Wow! wonderful strategy there. According to the article Neeson not only repeated the same offense that Tenenbaum was accused of but then linked to it on his blog. Then after the RIAA files a motion to compel, Nesson doesnt even file a response? What in the heck was he trying to do here, did he just suddenly loose his sanity? I realize the guy was working pro-bono but in this case it seems worse than representing yourself.
Great that another one went down, but the line about catching a lucky break was disturbing. ISP's dont normally cooperate when told they are harboring botnets? Isnt not cooperating pretty much the same as supporting it? Why not just publicly list them and black hole them? I would imagine it wouldnt take much of that to get them to want to cooperate.
Most gamers I know have decided to just skip the game entirely. I know I will, I did buy the first one though and felt ripped off so I wasnt likely to buy the new one anyway. Still, friends of mine that did like the first one have mentioned not buying it specifically because of the DRM, two of them live in a rural area though so its understandable they coulnt play if they wanted to. Sure there are other games that are online only like WoW, etc but those are sold as an online experience, the first AC had single player only, the new one has some multiplayer modes tacked on but is still primarily a solo game. Gamers that dont follow gaming news are likely looking at it as a single player game and many will be duped into buying it that wont be able to play it at all.
Actually it does bring up an interesting delima...are they putting huge warning stickers on the outside of the box? I live in the midwest and there are still lots of rural areas around me that have no broadband access or very limited, a constant connection just isnt possible. Concidering the joke of a EULA that basically is summed up as "If you opened the box to read this...its too late sucker". There had better be warnings the size of warnings of cigarette boxes or I smell a potential class action suit in the near future.
Well he spent most of his adult life using coward tactics to confront pirates and crackers (I remember him harrassing the C=64 scene in the 80's). Only fitting he choose the cowards way out when confronted with his own crimes.
Well I guess its a good thing that casual gamers far far outnumber the fps nerds. Bungie seems to know its market no wonder the game has done so well..its actually accessable to the masses.
The 1.5 million dollar "Judgement" over the SMBW leak was actually an out of court settlement, it never went to trial and the agreement was sealed. The likely scenario is that Nintendo had him by the balls but offered him a deal...become the posterboy of "Piracy Baaad, Nintendo Gooood" and they let him off the hook. The way they have been wheeling around liking a walking public service announcement I highly doubt real money was involved at all. But so far its done the trick, lots of people freaked out.
The problem is ethics...both would concidered intruders even if one is of the White Hat variety. Unfortunately it seems impossible to find ethically against something unethical so instead we all just sit around and complain about it while the problem gets worse.
I've never really understood the hatred of George Lucas. I was a Star Wars fan like most kids growing up in the late 70's had the action figures, the underoos, bed sheets, posters...all that crap and when the second trilogy was released I was excited about it. I took my kids to see the newer ones and they loved them like I loved the originals. I never expected the second series to have the same appeal because Lucas was farily consistant and aimed the new trilogy at the same age group he created the original for. The problem I saw was that many fans expected him to create new stories that were aimed at the now 30 year olds who watched the originals as children. I was still able to watch them and enjoy them just not with same wide eyed wonder, but then I wasnt supposed to, they werent made for me, they were made for my kids. What I really dont get is the hatred over the inclusion of jarjar as if Lucas had never stooped to funny critters to appeal to kids in the first trilogy, but I can remember by father rolling his eyes at Ewoks.
I will admit to being irritated by the policical correctness of Greedo shooting first, but welcomed most of the other enhancements of the special editions, the xwing segment in episode 4 was particularly satisfying. I was equally upset with the guns being edited out of ET but I figure it just a sign of the times and it will likley correct itself in the future.
On a side note Lucas has done something excellent for grown up's recently...check out the book Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success, its fantastic.
People have complained for years about the 100 tag limit on friends list and other seemingly stupid limitations put into place. The reasoning offered by MS then was that in order to maintain compatabilty with original xbox games the limitations in the original live service had to follow over to the 360.
MS has decided after 5 years of the 360 to remove the legacy caps by removing support for a platform that hasnt been sold in 5 years. You cant really have it both ways...
Well your options are kind of limited, Sony threw out backwards compatabilty completely with the slim, none of the current models of PS3 sold have backwards compatability or even the "other OS" option.
