I think you might have missed an important sentence in the GP post... the one that explains how the corporations can hold a gun to a band member's head. I'll point it out: (emphasis mine)
It's a shame that people are trying to undermine the successful and legitimate efforts by these businessmen to successfully lock up all major distribution channels, radio stations and to have laws passed to extend their copyrights indefinitely or as jack valenti said, "forever plus one day."
In the days before the internet, the record labels made life for independent artists as hard as they could, to force them into restrictive contracts. Good luck trying to get any air time on a significant radio station as an independent artist. And the strange thing about bands, is that while you can make money touring, you first have to gain a strong following. To do that, people have to hear you. If you can't get any air time the only way to do that is tour with other bands. But chances are, unless you're very original AND very good, most people will not remember your material nearly as well as whatever song that one of the labels has playing on the radio every 20 minutes all day long. NOT accepting a contract with a record label was a death knell for almost any band. Of course, there is always the possibility of arguing for a better contract, but it's not likely to be improved much, unless you really are very good and very original.
Of course, now with the internet their efforts to lock up the major distribution channels are starting to fail, so they are flailing wildly in an attempt to gain control over this new and unexpected threat. So far, they seem to be having some trouble, and I hope it continues that way.
This is the start of the market's reaction to Vista, made manifest. Agreed.
It's great to see that at least some people are fighting back against Microsoft's nasty move. If it's possible to implement DX10 on any other OS than Vista, it's just proof that M$ was just trying to force everyone else out of the gaming market. Of course, most of us already know about how slimy they are... but it's always nice to see a reminder.
I agree. I haven't watched TV in over 7 years. Mostly because I can't justify paying so much for so very little.
rant: Also, as you say, you are paying to watch a ton of advertising. The TV watchers don't even see how much they are bombarded by ads every day. If they took a 2 month break from TV, they'd realize that the world keeps on turning and the world doesn't come to an end without TV. They might even *gasp* take back those 4.5 hours of their life per day and do something like exercise, or take the time to cook a healthy meal, rather than pound back another McDonald's cheeseburger and extra large fries and extra large drink. /rant
AOL seems to have become a relic of the past. You see the rare person using it, but not very often. I remember when they used to put "AOL keywords" on movie trailers. I haven't seen very many movies or trailers lately, but I don't think they do that any more.
The last person I saw using AOL was an older lady running that as her internet service, on a computer that could barely run win95. It's a miracle that her system was still running in 2005 (when I saw it last).
When I went to move out of the previous apartment I lived in, I rented a Uhaul truck. We arranged the details two weeks in advance, and they promised it would be set up.
When my parents arrived at the uhaul rental place to pick up our large truck, they had none on the lot, and informed us that the nearest one was roughly 200km away, in the opposite direction from where I needed to go. They offered us a trailer that was 1/3rd the size as the best they could do.
So here I am on moving day, with nowhere to store my stuff, no truck to put it in, and no other options. By a strange fluke of luck I managed to get the landlord of my new apartment let me move in a day early, and we just ferried it over.
I'd say that's why Uhaul is worse. If Best Buy fucks up, you just have to wait a little while longer (I'm sure someone will have a story to prove me wrong, but whatever). But if Uhaul fucks you around on moving day, you're boned.
Until you get shipped something like 400 Dell boxes (all GX280's) and about 50 of them pop a capacitors within two weeks. And most of those fancy new boxes (compared to what they were running at the time) went to higher-ups who all wanted a new PC and it to be fixed yesterday.
I think that he wasn't so much making a point about losing a particular government subsidy, but that instead of improving themselves to look better than the competition, they are just trying to make the competition look worse.
it can be automated. looking for particular actors faces should be possible. in the uk we have face recognition systems for cctv. it would not be impossible to go through uploaded videos looking for actors faces.
But using small sections of TV shows, movies, etc. in original works is allowed as long as you properly credit the sources. Just because a certain person appears in a video doesn't mean it constitutes copyright violation.
At best the face recognition system could only flag videos that it recognized faces in, to allow someone to review them later. Otherwise they'd be taking down many legitimate videos along with the illegitimate ones.
This isn't some amazing new leap in technology - It's just using current technology in a much more efficient manner. FTFA:
Georgia Tech's significant improvement to existing xenon propulsion systems is a new electric and magnetic field design that helps better control the exhaust particles, Walker said. Ground control units can then exercise this control remotely to conserve fuel.
To tell the truth, I'm glad to see so many stories recently that talk about increased efficiency in anything we do. The less energy we consume, the longer it will last. Hopefully we discover an alternative before we run out of non-renewable resources though.
First off, I'm not an MS fan in any way. With that out of the way: Considering you don't have any MS OS experience past W2K, perhaps you shouldn't make comments on how bad the help system is in an operating system released 7 years later. From what I've seen (and heard from many others) the Vista help has been greatly improved.
Perhaps you should try it before bashing it. If they shipped without an manual, either it's a grave mistake on their part, or maybe they actually have improved the help function to the point it can be used in place of a manual.
That's exactly why I left university for college. Too much theory, not enough practical. If you can't apply the theory that you learn, what's the point in learning so much of it?
Why not, I remember when a world of warcraft patch caused more problems than usual. Many people went to the better business bureau and complained. Then Blizzard cleaned up their act.
If it worked there, it might work here. Paypal has definitely caused my family some annoyance over the christmas holidays.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you might have missed an important sentence in the GP post... the one that explains how the corporations can hold a gun to a band member's head. I'll point it out: (emphasis mine)
It's a shame that people are trying to undermine the successful and legitimate efforts by these businessmen to successfully lock up all major distribution channels, radio stations and to have laws passed to extend their copyrights indefinitely or as jack valenti said, "forever plus one day."In the days before the internet, the record labels made life for independent artists as hard as they could, to force them into restrictive contracts. Good luck trying to get any air time on a significant radio station as an independent artist. And the strange thing about bands, is that while you can make money touring, you first have to gain a strong following. To do that, people have to hear you. If you can't get any air time the only way to do that is tour with other bands. But chances are, unless you're very original AND very good, most people will not remember your material nearly as well as whatever song that one of the labels has playing on the radio every 20 minutes all day long. NOT accepting a contract with a record label was a death knell for almost any band. Of course, there is always the possibility of arguing for a better contract, but it's not likely to be improved much, unless you really are very good and very original.
Of course, now with the internet their efforts to lock up the major distribution channels are starting to fail, so they are flailing wildly in an attempt to gain control over this new and unexpected threat. So far, they seem to be having some trouble, and I hope it continues that way.
It's great to see that at least some people are fighting back against Microsoft's nasty move. If it's possible to implement DX10 on any other OS than Vista, it's just proof that M$ was just trying to force everyone else out of the gaming market. Of course, most of us already know about how slimy they are... but it's always nice to see a reminder.
I agree. I haven't watched TV in over 7 years. Mostly because I can't justify paying so much for so very little.
rant:
Also, as you say, you are paying to watch a ton of advertising. The TV watchers don't even see how much they are bombarded by ads every day. If they took a 2 month break from TV, they'd realize that the world keeps on turning and the world doesn't come to an end without TV. They might even *gasp* take back those 4.5 hours of their life per day and do something like exercise, or take the time to cook a healthy meal, rather than pound back another McDonald's cheeseburger and extra large fries and extra large drink.
/rant
AOL seems to have become a relic of the past. You see the rare person using it, but not very often. I remember when they used to put "AOL keywords" on movie trailers. I haven't seen very many movies or trailers lately, but I don't think they do that any more.
The last person I saw using AOL was an older lady running that as her internet service, on a computer that could barely run win95. It's a miracle that her system was still running in 2005 (when I saw it last).
When I went to move out of the previous apartment I lived in, I rented a Uhaul truck. We arranged the details two weeks in advance, and they promised it would be set up.
When my parents arrived at the uhaul rental place to pick up our large truck, they had none on the lot, and informed us that the nearest one was roughly 200km away, in the opposite direction from where I needed to go. They offered us a trailer that was 1/3rd the size as the best they could do.
So here I am on moving day, with nowhere to store my stuff, no truck to put it in, and no other options. By a strange fluke of luck I managed to get the landlord of my new apartment let me move in a day early, and we just ferried it over.
I'd say that's why Uhaul is worse. If Best Buy fucks up, you just have to wait a little while longer (I'm sure someone will have a story to prove me wrong, but whatever). But if Uhaul fucks you around on moving day, you're boned.
Until you get shipped something like 400 Dell boxes (all GX280's) and about 50 of them pop a capacitors within two weeks. And most of those fancy new boxes (compared to what they were running at the time) went to higher-ups who all wanted a new PC and it to be fixed yesterday.
That was not a fun two weeks.
I think that he wasn't so much making a point about losing a particular government subsidy, but that instead of improving themselves to look better than the competition, they are just trying to make the competition look worse.
At best the face recognition system could only flag videos that it recognized faces in, to allow someone to review them later. Otherwise they'd be taking down many legitimate videos along with the illegitimate ones.
First off, I'm not an MS fan in any way. With that out of the way:
Considering you don't have any MS OS experience past W2K, perhaps you shouldn't make comments on how bad the help system is in an operating system released 7 years later. From what I've seen (and heard from many others) the Vista help has been greatly improved.
Perhaps you should try it before bashing it. If they shipped without an manual, either it's a grave mistake on their part, or maybe they actually have improved the help function to the point it can be used in place of a manual.
So appropriate, considering I was watching this old movie last night... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkion/
That's exactly why I left university for college. Too much theory, not enough practical. If you can't apply the theory that you learn, what's the point in learning so much of it?
Why not, I remember when a world of warcraft patch caused more problems than usual. Many people went to the better business bureau and complained. Then Blizzard cleaned up their act. If it worked there, it might work here. Paypal has definitely caused my family some annoyance over the christmas holidays.