News.com.com will report that Amazon has received a patent "for the ability of a web object to be identified by the site's users' input of short descriptions or keywords."
As an ex-record store owner, I stopped selling due to Amazon's competitive pricing and selection. I'm a fan of competition, yet the music scene I catered to is completely gone as stores like mine ran the street teams that grew the movements.
Now, Amazon finds a great way to cut salaries by skipping the need for hiring description editors. Still good for the consumer, and in the long run everyone will do better with the savings they reap, creating new and interesting markets.
I forsee this heavy competition leading to manufacturer direct sales, completed cutting Amazon out. They have to be very careful in offering not just cheap and fast, but great return policies and strong user customization of the sites.
Nah. I get moderated -1, Troll as often as +5, Significant and +5, Funny. In fact, lately I've received more -1, Troll moderations as I've ever seen, even though my intent is neither trolling nor karma whoring.
For the years I've been visiting/., I have always been disturbed by the socialist attitudes of the youth here. I felt the opposite side of the politics of almost every article needed to be posted.
Now you see many more people willing to grasp the concepts of the free market (market anarchism as I like to call it). It may not have anything to do with me, but every little bit helps!
[OT] Re:How to boycott? mercantilism
on
Bad Day To Be Sony
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm not Marxist, in fact, as an AnCap I am the opposite of an Marxist.
I'm not young (31) and have been writing from a pro-market anarchism persepective for over 8 years.
Roads, bridges and schools can be much better built, maintained and managed by the free market of competition than by the force/coercion market created by government and the cronies of government.
Lincoln's War Between States was fought to create a mercantilistic country out of a free market country (not slavery as many people believe). Since the War, our country has slid into a really bad Warfare-Welfare State, focused on disposing the middle class workers of their income and giving it to the wealthy elite in control of the monopolistic use of force.
I study at last 40 hours a week the various documents that help me reinforce the views I hold dear to me. Slashdot is a great outlet for finding other people with similar beliefs who just don't know it, as well as getting a great peer review system that helps me find my mistakes. Even those on my "Foe" list give me some amazing insight into mistakes I make in my rants and recommendations.
If you're interested in why government is bad for roads, bridges and schools send me an e-mail.
They don't take American Express. I know it sounds corny, but as a business owner myself, American Express Open has bailed me out of millions of situations where I'd be bankrupt with the very temporary allowance.
I stopped using American Express about 2 months ago (I changed my cash flow projections in every aspect of my business life to be way undervalued), but I still won't do business with a company unless it says "American Express accepted!" in the window. Why Menard's won't do it is beyond me. Home Depot is always around the corner, and we're finally getting Lowe's here as well, in the Midwest.
I use a PDA Phone to browser/. and type everything into MS's PDA version of Notepad. Then I copy and paste it into/. so I don't lose my comment from one of the billion reasons I have in the past.
I subscribe because it allows me to read the articles before they're/.d by the mass onslaught of others when the article goes live. The $10 a month or whatever I pay is well worth the consideration I receive from other regulars here, and has been very helpful in composing my views and thoughts on certain subjects. Yeah, the signal to noise ratio gets worse and worse here every day, but/. has probably increased my online reading rate at least 300% over the years, so it balances itself out:)
I'm not a "boycott!!!" kind of guy. When I was younger I used to be, but no one ever stuck to it. This "error in judgement" is definitely something that I am adding to my (really small) short list of company-groups I won't buy from. I already won't buy CDs without the "CD" logo. I won't buy Sony TVs or receivers for the last 4 years because of their terrible support policies. I won't buy anything from Menard's either. And now Sony music CDs are permanently out.
How do those who are active boycotters stick to it? Do you actively pursue telling others, or is it just a "one person, one dollar, one vote" kind of life lead?
I could care less if other people want to support Sony artists or Sony products. All mercantilistic (using government to acquire wealth) corporations are bad, but that doesn't mean that every business is bad. Sony has actually been one of the least mercantilistic corporation I've tracked over the years, but their releasing of items without proper quality control is what kills them time and again.
