I've had a decent idea for legal TV distribution online in my journal for a while now. Most of the posts I see so far about this BBC service are negative. Finally a media outlet is trying to embrace technology instead of calling their lawyers every 5 minutes, and all people can do is complain. Downloadable shows will probably never be free without the show including some form of DRM or advertising... get used to it. I'd much rather have DRM or ads than no downloadable shows at all.
If you don't want the DRM or ads, get a Tivo or TV capture card and skip the commercials or edit them out.
So if you forget to lock your windows when you leave one day and end up getting robbed, you won't blame the people that broke in? You'd blame yourself or the police department for not doing a good enough job with security?
Every time this argument comes up, someone tries using that line of logic. The fact is, though, that even though your actions were stupid, the burglar broke the law.
I have mod points, but I'll respond since I have a HDTV HTPC setup. It's pretty simple actually... it runs Meedio and uses the ATI dongle to output to my TV. I have a HDTV OTA capture card that I schedule programs in. Meedio imports recorded shows and I can watch them whenever I want.
I don't, however, have the capability to do time-shifting. That's something I'll get once Meedio is done with their MeedioTV product. Also, I'll be looking into the cable card thing at some point, since I'd prefer to record from my cable service.
The whole thing is more of a project than a product. It's something that I enjoy playing around with and it relaxes me. Anyone who just wants something that works should do exactly as you said and rent/purchase one.
You misread what I posted. Shaun of the Dead is insanely funny to me. It was witty and subtle, which is what British comedy tends to be. The US version of The Office is one of the few American comedies that I can say the same thing about.
So Europeans really find it funny when someone accidentally chews on their cellphone, they yell as loud as possible, or their head falls off? Based on my experience watching quite a bit of British comedy, it tends to be more sophisticated than American comedy (see Shaun of the Dead compared to Viva La Bam for an example). To get to the class of comedy these ads would be in (4th grade humor), you'd have to start at British comedy and go way past American comedy until you got to the comedy that really doesn't require any wit or intelligence to come up with. You know, like groin kicks? Har har.
Besides, since when has the SuperBowl been a game show? Correct me if I'm wrong (I've only watched the last 15 of them), but I thought it was a sporting event. Not only that, but the most watched sporting event in the world each year.
Ok... I like the idea of some ads for Firefox, but these are definitely not extremely funny. They're cute and made me smile, but something extremely funny would probably make me laugh outloud or wet myself.
I'd like to see Firefox ads parody the dotcom Superbowl ads from a few years back. Perhaps something with that damn sock puppet or the E-Trade dancing monkey.
All that said, any publicity is good publicity, so any ad is better than no ad at all.
The other day on the radio they were discussing Narnia, and how it appears as though it's Disney's big attempt to revitalize itself in the movie industry. They're putting more money into it than any movie they've ever done, and some of the higher-ups at Disney have said they're expecting it to work for the company similar to how The Little Mermaid did.
If you compare it to any other Disney live action movie, none of the others come even close in terms of scope, story, budget, costume design, sets, CGI, etc. They're putting a lot on this movie.
Since both my wife and I are big fans of Lewis (my wife even more so), I hope Disney's gamble pays off. There's word that they're hoping they can do additional stories from the book series, which makes sense if the movie is profitable.
As for the few people that complain about it being a movie about Christianity, who really cares? Even though I'm considered a "Christian conservative", I still enjoy movies about other religions and cultures. They're not trying to hide what the story is really about, and there's people out there that actually ENJOY movies about Christianity (see the success of Passion of the Christ for an example). Just get off your anti-religious podium for a second and try thinking about it as just a story, similar to how some colleges will read portions of The Bible or Paradise Lost.
There's an alternative they're trying out in certain areas of Wisconsin. It's basically asphalt, but with a very high rubber content. They grind old tires into the asphalt. The net result is that it costs about the same to lay, and it can "heal" itself to some degree. The main concern is how safe it is when completely frozen, which is why it's only being tested in certain sections of freeway.
