

      Huh? They still charge for complete access - they've had partial free access since I first got a print subscription however many years ago, similar to Consumer Report's site and the Wall Street Journal.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    12. Re:Logically... by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yup. It actually makes things worse for them, because rather than accepting that they have to drastically change how they work to take account of the internet, they're just gearing up for paywall + iPad to save them.

      The interesting thing is that their biggest competitor (the Daily Telegraph) is owned by a couple of guys who haven't been in the newspaper business for long, so they're not so ingrained in the old models. They're hired a young editor who gets that it has to run 24 hours, target every device out there and so forth.

      If the Telegraph play it right, they'll just get a whole load of online readers switching from The Times.

    13. Re:Logically... by icebraining · · Score: 2, Insightful

      because newspapers and magazines actually create value whereas Google News just exploits the work of others.

      Wrong. Google News creates value by aggregating the news.

      I usually get my news from one of my national newspapers, but sometimes (especially with International news) I want to know how multiples newspapers reported the issue. Everyone's biased, reading multiple sides of an issue is the best way to get a broader view on a topic.

      Besides, Google News only shows two or three lines of content. I always have to click on the website link to read the article, which loads their ads. I don't see how this "exploits" their work.

    14. Re:Logically... by DrXym · · Score: 4, Insightful
      The bizarre part is Google must have brought far more visitors to his news sites than it ever took away. People who weren't the slightest bit inclined to visit The Times site on a daily basis did visit because the headline link popped up on their news page. That means more advertising revenue than if news aggregation never existed in the first place.

      If The Times or other of his publications go behind a paywall then not only is he losing the random visitors but also his loyal visitors who suddenly pay for stuff they got for free previously. Needless to say ad revenue will fall through the floor and the site must rely on the patronage of subscribers to keep the site going.

      Maybe there is a enough people who regularly fork out for his content that makes it financially viable, but everyone else will be quite content to get their news from the many hundreds of other news outlets providing similar / identical coverage. If someone needs a fix of right wing rhetoric they can get it from countless blogs. I hope his plans tank and tank badly.

    15. Re:Logically... by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Posting anonymously because the mentality in slashdot right now is to hate apple and to hate paywall"

      because if you don't slashdot will...what? come to your house and kick your dog?

      You post AC because you are either a Troll or truly a coward... or astroturfing.

      The rest of you post is logically flawed, but I'm not going to explain it to an AC.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    16. Re:Logically... by jd2112 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If it helps to bring down Rupert Murdoch is it really a failure?

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  3. The Sooner the Better by dmgxmichael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The sooner the "old media" of mega corporations deciding how millions should think passes away, the better. Murdoch has proven to be worse than most in that regard. His misery at the passing away of the bad old days only makes me smile.

    1. Re:The Sooner the Better by dmgxmichael · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Pot, Kettle much? At least I sign my name to my opinions.

    2. Re:The Sooner the Better by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When your mother named you dmgxmichael did your father object?

      IOW: you're no less anonymous than any other coward on here.

    3. Re:The Sooner the Better by religious+freak · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree the analysis was simplistic, but maybe I can state it a little more clearly... old monolithic media organizations provide an invaluable service, in terms of investigative reporting and on site presence of people during important historical moments. However, the monolithic organization AC rather ineloquently derides above truly is outdated. In an era when communication is nearly free, a monolithic entity throwing tendrils all over the world doesn't make any sense.

      In my estimation, it makes the most sense to have independent journalists (i.e. bloggers) reporting on local events and having those individual reports being compiled or organized by a central figure, like Google is doing now, or any newspaper could do if they get their head out of their ass. Eventually, in such a system, folks could establish credibility, networks and trust. They would be independent in every sense of the word. It's not a perfect model, but I do think it's a workable one.

      Oh, and by the way, screws to the douches like Murdoch who think they can tell others what to think through their media empires.

      --
      If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
    4. Re:The Sooner the Better by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree the analysis was simplistic, but maybe I can state it a little more clearly... old monolithic media organizations provide an invaluable service, in terms of investigative reporting

      That's why they investigated Madoff and brought about ...... uh, wait..... they ignored the information they were given about Madoff and did not investigate.

