This is actually practiced by Starbucks. They take their exclusive interior designs very seriously. If you take a photo in one of their shops and publish it, you may very well be hearing from their lawyers.
That's basically what telephone is now. The final bit of copper to the phone is analog, but that's it. Everything else runs digital - sometimes even IP, though more often just cutting the call into cells and putting it on ATM or SONET, as they can provide an absolute assurance of delivery and jitter.
Even if there was no government involvement, telecommunications would still tend towards a natural monopoly. It's a common issue in any area with a very high capital cost to enter a market, which certainly includes digging up roads and laying cable. Once one company has gotten established, it just isn't viable for another to enter - not only do they have to compete against an incumbant that has a head start on customer loyalty, but there is the risk said incumbent would just drop prices sharply to drive competitors out.
The same thing applies to things like water, gas, sewage... anything that needs infrastructure built. It's only a reliable profit-maker if no-one else is providing the service already.
I do imagine they'll drop linux support entirely, but beyond that... they couldn't risk the damage to their new business from dropping support for anything more popular. I would guess that, as you suggest, they may want to intigrate it into the xbox. Why not? Xbox + kinect would make a good videophone, and could use the xbox's existing contacts management.
Pirates have low standards. They'll pirate Asylum movies. Though there are limits: I notice that on at least one tracker, where the new True Grit film has over a thousand downloads, Yogi Bear has seven. And no seeds. That's people who got the.torrent, not people who actually downloaded the film.
She isn't in any elected office any more, but she remains to some extent politically active - giving speeches, endorsements, etc. She is by no means the first to make a successful career of being an ex-politician.
Also rather pointless to release, as they'd already released the legally-binding standard certificate - and there was even a note in the local paper at Obama's birth declaring it publicly. It should have been, and was, obvious that even if the birthers got the certificate they would remain unconvinced. Which they were and are. WND, the site largely responsible for fanning the birther movement, continues to maintain in no less than eight front-page stories right now that the birth certificate is a forgery.
The major fuss about those emails isn't that they were leaked, but the way in which they were reported upon. A lot of extracts were taken out of context, or scientific statements presented in a way that a layperson would misinterpret, in order to make it sound like the climatologists of the world were in a grand conspiracy to make the whole climate change thing up. It's just the nature of reporting - various media sources looked at the emails, considered what it was their readers would like to see there, and searched for the juicy bits.
It'd also fuel lots of rumors - people spreading unreliable recollections of things they read in the courthouse, and which can't be easily verified or disproven.
Applies to the whole meat industry. It doesn't matter how well they treat the animals - at the end, it's still about killing them and cutting them into little pieces. Modern sensibilities don't like that, but we do still like meat, so we've a lot of cultural effort going into seperating the animal from the product.
"Is it easy to port a game written for one gaming platform to another?"
Generally, no, with one exception: XBox or 360 to PC. The XBox and it's successor use the DirectX API for games, just the same as on Windows, which makes porting much easier. This is by design - Microsoft knew it'd make the XBox more attractive to developers if they were able to easily sell the game game to both console and PC gamer markets without having to do extensive porting.
The PS3 is notoriously difficult to port, due to it's unusual Cell processor. PS2 was easier.
Orphanage, by any chance? If so, bring it on. I've got a transport ship with enough warp stabs to escape anything short of a whole fleet of tacklers, and a cloak besides.
Easy solution. Just ban the TV dishes too. Only works in the most repressive regimes, but still a valid option. After all, the only reason anyone might want one is to watch unpatriotic and subversive overseas programming, rather than the culturally appropriate production broadcast by the state media.
This is LulzNet, an Anonymous offshoot. They are apparently just barely more organised, plus you have to actually be invited to join. With Anonymous you just have to turn up and not bring any identification.
I've seen the same thing happen even on MMORPG economies. The EVE Online Nocxium bubble. A lot of people made a lot of ISK off that, including me. Then it burst, and all those who hadn't gotten out earlier lost almost everything. It makes a nice price graph: Steady, rise, rise, rise, rise... pause... rise, rise, rise, rise, PLUMET.
There is no shortage of bibles. China has a state-operated Christian church. They don't oppress religion for it's own sake - they oppress anything to which people might be more loyal than they are to the state. The government is more than happy for people to openly worship Christ - so long as the priests understand they need to keep out of politics and not criticise government policy.
In theory bitcoins are uninflateable - the amount in circulation can only ever be finite. In practice the exchange rate can vary depending upon things like the level of trust placed in the currency - in an extreme case, if a critical flaw was found in the algorithm, they would all become worthless within hours. Also, it's questionable if the inability to undergo inflation is a good thing, as it makes the currency vulnerable to deflation - where the spending power of a bitcoin increases over time, thus causing hording and consequently economic failure.
Rather difficult to hide though. Great option if your intent is to bypass the need for troublesome commercial entities and their highly-regulated, filtered networks and obscene prices. Not so great if your intent is to sneak information past an oppressive government, who will send men to bash your door down and arrest you for subversion if they spot a satellite dish.
Not much they can do. It's got mirrors worldwide, the information is already released, and none of those high-up in the management are dumb enough to visit the US for a long time.
There is the suspicious business with the attempted extradition of Assange on a charge of sexual misconduct, though - I don't usually go in for conspiracy theories, but given the timeing (Warrant issued less than a month after the cable release), and the fact that it was issued based upon accusations that had already been investigated by Swedish police and dismissed as unsubstantiated prior to the cable leaks, it does seem plausible that the US government may have called in a favor and asked the Swedish government to just find something, anything at all, they could arrest him for. Can't prove anything, but it's a definate possibility that there was political involvement.
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This is actually practiced by Starbucks. They take their exclusive interior designs very seriously. If you take a photo in one of their shops and publish it, you may very well be hearing from their lawyers.
That's basically what telephone is now. The final bit of copper to the phone is analog, but that's it. Everything else runs digital - sometimes even IP, though more often just cutting the call into cells and putting it on ATM or SONET, as they can provide an absolute assurance of delivery and jitter.
Even if there was no government involvement, telecommunications would still tend towards a natural monopoly. It's a common issue in any area with a very high capital cost to enter a market, which certainly includes digging up roads and laying cable. Once one company has gotten established, it just isn't viable for another to enter - not only do they have to compete against an incumbant that has a head start on customer loyalty, but there is the risk said incumbent would just drop prices sharply to drive competitors out.
The same thing applies to things like water, gas, sewage... anything that needs infrastructure built. It's only a reliable profit-maker if no-one else is providing the service already.
It's internet debate. You're not supposed to know the meanings of words before you use them.
I do imagine they'll drop linux support entirely, but beyond that... they couldn't risk the damage to their new business from dropping support for anything more popular. I would guess that, as you suggest, they may want to intigrate it into the xbox. Why not? Xbox + kinect would make a good videophone, and could use the xbox's existing contacts management.
Pirates have low standards. They'll pirate Asylum movies. Though there are limits: I notice that on at least one tracker, where the new True Grit film has over a thousand downloads, Yogi Bear has seven. And no seeds. That's people who got the .torrent, not people who actually downloaded the film.
She isn't in any elected office any more, but she remains to some extent politically active - giving speeches, endorsements, etc. She is by no means the first to make a successful career of being an ex-politician.
Also rather pointless to release, as they'd already released the legally-binding standard certificate - and there was even a note in the local paper at Obama's birth declaring it publicly. It should have been, and was, obvious that even if the birthers got the certificate they would remain unconvinced. Which they were and are. WND, the site largely responsible for fanning the birther movement, continues to maintain in no less than eight front-page stories right now that the birth certificate is a forgery.
The major fuss about those emails isn't that they were leaked, but the way in which they were reported upon. A lot of extracts were taken out of context, or scientific statements presented in a way that a layperson would misinterpret, in order to make it sound like the climatologists of the world were in a grand conspiracy to make the whole climate change thing up. It's just the nature of reporting - various media sources looked at the emails, considered what it was their readers would like to see there, and searched for the juicy bits.