If it does prove to be a viable material to replace basic asphalt, it'll be great for Wisconsin drivers... we deal with slippery roads all winter then road construction in the spring, summer, and fall. If this can at least eliminate pothole patching, it'll pay for itself many times over.
Just like the other poster, I actually voted FOR Bush, not against Kerry. I tend to vote Republican for most elections, which means that I'm actually voting for that candidate, not against the opponent's party.
And before you say that I'm voting for a party then, I'll counter by saying that I voted for Herb Kohl in Senate. Although I disagree with many of his choices, he's still done a decent job and will continue to get my vote until someone better runs against him.
Wisconsin's state constitution gives us the right to carry a concealed weapon. However, a few years ago the state legislature passed a bill that made concealed carry against the law. A man was charged a few years ago with carrying a concealed weapon, fined $1, and he took it all the way to the Wisconsin supreme court. It was thrown out on a technicality, but the court recommended that the state lawmakers revise the bill so it fits what the constitution says, or else pass a constitutional ammendment to solve the problem. Neither has happened, and as a result district attorneys are hestitant to charge anyone under the law. Republican lawmakers are pushing hard for a clarification of the concealed carry law and the Democratic lawmakers are pushing hard against it.
Like the other responses state, it varies by state. However, Federal law states that you're prohibited from voting for life. Wisconsin law disallows voting while you're "on paper", which basically means if you're in prison or on probation. Once you're done with those, you can vote again. However, because of the federal law, I believe you're not supposed to vote for presidental elections. I could definitely be wrong... I'm just recounting what I've heard from a felon I spoke to recently.
Additionally, keep in mind it's a 3 year maximum penalty. As most crimes go, prosecutors will often push for the maximum and then accept far less in a plea bargain.
A good example is possession of a concealed weapon. In Wisconsin it's illegal to do so, but a man recently used a concealed weapon to protect himself from some guys trying to rob him. Although he was breaking the law, the district attorney didn't even press charges. Based on the law he COULD have gotten prison time, but it was never even considered.
The maximum penalty for any law exists for the most extreme violators of that particular law. Just like the death penalty, it's not applied to every situation, just the extreme cases.
Don't most P2P programs use MD5? I was also under the assumption that P2P programs do a checksum on each piece of the file they receive, and if it's inaccurate it automatically re-downloads that part of the file. I've had pieces of a bittorrent download fail due to corruption and the client has just downloaded that part again.
Seems like this company's setup would only work in very specific circumstances, meaning it won't have much of an effect at all.
As seen Wednesday nights at 8:00pm central on UPN. Har har har.:/
Seriously, though. Even though I've never gotten into the series, I hope for the sake of hardcore ST fans it's allowed to continue in Canada. Maybe the show will get even better as a result, a la X-Files (only in reverse this time).:)
I propose that "speed of a bicycle" be adopted as the standard measure of velocity in technical articles. Units already included in the standard are "Libraries of Congress" for data storage requirements and "Size of a Volkswagon" for physical size measurements.
My examples were tastes. However, while a person may just want a mp3 player, some features on that player may be needs. For example, a person in their 70's might have trouble with small controls, so they would NEED larger ones.
My point wasn't that companies aren't filling my needs or wants, either... it's that the OP was hinting that they should only fill his.
You won't believe this, but people actually do have different needs and tastes. I personally love the way iPods look, even though I don't have one yet. However, they're a bit too clunky for my wife, who would love an iPod mini or iPod Shuffle for using at the gym. You can even change the music out every night to avoid the songs getting repetitive (imagine that).
As for the colors and design, I agree that many of them are ugly. However, according to your own statements that doesn't matter one bit as long as it functions well. So find one you like, use it, and quit worrying if my model is pink and fallic-shaped.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I've had a decent idea for legal TV distribution online in my journal for a while now. Most of the posts I see so far about this BBC service are negative. Finally a media outlet is trying to embrace technology instead of calling their lawyers every 5 minutes, and all people can do is complain. Downloadable shows will probably never be free without the show including some form of DRM or advertising... get used to it. I'd much rather have DRM or ads than no downloadable shows at all.
