I tend to fill out the contents, but with useless information that means it won't actually go through. This information generally is data entered into their systems, and sometimes it produces more junk mail to the imaginary addresses created (which of course goes right to the dead letter office).
Swatch is making a line called autoquartz that recharges its own batteries. Geeks will love them - you can see the insides inclusing the charging mechanism from the back. And it makes a quiet whirring noize when you move your wrist. I love mine! And they're pretty cheap. No winding, no batteries, and cool design!
Steve Albini uses ribbon mics religiously on his productions for these bands and more. And for small unsigned bands I think his rates are still well under $150/hr. It costs about $100 to $150 to re-ribbon a mic. If you're spending any money at all on a recording the cost of fixing a mic or two is trivial.
This is true in all high investment entertainment
on
Gaming Crash up Ahead
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· Score: 1
Most films and music produced loses similar kinds of money. The end result is a winner take all mentality that makes it hard to do create cutting edge material. I imagine that it's somewhat similar in publishing - only the margins are even worse!
During 'crash' periods, music and film get more creative and risky - is the corrilary true of gaming?
Anyone remember MS going after every Visual_____ ?
on
Fandom vs. Fandom.com
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· Score: 1
In the mid 90's Microsoft went after every software product that had 'Visual' in its name. If I remember, most gave in, but eventually MS lost since the word 'Visual' wasn't invented with VB.
Cybersquatting laws don't offer equal protection
on
Fandom vs. Fandom.com
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· Score: 1
With trademarks, the law - at least in theory -
protects the little guy who had the trademark first. But it's not so easy with cybersquatting for a whole host of reasons. First it's a brand new space - so it's hard to say who was there first. Second, unlike trademarks that may have a geographic extent, the internet covers the whole world. Third, there simply aren't the same legal precidents for domain names.
My own first hand experience is an all ages music night I've been running in various major US cities. Some site has taken our name (trademark) appended with.com and is using it to sell porn - this is a problem when you have a well established night with a largely teenage audience. Yet, to prevent these guys from using a name that sends teens to their porn site - it's a big nightmare, and beyond our budgets. And it's really unclear whether we'd win. The only plus on our side is the fact that we cater to teens and they sell porn.
The fact that I agree to sell it to you for only $35, might just happen to coincide with the fact that you just happened to agree to give me $5000 - completely unrelated of course to the domain.
Yes, it's a little better in that it moves the transactions under the table, but how much better in practice will it be?
I got my PS2 with the first shipment, but when I was at Toys R Us last Saturday they had plenty - not just reserved ones - and there was no mob scene fighting over them ala Elmo. Was this a fluke or are other people seeing them on the shelves elsewhere?
Radio broadcasters already pay a fee to each of the performance rights organizations. This is based on their adjusted gross receipts. The additional broadcast area afforded by the Internet should allow they to make more money. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC should then get more money which in turn goes to the composers/publishers. The way this money is distributed is based on things like randomly sampled airplay, but to really make sure that each song was credited correctly would be too hard.
The article is not clear on the motives of the copyright office. Are they really worried about internet-only radio stations that currently don't pay BMI and ASCAP. Could this really just be a play for dominance by existing radio stations who seek to protect their dominant position. Having a radio station is expensive and radio is risk adverse. It seems that maybe they and the record companies are just protecting the status quo here...
Alan Moore is better at the Superhero Homage bit..
on
Review: "Unbreakable"
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· Score: 1
Alan Moore's various deconstructions of the Superhero genre (Watchmen, Miracleman, Swamp Thing) would be better written and more of an homage to the genre. Anyone care to guess when (if ever) Moore will get his chance to do movies?
... if you look at the Zix site you see something called ZixCharge. Zix wants to be the ultimate provider for secure services and sees mail as the initial hook to get you to use stuff like ZixCharge.
As a side note Zix was started by David Cook who started BlockBuster video and who created the first electronic toll collection system. Zix and Visa were clashing in court over Visa's practices in trying to make SET the standard of choice for secure charging.
The funny thing is that the ordinary ZixMail client that I played with a long time ago doesn't suffer from the same limits as the Yahoo version of Zix's technology. The encrytion occurs on the user's machine and the decryption occurs on the receiver's. That said the government still has a back door key no matter how you use Zix. My guess it that downloading a special client was found to be too much of a hinderence for most users. It seems that SSL works, just not with a web client.
Re: But I'd rather leave in a country which is irrational about nazism than in a country which is absurdly puritan about sex, alcohol and related, sorry.
Last time I was in Paris (around 3 years ago) all the major gay clubs had been closed by the French government. Not because they were gay (or so the government officials said) but because they just happened to be doing liquor inspections and drug raids on clubs, and all the clubs they decided to check out just happened to be gay. What an amazing coincidence!
I have no idea how this might relate to other P2P applications, but it seems like IP Multicasting solves these 2 problems in a more scalable fashion - too bad it hasn't taken off...