And I believe that is the problem with this rootkit. Sony didn't test it properly. If they had tested it properly and kept it within its own little world on a customer's PC, I don't think the fallout would have been so excessive. They didn't test the product, they relied on the customers to do so. Luckily for Sony, the customers weren't happy and were vocal about it.
That is the free market at work. People unhappy about a company or a product have much more of a voice with the web being so readily available. The more the Internet allows billions of citizens to align on different issues, the more we'll see that a free market "democracy" is better than a democracy built around the use of force.
My post wasn't meant to troll. I appreciate the reply, and will correct the problems in future article rants.
One thing to remember is that the U.N. is involved in many bad decisions made by the world. Kahn's words can affect your life and future and must be subverted or their dishonesty will have an effect.
And yet despite hundreds of hours of talks, three preparatory meetings and a world summit, there is only one thing that the world's governments can agree on:
That the governments of the world have the least knowledge in how to save anything, and the World Government is even worse.
the internet is five days away from total collapse as governments are finally forced into a corner and told to agree on a framework for future Internet governance.
Bull. Shit.
The Internet is not one procedure to distribute information. It is HTML, DNS, BitTorrent, even Real Audio. None of these standards are government regulated, they're free market regulated. The users, en masse, decide what format will succeed. The only change government entices is when a popular company gets sued out of sight (Grokster, etc).
Standards will rise and fall faster than any government can rule on changes. Old standards literally DIE. Old laws come back to be unearthed by future tyrants
there is a very real risk that an enormous political argument resulting in lifelong ill-will centred around the internet could developed unchecked at the WSIS Summit.
Good. Nothing makes me happier than multiple governments grabbing the rulers, dropping their pants, and realizing none have anything to measure.
how the world will deal with issues such as spam and cybercrime.
Let every ISP decide. The competition will allow the creation of new ways to excel.
Masood Khan has turned what could easily have become a bar-room brawl into a gradual formation of agreement.
One politician breathing hot air to others, putting all into a head nodding "we can all control our citizens equally" concert.
Having chaired dozens of meetings as a careful and unthreatening facilitator, Mr Khan saw his chance and went for it.
"We are from the government and we're here to help you."
"The question of a future mechanism, the question of oversight, and the paradigm of co-operation amongst all stakeholders."
"We will share in the control of deviants. The word 'deviant' can be redefined at any member's whim."
If there is a split, it will not make the final agreement. Where there is no agreement, the effort will have to be to convince each other."
Meaning that they will generalize everything in vague definitions easily adjusted to their situation.
Four hours later they came back to the official meetings with nothing. Khan suspended the meeting and told them to go back and do it again.
True of any governing body. They have no clue what to control next, but surely there must be more taxes, regulations and restrictions added to the lawbooks. None to help their crony friends either, I'm sure.
Twice, governments tried to stall the whole approach by asking what official standing the document they were creating would have - an age-old diplomatic trick. Mr Khan brushed it aside: "Just wait."
"Why do you have to probe my ass, officer?"
"Just wait."
It is far from over but when the agreed text on how the internet should be run and by whom appears in front of the World Summit and is approved on Friday, it most certainly won't be perfect
And this is what we need? Imperfection in an international law? I'd rather see imperfection in thousands of ISPs and be able to choose what is least perfect to me.
The U.N. is the worst government in the world, so large that no one is safe, so large that no one has a voice and so large that revolt and rebuilding is impossible.
I own retail stores focused on "toys" for guys 13-31: skateboarding, paintball, surf, etc. As a tabletop gamer in my youth, I never looked at gaming as a business.
My stores are "kindly" placed in towns without a nearby mall.
For those who go to gamer stores, what attracts you to a store over buying online?
I can't believe gaming is experiencing a rebirth. Another geeky lifestyle to piss off the broads.
I'm not sure that the geek factor surpasses the conspiracy concern factor here. DARPA shares most of its resources with the NSA (through the NSF-DARPA-NSA consortium). Hell, DARPA.MIL almost says enough.