It'd also fuel lots of rumors - people spreading unreliable recollections of things they read in the courthouse, and which can't be easily verified or disproven.
"Natural predators strive for a clean, efficient kill."
My domestic cats disagree.
Applies to the whole meat industry. It doesn't matter how well they treat the animals - at the end, it's still about killing them and cutting them into little pieces. Modern sensibilities don't like that, but we do still like meat, so we've a lot of cultural effort going into seperating the animal from the product.
"Is it easy to port a game written for one gaming platform to another?"
Generally, no, with one exception: XBox or 360 to PC. The XBox and it's successor use the DirectX API for games, just the same as on Windows, which makes porting much easier. This is by design - Microsoft knew it'd make the XBox more attractive to developers if they were able to easily sell the game game to both console and PC gamer markets without having to do extensive porting.
The PS3 is notoriously difficult to port, due to it's unusual Cell processor. PS2 was easier.
Wouldn't help much on EVE, as login names are completly seperate from character names.
Orphanage, by any chance? If so, bring it on. I've got a transport ship with enough warp stabs to escape anything short of a whole fleet of tacklers, and a cloak besides.
Easy solution. Just ban the TV dishes too. Only works in the most repressive regimes, but still a valid option. After all, the only reason anyone might want one is to watch unpatriotic and subversive overseas programming, rather than the culturally appropriate production broadcast by the state media.
LulzSec, rather. My mistake. The rest stands.
This is LulzNet, an Anonymous offshoot. They are apparently just barely more organised, plus you have to actually be invited to join. With Anonymous you just have to turn up and not bring any identification.
If they'll imprison you for not paying? Yes.
I like paying taxes. They pay for the police who minimise the chance I'll get stabbed on the way to work so someone can take my mobile phone.
I've seen the same thing happen even on MMORPG economies. The EVE Online Nocxium bubble. A lot of people made a lot of ISK off that, including me. Then it burst, and all those who hadn't gotten out earlier lost almost everything. It makes a nice price graph: Steady, rise, rise, rise, rise... pause... rise, rise, rise, rise, PLUMET.
There is no shortage of bibles. China has a state-operated Christian church. They don't oppress religion for it's own sake - they oppress anything to which people might be more loyal than they are to the state. The government is more than happy for people to openly worship Christ - so long as the priests understand they need to keep out of politics and not criticise government policy.
In theory bitcoins are uninflateable - the amount in circulation can only ever be finite. In practice the exchange rate can vary depending upon things like the level of trust placed in the currency - in an extreme case, if a critical flaw was found in the algorithm, they would all become worthless within hours. Also, it's questionable if the inability to undergo inflation is a good thing, as it makes the currency vulnerable to deflation - where the spending power of a bitcoin increases over time, thus causing hording and consequently economic failure.
Or 4. Buy one of the many filtering programs available right now, most of which come not only with an extensive blacklist but an auto-update function.
Also, what is this about a 'safe' environment for children? Children are not that fragile.
Rather difficult to hide though. Great option if your intent is to bypass the need for troublesome commercial entities and their highly-regulated, filtered networks and obscene prices. Not so great if your intent is to sneak information past an oppressive government, who will send men to bash your door down and arrest you for subversion if they spot a satellite dish.
Not much they can do. It's got mirrors worldwide, the information is already released, and none of those high-up in the management are dumb enough to visit the US for a long time.
There is the suspicious business with the attempted extradition of Assange on a charge of sexual misconduct, though - I don't usually go in for conspiracy theories, but given the timeing (Warrant issued less than a month after the cable release), and the fact that it was issued based upon accusations that had already been investigated by Swedish police and dismissed as unsubstantiated prior to the cable leaks, it does seem plausible that the US government may have called in a favor and asked the Swedish government to just find something, anything at all, they could arrest him for. Can't prove anything, but it's a definate possibility that there was political involvement.