Nintendo dropped online support for the few gamecube games that supported online back in 07.
That leaves...PC gaming I guess? Well unless you have certain EA titles or Capcom tiles or certain MMO's, etc.
Your assuming I disagree, my point is simply that many dont agree and dont want their home included, myself I dont care, I dont see what it will hurt..others see it as an invasion of privacy. There is a nutcase a couple miles from me on one of the major roads in town that has no trespassing signed posted at the edge of the sidewalk and a huge beware of dog sign (though I have seen no dog), the house is a dump, its probably a meth lab, but he is well within his rights to post his signs and look like a nut.
We lived over 100 years without full body screening at airports and the inability to carry so much as a soda on flights in the past but I dont see many people cheering the inability to do so now. My point is that just because someone might find something cool or useful doesnt mean its necessarily the right thing to do. Just because we can do something does not automatically mean we should do it.
Somewhere along the way Google forgot one of its own rules. Their subtle yet ever encroaching methods of "helping" the world seem more of an attempt to ensure that google is firmly entrenched in every aspect of our daily lives. IMHO their approach is just wrong. We have lived for thousands of years without street level photos online of our homes and without navagable photos of the insides of public buildings and retail spaces, do we really need them? Many see them as an invasion of privacy.
I'm already concerned about google wanting to control the storage and distribution of medical records, financial records and other areas they seem determined to control.
It took being bitten by the hand that fed them to finally come out againt their own willingness to censor in China, but still show a willingness to cowtow to political and well connected interests.
Their gmail, adsense, and cookie policies are well lets just say less than privacy friendly.
As for books and other media, this should be a opt in system rather than an opt out. If spam was opt out many more would be protesting but its violation is the same. Many argue its to protect media that would be lost in the future, but the proper fix for that is to change laws not skirt around them because your some big coporation.
I just dont see how "do no evil" and a great desire to become big brother can peacefully co-exist.
The tiger woods thing was funny as hell, saw it a couple days after the "reports" were in, this will be great for trash tv and tabloid journalisim I suppose but I really think that the new legitimate news sources out there should really step away from this. It looks more like a way to really get into hot water as they seem to be created based on their interpretation of events rather than actual factual information. Initial opinion and actual findings tend to vary greatly.
Watterson's reclusiveness can easily be compared to Salinger's and its arguable that his creation was just as impactful. For my generation there were 3 strips that defined the era, Far Side, Bloom County and Calvin & Hobbes. I guess its better to go out with fans wanting more than to keep going until the strip becomes a parody of itself (Garfield, Ziggy and Family Circus...im looking at you), but their absense did create a void that was hard to fill. Pearls Before Swine and Get Fuzzy have become my more recent favorites but I would still give just about anything for one more visit with Steve Dallas or Spaceman Spiff.
One thing I never understood was the marketing, while I respect and understand the desire to keep his creations from being diluted and tarnished by garbage, the other two I mentioned managed to have at least something for fans to hold on to (T-Shirts, Mugs, Stuffed toys) without cheapening their legacy. In fact it could be argued that the lack of "stuff" has cheapened it through the proliferaton of bootleg things like those insepid peeing, praying or bird flipping calvin stickers, cheap t-shirts and low quality Hobbes clones they give away at carnivals. He could have chosen to simply keep a tight reign on it and maintained control while giving fans something they obviously clamor for. Ahh well at least im getting a stamp.
Like it or not "free" television shows are advertising supported. Having a real way to measure how many people are watching online will finally give legitimacy to online advertising in streaming video and will help ad rates significantly. I know everyone likes free and hates advertising but in a medium like that there is no other way around it beyond pay per view or a wealthy benefactor who doesn't mind the idea of throwing away cash to entertain the masses.
There will be benefits to consumers as well, more will likely make their shows available online and time shifting not counting towards ratings will be less of an issue. This may actually help "save" shows in the future that had wide followings online and through tivo's but didn't reflect those audiences in ratings (Firefly or Dollhouse anyone?). It may also lead to a greater willingness to provide web only content.
I fully expect more of the same, as long as its going into public domain and cant be used as a money maker by the studios more and more titles are going to mysteriously suffer celluloid decay...after all what good is preserving it if its not going make you any money. At least that the view of most of Hollywood. Good will is fine as long as its something like a tribute or telethon that can bring in ratings and ad revenue.