      IMHO, traditional media has lost the right to claim that they provide an invaluable service through investigative journalism. Madoff isn't the only example where traditional media failed, there are many others. How did Drudge get started? Because traditional media would not touch a story, etc..

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    5. Re:The Sooner the Better by shentino · · Score: 2, Funny

      On the contrary, an online identity can be just as persistent as a real one. Signing up for an account is just like getting a birth certificate.

    6. Re:The Sooner the Better by dbIII · · Score: 4, Informative

      Don't worry, he's been busy running around the world yelling in the ear of any politician that will listen to try to create "bad new days". It's already resulted in the BBC drasticly cutting back it's online presence.
      Don't think we can ignore him. He may be an old bastard but he's an old bastard with teeth dripping venom and many elected representatives owe him something.

    7. Re:The Sooner the Better by TapeCutter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "you're no less anonymous than any other coward on here."

      Rubbish, just because your slashdot identity is not your real world identity does not make it the same as posting AC. People don't stalk AC for revenge modding, astroturfing purposes, etc, nor can they look up AC's comment history and use it against them, nor can they tag AC as friend/foe.

      I personally recognise quite a few far-right nutters by their slashdot id, I don't mark them as foes but I also don't bother responding to their crap. There are others who I recognise as having well reasoned opinions, similar ideals, or a specific field of expertise.

      In other words a slashdot user has a searchable track record, an observable personality, and in many cases a reputation, an AC has none of those things.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  4. Suggestion for Rupert by kimvette · · Score: 5, Insightful

    robots.txt

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    1. Re:Suggestion for Rupert by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Rupert's company knows about robots.txt. See, they allow everything.

      And Foxnews is even kind enough to provide sitemaps targeted at facilitating Google

      Rupert's mantra should probably be listen to what I say, (pay no attention to what I do)

    2. Re:Suggestion for Rupert by Eth1csGrad1ent · · Score: 4, Insightful

      no way! Like the MPAA and RIAA before him. Rupert wants to have his cake AND eat it too.
      He wants Google to stop pinching his content - but DOESN'T want them to stop indexing his sites.
      He wants to stop others from pinching his content - but he WON'T stop pinching content from other FREE sites if it'll embellish a story. (eg. pics/quotes from Facebook tribute pages of people who've ended up in the news)

      You WILL submit!

  5. Re:I'm torn... by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Funny

    It doesn't exactly help dispel the notion that the iPad is for douchebags.

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  6. Yes of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's no surprise the media loves a locked down device. If enough people have these kind of crippled devices, they can stop making content available online and require apps or subscriptions for everything. This also helps to explain the media's unabashed love for the iPad.

    1. Re:Yes of course by Budenny · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed. This is where Apple has been going for a long time now, and the world of a locked down device, where you only access media through one controlled point, where all apps have to be obtained from one supplier who keeps a tight lock on what can be installed, that's a wet dream for Big Content. If you think about it, the most important aspect of it is that you can bar hacks that will unlock DRMd media. As long as you just had DRMd media, but freedom to install whatever software you wanted, and the ability to transfer files from machine to machine simply by copying them across, DRM was always going to be readily hackable.

      What we are moving towards is a situation where you will buy your content from Apple only, you will not be able to copy it without Apple's consent, you will install no apps that Apple does not like. So DRM will really work. Not only that, but all the content will at last be family friendly and politically correct. No need to worry about nasty subversive political sites, or swimsuit pictures showing up unexpectedly.

      Apple is far, far worse than Microsoft. Microsoft is an old fashioned tech company, similar in attitude to IBM or HP etc. Its anti competitive of course, very market share focussed. But it does not have this stifling desire to control what customers do and read, it does not worry much about what content is accessed by the products it sells which give it its market share.

      Apple is not really, in spirit, a tech company at all, or rather, its a unique sort of tech company, its a tech company in the tradition of Walt Disney 1955. So it is always thinking, how to use its tech position to control what customers do, think and read. That is the fundamental aim to which all its design tends. Its natural allies are Big Content companies. It has sometimes been said that Apple had DRM imposed on it against its will. Don't believe it. DRM and lockin are central to the Apple value system, they are shared values with the content and media industries. It seems inexplicable to Apple fans that it should be trying to ban the reading of perfectly lawful publications on its devices. You have to realize that Apple thinks of itself as Walt Disney 1955, but who in the 21st century has chosen to deliver its family friendly and politically correct content via computers and tablets. This is all of a piece, part of the same thing. This is why your music was DRMd, even when the rights owners did not want it to be. DRM is central to the Apple vision of how the world should work, as is content censorship.

