Thank you for the info - just installed SlashFix and Slashdot renders SO MUCH better now - not perfect, but at least consistant and no overlapping text.
If you didn't have access to all of what's on cable, how could you decide which 10 shows are worth wathcing?
Very good point.
Tivo has a "showcases" feature where their "partners" could (pay to) set up their own listings of what they are showing. They also have a "Tivo" showcase which lists things across the board in different categories. When I first got my Tivo some 5+ years ago, I thought these were useless. However soon after I got my Tivo I completely stopped watching live TV and skipped commercials in recordings and so a few years later I realized that I have never heard of many of the shows that started after I got my tivo. If I did not read about it on internet or was told about it by a friend, the show did not exist. And then I re-discovered the Tivo showcase - specifically the section listing new shows. Every once in a while (especially right before season starts) I would go there and look through what is coming up. If something catches my eye, I will record a few episodes, if I like it - then I "season pass" it. Simple and very effective.
Something like this is easy to implement and free to download previews or pilots can make it even easier. And as long as you put the viewer in charge of choosing what and when to see, Adverts for new shows may not be a bad thing.
Then there is always review sites, magazines, etc.
It's not like everybody is flocking to TiVO so that they can skip commercials... there's actually a pretty low adoption rate compared to what it should be for such a cool technology.
Well, PVR adoption rate is growing fast, with everyone offering their version.
That being said, I went to buy a TiVO this Christmas, and balked when they told me that I 'had' to buy the package, which included the TiVO subscription for $12.95/mo (IIRC)... so I passed... I already pay once for television (my cable rate), so I'm not going to increase that cost just to get digital copies and instant access.
That is not entirely true, although standalone Tivo is just that, Tivo Basic is free (less options, more like a VCR, but still functional) and DirectTV Tivo offering is $5 for any number of tivos (or free if you get some packages)
Now if they'd actually remove that stupid requirement, I just might buy one... until then, I'll make due with my VCR (though I've also been eyeballing the DVD-RW recorders, which look pretty cool... and don't require a subscription).
For one, if they remove the stupid requirement, Tivo would have NO real income - this is where Tivo company makes money to stay alive.
What you are not understanding (dont feel so bad, most people who never used tivo do not understand) is that Tivo is NOT a direct replacement for VCR (however DVD-RW is - so if you want a VCR replacement, get one!!) You actually get something for your $13 (or $5 for two tivos in my case) - that something is ability to watch SHOWS instead of NETWORKS. It is hard to actually explain, but if you try it for a few weeks you will understand.
That may be true, but the bottom line is that companies pay TV networks to advertise there because you and millions of people like you watch the shows, and will therefore watch the advertisements. If everyone is skipping over the ads, then companies are not getting the visibility they were going for when they bought that ad, and continuing to buy ads in television media is no longer worthwhile.
As more and more people skip over ads, demand for ad space will go down, price will follow, and so will the total revenue of these networks, which operate almost entirely from revenue generated by advertisements. This is why DVR technology sucks so bad for television stations. Widespread use of DVR technology could potentially cut off their primary source of revenue, and unless people are willing to pay far more for television than they do already, TV stations are at a loss as to how to replace that revenue.
That being said, I watch shows exclusively from my DVR now. Even if I'm sitting there with nothing to do while the show is on, I'll record it and watch some other pre-recorded show, then watch the first show later, when I can skip over the ads, so I guess I'm part of the problem.
Dead on. I believe Darwin called this evolution. TV Networks are becoming obsolete and they are fighting tooth and nail to survive. If they do not find a way to make money, (i.e. outlaw PVRs, pass laws against skipping commercials, find alternate revenue stream, etc.) they will die. It is certainly a bad thing for networks, but is it a bad thing for shows or for the viewer? Right now networks are a middle man with too much control - get rid of them and both the TV producers and viewers will be happy. Sell TV directly to consumer. A few decades back HBO and the like figured out a way to bypass advertizing and networks to sell (almost) directly to consumer - you pay for the channel, they are not hurt a bit by PVRs. Now someone needs to start selling content directly to PVRs over network - bypass cable company, bypass networks, etc. Sell shows, not channels.... here I go off on a rabling rant again....been saying this for at least 5 years, since I got my first Tivo...