Same here, im completely hooked on the apps, I was a loyal pocket PC fan but was abandoned by Dell when they exited the pda market and didnt like the direction of the Ipaq. I have since found the Touch to be the PDA i always wanted...at least so far, no its not perfect, I would still like to at least have the option of a sylus but other than that it does more than I really dreamed about before.
I cant believe I'm saying this about George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, but perhaps Nintendo would have been better served to take a lesson from them and embrace this fan production for what it is an homage to a great franchise? Anyone remember the fan made "remake" of Raiders of the Lost Ark? They could have even gone so far as to sponsor it, offer it as a download on the Wii or a bonus feature on the next Zelda game, instead all they managed to do was alienate some of the very fans they rely on for their success.
Didn't we go through this already? Arm made their push with PDA's then pushed their demise with the declaration that everyone wanted all their gadgets integrated. Now they claim everyone wants their gadgets separate and specific? Guess their original world domination plans didn't work out quite the way they wanted?
While I agree that the netbook as it is now will change and evolve, there is now a proven niche for low-mid cost devices that can do basic computer tasks, features and abilities will increase but I don't see this market segment going away. There are plenty of us that like the idea of a kindle for instance but find it too limited in what it can do, tablets seem like the natural progression. I know they have been tried before, but integration in the past wasn't nearly at the level it is now and cost of production and ownership kept the really good ones out of the hands of mainstream consumers. Perhaps improvements in communication, power consumption, quality, speed and costs have advanced us to the point that Star-Trek like data tablet is finally ready for prime time?
Sounds like you are a jackass you just jumped to conclusions...the offices are as much as 60 miles apart and unrelated, it isnt one company with multiple offices. Two run mostly windows, one is a mac shop and the other is mix of linux and windows...one is a govt contractor with no feasible outside access and no desire to add any, the others are under tight budgets and really don't care if they work me to the bone as long as they don't have to spend money on infrastructure. Sure I'd love to move them all to blade servers with remote kvm access, mega ups's with remote access, centralized patching, etc but most barely allow a hardware budget big enough to replace a few workstations a year. But hey I'll give you kudos for evidently being amazing, I get at least 5 calls a day just from people who cant remember their own passwords or dont know how to convert a document evidently your are either brilliant or dont call because they figure your a jackass too.
Right now its 4 offices around 120 employees and just me...oh and I forgot (or selectively blocked) a former client who keeps calling me to pick up after their new "IT guy" who is supposed to save them money. If they were all in one location I could probably juggle it better but as it is I'm starting to burn out.
Find any thread about Apple and the first thing that tends to get posted are Apple haters spewing their tired arguments and labeling anyone owning an Apple product a fanboy. I just don't get it, no one forces anyone to buy Apple products. Sure there are better products than most apple stuff on a technical level but for the average consumer ease of use and just working properly are the most important features, and Apple tends to excel at both. Why not just respect that others might actually like their stuff and get over it?
Anyway as for Job's, I dont know if I would have named him Person of the Decade but as usual the figurehead gets all the credit for the hard work of the people below them. I would however agree that Apple in general has changed both the music and cell phone business for the better whether you buy them or not, their influence on other products has been undeniable even to the apple haters who still use the ipod and macs as a baseline comparison most of the time in trying to argue why their product choice is "better". Would the ZuneHD, Android or MyTouch even exist if Apple hadnt raised the bar with the ipod and iphone?
Frankly to the detriment of my own business I have done more repair and upgrade than new builds. I'm a bit too honest for my own good I guess, but I just don't see the point in telling a customer that the upgrade they think they need could be achieved through more ram or a better video card. There are some exceptions of course but mostly heavy gamers or those into audio/video stuff. I used to upgrade every 6-8 months, but my main desktop I have had for going on 3 years. In fact the only machines I have had for personal use since that upgrade have been more toys to play with like the dual atom mini desktop im typing on now, its plenty sufficient for email and web use and the whole thing cost less than $300.