I'm sure Intel has its own paws in milspec work, but AMD seems to be proud of helping spy on its citizens. Or did you think HPCS was focused on DNA deciphering?
I was born in 74. Chico canceled probably around 78 and I recall them as a child. The fact that they're bringing them back will let me understand better if the 70's were truly a drug-infested nightmare:)
Why is this a deterrent? You're not buying content, so why should you keep it forever? If you like it and want it forever, buy the DVD sets.
Possibly, in the future, they'll have a link at the end of a certain episode saying "To see the rest of this season, click here to order the full season." This isn't a bad idea actually. Get someone hooked on the first half of the season, and charge them for the latter half. It's something the drug dealers have done for eternity:)
As the content is being provided "freely," I think it is up to the publishers and the advertisers to decide who can see it and for how long. The #1 complaint from CD and DVD owners is "I bought the xD!!! I should use it as I please!" and this completely destroys that complaint (which is why I've never said the above).
For now, the content owners are doing the most free market thing they can -- don't sell the content to the viewer (but to the advertiser), and control exactly who can view it and when. There is no physical medium exchanging hands, so the licensing of the programming is truly controlled (until a hack is found).
This may not be what the/. crowd wants, but it is more in the direction of what the average viewer wants. In the long run, this really could be a win/win/win situation, depending on how well the advertisers recoup their money spent.
I originally had a similar comment but edited it out as I figured I was saying too much and I feared that if they did this wrong, it would actually be negative for filesharing. It CAN be "filesharing == good" but it could also be "publisher controlled DRM'd == good" and that would be bad.
This is great news for AOL. WB is one of the last "analog" networks continually mixing hit and past programming, with a huge license to decent past programming. The lady and I don't watch the news media much, but when we do it's strictly for WGN's morning comedy newscrew. (Sidenote: WGN is the Chicago's WB and has consistently been top notch is broadcast technical superiority. The station engineers answer the phones and have helped get us quality HD reception for years.)
We always joke about Welcome Back, Kotter and I'll be the first one downloading the shows. I'll get an MCE-plug-in to do it for me. The Fugitive is a great call by Frankel's team as well.
CBS and NBC's use of Comcast and DirectTV is outdated. Why use a very limited platform that they pay for when you can use your customers' paid for bandwidth and force them to share between each other? Throw in advertising for Smallville and Sex and the City, track download/share stats, Profit!!!
Babylon 5, Wonder Woman and Chico and the Man? Great ideas. Limited time access (via DRM?) is reasonable as I can see people buying the box sets if they like the shows enough. Here's to the WB to proving it once and for all. Frankel is really risking a lot, but I'm guessing the risk is worth the possible reward. The next generation will decide if this will work.
I'm not familiar with Kontiki or AOL Hi-Q. Hopefully it won't be too burdened by adware, Sony-style rootkits, or excessive tracking beyond what and when. We'll see, right?
One feature, to accompany "Welcome Back, Kotter," will allow users to upload a picture of themselves (or a friend) and superimpose 1970's hair styles and fashion, and send the pictures by e-mail to friends or use as icons on AOL's instant-message system.
Good idea. Use AIM as a pathway as well.
AOL may not be the idiot I previously mentioned recently. I'll be the first to admit it if they balance the good with the bad.
One thing I'd LOVE to see:
Ads separate from content with content flagged for an ad to be displayed. A user could give their Zip+4, Zip, Area Code or Metropolis (picking how specific they want to be) and more area targeted ads could be displayed. Here's where Google VidWords (VidAds?) would excel, actually.
Finally, WB-AOL needs an "Internet Extender." IP based set-top box that connects to your TV. Or a USB2TV box locked to their content? Watching on your PC is a step. Watching on your TV would be a lock.
Since people could always opt-out of the "social contract" with a simple disclaimer, I don't think it harms freedom.
As most/. regulars abhor "Opt-out" I would rather that government be "Opt-in," including any social contract.
Government is the ultimate form of Spam and adware. They hit you up with offers of paradise, track your every purchase and move, and disregard anything you do as "private." Try uninstalling it, for proof.