      I read that you cannot activate the iPad from Linux. Now, why would that be, exactly....? Its because open source is the enemy for Apple, even more than for MS, because it represents intellectual freedom. That is what is really at issue here. Do you want to live in a world in which a sort of latter day Disney tells you what you can read? Most of the press and media do. They cannot wait to be part of that latter day Disney consortium. That's the appeal of Apple today.

      The Slate article is spot on. Its come a long way, and its ended up, like many revolutionaries, turning into a far worse version of what it originally campaigned against.

    2. Re:Yes of course by node+3 · · Score: 2

      Apple is not really, in spirit, a tech company at all, or rather, its a unique sort of tech company, its a tech company in the tradition of Walt Disney 1955.

      Apple is the world's most successful tech company.

      So it is always thinking, how to use its tech position to control what customers do, think and read.

      Apple has never, once, told me what to think, and I own plenty of Apple kit, so I speak with actual, first-hand experience. This is in stark contrast to the Free Software types who never tire of telling me to fear Apple because Apple wants to control everything I do. The current groupthink nonsense is that I'm supposed to boycott h.264 in favor of an inferior codec, and that I'm supposed to shun the iPad because... Well, the because here is never quite coherent. It's something along the lines of Apple will control my every thought, charge me for everything I do on it, and somehow it will prevent me from programming for it.

      I read that you cannot activate the iPad from Linux. Now, why would that be, exactly....? Its because open source is the enemy for Apple, even more than for MS, because it represents intellectual freedom.

      Apple hosts, contributes to, and has created, *tons* of Open Source projects. The reason they don't support Linux is because too few people use it.

    3. Re:Yes of course by jo_ham · · Score: 2, Informative

      So their whole stated goal of removing DRM from the iTunes Store and never wanting it there in the first place... where does that fit?

      Rip, Mix, Burn?

      "We encourage you to back up your iTMS purchases [back in the days where they had mandatory RIAA-imposed drm] to Audio CD using iTunes as soon as you download them".

      What about Apple's open source commitments? (and yes, they are doing *way* more than they are "legally obliged" to do).

      "DRM and lock in" are not "central to the Apple value system" - they happen to run two product lines with a closed App Store model and now suddenly they're "going down the DRM road" for "a long time now" despite opening up OS X far beyond what OS9 was, pushing open standards, championing the removal of DRM from online music sales (it was their idea from the outset, they were just not allowed to by the music industry), contributing to OSS projects far beyond what the licences require, giving away their dev tools for free.

      Apple fought the music industry to sell content via the iTMS with no DRM. It was only after compromise (the variable pricing structure) and a considerable "run in" period that they were able to do this. They are still working on the movie industry (iTMS movies and TV shows still have DRM). They are encoded in H.264 though, and the music in AAC format - both open (note, patented, but open standards) rather than some proprietary codec like WMV or WMA.

      Their fundamental aim is to make nice products that some people may want to buy. If the iPod/iPhone/iPad doesn't suit your requirements, I suggest you don't buy one. Don't try to force some wilfully ignorant opinion about what Apple are doing on us like it's fact, in the face of considerable evidence to the contrary.

      Open source is not the enemy to Apple - you may want to get yourself acquainted with http://opensource.apple.com/ before you start spouting stuff like that. The reason that you can't activate an iPad from Linux is that iTunes doesn't run on Linux (officially). You can't activate it from Win7 64 bit yet either (unless iTunes 9.1 is running on that platform now). It's not some conspiracy because they hate OSS.

      And claiming they are foes of "intellectual freedom" is just pure hyperbole. There are enough genuine criticisms of Apple that you don;t need to resort to that sort of nonsense handwaving.

    4. Re:Yes of course by Bemopolis · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why do you need to activate it at all? I'm missing something here.

      THe only thing you're missing is the good sense to ignore Internet morons who clearly have no idea wtf they are talking about. HINT: If they did, they would have used the word "sync" instead of "activate".