...isn't a vote for Nader.
Nor is it a vote for Bush.
It's a vote to get real left wing party established in the US. Nader's platform is far closer to the platform I believe in - but this says more about the Greens than about Nader himself. If I continue to vote Democrat, even as the Democratic leaders do less and less that represents my views, they have no reason to do anything but take my vote for granted. If you never vote for the candidate you want, you will never get that candidate. Period.
In '92 I grudgingly voted for Clinton, in '94 I voted for Nader, even though it was a write in.
This year I'll vote Nader so that the Greens might get the 5% needed for matching funds.
In 2004 maybe the Green party will have built enough strength to mount an even better campain. By 2008 maybe I'll finally get to elect the kind of candidate I believe in. (The universe ends in 2012, at least according the to Maya calendar, so
don't waste another moment - vote for Nader this year).
Any second thoughts I've had are gone after the Illinois Democratic Party pulled all its back handed stunts to try to keep Nader off the ballot. I'm so pissed I'm thinking of sticking to 100% 3rd party candidates. If the Democratic party wants to ignore and alienate their core constituency, they're doing a great job.
The real threat -- to listeners and, conceivably, democracy itself -- is the music industry's reaction to it
The record industrys attempts to solve the
piracy problem won't solve anything, but they
will make life awful for consumers and musicians.
I already pay a tax on the DAT tapes I use to mix down the recordings I produce. Where does this tax go? The major labels. Now DAT's aren't being used to steal from the majors - they are 99% used by home and semi-pro recording artists to record original material. Still the Big 5 record labels profit.
Now we hear about schemes to build protection into hardware devices. Well watermarks are going to be audible in some cases (despite the claims made). So now even though I buy a record legally, the sound of the recording will be compromised by the stupid protection scheme. Still - the protection scheme won't stop the pirates. Worse the devices are likely to confuse and anger consumers, and make it more expensive to master content to play on them. And expect more taxes that will be paid by the innocent, to cover the costs of pirates - with little or no money going to independant labels or independant musicians.
Actually it was the forced release of a preliminary song that lead Metallica into the fray. Maybe you should read the article before you post stuff that makes no sense...
This is covered by the various performance rights organizations. If you have an agreement with ASCAP or BMI, and your song is getting airplay, the artist's label and publishing company each get a share of money from a pool that radio stations pay into for the right to play ASCAP or BMI music.
All the internet saves you is media cost...
on
The Virtual Tip Jar
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· Score: 1
On a pressing that has large appeal (appeal being your hypothetical limiting factor), media cost is negligable compared with production and promotion costs.
There is no motive for the people to donate more..
on
The Virtual Tip Jar
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· Score: 1
...period. It doesn't matter if you're at a live show or downloading from the internet. At least at a show consumers can be chided for being cheap! Don't kid yourself that these tip jars could work - the cost of music IS real world cost. Tape costs money, studio time costs money, rehearsal space costs money, FOOD costs money. You get the idea.
There is nothing compelling about the internet that makes people more willing to give away any meaningful amount of money to musicians (who are all rich, right? yeah - whatever.)
As a music promoter who has presented numerous live shows that have "sliding scale" (voluntary) admission, I can tell you it really doesn't work. Those who could afford to pay twice the suggested cover pay a small fraction or nothing (they could afford $10, but pay $2). Those who have less money pay nothing or as close to the suggested cover as they can afford (say between $0 and $8). In then end though, I end up paying the band, the sound person, security, the hall, etc out of my own pocket.
People imagine themselves to be generous, but few of us are as generous as we imagine.
BTW, $269 wouldn't even pay for the 2" tape used to record one album...
Slashdot Mirror
I tend to fill out the contents, but with useless information that means it won't actually go through. This information generally is data entered into their systems, and sometimes it produces more junk mail to the imaginary addresses created (which of course goes right to the dead letter office).
Swatch is making a line called autoquartz that recharges its own batteries. Geeks will love them - you can see the insides inclusing the charging mechanism from the back. And it makes a quiet whirring noize when you move your wrist. I love mine! And they're pretty cheap. No winding, no batteries, and cool design!
Steve Albini uses ribbon mics religiously on his productions for these bands and more. And for small unsigned bands I think his rates are still well under $150/hr. It costs about $100 to $150 to re-ribbon a mic. If you're spending any money at all on a recording the cost of fixing a mic or two is trivial.
During 'crash' periods, music and film get more creative and risky - is the corrilary true of gaming?
In the mid 90's Microsoft went after every software product that had 'Visual' in its name. If I remember, most gave in, but eventually MS lost since the word 'Visual' wasn't invented with VB.
My own first hand experience is an all ages music night I've been running in various major US cities. Some site has taken our name (trademark) appended with .com and is using it to sell porn - this is a problem when you have a well established night with a largely teenage audience. Yet, to prevent these guys from using a name that sends teens to their porn site - it's a big nightmare, and beyond our budgets. And it's really unclear whether we'd win. The only plus on our side is the fact that we cater to teens and they sell porn.
Yes, it's a little better in that it moves the transactions under the table, but how much better in practice will it be?
I got my PS2 with the first shipment, but when I was at Toys R Us last Saturday they had plenty - not just reserved ones - and there was no mob scene fighting over them ala Elmo. Was this a fluke or are other people seeing them on the shelves elsewhere?
The article is not clear on the motives of the copyright office. Are they really worried about internet-only radio stations that currently don't pay BMI and ASCAP. Could this really just be a play for dominance by existing radio stations who seek to protect their dominant position. Having a radio station is expensive and radio is risk adverse. It seems that maybe they and the record companies are just protecting the status quo here...
Alan Moore's various deconstructions of the Superhero genre (Watchmen, Miracleman, Swamp Thing) would be better written and more of an homage to the genre. Anyone care to guess when (if ever) Moore will get his chance to do movies?
As a side note Zix was started by David Cook who started BlockBuster video and who created the first electronic toll collection system. Zix and Visa were clashing in court over Visa's practices in trying to make SET the standard of choice for secure charging.
The funny thing is that the ordinary ZixMail client that I played with a long time ago doesn't suffer from the same limits as the Yahoo version of Zix's technology. The encrytion occurs on the user's machine and the decryption occurs on the receiver's. That said the government still has a back door key no matter how you use Zix. My guess it that downloading a special client was found to be too much of a hinderence for most users. It seems that SSL works, just not with a web client.
Last time I was in Paris (around 3 years ago) all the major gay clubs had been closed by the French government. Not because they were gay (or so the government officials said) but because they just happened to be doing liquor inspections and drug raids on clubs, and all the clubs they decided to check out just happened to be gay. What an amazing coincidence!
Please!
I have no idea how this might relate to other P2P applications, but it seems like IP Multicasting solves these 2 problems in a more scalable fashion - too bad it hasn't taken off...
Nor is it a vote for Bush.
It's a vote to get real left wing party established in the US. Nader's platform is far closer to the platform I believe in - but this says more about the Greens than about Nader himself. If I continue to vote Democrat, even as the Democratic leaders do less and less that represents my views, they have no reason to do anything but take my vote for granted. If you never vote for the candidate you want, you will never get that candidate. Period.
In '92 I grudgingly voted for Clinton, in '94 I voted for Nader, even though it was a write in. This year I'll vote Nader so that the Greens might get the 5% needed for matching funds. In 2004 maybe the Green party will have built enough strength to mount an even better campain. By 2008 maybe I'll finally get to elect the kind of candidate I believe in. (The universe ends in 2012, at least according the to Maya calendar, so don't waste another moment - vote for Nader this year).
Any second thoughts I've had are gone after the Illinois Democratic Party pulled all its back handed stunts to try to keep Nader off the ballot. I'm so pissed I'm thinking of sticking to 100% 3rd party candidates. If the Democratic party wants to ignore and alienate their core constituency, they're doing a great job.
I guess their business plan was missing a few "Risk Factors"...
They are working with NBC, FORBES, Wired, and Radio Shack among others.
Frankly I like the zappy and pen from Symbol more...
Look here
The real threat -- to listeners and, conceivably, democracy itself -- is the music industry's reaction to it
The record industrys attempts to solve the piracy problem won't solve anything, but they will make life awful for consumers and musicians.
I already pay a tax on the DAT tapes I use to mix down the recordings I produce. Where does this tax go? The major labels. Now DAT's aren't being used to steal from the majors - they are 99% used by home and semi-pro recording artists to record original material. Still the Big 5 record labels profit.
Now we hear about schemes to build protection into hardware devices. Well watermarks are going to be audible in some cases (despite the claims made). So now even though I buy a record legally, the sound of the recording will be compromised by the stupid protection scheme. Still - the protection scheme won't stop the pirates. Worse the devices are likely to confuse and anger consumers, and make it more expensive to master content to play on them. And expect more taxes that will be paid by the innocent, to cover the costs of pirates - with little or no money going to independant labels or independant musicians.
...and the Motley Fool article is full of wishful thinking. Tip jars and advertising? Whatever.
Actually it was the forced release of a preliminary song that lead Metallica into the fray. Maybe you should read the article before you post stuff that makes no sense...
This is covered by the various performance rights organizations. If you have an agreement with ASCAP or BMI, and your song is getting airplay, the artist's label and publishing company each get a share of money from a pool that radio stations pay into for the right to play ASCAP or BMI music.
On a pressing that has large appeal (appeal being your hypothetical limiting factor), media cost is negligable compared with production and promotion costs.
There is nothing compelling about the internet that makes people more willing to give away any meaningful amount of money to musicians (who are all rich, right? yeah - whatever.)
People imagine themselves to be generous, but few of us are as generous as we imagine.
BTW, $269 wouldn't even pay for the 2" tape used to record one album...