Just from an efficiency stand point, it seems like we'd be better off if we assume reasonable expectations in the default case, and let people spell out exactly what they guarantee in special cases.
Fine, I will write out your trusted contract with government:
You must pay for police protection, but the police are under no mandate to protect you.
You must pay for a public retirement program, but it is not under mandate to pay you anything.
You must pay for public education, even if you have no kids. Educators are under no mandate to teach anything.
You must pay for your land, but government can take it away for any reason.
Yes, but I've defined threatening innocent people as aggression, so to me, that's like saying, "I want the freedom to violate other people's rights," which is a sort of paradox.
Scream and verbally threaten all you want. The minute you draw a weapon, others will silence you.
If someone threatens you verbally, just draw your gun in defense. See if they'll continue.
With government ownership of land, the gov't could put a quick stop to land investment and speculation, which seems to drive up prices, making it hard for poorer people to find affordable housing.
Not true. When property gets expensive, the poor make more money. If a poor person can't live in Wealthy Neighborhood X, they won't. Yet X needs waiters, cashiers, gas station attendants, etc. If a poor person can't live in that neighborhood, they'll get paid more to commute. Competition solves the problem.
hard for poorer people to find affordable housing. Many realty markets in the US now are having problems because the value of property has risen so much (much faster than wages and salaries), so people are no longer able to afford the same level of housing as they were 5 years ago,
This price inflation occured due to currency manipulation by the Fed. Most wealthy home owners are poor on paper because of interest only loans and over extended credit. Poor people living in a $15,000 trailer have more net value than many wealthy.
For instance, if you owned 5 rental properties in a hot market, and they all doubled in value over the past 5 years, then you could sell them all now, take the profit, and buy yourself a very expensive residence.
Not true. Let's start with 5 $100,000 rentals and 1 $500,000 house. If values double, you have 5 $200,000 rentals and 1 $1,000,000 house. Zero delta between the groups.
With central control of realty leasing, this would be ended, and people would have to find other things to invest in.
That's a fallacy. Prices are not set by greed but by supply and demand. If government sets prices, we'll see a horrible shortage. Await the Hawaii gas shortage in March 2006.
I can't even begin to comment on the rest. It goes against common sense and everything a free citizen should be against.
If you want a nice house, work hard and save. If you can't afford it, endow your kids with responsibility.
I would argue that, in a state of non-contract, we should assume reasonable expectations.
Fine, but the problem today is many assume there is a "social contract." I abhor this idea. Remove the social contract and force people to distrust and I bet we'd see a better world. I'll vote if my candidate will sign a contract specifying his true intentions.
But without that disclaimer, I think you should be bound by reasonable expectations.
Again an unwritten social contract? No thanks. Newspapers who claim ("Everything we write is accurate") would do better than those who disclaim or are silent.
"Yeah, I defrauded you on purpose. But it sucks to be you, because I never specifically said I wouldn't do that!"
Yet requiring people to think about relationships is more certain, and the excuse of "I didn't know!" or "That's not fair!" won't hold weight.
You can always preach violence against tyranny in an AnCap society, because a tyrant has violated the rights of others, by definition.
I never want a freedom defined as "Can" and "Can't." Freedom is absolute.
If you say to me, "I will come to your house later and kill you," is it perfectly acceptable for me to sit home in fear? If an obvious threat like that is made, then I think I have the right to move against you first.
If you said that to me, I'd pull up my shirt and show you my piece. I don't cower. I also have no problem ending you the moment you come on my land.
People who rely on the law to protect them live in fear. I live knowing I can do my best to protect my life. By valuing everyone's life and property, I feel I am in a better position to walk away rather than getting mad. In fact, daily encounters with socialists in Evanston, Illinois prove that I always keep my cool, and they have zero respect for my rights.
Slashdot Mirror
News.com.com will report that Amazon has received a patent "for the ability of a web object to be identified by the site's users' input of short descriptions or keywords."
As an ex-record store owner, I stopped selling due to Amazon's competitive pricing and selection. I'm a fan of competition, yet the music scene I catered to is completely gone as stores like mine ran the street teams that grew the movements.
Now, Amazon finds a great way to cut salaries by skipping the need for hiring description editors. Still good for the consumer, and in the long run everyone will do better with the savings they reap, creating new and interesting markets.
I forsee this heavy competition leading to manufacturer direct sales, completed cutting Amazon out. They have to be very careful in offering not just cheap and fast, but great return policies and strong user customization of the sites.
Nah. I get moderated -1, Troll as often as +5, Significant and +5, Funny. In fact, lately I've received more -1, Troll moderations as I've ever seen, even though my intent is neither trolling nor karma whoring.
/., I have always been disturbed by the socialist attitudes of the youth here. I felt the opposite side of the politics of almost every article needed to be posted.
For the years I've been visiting
Now you see many more people willing to grasp the concepts of the free market (market anarchism as I like to call it). It may not have anything to do with me, but every little bit helps!
I'm not Marxist, in fact, as an AnCap I am the opposite of an Marxist.
I'm not young (31) and have been writing from a pro-market anarchism persepective for over 8 years.
Roads, bridges and schools can be much better built, maintained and managed by the free market of competition than by the force/coercion market created by government and the cronies of government.
Lincoln's War Between States was fought to create a mercantilistic country out of a free market country (not slavery as many people believe). Since the War, our country has slid into a really bad Warfare-Welfare State, focused on disposing the middle class workers of their income and giving it to the wealthy elite in control of the monopolistic use of force.
I study at last 40 hours a week the various documents that help me reinforce the views I hold dear to me. Slashdot is a great outlet for finding other people with similar beliefs who just don't know it, as well as getting a great peer review system that helps me find my mistakes. Even those on my "Foe" list give me some amazing insight into mistakes I make in my rants and recommendations.
If you're interested in why government is bad for roads, bridges and schools send me an e-mail.
They don't take American Express. I know it sounds corny, but as a business owner myself, American Express Open has bailed me out of millions of situations where I'd be bankrupt with the very temporary allowance.
I stopped using American Express about 2 months ago (I changed my cash flow projections in every aspect of my business life to be way undervalued), but I still won't do business with a company unless it says "American Express accepted!" in the window. Why Menard's won't do it is beyond me. Home Depot is always around the corner, and we're finally getting Lowe's here as well, in the Midwest.
I use a PDA Phone to browser /. and type everything into MS's PDA version of Notepad. Then I copy and paste it into /. so I don't lose my comment from one of the billion reasons I have in the past.
/.d by the mass onslaught of others when the article goes live. The $10 a month or whatever I pay is well worth the consideration I receive from other regulars here, and has been very helpful in composing my views and thoughts on certain subjects. Yeah, the signal to noise ratio gets worse and worse here every day, but /. has probably increased my online reading rate at least 300% over the years, so it balances itself out :)
I subscribe because it allows me to read the articles before they're
I'm not a "boycott!!!" kind of guy. When I was younger I used to be, but no one ever stuck to it. This "error in judgement" is definitely something that I am adding to my (really small) short list of company-groups I won't buy from. I already won't buy CDs without the "CD" logo. I won't buy Sony TVs or receivers for the last 4 years because of their terrible support policies. I won't buy anything from Menard's either. And now Sony music CDs are permanently out.
How do those who are active boycotters stick to it? Do you actively pursue telling others, or is it just a "one person, one dollar, one vote" kind of life lead?
I could care less if other people want to support Sony artists or Sony products. All mercantilistic (using government to acquire wealth) corporations are bad, but that doesn't mean that every business is bad. Sony has actually been one of the least mercantilistic corporation I've tracked over the years, but their releasing of items without proper quality control is what kills them time and again.
And I believe that is the problem with this rootkit. Sony didn't test it properly. If they had tested it properly and kept it within its own little world on a customer's PC, I don't think the fallout would have been so excessive. They didn't test the product, they relied on the customers to do so. Luckily for Sony, the customers weren't happy and were vocal about it.
That is the free market at work. People unhappy about a company or a product have much more of a voice with the web being so readily available. The more the Internet allows billions of citizens to align on different issues, the more we'll see that a free market "democracy" is better than a democracy built around the use of force.
Vote with your dollars.
How'd she get out of the cellar???
Damn. I hit [CR] after Kofi??? nd it submitted.
I meant to continue...
My post wasn't meant to troll. I appreciate the reply, and will correct the problems in future article rants.
One thing to remember is that the U.N. is involved in many bad decisions made by the world. Kahn's words can affect your life and future and must be subverted or their dishonesty will have an effect.
Kofi???
Actually I have good word that OSTG just received a large check for U.N. slashvertisements.
The article at the same time tomorrow will be about Cotecna.
You've met my wife??
Sure, why not? I get almost zero spam even though I publicly display my e-mail address on forums.
Better than a "one-size-fits all" regulation.
And yet despite hundreds of hours of talks, three preparatory meetings and a world summit, there is only one thing that the world's governments can agree on:
That the governments of the world have the least knowledge in how to save anything, and the World Government is even worse.
the internet is five days away from total collapse as governments are finally forced into a corner and told to agree on a framework for future Internet governance.
Bull. Shit.
The Internet is not one procedure to distribute information. It is HTML, DNS, BitTorrent, even Real Audio. None of these standards are government regulated, they're free market regulated. The users, en masse, decide what format will succeed. The only change government entices is when a popular company gets sued out of sight (Grokster, etc).
Standards will rise and fall faster than any government can rule on changes. Old standards literally DIE. Old laws come back to be unearthed by future tyrants
there is a very real risk that an enormous political argument resulting in lifelong ill-will centred around the internet could developed unchecked at the WSIS Summit.
Good. Nothing makes me happier than multiple governments grabbing the rulers, dropping their pants, and realizing none have anything to measure.
how the world will deal with issues such as spam and cybercrime.
Let every ISP decide. The competition will allow the creation of new ways to excel.
Masood Khan has turned what could easily have become a bar-room brawl into a gradual formation of agreement.
One politician breathing hot air to others, putting all into a head nodding "we can all control our citizens equally" concert.
Having chaired dozens of meetings as a careful and unthreatening facilitator, Mr Khan saw his chance and went for it.
"We are from the government and we're here to help you."
"The question of a future mechanism, the question of oversight, and the paradigm of co-operation amongst all stakeholders."
"We will share in the control of deviants. The word 'deviant' can be redefined at any member's whim."
If there is a split, it will not make the final agreement. Where there is no agreement, the effort will have to be to convince each other."
Meaning that they will generalize everything in vague definitions easily adjusted to their situation.
Four hours later they came back to the official meetings with nothing. Khan suspended the meeting and told them to go back and do it again.
True of any governing body. They have no clue what to control next, but surely there must be more taxes, regulations and restrictions added to the lawbooks. None to help their crony friends either, I'm sure.
Twice, governments tried to stall the whole approach by asking what official standing the document they were creating would have - an age-old diplomatic trick. Mr Khan brushed it aside: "Just wait."
"Why do you have to probe my ass, officer?"
"Just wait."
It is far from over but when the agreed text on how the internet should be run and by whom appears in front of the World Summit and is approved on Friday, it most certainly won't be perfect
And this is what we need? Imperfection in an international law? I'd rather see imperfection in thousands of ISPs and be able to choose what is least perfect to me.
The U.N. is the worst government in the world, so large that no one is safe, so large that no one has a voice and so large that revolt and rebuilding is impossible.
I own retail stores focused on "toys" for guys 13-31: skateboarding, paintball, surf, etc. As a tabletop gamer in my youth, I never looked at gaming as a business.
My stores are "kindly" placed in towns without a nearby mall.
For those who go to gamer stores, what attracts you to a store over buying online?
I can't believe gaming is experiencing a rebirth. Another geeky lifestyle to piss off the broads.
I'm not sure that the geek factor surpasses the conspiracy concern factor here. DARPA shares most of its resources with the NSA (through the NSF-DARPA-NSA consortium). Hell, DARPA.MIL almost says enough.
I'm sure Intel has its own paws in milspec work, but AMD seems to be proud of helping spy on its citizens. Or did you think HPCS was focused on DNA deciphering?
I was born in 74. Chico canceled probably around 78 and I recall them as a child. The fact that they're bringing them back will let me understand better if the 70's were truly a drug-infested nightmare :)
Why is this a deterrent? You're not buying content, so why should you keep it forever? If you like it and want it forever, buy the DVD sets.
:)
Possibly, in the future, they'll have a link at the end of a certain episode saying "To see the rest of this season, click here to order the full season." This isn't a bad idea actually. Get someone hooked on the first half of the season, and charge them for the latter half. It's something the drug dealers have done for eternity
Right, very light on details.
/. crowd wants, but it is more in the direction of what the average viewer wants. In the long run, this really could be a win/win/win situation, depending on how well the advertisers recoup their money spent.
As the content is being provided "freely," I think it is up to the publishers and the advertisers to decide who can see it and for how long. The #1 complaint from CD and DVD owners is "I bought the xD!!! I should use it as I please!" and this completely destroys that complaint (which is why I've never said the above).
For now, the content owners are doing the most free market thing they can -- don't sell the content to the viewer (but to the advertiser), and control exactly who can view it and when. There is no physical medium exchanging hands, so the licensing of the programming is truly controlled (until a hack is found).
This may not be what the
I originally had a similar comment but edited it out as I figured I was saying too much and I feared that if they did this wrong, it would actually be negative for filesharing. It CAN be "filesharing == good" but it could also be "publisher controlled DRM'd == good" and that would be bad.
This is great news for AOL. WB is one of the last "analog" networks continually mixing hit and past programming, with a huge license to decent past programming. The lady and I don't watch the news media much, but when we do it's strictly for WGN's morning comedy newscrew. (Sidenote: WGN is the Chicago's WB and has consistently been top notch is broadcast technical superiority. The station engineers answer the phones and have helped get us quality HD reception for years.)
We always joke about Welcome Back, Kotter and I'll be the first one downloading the shows. I'll get an MCE-plug-in to do it for me. The Fugitive is a great call by Frankel's team as well.
CBS and NBC's use of Comcast and DirectTV is outdated. Why use a very limited platform that they pay for when you can use your customers' paid for bandwidth and force them to share between each other? Throw in advertising for Smallville and Sex and the City, track download/share stats, Profit!!!
Babylon 5, Wonder Woman and Chico and the Man? Great ideas. Limited time access (via DRM?) is reasonable as I can see people buying the box sets if they like the shows enough. Here's to the WB to proving it once and for all. Frankel is really risking a lot, but I'm guessing the risk is worth the possible reward. The next generation will decide if this will work.
I'm not familiar with Kontiki or AOL Hi-Q. Hopefully it won't be too burdened by adware, Sony-style rootkits, or excessive tracking beyond what and when. We'll see, right?
One feature, to accompany "Welcome Back, Kotter," will allow users to upload a picture of themselves (or a friend) and superimpose 1970's hair styles and fashion, and send the pictures by e-mail to friends or use as icons on AOL's instant-message system.
Good idea. Use AIM as a pathway as well.
AOL may not be the idiot I previously mentioned recently. I'll be the first to admit it if they balance the good with the bad.
One thing I'd LOVE to see:
Ads separate from content with content flagged for an ad to be displayed. A user could give their Zip+4, Zip, Area Code or Metropolis (picking how specific they want to be) and more area targeted ads could be displayed. Here's where Google VidWords (VidAds?) would excel, actually.
Finally, WB-AOL needs an "Internet Extender." IP based set-top box that connects to your TV. Or a USB2TV box locked to their content? Watching on your PC is a step. Watching on your TV would be a lock.
He said it both ways :)
Since people could always opt-out of the "social contract" with a simple disclaimer, I don't think it harms freedom.
/. regulars abhor "Opt-out" I would rather that government be "Opt-in," including any social contract.
