The XBOX 1 DVD Remote has 27 buttons. It doesn't seem like a lot when accessing movies using XBox Media Centre. Sometimes too few buttons causes even more trouble.
I actually am a paying customer. The product is useful, but there are many, many ways in which it could be improved. As the person above says, they have a talented artist, but are low on actual usability.
Actually, this is just the beginning. The news agencies business is selling hard-to-find content to newspapers (yes the stuff you can't get on a blog). That business is being eroded, not helped by Google news. The next stage is to stop providing newsfeeds to free access sites. Reuters, AP, AFP will all require a paid site. Welcome to the news subscription net.
It is inevitable that newpapers will move to a subscription model. Online ad revenue is low and there is just too much money involved, and the sources of the information are in the hands of a few news organisations.
Just like iTunes changed music, one day (quite soon, and just as suddenly) we will see an iNews equivalent giving paid access to multiple news sources. On the other side legal enforcement of their IP by news agencies will be stepped up (just like RIAA). Most newsgathering is in the hands of a few companies (Reuters, AP etc), when they say "no more free sites," it's over.
There will be lots of complaints form the "information wants to be free" crowd, but they will end up paying anyway.
To maintain their sites, Bloggers will actually be amongst the first to sign-up to such a model. Especially when they realise they can receive substantial affilliate money for sign-ups:)
Newsblogs are good for fact-checking and opinion. The hard bit, the newsgathering and primary reporting is what people have to pay for (because there can be no opinion pieces without it).
Blogs will always be hampered by this lack of ability to actually gather news. As mainstream media realises that blog-like opinion is easy to add to their sites, there will be further integration of user opinion and blog-like features into their sites.
The main problem with free software can be boiled down to the adage "It's easy to make a product, but hard to make a business". For a business you need both the ability to create a product and the ability to sell it. It is on the sales side that free software will always fail. You simply cannot get sales or marketing people excited about selling free software.
Some people might say that you don't need those people on board, that everyone will automatically be drawn to the benefits of free software. The problem is that the benefits of the product can be cannot be expressed to a professional level because salespeople/marketers have nothing to gain. Paid-for software will almost always succeed against free software.
We have been working for years to get to the top position in our main keyword on Google, but cannot do so, even though we are the most popular site -- by far -- on our keyword and should be in the top five. Google continues to give higher rank to sites that are MUCH less popular than us.
If MS can make a search engine that tracks actual visitor usage of sites and publish it OPENLY (such as Alexa.com does, but on a larger scale) instead of the CLOSED SOURCE Google PR algorithm then I will gladly sign up.
Kamen got it all wrong -- The segway should have been a replacement for sitting, just like that wheelchair gizmo he made. Imagine a moving seat taking the place of your sofa. Press a button to go to the fridge. Another to go to the movies (parking space in the theater). Hell, you could even build in a toilet and never leave your seat.
Coooooool!
I totally agree. If Apple, or Microsoft, can make a global payment gateway for content, in the same way that Apple made i-tunes, then we will have the killer app./ Any, yes, your blog will sign up too.
The fact that digital content can be distributed for no additional cost...
Any content source, or wannbe journo, that thinks distribution is free is in denial (not a river in Egypt).
The biggest cost of distribution is MARKETING. Ask Coca-cola. Up to now the business model for most news content, for example, has ridden on the huge growth of the net = lots of free publicity and free content to build the market and get people used tot he idea of using the net.
Well,nopw that you are used to it, you can get used to paying for it too.
Now the market is saturated, sites will start to charge, but to charge they have to MARKET their benefits because they are now trying to take market share from each other. The business model works that way, because their competitors are doing the same thing.
I own an online news site and I believe that micropayments could work if they were applied globally and simultaneously, as in the case of Apple's i-tunes. The entire news industry is waiting for such a system.
The market will return to the way it was before the net. You will pay for music, you will pay for news. Enjoy the free ride for now -- it won't last much longer.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's go for Space Race 3.0!!!
I'm sure they'll help out!
Of course it's got bugs -- it's a beta!
Did you hear about the clairvoyant's convention?
It was cancelled due to unforseen circumstances.
Don't fart in your spacesuit.
The XBOX 1 DVD Remote has 27 buttons. It doesn't seem like a lot when accessing movies using XBox Media Centre. Sometimes too few buttons causes even more trouble.