      --
      "I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
    5. Re:Yes of course by koiransuklaa · · Score: 2, Informative

      do you really think that change makes it more understandable? As far as I can tell the ipad won't work before "X" -- whether X is "activation" or "syncing".

    6. Re:Yes of course by Xest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "So their whole stated goal of removing DRM from the iTunes Store and never wanting it there in the first place... where does that fit?"

      It fits in marketing mostly.

      Whilst Jobs was telling us he'd love to do away with DRM, and how he hates it, but can't get rid of it because the studios force it upon him, other online music vendors like eMusic, Play and Amazon were selling DRM free music with the blessing of the music industry and often at lower prices than Apple's DRM'd versions. So what Steve Jobs said about the music industry's interest in DRM, didn't actually reflect reality, although Apple fanboys bought it (and people wonder why people joke about Steve Jobs having a reality distortion field?).

      It was pretty obvious why Apple supported DRM, and it was pretty obvious why you couldn't re-download content you've bought from iTunes after the first time, even though this is a standard feature amongst the vast majority of digital content providers- it's all about profit for Apple. Apple was quite aware of the fact that iTunes got the online music distribution thing wrapped up pretty well initially, and with this success knew full well that by ensuring iTunes was difficult about syncing with other media players, and ensuring content was DRM protected with proprietary DRM, it meant that if people's iPods broke, or the battery life reached unacceptable levels and as with the majority of the consumer it meant they'd just get a new media player because of no easy battery changes in iPods, they'd have to basically go Apple again, or lose possibly hundreds of dollars they'd invested in content from Apple. Also, if people lost their content, they couldn't just re-download it again, they'd have to re-buy it.

      Apples strategy has been pretty clear to anyone with any level of objectivity and clarity from day 1 - it's all about customer lock-in, to a greater degree than any other tech company in history, including Microsoft. Apple wants to make sure that if you need a new devices, or new content that you HAVE to buy Apple, or face losing out other investments. It's all about making sure that if you go Apple, you have to reasonably stay Apple or suffer even more expensive consequences.

      Of course, Apple finally caved on DRM but only after the likes of Amazon started to really eat into their marketshare, and when they did cave, they did so by introducing higher prices- a reasonable way for them to offset the loss in lock in profits I suppose.

      If people think Microsoft is bad with their proprietary office software and formats causing corporate lock-in then they'd run for the hills if they evaluate the level of lock-in that Apple pushes.

      Of course, the obvious solution for most of us is to just not ever go Apple in the first place. But it's those like my girlfriend who don't understand the issues of DRM that get sucked in, such that when her iPod failed, she found she couldn't move the content off of it to her Android phone (which did everything she wanted, why should she have to buy a new iPod as well?). I solved it for her by just downloading MP3 copies of her music- I don't care about the legality of it, it was morally by far the correct solution.

      Regarding Apple and open source, the only reason Apple support open source is because they need it to help them do the things they can't do well in house. They only support it where they have to to the degree that some members of the OSS community aren't put off writing software that benefits Apple and beyond that point, where they can do stuff in house well, they've demonstrated time and time again they're not interested in OSS. To them it's just a business tool, they certainly have no interest in supporting the ideology itself, else they wouldn't have so many closed source products, they wouldn't push h264 as the HTML5 video standard and so forth. Microsoft releases FOSS stuff too, but that doesn't mean they support the ideology, they just use it where it suits them, no different to Apple, the difference is Microsoft doesn't really try and

    7. Re:Yes of course by Teun · · Score: 2, Informative

      Don't forget Nokia's Maemo (Debian) and their recent joint venture with Intel called Meego, also Linux based and in the case of the N900 free and open.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    8. Re:Yes of course by Amarantine · · Score: 2

      Apple is not really, in spirit, a tech company at all,

      Really? Perhaps that is why they changed their name from "Apple Computer Inc." to "Apple Inc." a few years ago. It's not a big secret that they shifted their main focus from computer stuff to music and other content.

      This is why your music was DRMd, even when the rights owners did not want it to be.

      Wait... Are you now suggesting that the MAFIAA didn't want DRM on their music in the iTunes Store, but Apple forced it? So you also think that Apple finally dropped DRM under pressure of the music biz?

      Its because open source is the enemy for Apple, even more than for MS, because it represents intellectual freedom.

      Why are huge portions of OS X opensource and publicly available then? Where do i find the source of (portions of) Windows?