If you don't want the DRM or ads, get a Tivo or TV capture card and skip the commercials or edit them out.
So if you forget to lock your windows when you leave one day and end up getting robbed, you won't blame the people that broke in? You'd blame yourself or the police department for not doing a good enough job with security?
Every time this argument comes up, someone tries using that line of logic. The fact is, though, that even though your actions were stupid, the burglar broke the law.
I can't find anything in the local Seattle, WA area
It's a satellite phone. Order it from anywhere and it should work, right? That's the point. Any one of those Google results would work. Here's one.
I have mod points, but I'll respond since I have a HDTV HTPC setup. It's pretty simple actually... it runs Meedio and uses the ATI dongle to output to my TV. I have a HDTV OTA capture card that I schedule programs in. Meedio imports recorded shows and I can watch them whenever I want.
I don't, however, have the capability to do time-shifting. That's something I'll get once Meedio is done with their MeedioTV product. Also, I'll be looking into the cable card thing at some point, since I'd prefer to record from my cable service.
The whole thing is more of a project than a product. It's something that I enjoy playing around with and it relaxes me. Anyone who just wants something that works should do exactly as you said and rent/purchase one.
You misread what I posted. Shaun of the Dead is insanely funny to me. It was witty and subtle, which is what British comedy tends to be. The US version of The Office is one of the few American comedies that I can say the same thing about.
So Europeans really find it funny when someone accidentally chews on their cellphone, they yell as loud as possible, or their head falls off? Based on my experience watching quite a bit of British comedy, it tends to be more sophisticated than American comedy (see Shaun of the Dead compared to Viva La Bam for an example). To get to the class of comedy these ads would be in (4th grade humor), you'd have to start at British comedy and go way past American comedy until you got to the comedy that really doesn't require any wit or intelligence to come up with. You know, like groin kicks? Har har.
Besides, since when has the SuperBowl been a game show? Correct me if I'm wrong (I've only watched the last 15 of them), but I thought it was a sporting event. Not only that, but the most watched sporting event in the world each year.
Ok... I like the idea of some ads for Firefox, but these are definitely not extremely funny. They're cute and made me smile, but something extremely funny would probably make me laugh outloud or wet myself.
I'd like to see Firefox ads parody the dotcom Superbowl ads from a few years back. Perhaps something with that damn sock puppet or the E-Trade dancing monkey.
All that said, any publicity is good publicity, so any ad is better than no ad at all.
You mean one that's been stepped on? It looks something like this.
Hey, at least I'm not trying to launch an executable on you.
The other day on the radio they were discussing Narnia, and how it appears as though it's Disney's big attempt to revitalize itself in the movie industry. They're putting more money into it than any movie they've ever done, and some of the higher-ups at Disney have said they're expecting it to work for the company similar to how The Little Mermaid did.
If you compare it to any other Disney live action movie, none of the others come even close in terms of scope, story, budget, costume design, sets, CGI, etc. They're putting a lot on this movie.
Since both my wife and I are big fans of Lewis (my wife even more so), I hope Disney's gamble pays off. There's word that they're hoping they can do additional stories from the book series, which makes sense if the movie is profitable.
As for the few people that complain about it being a movie about Christianity, who really cares? Even though I'm considered a "Christian conservative", I still enjoy movies about other religions and cultures. They're not trying to hide what the story is really about, and there's people out there that actually ENJOY movies about Christianity (see the success of Passion of the Christ for an example). Just get off your anti-religious podium for a second and try thinking about it as just a story, similar to how some colleges will read portions of The Bible or Paradise Lost.
There's an alternative they're trying out in certain areas of Wisconsin. It's basically asphalt, but with a very high rubber content. They grind old tires into the asphalt. The net result is that it costs about the same to lay, and it can "heal" itself to some degree. The main concern is how safe it is when completely frozen, which is why it's only being tested in certain sections of freeway.
If it does prove to be a viable material to replace basic asphalt, it'll be great for Wisconsin drivers... we deal with slippery roads all winter then road construction in the spring, summer, and fall. If this can at least eliminate pothole patching, it'll pay for itself many times over.