Should actually be "How ICANN Undermined the Internet"
A poorly-written article about a poorly-written movie.
I actually am a paying customer. The product is useful, but there are many, many ways in which it could be improved. As the person above says, they have a talented artist, but are low on actual usability.
OK, try http://www.americatoday.net/
I did what you said and you were wrong. Six out of 10 were spam.
Actually, this is just the beginning. The news agencies business is selling hard-to-find content to newspapers (yes the stuff you can't get on a blog). That business is being eroded, not helped by Google news. The next stage is to stop providing newsfeeds to free access sites. Reuters, AP, AFP will all require a paid site. Welcome to the news subscription net.
Coprorations do not exist to do evil or good. They exist to make money for their shareholders.
It is inevitable that newpapers will move to a subscription model. Online ad revenue is low and there is just too much money involved, and the sources of the information are in the hands of a few news organisations.
:)
Just like iTunes changed music, one day (quite soon, and just as suddenly) we will see an iNews equivalent giving paid access to multiple news sources. On the other side legal enforcement of their IP by news agencies will be stepped up (just like RIAA). Most newsgathering is in the hands of a few companies (Reuters, AP etc), when they say "no more free sites," it's over.
There will be lots of complaints form the "information wants to be free" crowd, but they will end up paying anyway.
To maintain their sites, Bloggers will actually be amongst the first to sign-up to such a model. Especially when they realise they can receive substantial affilliate money for sign-ups
Newsblogs are good for fact-checking and opinion. The hard bit, the newsgathering and primary reporting is what people have to pay for (because there can be no opinion pieces without it).
Blogs will always be hampered by this lack of ability to actually gather news. As mainstream media realises that blog-like opinion is easy to add to their sites, there will be further integration of user opinion and blog-like features into their sites.
The main problem with free software can be boiled down to the adage "It's easy to make a product, but hard to make a business". For a business you need both the ability to create a product and the ability to sell it. It is on the sales side that free software will always fail. You simply cannot get sales or marketing people excited about selling free software.
Some people might say that you don't need those people on board, that everyone will automatically be drawn to the benefits of free software. The problem is that the benefits of the product can be cannot be expressed to a professional level because salespeople/marketers have nothing to gain. Paid-for software will almost always succeed against free software.
We have been working for years to get to the top position in our main keyword on Google, but cannot do so, even though we are the most popular site -- by far -- on our keyword and should be in the top five. Google continues to give higher rank to sites that are MUCH less popular than us.
If MS can make a search engine that tracks actual visitor usage of sites and publish it OPENLY (such as Alexa.com does, but on a larger scale) instead of the CLOSED SOURCE Google PR algorithm then I will gladly sign up.
I am sure many other Webmasters agree.
Kamen got it all wrong -- The segway should have been a replacement for sitting, just like that wheelchair gizmo he made. Imagine a moving seat taking the place of your sofa. Press a button to go to the fridge. Another to go to the movies (parking space in the theater). Hell, you could even build in a toilet and never leave your seat. Coooooool!
I totally agree. If Apple, or Microsoft, can make a global payment gateway for content, in the same way that Apple made i-tunes, then we will have the killer app./ Any, yes, your blog will sign up too.
The fact that digital content can be distributed for no additional cost...
Any content source, or wannbe journo, that thinks distribution is free is in denial (not a river in Egypt).
The biggest cost of distribution is MARKETING. Ask Coca-cola. Up to now the business model for most news content, for example, has ridden on the huge growth of the net = lots of free publicity and free content to build the market and get people used tot he idea of using the net.
Well,nopw that you are used to it, you can get used to paying for it too.
Now the market is saturated, sites will start to charge, but to charge they have to MARKET their benefits because they are now trying to take market share from each other. The business model works that way, because their competitors are doing the same thing.
I own an online news site and I believe that micropayments could work if they were applied globally and simultaneously, as in the case of Apple's i-tunes. The entire news industry is waiting for such a system.
The market will return to the way it was before the net. You will pay for music, you will pay for news. Enjoy the free ride for now -- it won't last much longer.
Microsoft when you need them?
My guess would be that over 75% of teenagers play or have played 'violent' video games at some point or another. Does that include the girls too?
Does this mean you can stick it up your ass?