Sounds good to me. I would love for my daughter to be able to spot a pedophile from 25 yards away.
Heh, but she will only be able to spot the ones that were caught. With "1 in 3" stats on child abuse I am guessing this is a VERY small percentage of actual pedofiles. So getting into that creepy old guys white van is probably not a good idea EVEN if he is not sporting a shiny big "A" on his forehead.
Setting aside privacy issues, what would GPS really accomplish in this case? Restraining order is usually against a person, not a place, so unless you track that person (now we ARE puting GPS on nominaly innocent person) and try to reconcile in real time the difference between them, GPS data is not very usefull. Seems like a better use of technology in this case would be to use a radio based proximity meter for the victim (or whomever the restraining order is supposed to protect) and criminal that will alert the victim (and cops) of proximity. At least this may have some chance of protecting someone. That combined with a GPS device on the criminal *MAY* be useful to summon the police, but seems a bit of a stretch anyway.
When you've spent billions hardening a technology to extremes of reliability, a single failure costs you hundreds of millions and maybe several lives, and the technology you've hardened is more than adequate for the next job, you'd be a fool to switch.
And they aint no fools, cuz they did not switch and of course they never had any failures. Fear of change is FATAL.
Sure about that? I have multi-megabyte pdfs; are you absolutely sure that the equivalent Word docs would be multi-gigabyte?
In my limited experience, yes. But thinking more on that, it probably has to do with me making very large docs using things like Visio and Word. I had visio files compress from 8Meg to under 100K when output to PDF and I saw similar things using Word. Now why a several page Visio doc should be over 8meg is beyond me,MS app data files tend to bloat fast if you substantialy edit them. But I guess you may be right as this may not represent average use.
Forget about virus vulnerabilities and proprietary lock-in for a moment. Given that they're realists about using universally accepted formats, their choice shouldn't be surprising. I mean, who *doesn't* have something that will open Word documents? Now think about how many can open an.sxw, or even know what it is.
Personally by your own argument PDF would have been a much better choice - much more universally accepted - no need to worry about proprietary lock-in, (somewhat) open format, can be generated from any application, can be open and unlike word looks consistent on any platform or printer, yada yada yada. Also often several orders of magnitude smaller files than MS formats.
Microsoft...Open Source...? As entertaining as this article is, the chances of such things materializing are thin.
Closed desktop on top of open OS may not be as far fetched as you'd think. Apple has done exactly that with OSX and not like MS never stole ideas from Apple (which is not specific to MS either)....
They'll do the same thing they always do - half the product at twice the price. Something with the functionality of the PSX, with a pricetag of around $400. Oh, but it will come in a WHITE CASE! Now that would be worth paying extra for...and yet the herds will buy....
1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. Where: W: Weather D: Debt d: Money due in January pay T: Time since Christmas Q: Time since failed quit attempt M: General motivational levels NA: The need to take action
Read it carefuly, actually it is -1 Creationism. They are ruling creationist's stickers unconstitutional, though wierdly enough part of me feels like it is also "-1 Free Speech".:-/ I am kinda split if it is a good thing to make "keep open mind" stickers unconstitutional.
Application is everything in this case. If most torrent traffic is for stealing mucis, movies, or software then there is a problem regardless of other uses it could have
So, since computers are used to pirate stuff, we should ban them too? That will really make the music and movie industries happy. Not so much for software industry though.
To assume that these are being used for piracy is a bit paranoid. You're talking about paying $27k for the ability to "pirate" $6k in software. There's no significant financial incentive to use this device for copyright infringement purposes.
A devil's advocate moment -
For these end users it is a convinience to use this device to "pirate" stuff, not a way to save money. People lend dvd's all the time and if you have this device you can borrow a bunch of dvds and dump them into it - not because you cannot afford it but because a - you do not have to and b - it is easier
Thing is while it makes no financial sense to the so called "pirate", the DVD makers do loose significant amount in revenue. Even if the owner of such device buys the dvd and then gives it to someone else.
Generally speaking, the viewership of shows is in millions (relatively low ratings of cable shows is usualy about 1-1.5 mil) , which is MUCH more than most shows cost (or should cost)
Second of all, I actually would WANT shows to operate in direct to viewer manor, which will mean that the show should appeal to viewers and NOT to advertisers as is the case now. Meaning, if not enough people would want to view your show, you should not be making it.