      I read that you cannot activate the iPad from Linux. Now, why would that be, exactly....?

      I just view it as "system requirements". Do you also whine about not being able to play Dragon Age Origins under Linux? Or your fancy exotic printer or scanner only being supported in Windows or OS X? It's just a big iPod, and iPods need iTunes, ever since the beginning of time. Get over it. If you don't like the iPad, just say so and buy yourself another tablet.

  7. Not bloody likely by Angst+Badger · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unless newspapers delivered via iPad are going to consist of something other than lightly-edited wire stories and insubstantial fluff reporting, they're not going to be a whole lot more appealing than the paper kind, and arguably less appealing, since lining the bottom of bird cages with iPads will be prohibitively expensive. And don't get me started on how much it would cost to pack boxes for a move.

    --
    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
    1. Re:Not bloody likely by oldspewey · · Score: 3, Funny

      lining the bottom of bird cages with iPads will be prohibitively expensive

      There's an app for that.

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  8. The other reason Murdoch likes the iPad... by caladine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wall Street Journal:
    Online + Printed: $2.99/week
    iPad only: $3.99/week
    Anyone else see the problem here?

    1. Re:The other reason Murdoch likes the iPad... by enoz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Ipad app includes mandatory douchbag hipster tax.

      I suppose a subset of people who buy the Ipad also know how to use a web browser and thus can access the Online WSJ without the added tax.

  9. Re:I'm torn... by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only way this could get worse for Apple is if Osama Bin Laden reads his next set of crazy pronouncements off an iPad.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  10. Go ahead, Rupert, make our day by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    reiterated his disgust at how search engines handle news and called on old media to rethink how their stories are distributed on the web.

    Then do us all a favor and pull your tabloid rags off Google. What's stopping you? I'm sure the core of your readers will stay with you, it's the only source that tells them what they want to hear.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Go ahead, Rupert, make our day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Tabloid rags? WSJ? Geez, I'm as non-Republican as they come but you sound like an idiot saying that.

      I'd prefer avoiding going into some redundant spiel, but basically:

      • It's true that newspapers are dying, because they're not getting paid for what they used to get paid for and nothing is making up for that loss of revenue.
      • No matter how much you want to argue that this paper or that newpaper isn't doing "real journalism", they are all dying and they are almost the sole original sources for most news we hear, including most news the government or various corporations don't want you to hear.
      • Blogs and Google News on their own would be almost completely devoid of news if all the newspapers closed shop today. Their value, with rare exception, is derived from the value created by these news companies that are losing money. (Which leads back to the first point.)

      Finally, I'm close friends with some journalists. People who've written for the NY Times and Village Voice, rags like Entertainment Weekly, and more local papers you probably don't know. These people do good work (though more rarely when it's EW or People), and some of them are having problems figuring out what to do once they can't do what they're good at. It seems very likely that we're entering into a period that will historically be known as the nadir of journalism, the time when something not under any one person's individual control lead to the loss of a generation of reporters.

    2. Re:Go ahead, Rupert, make our day by Obyron · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They could maybe go out and do some real journalism instead of thinking they deserve a check for writing an article about who Britney is fucking. There will always be room in journalism, in some form, for the good writers who do good work. The problem is that there are a lot more hacks who can be replaced by a monkey, and their job has suddenly gotten a hell of a lot more competitive.

      --
      --Obyron
    3. Re:Go ahead, Rupert, make our day by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then do us all a favor and pull your tabloid rags off Google.

      Actually he's trying to have it both ways, the headline and first sentence to be indexed by google, the link leading to the paywall.

      I wonder if Google's super secret search algorithm has the ability to tell if this is happening (I.E. the page content essentially not being there) and degrade these results in relevance (which is what I'm asking a search engine to do, order the results by the relevance to the search string)

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    4. Re:Go ahead, Rupert, make our day by norpy · · Score: 2, Informative

      google finance places "(subscription required)" in grey text next to paywall links, so I would think so.

  11. It seems like by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems like Google would be better off not linking to any of Murdoch's sites. It will be a small loss of income for them, and a rather large loss of income for him. Seeing as how he constantly bitches and moans about Google I think they're well within their rights (not just legal rights) to do this.