As most
Government is the ultimate form of Spam and adware. They hit you up with offers of paradise, track your every purchase and move, and disregard anything you do as "private." Try uninstalling it, for proof.
Just from an efficiency stand point, it seems like we'd be better off if we assume reasonable expectations in the default case, and let people spell out exactly what they guarantee in special cases.
Fine, I will write out your trusted contract with government:
You must pay for police protection, but the police are under no mandate to protect you.
You must pay for a public retirement program, but it is not under mandate to pay you anything.
You must pay for public education, even if you have no kids. Educators are under no mandate to teach anything.
You must pay for your land, but government can take it away for any reason.
Yes, but I've defined threatening innocent people as aggression, so to me, that's like saying, "I want the freedom to violate other people's rights," which is a sort of paradox.
Scream and verbally threaten all you want. The minute you draw a weapon, others will silence you.
If someone threatens you verbally, just draw your gun in defense. See if they'll continue.
How do you say "Blame Dr. Smith" in Japanese?
With government ownership of land, the gov't could put a quick stop to land investment and speculation, which seems to drive up prices, making it hard for poorer people to find affordable housing.
Not true. When property gets expensive, the poor make more money. If a poor person can't live in Wealthy Neighborhood X, they won't. Yet X needs waiters, cashiers, gas station attendants, etc. If a poor person can't live in that neighborhood, they'll get paid more to commute. Competition solves the problem.
hard for poorer people to find affordable housing. Many realty markets in the US now are having problems because the value of property has risen so much (much faster than wages and salaries), so people are no longer able to afford the same level of housing as they were 5 years ago,
This price inflation occured due to currency manipulation by the Fed. Most wealthy home owners are poor on paper because of interest only loans and over extended credit. Poor people living in a $15,000 trailer have more net value than many wealthy.
For instance, if you owned 5 rental properties in a hot market, and they all doubled in value over the past 5 years, then you could sell them all now, take the profit, and buy yourself a very expensive residence.
Not true. Let's start with 5 $100,000 rentals and 1 $500,000 house. If values double, you have 5 $200,000 rentals and 1 $1,000,000 house. Zero delta between the groups.
With central control of realty leasing, this would be ended, and people would have to find other things to invest in.
That's a fallacy. Prices are not set by greed but by supply and demand. If government sets prices, we'll see a horrible shortage. Await the Hawaii gas shortage in March 2006.
I can't even begin to comment on the rest. It goes against common sense and everything a free citizen should be against.
If you want a nice house, work hard and save. If you can't afford it, endow your kids with responsibility.
I would argue that, in a state of non-contract, we should assume reasonable expectations.
Fine, but the problem today is many assume there is a "social contract." I abhor this idea. Remove the social contract and force people to distrust and I bet we'd see a better world. I'll vote if my candidate will sign a contract specifying his true intentions.
But without that disclaimer, I think you should be bound by reasonable expectations.
Again an unwritten social contract? No thanks. Newspapers who claim ("Everything we write is accurate") would do better than those who disclaim or are silent.
"Yeah, I defrauded you on purpose. But it sucks to be you, because I never specifically said I wouldn't do that!"
Yet requiring people to think about relationships is more certain, and the excuse of "I didn't know!" or "That's not fair!" won't hold weight.
You can always preach violence against tyranny in an AnCap society, because a tyrant has violated the rights of others, by definition.
I never want a freedom defined as "Can" and "Can't." Freedom is absolute.
If you say to me, "I will come to your house later and kill you," is it perfectly acceptable for me to sit home in fear? If an obvious threat like that is made, then I think I have the right to move against you first.
If you said that to me, I'd pull up my shirt and show you my piece. I don't cower. I also have no problem ending you the moment you come on my land.
People who rely on the law to protect them live in fear. I live knowing I can do my best to protect my life. By valuing everyone's life and property, I feel I am in a better position to walk away rather than getting mad. In fact, daily encounters with socialists in Evanston, Illinois prove that I always keep my cool, and they have zero respect for my rights.