As for grossly overpaid actors, the economy of this should take care of itself. I think getting paid several millions for a 1/2 hour of MEDIOCRE sitcom is rediculous no matter how good the actor is. This just drives price of production up and as the end result, takes money out of pockets of everyone (ads are more expensive, thus products are more expensive) Now in the direct to viewer model if not enough viewers are watching, the overpaid actor either takes a paycut or gets fired. The worth of an actor is determined by viewership.
Of course, like we both said, this will never happen. But we can dream.
Tivo for the internet was just a bad way to phrase it - it is more of "tivo on demand via internet" type of thing. They are talking about being able to download and watch what you choose rather than record it from tv. It *should* be the furture, but we are talking bypassing channels, distribution chains, advertizing, cable/satellite providers, etc. So too many people stand to loose too much money to allow this to happend. So I am not holding my breath. That being said, I would be willing to pay $1 per episode for shows I watch if I get the show without commercials on my terms (a.k.a. Tivo-esque interface, ability to store for future playback, etc)
What's your web site url? I'll include it in my next mass email!!! Its solicited.... honest....
Seriously though, do we really want next generation of script kiddies to not even need to know how to run scrips? Do we really want to be able to DDOS of any IP or web site by simply sending out email?
Slashdot Mirror
I know we have robotics research etc, but shouldnt we has a "technologoical" economy be revealing our own robots?
Between our high schools, wal-marts, liberal media, conservative media, etc. - we are churning out robots by millions.
-Em
Does anyone else get the mental image of a large feathered robot with a tendency to hump sunbathing women? Or is it just me?
I believe it is just you.
-Em
Thank you for the info - just installed SlashFix and Slashdot renders SO MUCH better now - not perfect, but at least consistant and no overlapping text.
-Em
If you didn't have access to all of what's on cable, how could you decide which 10 shows are worth wathcing?
Very good point.
Tivo has a "showcases" feature where their "partners" could (pay to) set up their own listings of what they are showing. They also have a "Tivo" showcase which lists things across the board in different categories. When I first got my Tivo some 5+ years ago, I thought these were useless. However soon after I got my Tivo I completely stopped watching live TV and skipped commercials in recordings and so a few years later I realized that I have never heard of many of the shows that started after I got my tivo. If I did not read about it on internet or was told about it by a friend, the show did not exist. And then I re-discovered the Tivo showcase - specifically the section listing new shows. Every once in a while (especially right before season starts) I would go there and look through what is coming up. If something catches my eye, I will record a few episodes, if I like it - then I "season pass" it. Simple and very effective.
Something like this is easy to implement and free to download previews or pilots can make it even easier. And as long as you put the viewer in charge of choosing what and when to see, Adverts for new shows may not be a bad thing.
Then there is always review sites, magazines, etc.
-Em
TV Networks aren't going away anytime soon.
Sadly, you are probably right.
It's not like everybody is flocking to TiVO so that they can skip commercials... there's actually a pretty low adoption rate compared to what it should be for such a cool technology.
Well, PVR adoption rate is growing fast, with everyone offering their version.
That being said, I went to buy a TiVO this Christmas, and balked when they told me that I 'had' to buy the package, which included the TiVO subscription for $12.95/mo (IIRC)... so I passed... I already pay once for television (my cable rate), so I'm not going to increase that cost just to get digital copies and instant access.
That is not entirely true, although standalone Tivo is just that, Tivo Basic is free (less options, more like a VCR, but still functional) and DirectTV Tivo offering is $5 for any number of tivos (or free if you get some packages)
Now if they'd actually remove that stupid requirement, I just might buy one... until then, I'll make due with my VCR (though I've also been eyeballing the DVD-RW recorders, which look pretty cool... and don't require a subscription).
For one, if they remove the stupid requirement, Tivo would have NO real income - this is where Tivo company makes money to stay alive.
What you are not understanding (dont feel so bad, most people who never used tivo do not understand) is that Tivo is NOT a direct replacement for VCR (however DVD-RW is - so if you want a VCR replacement, get one!!) You actually get something for your $13 (or $5 for two tivos in my case) - that something is ability to watch SHOWS instead of NETWORKS. It is hard to actually explain, but if you try it for a few weeks you will understand.