    --
    'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
    1. Re:It seems like by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sergei Brin: Last week we pulled out of China, and today we're pulling out of Rupert Murdoch.

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    2. Re:It seems like by timmarhy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the best option for google would be to write a formal letter to rupert asking him to confirm he'd like to be delisted from google. this puts the ball squarely in his court and denies him any recourse when he realises his site's traffic has dropped 100%.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    3. Re:It seems like by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sergei Brin: Last week we pulled out of China, and today we're pulling out of Rupert Murdoch.

      Really... Wrong image there... Now I will have nightmares.

    4. Re:It seems like by spruce · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sergei Brin: Last week we pulled out of China, and today we're pulling out of Rupert Murdoch.

      Really... Wrong image there... Now I will have nightmares.

      Don't mind if I do...

      When asked about his feelings towards one of his current partners Google, Murdoch proposed he and his old friends yank off the news they currently provide. Murdoch said he prefers (Steve) Jobs, and the warm embrace of Apple. He feels that the new iPad is (locked) tight enough that they may be able to avoid unwillingly spewing their content on loads of customers.

  12. We need a better free press by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Forget paying money to Murdoch and support Wikileaks!

    1. Re:We need a better free press by LingNoi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed I have noticed that most of the breaking stories these days have come from Wikileaks. Although not technically news it's been much more informative then traditional rags that put a spin on everything.

  13. Oh grandpa! by Cyberllama · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He's like the elderly relative at Thanksgiving who keeps saying racist things that would make everyone uncomfortable but they're so used to it they just roll their eyes and say "Oh Grandpa!" Is there any way this guy could not get it less? He understood how to be a Newspaper tycoon, but these days that skillset makes him roughly as useful as a candlestick maker or a wheelwright.

    He keeps saying all this crazy stuff, but the guys who actually run Newscorp keep doing the opposite, lucky for them. They could easily edit their robots.txt and keep Google out, but they're smart enough to not only let Google in, but to let users coming in from Google slip past the pay wall . . .

    1. Re:Oh grandpa! by timmarhy · · Score: 4, Interesting
      don't kid yourself, rupert run's news corp with an iron fist. he knows what he wants to achieve but he doesn't understand how to get there. he want's a slice of google's billion dollar ad business.

      if he was clever about it, he'd offer apple a partnership where ipad users get free subscription to all news corp material for a year, and fund an apple search engine to take on google. throw in digitised copies of historical papers as part of the search service.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    2. Re:Oh grandpa! by takowl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They could easily edit their robots.txt and keep Google out,

      Murdoch may be evil, but can we at least understand what he wants? The 'problem' isn't with being indexed, it's about how it works with a paywall.

      Google insist that, to be indexed, you show visitors clicking through the same page that their crawler sees. So they won't index stories that users will have to pay to see. (In fact, they make an exception if you can get the first few pages for free.) Sites using a paywall have often quietly allowed a 'back door', whereby visitors coming from google can see the page without paying, just so that it gets indexed. Murdoch would like to do away with that system, so that he can charge anyone who wants to see his news.

      Even if he gets his way, it probably won't make much difference. Pagerank is based on links to your content, and there simply won't be so many links to content that needs a subscription. So his paywalled sites will sink down the results.

  14. Yeah, we know who Rupert Murdoch sounds like by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stewie Griffin: Uh, excuse me, it's been brought to my attention that a few bad apples out there are smoking marijuana. Uh, I've got news for you, my friend. Marijuana's illegal. Not cool. [audience starts booing] Alright then. [Begins singing, to the tune of America the Beautiful] Establishment, establishment, you always know what's best... Man in audience: You suck! Stewie Griffin: Learn the rules!

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    1. Re:Yeah, we know who Rupert Murdoch sounds like by Simon80 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You American right-wingers have absolutely no idea how skewed to the right your politics are. It's so bad, France's president, who comes from their political right wing, thinks it's absurd that there was such strong debate about healthcare reform. In Canada, our opinions are similar, and this surely applies in most if not all other democratic countries. The people in the US that watch Fox News and take it seriously are utterly brainwashed. It's so bad from our perspective that I have friends who aren't convinced that such people really exist in significant quanitities in the US, because it's so hard to believe. We find it hard to understand how so many people are all drinking Kool-Aid like this.