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Wow! wonderful strategy there. According to the article Neeson not only repeated the same offense that Tenenbaum was accused of but then linked to it on his blog. Then after the RIAA files a motion to compel, Nesson doesnt even file a response? What in the heck was he trying to do here, did he just suddenly loose his sanity? I realize the guy was working pro-bono but in this case it seems worse than representing yourself.
Great that another one went down, but the line about catching a lucky break was disturbing. ISP's dont normally cooperate when told they are harboring botnets? Isnt not cooperating pretty much the same as supporting it? Why not just publicly list them and black hole them? I would imagine it wouldnt take much of that to get them to want to cooperate.
My 60gig now says its 1/1/2000 guess thats what Sony ment by a 10 year plan.
Most gamers I know have decided to just skip the game entirely. I know I will, I did buy the first one though and felt ripped off so I wasnt likely to buy the new one anyway. Still, friends of mine that did like the first one have mentioned not buying it specifically because of the DRM, two of them live in a rural area though so its understandable they coulnt play if they wanted to. Sure there are other games that are online only like WoW, etc but those are sold as an online experience, the first AC had single player only, the new one has some multiplayer modes tacked on but is still primarily a solo game. Gamers that dont follow gaming news are likely looking at it as a single player game and many will be duped into buying it that wont be able to play it at all.
Actually it does bring up an interesting delima...are they putting huge warning stickers on the outside of the box? I live in the midwest and there are still lots of rural areas around me that have no broadband access or very limited, a constant connection just isnt possible. Concidering the joke of a EULA that basically is summed up as "If you opened the box to read this...its too late sucker". There had better be warnings the size of warnings of cigarette boxes or I smell a potential class action suit in the near future.
Well he spent most of his adult life using coward tactics to confront pirates and crackers (I remember him harrassing the C=64 scene in the 80's). Only fitting he choose the cowards way out when confronted with his own crimes.
Well I guess its a good thing that casual gamers far far outnumber the fps nerds. Bungie seems to know its market no wonder the game has done so well..its actually accessable to the masses.
The 1.5 million dollar "Judgement" over the SMBW leak was actually an out of court settlement, it never went to trial and the agreement was sealed. The likely scenario is that Nintendo had him by the balls but offered him a deal...become the posterboy of "Piracy Baaad, Nintendo Gooood" and they let him off the hook. The way they have been wheeling around liking a walking public service announcement I highly doubt real money was involved at all. But so far its done the trick, lots of people freaked out.
The problem is ethics...both would concidered intruders even if one is of the White Hat variety. Unfortunately it seems impossible to find ethically against something unethical so instead we all just sit around and complain about it while the problem gets worse.
I've never really understood the hatred of George Lucas. I was a Star Wars fan like most kids growing up in the late 70's had the action figures, the underoos, bed sheets, posters...all that crap and when the second trilogy was released I was excited about it. I took my kids to see the newer ones and they loved them like I loved the originals. I never expected the second series to have the same appeal because Lucas was farily consistant and aimed the new trilogy at the same age group he created the original for. The problem I saw was that many fans expected him to create new stories that were aimed at the now 30 year olds who watched the originals as children. I was still able to watch them and enjoy them just not with same wide eyed wonder, but then I wasnt supposed to, they werent made for me, they were made for my kids. What I really dont get is the hatred over the inclusion of jarjar as if Lucas had never stooped to funny critters to appeal to kids in the first trilogy, but I can remember by father rolling his eyes at Ewoks.
I will admit to being irritated by the policical correctness of Greedo shooting first, but welcomed most of the other enhancements of the special editions, the xwing segment in episode 4 was particularly satisfying. I was equally upset with the guns being edited out of ET but I figure it just a sign of the times and it will likley correct itself in the future.
On a side note Lucas has done something excellent for grown up's recently...check out the book Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success, its fantastic.
Enjoy it while you can:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/ADverse_Atkinson_on_Advertising/23941-Chase_Carey_Hulu_to_Charge_in_2010.php?nid=2228&source=title&rid=6454445
People have complained for years about the 100 tag limit on friends list and other seemingly stupid limitations put into place. The reasoning offered by MS then was that in order to maintain compatabilty with original xbox games the limitations in the original live service had to follow over to the 360.
MS has decided after 5 years of the 360 to remove the legacy caps by removing support for a platform that hasnt been sold in 5 years. You cant really have it both ways...