-Em
That may be true, but the bottom line is that companies pay TV networks to advertise there because you and millions of people like you watch the shows, and will therefore watch the advertisements. If everyone is skipping over the ads, then companies are not getting the visibility they were going for when they bought that ad, and continuing to buy ads in television media is no longer worthwhile.
As more and more people skip over ads, demand for ad space will go down, price will follow, and so will the total revenue of these networks, which operate almost entirely from revenue generated by advertisements. This is why DVR technology sucks so bad for television stations. Widespread use of DVR technology could potentially cut off their primary source of revenue, and unless people are willing to pay far more for television than they do already, TV stations are at a loss as to how to replace that revenue.
That being said, I watch shows exclusively from my DVR now. Even if I'm sitting there with nothing to do while the show is on, I'll record it and watch some other pre-recorded show, then watch the first show later, when I can skip over the ads, so I guess I'm part of the problem.
Dead on. I believe Darwin called this evolution. TV Networks are becoming obsolete and they are fighting tooth and nail to survive. If they do not find a way to make money, (i.e. outlaw PVRs, pass laws against skipping commercials, find alternate revenue stream, etc.) they will die. It is certainly a bad thing for networks, but is it a bad thing for shows or for the viewer? Right now networks are a middle man with too much control - get rid of them and both the TV producers and viewers will be happy. Sell TV directly to consumer. A few decades back HBO and the like figured out a way to bypass advertizing and networks to sell (almost) directly to consumer - you pay for the channel, they are not hurt a bit by PVRs. Now someone needs to start selling content directly to PVRs over network - bypass cable company, bypass networks, etc. Sell shows, not channels.... here I go off on a rabling rant again....been saying this for at least 5 years, since I got my first Tivo...
-Em
Sounds good to me. I would love for my daughter to be able to spot a pedophile from 25 yards away.
Heh, but she will only be able to spot the ones that were caught. With "1 in 3" stats on child abuse I am guessing this is a VERY small percentage of actual pedofiles. So getting into that creepy old guys white van is probably not a good idea EVEN if he is not sporting a shiny big "A" on his forehead.
-Em
Setting aside privacy issues, what would GPS really accomplish in this case? Restraining order is usually against a person, not a place, so unless you track that person (now we ARE puting GPS on nominaly innocent person) and try to reconcile in real time the difference between them, GPS data is not very usefull. Seems like a better use of technology in this case would be to use a radio based proximity meter for the victim (or whomever the restraining order is supposed to protect) and criminal that will alert the victim (and cops) of proximity. At least this may have some chance of protecting someone. That combined with a GPS device on the criminal *MAY* be useful to summon the police, but seems a bit of a stretch anyway.
-Em
When you've spent billions hardening a technology to extremes of reliability, a single failure costs you hundreds of millions and maybe several lives, and the technology you've hardened is more than adequate for the next job, you'd be a fool to switch.
And they aint no fools, cuz they did not switch and of course they never had any failures. Fear of change is FATAL.
-Em
Sure about that? I have multi-megabyte pdfs; are you absolutely sure that the equivalent Word docs would be multi-gigabyte?
In my limited experience, yes. But thinking more on that, it probably has to do with me making very large docs using things like Visio and Word. I had visio files compress from 8Meg to under 100K when output to PDF and I saw similar things using Word. Now why a several page Visio doc should be over 8meg is beyond me,MS app data files tend to bloat fast if you substantialy edit them. But I guess you may be right as this may not represent average use.
-Em
Forget about virus vulnerabilities and proprietary lock-in for a moment. Given that they're realists about using universally accepted formats, their choice shouldn't be surprising. I mean, who *doesn't* have something that will open Word documents? Now think about how many can open an .sxw, or even know what it is.
Personally by your own argument PDF would have been a much better choice - much more universally accepted - no need to worry about proprietary lock-in, (somewhat) open format, can be generated from any application, can be open and unlike word looks consistent on any platform or printer, yada yada yada. Also often several orders of magnitude smaller files than MS formats.
just my 2 cents..
-Em
I can download OSX minus the GUI? Hook me up, brother!
Yeh, it is called BSD (specifically OS X branch is called Darwin I believe) Google it.