      This isn't to say that I wholeheartedly endorse the Democratic Party (of course not), but their political leanings are much saner from an outside-the-US perspective.

  15. Re:I'm torn... by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gee, and I thought it was bad when Steve Jobs did it! Touche!!!

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  16. Re:iPads as newspaper replacement by Superdarion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you ever watched that movie called Big, with Tom Hanks? I remember very clearly this scene in which Susan is presenting her new revolutionary idea to her company. It is a cyber-comic book, in which you can display the pages of your favorite comic book and change the page and everything. Sounds familiar?

    The executive, disgruntled, then asks: Why would a kid pay $100 for that device if he can get a comic book for just 15 cents?

    Everyone laughs at Susan.

  17. Re:I'm torn... by shrimppesto · · Score: 3, Funny

    The only way this could get worse for Apple is if Osama Bin Laden reads his next set of crazy pronouncements off an iPad.

    hitler beat osama to it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_EcybyLJS8

  18. Yet again... by Zixaphir · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So aggregation of news, which is best for the consumer because they get the best writers everyone could hire (theoretically speaking), sucks for the big guys, so shut it down? I too like to have my cake and eat it too.

    --
    "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"
  19. Re:I'm torn... by bertoelcon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nothing says cool and hip like an endorsement from an old geezer.

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  20. Re:It still kills the traditional paper. by dakameleon · · Score: 5, Funny

    It'

    Damn, looks like the Old Media got to him before he could finish the post...

    --
    Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
  21. I'm so glad... by StupiderThanYou · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that bastard isn't Australian any more.

    1. Re:I'm so glad... by dafing · · Score: 2, Funny

      I second that notion, as a New Zealander, the further away from us, the better!

      --
      --- ...or a new slashdot signature. Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  22. Murdoch going in opposite direction to Obama? by PdbAqB · · Score: 2, Informative

    In contrast to Rupert Murdoch hatred of Google, there is a growing demand, including that of President Barack Obama, for greater public access to publications of particular interest - for example biomedicine, which may also extend to other research agencies. In the journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7290/full/464813a.html) it was reported that the "US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make authors' or publishers' versions of research papers publicly available in the PubMed Central repository within 12 months of publication." PubMed Central repository is a bit like a Google listing. Further, it is speculated in the nature article that "President Barack Obama might soon issue an executive order extending this requirement to all federal research agencies".

  23. Yeah. by weston · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've kindof been on the fence about the iPad (yeah, it's kindof pricey, it's missing some nice peripheral features, and the app-lock might be inconvenient someday, but on the other hand, the featureset makes it seem like it'd be a good spot between e-reader and netbook for me, plus there's a cool array of audio/instrument apps that have grown up around Cocoa Touch over the last two years).

    But now that Rupert Murdoch has endorsed it, I'm more interested in checking out alternatives.

    1. Re:Yeah. by Saint+Fnordius · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If it's someone with a reliable track record, then yeah. In this case, it's Rupert Murdoch who has a track record of being reliable, in the sense that all he's endorsed in the past has been bad for me. I simply don't share his taste, and what's good for him makes the world worse off for me. ;-)

    2. Re:Yeah. by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just sit tight. There are going to be at least a dozen or more Android-based tablets hitting the market by the end of 2010 that should fill in all the features missing from the iPad. Steve Jobs wants Apple to sell you the walled garden approach and Android-tablet vendors just want to sell you their awesome tablet and let you use whatever open software you want on it. I know which device(s) I'm going to support with my wallet.

    3. Re:Yeah. by irn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the featureset makes it seem like it'd be a good spot between e-reader and netbook

      isn't that like saying apple's discovered a new meal between breakfast and brunch? i guess some people may enjoy it, while others find it unnecessary.

  24. Re:I'm torn... by indiechild · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Only on Slashdot do people believe that consumers buy Apple products because they're "cool and hip".

    Because usability is for pussies, right?

  25. I posit that by nightfire-unique · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I posit that if Rupert Murdoch is pissed, we (Internet generation) must be doing something right.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
  26. There is a reason why the kid would pay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The mainstream media would hype for months to no end the "revolutionary" idea, and this before the company would spend a single penny on hyping of their own.

