Withholding the information will work for now while this stuff is still in turmoil. However, if it becomes established across all businesses, then where will you go to buy food if no one will sell it to you without your phone number? What about a car? A home or apartment? I'm not so paranoid that I object to giving out a little personal information (like a ZIP code) but I don't like the idea of giving companies information not directly relevant to the business we're doing. If you're shipping me something, I can see why you would need my phone number. If I'm buying it in-store, then you don't need that. Unfortunately, most people will just give whatever information is asked for... I've had people give me their SS# or bank PIN because they misunderstood me when I was asking for something else.
The general masses don't understand that information is the ultimate smart bomb... it can be used to target a single individual with almost no collateral damage and can be launched from anywhere in the world at any time with no warning. The only defense is to protect the information and prevent it from spreading as much as possible.
Anne Frank's diary would have likely been considerably shorter if she had access to Facebook or other social media. The Reich would have probably been monitoring it pretty closely. We've recently seen how the Internet can help revolution in some countries, but none of them have been under an iron grip as tight by a country with the resources of Nazi Germany, in which case the Internet would probably have been used against the people more than helping them.
I can think of a few - The citizens who own the corporations, or are sufficiently high enough in its organization to make wads of money off it - The citizens who think POTUS is on the right track, but is approaching it wrong or have issues with the current implementation - The crazy fuckers who oppose POTUS at every turn because he's black/Arab/has a white grandmother/The Man/Muslim/not Muslim/supports Israel/hates Israel/is from Kenya/is from Hawaii/is getting gray hairs/etc - The slightly less crazy fuckers who oppose POTUS at every turn because they oppose his general political stance, but don't have the time/effort to pick and choose which specific issues to oppose - and many more!
I think the DVR concept is a step backwards compared to live streaming. It might provide a temporary band-aid for congested networks, but on-demand streaming suits the must-have-now pace of modern society better.
The idea that life here began out there is not new (see panspermia or Battlestar Galactica). We just never really thought about where life may have started if it didn't begin on Earth. Given that the Earth is only about as third as old as the Universe in general, and that stars from the earlier Universe tended to have shorter lifespans, means that a planet with life could have evolved over a few billion years, then the sun could have exploded and some trace of that life may have made it to Earth where it was reawakened in the presence of heat and other elements. The fact that we have to worry about contaminating Mars and the various other bodies we share this sun with means that it could have very well happened the other way too.
This is dealing with evolution, not origin of life. While it fits even less with a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible than life originating on Earth, it weighs neither positively nor negatively on whether life arose on its own or was created by a deity.
I wouldn't say DRM is akin to prison rape... perhaps more like traffic laws. Lightweight DRM is akin to a 55mph stretch of highway on a sparsely populated section of road with a trooper passing through every now and then. It deprives you of complete freedom of travel, but it's easily broken with few consequences. Draconian DRM is more like a freeway with a 15mph limit with troopers posted every mile and speed limit cameras between them, which effectively halts freedom of travel.
Over two years, I pay $1320 for Time Warner's 15mbps service ($55/mo) Over two, with your setup fee, Sony comes out to $1624 ($67.67/mo)
Over ten years (assuming prices stay in step with each other), Sony works out to be a hair cheaper than Time Warner for more than 130 times faster Internet. Well worth it imo.
Tokyo's population density is significantly higher than New York, LA or any other American city (~4700 per sq km in Tokyo compared to ~2700 per sq km in LA or 2050 in NYC). And then there's the fact that the Tokyo area's total population is almost double NYC's.
You can 'compete' with someone you're not in direct business competition for. If nothing else, being able to market as "The fast ISP on Earth' (or you could even get away with 'In the known Universe') sounds better than 'The fastest ISP in the country'.
The numbers are a few years old, but still pretty relevant.
Seoul is ~16,000 people per square kilometer with > 17.5 million residents Tokyo/Yokohama is ~4,700 people per square kilometer with > 33 million residents Los Angeles is ~2,750 people per square kilometer with ~12 million residents New York City is ~2,050 people per square kilometer with ~18 million residents
The United States has nowhere near the concentrations or densities of people that Japan and South Korea has. On top of that, the USA has vast distances of relatively nothingness that you need to account for as well... you have to look at the big picture of it all.