-Em
Microsoft...Open Source...? As entertaining as this article is, the chances of such things materializing are thin.
Closed desktop on top of open OS may not be as far fetched as you'd think. Apple has done exactly that with OSX and not like MS never stole ideas from Apple (which is not specific to MS either)....
-Em
It's all in the font. It's a dubya can't y'all see that!?
V\/V
Would that not be tripya?
They'll do the same thing they always do - half the product at twice the price. Something with the functionality of the PSX, with a pricetag of around $400. Oh, but it will come in a WHITE CASE! Now that would be worth paying extra for. ..and yet the herds will buy....
-Em
a DVD writer - $60
a firewire card - $15
an 80Gb drive $57
movie editing software - OSS
DVD authoring software - OSS
So, grand total of $132 (chances are, the guy already has all the hardware too, in which case $0)
-Em
RTFA:
1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. Where:
W: Weather
D: Debt
d: Money due in January pay
T: Time since Christmas
Q: Time since failed quit attempt
M: General motivational levels
NA: The need to take action
I'd much rather be playing Grand Theft Auto 6 while driving down the freeeway.
I'd much rather you didnt.....
mod parent troll
Actually mod it funny due to subject "Thank god!"
-Em
+1 for creationism!
:-/ I am kinda split if it is a good thing to make "keep open mind" stickers unconstitutional.
Read it carefuly, actually it is -1 Creationism. They are ruling creationist's stickers unconstitutional, though wierdly enough part of me feels like it is also "-1 Free Speech".
-Em
Application is everything in this case. If most torrent traffic is for stealing mucis, movies, or software then there is a problem regardless of other uses it could have
So, since computers are used to pirate stuff, we should ban them too? That will really make the music and movie industries happy. Not so much for software industry though.
-Em
To assume that these are being used for piracy is a bit paranoid. You're talking about paying $27k for the ability to "pirate" $6k in software. There's no significant financial incentive to use this device for copyright infringement purposes.
A devil's advocate moment -
For these end users it is a convinience to use this device to "pirate" stuff, not a way to save money. People lend dvd's all the time and if you have this device you can borrow a bunch of dvds and dump them into it - not because you cannot afford it but because a - you do not have to and b - it is easier
Thing is while it makes no financial sense to the so called "pirate", the DVD makers do loose significant amount in revenue. Even if the owner of such device buys the dvd and then gives it to someone else.
-Em
Generally speaking, the viewership of shows is in millions (relatively low ratings of cable shows is usualy about 1-1.5 mil) , which is MUCH more than most shows cost (or should cost)
Second of all, I actually would WANT shows to operate in direct to viewer manor, which will mean that the show should appeal to viewers and NOT to advertisers as is the case now. Meaning, if not enough people would want to view your show, you should not be making it.
As for grossly overpaid actors, the economy of this should take care of itself. I think getting paid several millions for a 1/2 hour of MEDIOCRE sitcom is rediculous no matter how good the actor is. This just drives price of production up and as the end result, takes money out of pockets of everyone (ads are more expensive, thus products are more expensive) Now in the direct to viewer model if not enough viewers are watching, the overpaid actor either takes a paycut or gets fired. The worth of an actor is determined by viewership.
Of course, like we both said, this will never happen. But we can dream.
(BTW, 5*500000 is 2500000)
-Em
Tivo for the internet was just a bad way to phrase it - it is more of "tivo on demand via internet" type of thing. They are talking about being able to download and watch what you choose rather than record it from tv. It *should* be the furture, but we are talking bypassing channels, distribution chains, advertizing, cable/satellite providers, etc. So too many people stand to loose too much money to allow this to happend. So I am not holding my breath. That being said, I would be willing to pay $1 per episode for shows I watch if I get the show without commercials on my terms (a.k.a. Tivo-esque interface, ability to store for future playback, etc)
-Em
What's your web site url? I'll include it in my next mass email!!! Its solicited.... honest....
Seriously though, do we really want next generation of script kiddies to not even need to know how to run scrips? Do we really want to be able to DDOS of any IP or web site by simply sending out email?
MAKE SCRIPT KIDDIES LEARN HOW TO RUN SCRIPTS!!!!
Installing DDOS zombie bots builds character!!!!
-Em