Well your options are kind of limited, Sony threw out backwards compatabilty completely with the slim, none of the current models of PS3 sold have backwards compatability or even the "other OS" option.
Nintendo dropped online support for the few gamecube games that supported online back in 07.
That leaves...PC gaming I guess? Well unless you have certain EA titles or Capcom tiles or certain MMO's, etc.
Your assuming I disagree, my point is simply that many dont agree and dont want their home included, myself I dont care, I dont see what it will hurt..others see it as an invasion of privacy. There is a nutcase a couple miles from me on one of the major roads in town that has no trespassing signed posted at the edge of the sidewalk and a huge beware of dog sign (though I have seen no dog), the house is a dump, its probably a meth lab, but he is well within his rights to post his signs and look like a nut.
We lived over 100 years without full body screening at airports and the inability to carry so much as a soda on flights in the past but I dont see many people cheering the inability to do so now. My point is that just because someone might find something cool or useful doesnt mean its necessarily the right thing to do. Just because we can do something does not automatically mean we should do it.
Somewhere along the way Google forgot one of its own rules. Their subtle yet ever encroaching methods of "helping" the world seem more of an attempt to ensure that google is firmly entrenched in every aspect of our daily lives. IMHO their approach is just wrong. We have lived for thousands of years without street level photos online of our homes and without navagable photos of the insides of public buildings and retail spaces, do we really need them? Many see them as an invasion of privacy.
I'm already concerned about google wanting to control the storage and distribution of medical records, financial records and other areas they seem determined to control.
It took being bitten by the hand that fed them to finally come out againt their own willingness to censor in China, but still show a willingness to cowtow to political and well connected interests.
Their gmail, adsense, and cookie policies are well lets just say less than privacy friendly.
As for books and other media, this should be a opt in system rather than an opt out. If spam was opt out many more would be protesting but its violation is the same. Many argue its to protect media that would be lost in the future, but the proper fix for that is to change laws not skirt around them because your some big coporation.
I just dont see how "do no evil" and a great desire to become big brother can peacefully co-exist.
The tiger woods thing was funny as hell, saw it a couple days after the "reports" were in, this will be great for trash tv and tabloid journalisim I suppose but I really think that the new legitimate news sources out there should really step away from this. It looks more like a way to really get into hot water as they seem to be created based on their interpretation of events rather than actual factual information. Initial opinion and actual findings tend to vary greatly.
Watterson's reclusiveness can easily be compared to Salinger's and its arguable that his creation was just as impactful. For my generation there were 3 strips that defined the era, Far Side, Bloom County and Calvin & Hobbes. I guess its better to go out with fans wanting more than to keep going until the strip becomes a parody of itself (Garfield, Ziggy and Family Circus...im looking at you), but their absense did create a void that was hard to fill. Pearls Before Swine and Get Fuzzy have become my more recent favorites but I would still give just about anything for one more visit with Steve Dallas or Spaceman Spiff.
One thing I never understood was the marketing, while I respect and understand the desire to keep his creations from being diluted and tarnished by garbage, the other two I mentioned managed to have at least something for fans to hold on to (T-Shirts, Mugs, Stuffed toys) without cheapening their legacy. In fact it could be argued that the lack of "stuff" has cheapened it through the proliferaton of bootleg things like those insepid peeing, praying or bird flipping calvin stickers, cheap t-shirts and low quality Hobbes clones they give away at carnivals. He could have chosen to simply keep a tight reign on it and maintained control while giving fans something they obviously clamor for. Ahh well at least im getting a stamp.
Like it or not "free" television shows are advertising supported. Having a real way to measure how many people are watching online will finally give legitimacy to online advertising in streaming video and will help ad rates significantly. I know everyone likes free and hates advertising but in a medium like that there is no other way around it beyond pay per view or a wealthy benefactor who doesn't mind the idea of throwing away cash to entertain the masses.
There will be benefits to consumers as well, more will likely make their shows available online and time shifting not counting towards ratings will be less of an issue. This may actually help "save" shows in the future that had wide followings online and through tivo's but didn't reflect those audiences in ratings (Firefly or Dollhouse anyone?). It may also lead to a greater willingness to provide web only content.
I fully expect more of the same, as long as its going into public domain and cant be used as a money maker by the studios more and more titles are going to mysteriously suffer celluloid decay...after all what good is preserving it if its not going make you any money. At least that the view of most of Hollywood. Good will is fine as long as its something like a tribute or telethon that can bring in ratings and ad revenue.
Same here, im completely hooked on the apps, I was a loyal pocket PC fan but was abandoned by Dell when they exited the pda market and didnt like the direction of the Ipaq. I have since found the Touch to be the PDA i always wanted...at least so far, no its not perfect, I would still like to at least have the option of a sylus but other than that it does more than I really dreamed about before.
I cant believe I'm saying this about George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, but perhaps Nintendo would have been better served to take a lesson from them and embrace this fan production for what it is an homage to a great franchise? Anyone remember the fan made "remake" of Raiders of the Lost Ark? They could have even gone so far as to sponsor it, offer it as a download on the Wii or a bonus feature on the next Zelda game, instead all they managed to do was alienate some of the very fans they rely on for their success.
Didn't we go through this already? Arm made their push with PDA's then pushed their demise with the declaration that everyone wanted all their gadgets integrated. Now they claim everyone wants their gadgets separate and specific? Guess their original world domination plans didn't work out quite the way they wanted?
While I agree that the netbook as it is now will change and evolve, there is now a proven niche for low-mid cost devices that can do basic computer tasks, features and abilities will increase but I don't see this market segment going away. There are plenty of us that like the idea of a kindle for instance but find it too limited in what it can do, tablets seem like the natural progression. I know they have been tried before, but integration in the past wasn't nearly at the level it is now and cost of production and ownership kept the really good ones out of the hands of mainstream consumers. Perhaps improvements in communication, power consumption, quality, speed and costs have advanced us to the point that Star-Trek like data tablet is finally ready for prime time?
Sounds like you are a jackass you just jumped to conclusions...the offices are as much as 60 miles apart and unrelated, it isnt one company with multiple offices. Two run mostly windows, one is a mac shop and the other is mix of linux and windows...one is a govt contractor with no feasible outside access and no desire to add any, the others are under tight budgets and really don't care if they work me to the bone as long as they don't have to spend money on infrastructure. Sure I'd love to move them all to blade servers with remote kvm access, mega ups's with remote access, centralized patching, etc but most barely allow a hardware budget big enough to replace a few workstations a year. But hey I'll give you kudos for evidently being amazing, I get at least 5 calls a day just from people who cant remember their own passwords or dont know how to convert a document evidently your are either brilliant or dont call because they figure your a jackass too.
Right now its 4 offices around 120 employees and just me...oh and I forgot (or selectively blocked) a former client who keeps calling me to pick up after their new "IT guy" who is supposed to save them money. If they were all in one location I could probably juggle it better but as it is I'm starting to burn out.
Find any thread about Apple and the first thing that tends to get posted are Apple haters spewing their tired arguments and labeling anyone owning an Apple product a fanboy. I just don't get it, no one forces anyone to buy Apple products. Sure there are better products than most apple stuff on a technical level but for the average consumer ease of use and just working properly are the most important features, and Apple tends to excel at both. Why not just respect that others might actually like their stuff and get over it?
Anyway as for Job's, I dont know if I would have named him Person of the Decade but as usual the figurehead gets all the credit for the hard work of the people below them. I would however agree that Apple in general has changed both the music and cell phone business for the better whether you buy them or not, their influence on other products has been undeniable even to the apple haters who still use the ipod and macs as a baseline comparison most of the time in trying to argue why their product choice is "better". Would the ZuneHD, Android or MyTouch even exist if Apple hadnt raised the bar with the ipod and iphone?
Frankly to the detriment of my own business I have done more repair and upgrade than new builds. I'm a bit too honest for my own good I guess, but I just don't see the point in telling a customer that the upgrade they think they need could be achieved through more ram or a better video card. There are some exceptions of course but mostly heavy gamers or those into audio/video stuff. I used to upgrade every 6-8 months, but my main desktop I have had for going on 3 years. In fact the only machines I have had for personal use since that upgrade have been more toys to play with like the dual atom mini desktop im typing on now, its plenty sufficient for email and web use and the whole thing cost less than $300.