Just like the other poster, I actually voted FOR Bush, not against Kerry. I tend to vote Republican for most elections, which means that I'm actually voting for that candidate, not against the opponent's party.
And before you say that I'm voting for a party then, I'll counter by saying that I voted for Herb Kohl in Senate. Although I disagree with many of his choices, he's still done a decent job and will continue to get my vote until someone better runs against him.
Wisconsin's state constitution gives us the right to carry a concealed weapon. However, a few years ago the state legislature passed a bill that made concealed carry against the law. A man was charged a few years ago with carrying a concealed weapon, fined $1, and he took it all the way to the Wisconsin supreme court. It was thrown out on a technicality, but the court recommended that the state lawmakers revise the bill so it fits what the constitution says, or else pass a constitutional ammendment to solve the problem. Neither has happened, and as a result district attorneys are hestitant to charge anyone under the law. Republican lawmakers are pushing hard for a clarification of the concealed carry law and the Democratic lawmakers are pushing hard against it.
Like the other responses state, it varies by state. However, Federal law states that you're prohibited from voting for life. Wisconsin law disallows voting while you're "on paper", which basically means if you're in prison or on probation. Once you're done with those, you can vote again. However, because of the federal law, I believe you're not supposed to vote for presidental elections. I could definitely be wrong... I'm just recounting what I've heard from a felon I spoke to recently.
Actually, it was much more recent. It was this case
Additionally, keep in mind it's a 3 year maximum penalty. As most crimes go, prosecutors will often push for the maximum and then accept far less in a plea bargain.
A good example is possession of a concealed weapon. In Wisconsin it's illegal to do so, but a man recently used a concealed weapon to protect himself from some guys trying to rob him. Although he was breaking the law, the district attorney didn't even press charges. Based on the law he COULD have gotten prison time, but it was never even considered.
The maximum penalty for any law exists for the most extreme violators of that particular law. Just like the death penalty, it's not applied to every situation, just the extreme cases.
Don't most P2P programs use MD5? I was also under the assumption that P2P programs do a checksum on each piece of the file they receive, and if it's inaccurate it automatically re-downloads that part of the file. I've had pieces of a bittorrent download fail due to corruption and the client has just downloaded that part again.
Seems like this company's setup would only work in very specific circumstances, meaning it won't have much of an effect at all.
That's the point I was making, trying to clarify by saying it was the reverse of the Enterprise situation. X-Files was far better in Vancouver.
Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
:/
:)
As seen Wednesday nights at 8:00pm central on UPN.
Har har har.
Seriously, though. Even though I've never gotten into the series, I hope for the sake of hardcore ST fans it's allowed to continue in Canada. Maybe the show will get even better as a result, a la X-Files (only in reverse this time).
Winnar!
Far more at ORD
Take a look at my journal for my idea on how BT could work for TV networks.
Partially OT, but some of the ideas would fit a movie distribution model as well.
I guess Volkswagons are used for volume or mass calculations and RI's are used for surface volume.
I propose that "speed of a bicycle" be adopted as the standard measure of velocity in technical articles. Units already included in the standard are "Libraries of Congress" for data storage requirements and "Size of a Volkswagon" for physical size measurements.
My examples were tastes. However, while a person may just want a mp3 player, some features on that player may be needs. For example, a person in their 70's might have trouble with small controls, so they would NEED larger ones.
My point wasn't that companies aren't filling my needs or wants, either... it's that the OP was hinting that they should only fill his.
You won't believe this, but people actually do have different needs and tastes. I personally love the way iPods look, even though I don't have one yet. However, they're a bit too clunky for my wife, who would love an iPod mini or iPod Shuffle for using at the gym. You can even change the music out every night to avoid the songs getting repetitive (imagine that).
:)
As for the colors and design, I agree that many of them are ugly. However, according to your own statements that doesn't matter one bit as long as it functions well. So find one you like, use it, and quit worrying if my model is pink and fallic-shaped.