Another advantage of text messaging is that (most) phones will keep trying to send it every few minutes/seconds until it goes through, whereas voice requires you to keep trying manually. This, combined with the lower bandwidth requirements and less battery usage, are why they recommend sending texts if you're lost in the woods with little or no reception... it's much more likely to get through and much less likely to kill the battery. I use text messaging a lot at work just because signal is so poor inside the building I can't keep a voice call connected for a more than a couple minutes.
Not really. For DRM to be effective, there needs to be two parts.
1) Makes non-legitimate sources more difficult, lower quality, etc compared to the legitimate source (the locked door analogy above). Netflix does this pretty well... it takes more time and effort for me to find a given episode of Star Trek on TPB than it does on Netflix, and I have to wait for it to download from TPB whereas Netflix I can start watching in seconds. Netflix also gives me a known quality of video, whereas TPB's quality is unknown until I spend the time waiting for it to download.
2) The pricing/acquisition model has to be reasonable enough that people are willing to pay for the convenience of getting it from the legitimate source. Netflix does this very well. I spend more going to McDonalds twice a month than I do on Netflix.
If only Walmart would spend the time, money and infrastructure to stock that one brand of cereal that most people don't care about just so I can have it...
I don't see DRM as "all or nothing". Lightweight, non-intrusive DRM isn't bad. Currently, Netflix's DRM only affects me by requiring me to have Silverlight installed... a minor nuisance for a majority of people that is usually forgotten once it's installed. Sure, there will also be some fringe cases where it prevents them from doing what they want, but the vast majority isn't bothered by it in the least. I also don't mind games that want to phone home once a month or so to verify the product key. I can accept the little stuff like this as protecting their business model... if someone wants to get around it, it's not difficult but it will keep most customers paying because it's not worth the hassle to them.
However, super tight DRM, like the "always on" shit we're seeing with Diablo III and SimCity 5 is a major nuisance and will keep my dollars in my wallet.
I had to install the Netflix app to watch it on my phone or tablet. It won't stream to the web browser. Installing an app is little different from installing Silverlight... it's still one more thing to install.
Seeing as you can already stream on consoles, most Android devices, most iDevices, etc it's obvious they already have non-Silverlight methods of delivery. However, most of the non-Silverlight devices they deliver to have their own methods of DRM built in to the OS or the app (usually both)... not something that's as easily controllable on a PC running a standard web browser.
Very true. Of all of the services I subscribe to, including Internet, cell phone, electric, rent, insurance and so on, I feel Netflix is by far the best value and I'm happy to pay each month less than the cost of a movie ticket at a cheap theater in exchange for entertainment that's only limited by my free time and my crappy ISP (which, coincidentally, is one of the worst values I get for my money).
Likewise, I'll donate a few dollars here and there to software that I use even if it's released for free. It's partially because I want to see development continue but mostly because I feel it's a fair exchange.
Reminds me of batch files, personally. As long as the script runs in a loop of some sort, you can have Notepad open to edit the script while it's still running. I think shell scripts are the same way, although I haven't done much with shell scripts in years.
It was one of the first places my girlfriend took me to after I moved to Rochester. Pretty cool place. Although the collection of dolls is creepy. Actually, dolls in general are just creepy.
Of course, I'm out of town visiting my parents when all this is going on now...
You're kind of a moron, aren't you? Assuming that your opinion is the "right" one on all of the topics you list. A big part of the problem is that we limit ourselves to two opinions... liberal and conservative... and then stick to that opinion on all issues.
Personally, I'm liberal on a small portion of topics (mostly social), but fairly conservative on a wide range of other topics. Therefore if I have to label myself, I'd call myself conservative. However, if I were to list where I stand on the current "hot topics", most people would peg me as liberal.
Hey, you can have different opinions on different topics. Who knew?
Who owns Motorola Mobility? Google does! Seriously, even reading the comment you're replying to would have told you he was making a sarcastic remark telling Motorola and its owner, Google, to be more like the other litigant, Apple.
You seem to think that our anti-missile systems are foolproof. They're far from fool-proof... especially when it comes to taking down a missile over enemy territory (which would be an aggressive move on our part to begin with). When it comes down to it, every second counts when trying to shoot down missiles, and that means keeping as close an eye on every sabre-rattler with launch capability.
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Withholding the information will work for now while this stuff is still in turmoil. However, if it becomes established across all businesses, then where will you go to buy food if no one will sell it to you without your phone number? What about a car? A home or apartment? I'm not so paranoid that I object to giving out a little personal information (like a ZIP code) but I don't like the idea of giving companies information not directly relevant to the business we're doing. If you're shipping me something, I can see why you would need my phone number. If I'm buying it in-store, then you don't need that. Unfortunately, most people will just give whatever information is asked for... I've had people give me their SS# or bank PIN because they misunderstood me when I was asking for something else.
The general masses don't understand that information is the ultimate smart bomb... it can be used to target a single individual with almost no collateral damage and can be launched from anywhere in the world at any time with no warning. The only defense is to protect the information and prevent it from spreading as much as possible.
Anne Frank's diary would have likely been considerably shorter if she had access to Facebook or other social media. The Reich would have probably been monitoring it pretty closely. We've recently seen how the Internet can help revolution in some countries, but none of them have been under an iron grip as tight by a country with the resources of Nazi Germany, in which case the Internet would probably have been used against the people more than helping them.
I can think of a few
- The citizens who own the corporations, or are sufficiently high enough in its organization to make wads of money off it
- The citizens who think POTUS is on the right track, but is approaching it wrong or have issues with the current implementation
- The crazy fuckers who oppose POTUS at every turn because he's black/Arab/has a white grandmother/The Man/Muslim/not Muslim/supports Israel/hates Israel/is from Kenya/is from Hawaii/is getting gray hairs/etc
- The slightly less crazy fuckers who oppose POTUS at every turn because they oppose his general political stance, but don't have the time/effort to pick and choose which specific issues to oppose
- and many more!
I think the DVR concept is a step backwards compared to live streaming. It might provide a temporary band-aid for congested networks, but on-demand streaming suits the must-have-now pace of modern society better.
The idea that life here began out there is not new (see panspermia or Battlestar Galactica). We just never really thought about where life may have started if it didn't begin on Earth. Given that the Earth is only about as third as old as the Universe in general, and that stars from the earlier Universe tended to have shorter lifespans, means that a planet with life could have evolved over a few billion years, then the sun could have exploded and some trace of that life may have made it to Earth where it was reawakened in the presence of heat and other elements. The fact that we have to worry about contaminating Mars and the various other bodies we share this sun with means that it could have very well happened the other way too.
This is dealing with evolution, not origin of life. While it fits even less with a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible than life originating on Earth, it weighs neither positively nor negatively on whether life arose on its own or was created by a deity.
I wouldn't say DRM is akin to prison rape... perhaps more like traffic laws. Lightweight DRM is akin to a 55mph stretch of highway on a sparsely populated section of road with a trooper passing through every now and then. It deprives you of complete freedom of travel, but it's easily broken with few consequences. Draconian DRM is more like a freeway with a 15mph limit with troopers posted every mile and speed limit cameras between them, which effectively halts freedom of travel.
Over two years, I pay $1320 for Time Warner's 15mbps service ($55/mo)
Over two, with your setup fee, Sony comes out to $1624 ($67.67/mo)
Over ten years (assuming prices stay in step with each other), Sony works out to be a hair cheaper than Time Warner for more than 130 times faster Internet. Well worth it imo.
Tokyo's population density is significantly higher than New York, LA or any other American city (~4700 per sq km in Tokyo compared to ~2700 per sq km in LA or 2050 in NYC). And then there's the fact that the Tokyo area's total population is almost double NYC's.
You can 'compete' with someone you're not in direct business competition for. If nothing else, being able to market as "The fast ISP on Earth' (or you could even get away with 'In the known Universe') sounds better than 'The fastest ISP in the country'.
The numbers are a few years old, but still pretty relevant.
Seoul is ~16,000 people per square kilometer with > 17.5 million residents
Tokyo/Yokohama is ~4,700 people per square kilometer with > 33 million residents
Los Angeles is ~2,750 people per square kilometer with ~12 million residents
New York City is ~2,050 people per square kilometer with ~18 million residents
The United States has nowhere near the concentrations or densities of people that Japan and South Korea has. On top of that, the USA has vast distances of relatively nothingness that you need to account for as well... you have to look at the big picture of it all.
Source: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html
Another advantage of text messaging is that (most) phones will keep trying to send it every few minutes/seconds until it goes through, whereas voice requires you to keep trying manually. This, combined with the lower bandwidth requirements and less battery usage, are why they recommend sending texts if you're lost in the woods with little or no reception... it's much more likely to get through and much less likely to kill the battery. I use text messaging a lot at work just because signal is so poor inside the building I can't keep a voice call connected for a more than a couple minutes.
Not really. For DRM to be effective, there needs to be two parts.
1) Makes non-legitimate sources more difficult, lower quality, etc compared to the legitimate source (the locked door analogy above). Netflix does this pretty well... it takes more time and effort for me to find a given episode of Star Trek on TPB than it does on Netflix, and I have to wait for it to download from TPB whereas Netflix I can start watching in seconds. Netflix also gives me a known quality of video, whereas TPB's quality is unknown until I spend the time waiting for it to download.
2) The pricing/acquisition model has to be reasonable enough that people are willing to pay for the convenience of getting it from the legitimate source. Netflix does this very well. I spend more going to McDonalds twice a month than I do on Netflix.
If only Walmart would spend the time, money and infrastructure to stock that one brand of cereal that most people don't care about just so I can have it...
I don't see DRM as "all or nothing". Lightweight, non-intrusive DRM isn't bad. Currently, Netflix's DRM only affects me by requiring me to have Silverlight installed... a minor nuisance for a majority of people that is usually forgotten once it's installed. Sure, there will also be some fringe cases where it prevents them from doing what they want, but the vast majority isn't bothered by it in the least. I also don't mind games that want to phone home once a month or so to verify the product key. I can accept the little stuff like this as protecting their business model... if someone wants to get around it, it's not difficult but it will keep most customers paying because it's not worth the hassle to them.
However, super tight DRM, like the "always on" shit we're seeing with Diablo III and SimCity 5 is a major nuisance and will keep my dollars in my wallet.
I had to install the Netflix app to watch it on my phone or tablet. It won't stream to the web browser. Installing an app is little different from installing Silverlight... it's still one more thing to install.
Seeing as you can already stream on consoles, most Android devices, most iDevices, etc it's obvious they already have non-Silverlight methods of delivery. However, most of the non-Silverlight devices they deliver to have their own methods of DRM built in to the OS or the app (usually both)... not something that's as easily controllable on a PC running a standard web browser.
Very true. Of all of the services I subscribe to, including Internet, cell phone, electric, rent, insurance and so on, I feel Netflix is by far the best value and I'm happy to pay each month less than the cost of a movie ticket at a cheap theater in exchange for entertainment that's only limited by my free time and my crappy ISP (which, coincidentally, is one of the worst values I get for my money).
Likewise, I'll donate a few dollars here and there to software that I use even if it's released for free. It's partially because I want to see development continue but mostly because I feel it's a fair exchange.
Reminds me of batch files, personally. As long as the script runs in a loop of some sort, you can have Notepad open to edit the script while it's still running. I think shell scripts are the same way, although I haven't done much with shell scripts in years.
It was one of the first places my girlfriend took me to after I moved to Rochester. Pretty cool place. Although the collection of dolls is creepy. Actually, dolls in general are just creepy.
Of course, I'm out of town visiting my parents when all this is going on now...
You're kind of a moron, aren't you? Assuming that your opinion is the "right" one on all of the topics you list. A big part of the problem is that we limit ourselves to two opinions... liberal and conservative... and then stick to that opinion on all issues.
Personally, I'm liberal on a small portion of topics (mostly social), but fairly conservative on a wide range of other topics. Therefore if I have to label myself, I'd call myself conservative. However, if I were to list where I stand on the current "hot topics", most people would peg me as liberal.
Hey, you can have different opinions on different topics. Who knew?
Personally, I think flying sharks with lasers is a more viable option than most people give it credit for.
Who owns Motorola Mobility? Google does! Seriously, even reading the comment you're replying to would have told you he was making a sarcastic remark telling Motorola and its owner, Google, to be more like the other litigant, Apple.
You seem to think that our anti-missile systems are foolproof. They're far from fool-proof... especially when it comes to taking down a missile over enemy territory (which would be an aggressive move on our part to begin with). When it comes down to it, every second counts when trying to shoot down missiles, and that means keeping as close an eye on every sabre-rattler with launch capability.
You may not want to publicly advertise that juvenile penises make you come... or even that they satisfy you at all.