    By the time the idea came into fruition most people of weak moral fortitude, lets call them fanboys, would feel compelled to buy it no matter what disregarding of hand a plethora of coolheaded and intellectually objective assesments against the idea.

    They would actually *queue* tu buy this non essential article (and least in the USSR they queue for necessary items) and would rise the item triumphally the item on the air, Lion King wise, like if having won something like an olympic medal or an Engineering degree (the thought ...).

    These people would consider acting triumphally after spending hundreds of $HARD_CURRENCY in a luxury item a reason for celbration. I humbly suggest that is a celebration of personal validation: I spend, therefore I am.

    Sorry, I think I sligthly over the board in my reply.

  27. It's almost as if he isn't reading Slashdot by dugeen · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know how many times I and other posters on here have pointed out that he can have all his news sites excluded from search engines by giving a few simple instructions to his webmasters. I'm starting to think he's not paying attention.

  28. No, endorsement from its primary customer by Shivetya · · Score: 4, Insightful

    iPad's customer is big media. It is not us. Oh sure, many of us love the idea of the iPad but honestly look who is benefiting most from it. e-Book sellers now get to raise prices, even Amazon caved on this and many originally thought Amazon to be a bunch of money grubbing jerks for charging so much for an e-Book. Hell, Apple handed their end users right into the hands of the new consumer, big media, and the end users are rejoicing at being bent over a barrel.

    So of course Murdoch loves it, a whole slew of new ways for us to transfer money to them and their friends. And we will be happy for it because we will look so cool at Starbucks and the student centers.

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  29. Murdoch is avoiding the real story by evanspw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Murdoch has got it ass-about. The reason that print media is dying is that the classified advertising model that was so profitable for so long has died. Craigslist has done far, far more damage to Murdoch's business than Google ever has, and there's nothing he can do about it. The cover price on newspapers doesn't even get close to covering the printing cost, let alone profit.

    Another thing, maybe he can see coming. Online media provides a way of measuring advertising efficiency, something that is not possible in print. Count the clicks. As corporate advertising etc is going online so bean counters can know it's effectiveness. Same goes for job ads.

    Print is dying because its advertising is obsolescent, not because of Google. Murdoch must know that

    --
    Interstitial spaces are filled with cream.
  30. Don't give them any ideas by OpenSourced · · Score: 3, Funny

    'let them do their own reporting'

    Well, I guess you wouldn't like it if they took up on that idea. They sure couldn't make a much worse job of it than you do.

    --
    Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
  31. The Theory of the Leisure class by linzeal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It is really a shame that more people have not read The Theory of the Leisure class, it rails against plutocrats, football players and kept women. It intelligently argues for the role of design and creativity for human progress over the barbarity of endless profit making and risk taking. Sadly Veblen died as a recluse in the hills of Palo Alto drinking heavily and writing rambling editorials ever so often in the local newspaper, he had devolved into a troll. 2 months later the stock market crash of 29' happened, I think that deserves a " Ha Ha".

    The hero of the book is 'The Engineer' and 'The New Woman' and they totally get it on. Come on go download and read it.

  32. Re:I'm torn... by mdwh2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's only on Slashdot that Apple are treated as the number one company.

    I've never understood the reason why they buy them - but let's be fair, I think you can forgive people's misunderstanding, when everytime we ask them, instead of coming up with actual reasons, objective examples of things it does better, instead we just get vague handwaving answers like "I can't explain it, it's just a new paradigm" or "You just have to use it, honest" (which incidentally reminds me of the religious argument "You just have to believe in Him, then you'll see the evidence).

    It might not be reasons of "cool and hip", but "Buying it because my friend said it was the best, and I believed him" comes pretty close to that in my opinion.

    So you say usability - give me an example of this?

  33. this is one that murdoch can't win by darjen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The sooner dead tree newspapers die the better. Google can't put them out of their misery fast enough.

  34. Re:iPads as newspaper replacement by Jer · · Score: 2

    Actually today she'd be able to answer back: "Kids don't read comics anymore - we're targeting this at the 30-something adult male demographic" and be dead-on.

  35. funny... by hitmark · · Score: 2, Insightful

    given that most "news" these days seems to be verbatim copies of press releases passed around by AP or similar agencies...

    the investigative journalist are a myth these days, much the same as the rugged individual and other such concepts that US people wraps themselves in each day.

    --
    comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm