I don’t know. The recording industry is already in trouble and this probably wouldn’t help it any. If the recording industry had been more fair, historically speaking, to both artists and consumers, it might be looked upon a little more kindly. But the labels are sleeping in a bed of their own making.
"I'd like to live in a perfect world where I own this content and can do whatever I want with it," said Justin Gawronski, a high school student whose copy of "1984" was erased by Amazon, but who recently declined when a lawyer asked him to join a class-action lawsuit over the incident. Mr. Gawronski said, "This is probably going to happen again and we just have to learn to live with it."
Yeah, unfortunately our three branches system lacks an entity charged with removing laws with no effect.
You don't need a "fourth body" for this. You need to pass a "sunset law" that basically says, "all laws which have not been used [by some standard to be decided] within a given time period [say 20 years] are null and void unless specifically re-approved"
Before you get too excited, be aware that the rejection was primarily due to the absence of several government-party members of parliament. The government intends to re-present the bill after the easter recess, and presumably will make sure that all its members of parliament show up. At that point, the law will presumably be approved.
The government cannot re-present the exact same bill, however, so they'll have to make at least a few changes.
I'm sure it's just lazy headline writing, but I think it's important to point out that the Supreme Court did not "grant" habeas corpus to Gitmo inmates -- it ruled that they have that right, ie that they have always had it, even though the government denied it.
OK, so the iPhone is or will be available in lots and lots of countries. But if I have an iPhone bought in one country, can I use it in another WITHOUT using horrendously expensive international roaming, by plugging in a country-specific SIM chip or some other means? THAT's what I need to know -- not that I can buy a brand new iPhone there.
Clarke's writing clearly defines him as a different sort of person. The Foundation series clearly identifies him as a man who knew history.
Ahem. Asimov wrote the Foundation series.
What about all those other comics?
on
Reading Comics
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· Score: 1
How someone can write a book called "Reading Comics" while completely ignoring all but the very narrow range of US-origin comics is somewhat beyond me. May I suggest he learn French and step into any bookstore in Europe?
From TFA: "Apart from the storage fee, you pay $0.20 per gigabyte transferred, but there are no minimum fees and no setup costs, so you pay as you go."
Still, not bad - but the economics for the home user are a little less ideal than first reported.
I think it seems attractive as a way to have a secure, off-site backup. ie you pay the upload fee (once), pay the storage fee, and (ideally) never pay the download fee because your primary on-site backup hasn't failed.
I don't get why so many people seem to think that endless sequels are some phenomenon that Hollywood recently invented.
You can actually go back a lot further than the examples you gave. "Don Quixote", for example, is now generally published as a single book, but is in fact two separate books, the second of which was a sequel to the first (pub in 1605), written some years later (pub in 1615) as a result of the success of the first.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch
on
Bad Day To Be Sony
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· Score: 1
NOt to change your mind or anything, I would like to point out that at Sony's size, the different divisions have little or nothing to do with each other. So the same people who make decisions for the music products are not the same people who make decisions at the playstation divisions. From what I hear, there is some pretty intense inside fighting going on between the people who make mop3 players, and the music division.
Right. So by boycotting the entire company, you give ammunition to those people fighting internally. They can say: "your s***-ups don't just affect Sony Music, they affect us all." And anyone inside who may have thought it's Sony Music's problem will see it's their problem, too.
if you buy second hand, someone gets money and you get a CD or record and the RIAA partners get nothing.
Sorry, but that's wrong. The existence of a thriving second-hand market means people are more willing to buy new things at higher prices. Without a second-hand market, if they buy a $15 CD and don't like it, they're out $15. With a second-hand market, it they buy a $15 CD and don't like it, they're only out the difference between $15 and whatever they can sell it for (eg if they can sell it for $8, they're only out $7). So the risk is less, ergo they're more likely to buy, or are more likely to pay a higher price. So the original vendor may get nothing from the second sale, but they get more from the first sale.
So if you're really anti-Sony, you can't buy their stuff second-hand either.
I think it's a testament to the degree to which the iPod has entered mainstream culture that shortly after Apple's announcement the new video-capable iPod is covered on the main pages of the websites of major news organizations such as BBC, CNN, and the New York Times.
And nothing has been said yet on if you WOULD be able to load it on any Dell or Gateway system. It could very well need some proprietary Mac hardware to run on.
However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac," he said.
How far did you RTA? There's an explicit mention of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the 5th para:
It's also thanks to literature and popular culture concepts, like Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and gadgets such as the communicator and tricorder from Star Trek; see more examples below.
Re:Finding Nemo tops Lion King in the box office.
on
Welcome To Planet Pixar
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· Score: 3, Informative
The Lion King has been toppled by Finding Nemo as the highest grossing animation ever.
Only if you fall into the usual mistake of not adjusting for inflation and compare Lion King's 1994 $319 million with Nemo's 2003 $340 million. But just because in-numerable economics incompetents make this comparison, it doesn't mean it's meaningful.
If you correct for inflation, then things look quite different.
In adjusted terms, the highest grossing animation film is... (drum roll) The Jungle Book. It's $206 million box office take might look paltry compared to Lion King's $313 million, but that was back in 1967 dollars, while Lion King's BO is in 1994 dollars. Adjust both for inflation and you get $627 million for Jungle Book and $423 million for the Lion King (and $340 million for Nemo).
If you rank all movies by adjusted BO, you find lots of animation movies in the top 100. Looking at only the top 50, you have the following animation movies
Rank/Movie/Year/Un-adjusted BO/Adjusted BO (million $)
9 The Jungle Book 1967 $141.8 $626.8 10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 $184.9 $615.2 12 101 Dalmatians 1961 $152.6 $593.9 26 The Lion King 1994 $312.9 $422.5 27 Sleeping Beauty 1959 $51.6 $410.2 31 Bambi 1942 $102.8 $397.4 35 Pinocchio 1940 $84.3 $380.5
As for Finding Nemo, it just misses making the top 50: 51 Finding Nemo $339.7 $339.7
Highest-grossing movie of all time, for those of you who won't bother to check the linked site, is
1 Gone With the Wind 1939 $198.7 $1187.7
Followed by 2 Star Wars 1977 $460.9 $1026.7
Titanic is only 6th: 6 Titanic 1997 $600.8 $747.4
(all of the above in US domestic BO only. The numbers change and the rankings are a little different if world BO is used.)
Ah, but you do. In business class, at least, Lufthansa has electric outlets on every seat. And unlike many other airlines, which offer an outlet that only works with special adapters, the outlets on Luftansa just use your regular power cord and plug.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
This particular question of whether computers are faster, and its moral that they are for some things but not for others, was the subject of a 1957 movie with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Desk Set. In it, Hepburn is a librarian afraid that Tracy is planning to replace her with a large mainframe computer with lots of flashing lights. And in the end we find that yes, the computer is faster for some things, but no, it's not faster than a good librarian for all things, and there's a place for both.
(And yes, I couldn't remember the name of the movie, but it took all of about 5 seconds to find the answer in Google; searching on "hepburn tracy library computer" got me several links, and the second one was so obviously on point that the answer was in the snippet that Google itself quoted.)
The latest issue of the Economist (registration required for some articles, but not this one) has a news item on the SCO lawsuits that calls SCO "a pariah firm in the software industry". I found this interesting, as past coverage by the Economist had been relatively sympathetic to them.
Seems the MPEG-2 problem in QT has been solved. From MacNN:
Apple quietly patches MPEG-2 component bug A MacNN reader reports that Apple has quietly patched the MPEG-2 Component expiring bug that we reported on Monday. Users must login to the Apple Store and visit the software download purchases section to download the updated Component. Versions are available for QuickTime 6.3 and QuickTime 6.4 (in the same download).
Slashdot Mirror
iPad, in combination with the app Papers, is an excellent portable platform for reading scientific PDFs.
The New York Times has an interview with Don Henley of the Eagles on this matter. Here is a delicious quote, right at the end, when Don was asked how he thought revocation would affect recording companies:
Sounds like Gawronski had a change of heart. On Sunday he was quoted in the New York Times saying:
(emphasis added)
Yeah, unfortunately our three branches system lacks an entity charged with removing laws with no effect.
You don't need a "fourth body" for this. You need to pass a "sunset law" that basically says, "all laws which have not been used [by some standard to be decided] within a given time period [say 20 years] are null and void unless specifically re-approved"
Before you get too excited, be aware that the rejection was primarily due to the absence of several government-party members of parliament. The government intends to re-present the bill after the easter recess, and presumably will make sure that all its members of parliament show up. At that point, the law will presumably be approved.
The government cannot re-present the exact same bill, however, so they'll have to make at least a few changes.
I'm sure it's just lazy headline writing, but I think it's important to point out that the Supreme Court did not "grant" habeas corpus to Gitmo inmates -- it ruled that they have that right, ie that they have always had it, even though the government denied it.
OK, so the iPhone is or will be available in lots and lots of countries. But if I have an iPhone bought in one country, can I use it in another WITHOUT using horrendously expensive international roaming, by plugging in a country-specific SIM chip or some other means? THAT's what I need to know -- not that I can buy a brand new iPhone there.
Ahem. Asimov wrote the Foundation series.
How someone can write a book called "Reading Comics" while completely ignoring all but the very narrow range of US-origin comics is somewhat beyond me. May I suggest he learn French and step into any bookstore in Europe?
Apple has just announced a $100 Apple store credit for all early adopters of the iPhone. See Steve Jobs' open letter on the Apple website.
That's just like the classic joke: The food here is terrible! And the portions are so small!
I think it seems attractive as a way to have a secure, off-site backup. ie you pay the upload fee (once), pay the storage fee, and (ideally) never pay the download fee because your primary on-site backup hasn't failed.
You can actually go back a lot further than the examples you gave. "Don Quixote", for example, is now generally published as a single book, but is in fact two separate books, the second of which was a sequel to the first (pub in 1605), written some years later (pub in 1615) as a result of the success of the first.
Right. So by boycotting the entire company, you give ammunition to those people fighting internally. They can say: "your s***-ups don't just affect Sony Music, they affect us all." And anyone inside who may have thought it's Sony Music's problem will see it's their problem, too.
Sorry, but that's wrong. The existence of a thriving second-hand market means people are more willing to buy new things at higher prices. Without a second-hand market, if they buy a $15 CD and don't like it, they're out $15. With a second-hand market, it they buy a $15 CD and don't like it, they're only out the difference between $15 and whatever they can sell it for (eg if they can sell it for $8, they're only out $7). So the risk is less, ergo they're more likely to buy, or are more likely to pay a higher price. So the original vendor may get nothing from the second sale, but they get more from the first sale.
So if you're really anti-Sony, you can't buy their stuff second-hand either.
It's hard to be pure...
I think it's a testament to the degree to which the iPod has entered mainstream culture that shortly after Apple's announcement the new video-capable iPod is covered on the main pages of the websites of major news organizations such as BBC, CNN, and the New York Times.
Actually, something has been said, by Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller, no less:
(at the very bottom of the article)
No. The FAA is part of the Department of Transportation
There's an in-depth review at Digital Bits, including some screen shots of the major changes.
Only if you fall into the usual mistake of not adjusting for inflation and compare Lion King's 1994 $319 million with Nemo's 2003 $340 million. But just because in-numerable economics incompetents make this comparison, it doesn't mean it's meaningful.
If you correct for inflation, then things look quite different.
In adjusted terms, the highest grossing animation film is... (drum roll) The Jungle Book. It's $206 million box office take might look paltry compared to Lion King's $313 million, but that was back in 1967 dollars, while Lion King's BO is in 1994 dollars. Adjust both for inflation and you get $627 million for Jungle Book and $423 million for the Lion King (and $340 million for Nemo).
If you rank all movies by adjusted BO, you find lots of animation movies in the top 100. Looking at only the top 50, you have the following animation movies
Rank/Movie/Year/Un-adjusted BO/Adjusted BO (million $)
9 The Jungle Book 1967 $141.8 $626.8
10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 $184.9 $615.2
12 101 Dalmatians 1961 $152.6 $593.9
26 The Lion King 1994 $312.9 $422.5
27 Sleeping Beauty 1959 $51.6 $410.2
31 Bambi 1942 $102.8 $397.4
35 Pinocchio 1940 $84.3 $380.5
As for Finding Nemo, it just misses making the top 50:
51 Finding Nemo $339.7 $339.7
Highest-grossing movie of all time, for those of you who won't bother to check the linked site, is
1 Gone With the Wind 1939 $198.7 $1187.7
Followed by
2 Star Wars 1977 $460.9 $1026.7
Titanic is only 6th:
6 Titanic 1997 $600.8 $747.4
(all of the above in US domestic BO only. The numbers change and the rankings are a little different if world BO is used.)
You still don't have an electrical outlet.
Ah, but you do. In business class, at least, Lufthansa has electric outlets on every seat. And unlike many other airlines, which offer an outlet that only works with special adapters, the outlets on Luftansa just use your regular power cord and plug.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
This particular question of whether computers are faster, and its moral that they are for some things but not for others, was the subject of a 1957 movie with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Desk Set. In it, Hepburn is a librarian afraid that Tracy is planning to replace her with a large mainframe computer with lots of flashing lights. And in the end we find that yes, the computer is faster for some things, but no, it's not faster than a good librarian for all things, and there's a place for both.
(And yes, I couldn't remember the name of the movie, but it took all of about 5 seconds to find the answer in Google; searching on "hepburn tracy library computer" got me several links, and the second one was so obviously on point that the answer was in the snippet that Google itself quoted.)
The latest issue of the Economist (registration required for some articles, but not this one) has a news item on the SCO lawsuits that calls SCO "a pariah firm in the software industry". I found this interesting, as past coverage by the Economist had been relatively sympathetic to them.
From MacNN: