ENVY wasn't the grandparent's poster's complete motivation, it was pointing out that the element of luck was largely involved in this. The idea of the page itself wasn't novel (ads on the net have been around 4ever, there are other 'pixel pages') but the way he executed it (press released after selling a $1,000 worth) was neat and all those factors coming together for him was a neat fluke.
In fact, in a way, this slashdot article is pushing it into a self-fulfilling prophecy zone.
In any case, a spawn of imitators will pop up (most/all failing) and the guy will move on with his life. If he is some type of advertising genius, we'll hear of him (or what he's pushing) again. And if not, he's a $1M richer in any case.
I wouldn't envy him, I wouldn't have done what he did in the first place so that's a moot point, and the road to success isn't a overly severely limited or perhaps even finite resource doled out to only a set number of people unless you approach life with a bad attitude. There's enough fads left to exploit in the human race to be cynical and enough problems to solve (and business to be made) in the world to be optimistic.
Three major forces are driving the rise of the mini-multinational -- start-ups that are launched from the get-go as global operations.
First, there's the promise of lucrative foreign markets, which are growing more quickly than in the United States. Some overseas opportunities are now even bigger than here, such as cell-phone sales in China.
Second, U.S. companies can lower their costs and boost profits more quickly by outsourcing work to places like China and India, where labor is cheaper.
Finally, the Silicon Valley model of nurturing start-ups has spread to other regions around the world. Venture capitalists are opening offices in those countries and are getting more comfortable with helping to nurture companies in those foreign markets.
Many companies, seeded by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, set up headquarters in the valley, where they employ high-end engineers, marketing professionals and senior management.
But they have major operations in Bangalore, India, or Shanghai, China, and increasingly elsewhere.
I thought it was easier - the herds who wants to make a fast buck in the stock market now jump on any tech stock hoping it will be the next eBay or Google. In short, there's a lot of demand for investments, but good ones are in short supply That might explain why so many stocks are so overpriced now (according to Buffett). But it should also be pointed out that most newcomers have a poor business plan and eventually are going to fail.
I don't know, I would like to get this question answered too.
But imagine if she loses. Imagine the chill this would set on the rest of the (american served or owned part) internet.
What if you could then get sued for the images in your browser cache? There are many fanwebsites that make gray-area use of those........ could you get in trouble for that?
They advertise the 1 day verbally (something like "Delivered in 1 business day") as if it's the norm and put a disclaimer asterisk on the screen or something.
If they said "Could be delivered in as little as a business day" I'd understand as they wouldn't be giving false impressions/high expectations.
BTW, express starts at something like $11, I think Netflix is going to stick with the non-guaranteed regular postage^_^
I think it's their fault for advertising it when they know the postal service doesn't deliver it within a day (I don't believe the postal service guarantees or implies 1 day service.)
However, despite the nonreality of the 1-day service, I have no problem recommending them. When I used to have their service, I intended to cancel with them before going on a 7 month trip to Europe (mostly because of a lack of anime in their inventory at the time....). Apparently I didn't, when the person keeping my finances in order gave me the CC bills^_^;;;;; - one phone call later, without being put on hold, they gave me my money back in short order without hassle (because there was no account activity) and with still being friendly.
I think the only thing that might occur within the next ten years is that Netflix's current business model will become obsolete (like Blockbusters) due to bittorrent downloads (and if the studios start offering legal ones).
Perhaps next year's Christmas shopping can benefit from the writeup?
could have missed the point of the article more.
Paul Graham inspired me to learn Lisp with his articles and I enjoyed seeing a whole different view of programming (what Python/Ruby is moving towards) than the C/C++ variants.
I read most of his essays and enjoyed this article too. It helped me finally understand what I knew for years - why those Mead 5-star organizers (and later PDAs) don't work for me and why they can be such a waste of time (except the contact list.)
Because that is what people want. Oh, they say they would like a flat rate but their actions dictate otherwise. You know, the people who want breaks for home ownership, being married, having kids, buying food, investing, using/not using certain things (roads, transit, parks, fuel, etc.), etc. In other words, pretty much all of us.
If "pretty much all of us" were getting a break, it somehow isn't a break no more, is it? And a flat-rate tax (sales tax) can have breaks by having no tax on food (like in PA, where I live) or rebates for low income families.
The thought behind the flat-rate is not the pedantics of flat-rate, but ease of calculation. When there are tax professionals, a profession of people that know the insides of purely man-made arbitrary rules inside out, that the mostly upper-middle-class to rich people hire to find loopholes in said code - it tells me there is something wrong with the system as a whole.
BTW, laws don't get made as the majority of people want them - see DCMA, Patriot Act, etcetera. Laws get made by manipulative politicians (salesmen) who constantly want to push the boundaries of acceptance without crossing the line.
How do you cheaply compute what software? There are so many varieties of computer software and titles and the amount you can download every day becomes bigger. And what about Open-source? Does it then become simply a hardware/computer tax? What about PDAs? Or mobile phones? It seem like any scheme would end up hiring more state employees to calculate all this crap than it would bring it. But perhaps that's the entire point.
But that's government for you - instead of making one flat rate tax (perhaps as a sales tax on consumables) to pay for themselves - they end up chiseling money from you here and there. Of course, the purpose of all this diffusion is so that you don't realize how over-taxed you are (and how overbloated the government budget is) - it gives the people have too many targets to attack. And if the taxes are hidden, even better (like gas taxes).
I'm sure the same manipulative logic goes behind surcharges on (esp. utility) bills.
P2P is only increasing the popularity of their wares. Much in the manner that pirated MS Windows in China only increases the popularity of Windows in China until comes such a time that Microsoft can demand payment (and crackdowns from the Governement). It might be years away, but at least they aren't using/learning to use/programming for that Linux thing.
Either way, the RIAA doesn't lose. It only loses if artists start seeing the RIAA as not the only way to distribute their stuff and earn a living (I gotta get signed man!)
But what is being done in this area? Free P2P downloads are certainly not going to entice artists. MP3.com used to be the avenue that I thought could open the way until some major label bought it and killed it.
Is you situation atypical or perhaps biased by a small sample size of those you know? I don't know, it seems to go for a stereotype for an entire people.
Anyway, here is a blog from a American teacher in Japan, it's funny (and insightful) reading of over there:
Oh, I got the sarcasm the first time around:-) I thought that the frustration (?) it might have been borne from was caused by having a new programming methods or approaches (aspect-oriented, structural, extreme programming, etcetera) promoted each month and shoved down people's throats by PHBs or 'Gurus'. My only message is that Lisp is a high-level language that can be built up via Macros for the problem you are tackling^_^
Yes, I've noticed that all of the Bigmouth Bill Bass', Buck the Singing Deer Heads and barking flashlights that my company had purchased to improve productivity just haven't done the job.
Apples and oranges...
Odd, and here I thought the story had to do with Americans as consumers. Oh yes, it does!
What a strange way to think of life. Is life all about being "productive"? I'd have thought the gadgets are supposed to make our lives better, however you wish to define better. Making it more productive makes it sound as if the only purpose to being alive is work and produce a product. Is that really what you think it's all about?
What a strange way of extrapolating productive.
I didn't only mean work, I simply meant "Yielding favorable or useful results; constructive."
It need not be work-related.
Is excercise machine X (gadget) more productive (toward losing weight, staying healthy) than the simple and humble jumprope and stretching exercises/yoga/pilates/your_choice? The former being an expensive gadget and the other can be very, very cheap.
IMHO, the cheap-o version is better in most cases.
The purpose of gadgets should be making lives easier, but most of the time, the majority seem to exist for the purpose of being sold, with little regard to the end user - consider the UI and other factors.
I think a more compelling question would be: Is all this technology making us more productive? Or does it simply facilitate our slacking off with more diversions?
Even if you don't use it (though one can with a bit of investigating the possibilities) because it's such an eye opening experience. He also seems to dislike OO (I do too, but he explains his position better), but basically any paradigm in programming, such as the one you suggest Transport Oriented, is good in one situation but not another - it's not a fix all band-aid.
Lisp, otoh, can be built up via macros, to fit the problem. It's a functional language, but it has a good optional OO system (CLOS) if that is what one desires. And it can be easily adapted to fit the other models without feeling like a kludge (like Cplusplus)
Disclaimer: Former C and C++ programmer who looked at Java/C# to only see more of the same in a slightly different language. Currently learning lisp and impressed with the differences.
As a serious question though, who's going to be doing renders and such where dual cores really shine, on a laptop? Can anyone tell me applications of dual core for a on-the-go computer?
Many people don't want PC Towers of any size anymore, they'd rather have a notebook. Just like they don't want CRT montiors vs. LCD. Or normal CRT TVs vs. Plasma. Etcetera. For many reasons - aesthetics. It's easier to move (Americans move an average of every 7 years). It takes up less space, for a cramped apartment or just to dispose of (something Europeans think a lot about in both cases).
Thus, the notebook isn't a on-the-go computer anymore (Why pay for 2 computer systems anyway if you aren't a gamer, etcetera.) It's the main computer. This is reinforced by the fact that notebook sales exceeded PC sales for the first time this year.
BTW, dual-cores aren't only handy for rendering. They are handy for responsiveness, it's most obvious when a process hogs the CPU and makes everything else slow to a crawl - including but not only when trying to kill said process if it turns into a zombie. On a dual-core, that's not a problem.
BS - They do represent you, just like the represent record companies. The difference is the record companies utilize superior tactics persuading representatives to their point of view. And no, this isnt always in the form of bribes or benefits, there are good politicians on both sides of the isle that are simply misinformed.
From what I heard, representatives are supposed to represent their constituency. I doubt the Michigan/Wisconsin representatives' constituency is a majority of media "content creators." But I bet most of their constituency would be negatively affected by this legislation.
Anyone on our side of the debate that raises their voice is usually a fanatic or at least considered one (FSF is a good example).
Good, the founding father's were fanatics too, or considered so. Only fanatics have the energy to keep pounding away at an issue, where more "moderate" people will eventually shrug their shoulders, give up, and flow with the "mainstream." The mainstream in this case being defined by the mass media and their corporate parents.
But look at corporations and what they got passed, such as copyrights + 90 years, or what they are shoving, this law for instance - is it any less fanatical on the opposing side? I don't think so.
Believe it or not, not every OSS advocate is a GPL fan and they dont need to be.
Then they need not used GPL software.
Prove the idea of fair use, let congressman see what a future would be like that is completely DRM centric and employ intelligent and professional lobbyists. Get the message heard, comprehended and acted on.
It's not that I disagree with that message, it's just depressing the idea of our rights being under constant attack - and we need constant vigilance. It's no different than what they warned us about in the 1700's, but now it comes from all sides.
Sometimes, I wish there was an America 2, where I can dump all those RIAA/MPAA people and let them play their little games amoung themselves.
The internet's distribution is more international - it's hard to pass effective laws because it's a pandora's box. It's been opened and and can't be closed anymore.
eBooks - if they are more restrictive than regular books - many people will keep buying regular books. Just like regular cds are still the primary music medium (for buying).
Slashdot Mirror
ENVY wasn't the grandparent's poster's complete motivation, it was pointing out that the element of luck was largely involved in this. The idea of the page itself wasn't novel (ads on the net have been around 4ever, there are other 'pixel pages') but the way he executed it (press released after selling a $1,000 worth) was neat and all those factors coming together for him was a neat fluke.
In fact, in a way, this slashdot article is pushing it into a self-fulfilling prophecy zone.
In any case, a spawn of imitators will pop up (most/all failing) and the guy will move on with his life. If he is some type of advertising genius, we'll hear of him (or what he's pushing) again. And if not, he's a $1M richer in any case.
I wouldn't envy him, I wouldn't have done what he did in the first place so that's a moot point, and the road to success isn't a overly severely limited or perhaps even finite resource doled out to only a set number of people unless you approach life with a bad attitude. There's enough fads left to exploit in the human race to be cynical and enough problems to solve (and business to be made) in the world to be optimistic.
I thought it was easier - the herds who wants to make a fast buck in the stock market now jump on any tech stock hoping it will be the next eBay or Google. In short, there's a lot of demand for investments, but good ones are in short supply That might explain why so many stocks are so overpriced now (according to Buffett). But it should also be pointed out that most newcomers have a poor business plan and eventually are going to fail.
I don't know, I would like to get this question answered too.
But imagine if she loses. Imagine the chill this would set on the rest of the (american served or owned part) internet.
What if you could then get sued for the images in your browser cache? There are many fanwebsites that make gray-area use of those........ could you get in trouble for that?
[quote]They can prove that you download a file how? By supplying it to you?[/quote]
If they supplied you with the file, would that still be copyright infringement? They are the legal distributors, afterall.....
They advertise the 1 day verbally (something like "Delivered in 1 business day") as if it's the norm and put a disclaimer asterisk on the screen or something.
If they said "Could be delivered in as little as a business day" I'd understand as they wouldn't be giving false impressions/high expectations.
BTW, express starts at something like $11, I think Netflix is going to stick with the non-guaranteed regular postage^_^
I guess civil, otherwise she could just get a lawyer assigned to her.
And will there be a jury?
I don't think any jury would be willing to convict her. Which would set a nice precedent.
I think it's their fault for advertising it when they know the postal service doesn't deliver it within a day (I don't believe the postal service guarantees or implies 1 day service.)
However, despite the nonreality of the 1-day service, I have no problem recommending them. When I used to have their service, I intended to cancel with them before going on a 7 month trip to Europe (mostly because of a lack of anime in their inventory at the time....). Apparently I didn't, when the person keeping my finances in order gave me the CC bills^_^;;;;; - one phone call later, without being put on hold, they gave me my money back in short order without hassle (because there was no account activity) and with still being friendly.
I think the only thing that might occur within the next ten years is that Netflix's current business model will become obsolete (like Blockbusters) due to bittorrent downloads (and if the studios start offering legal ones).
could have missed the point of the article more.
Paul Graham inspired me to learn Lisp with his articles and I enjoyed seeing a whole different view of programming (what Python/Ruby is moving towards) than the C/C++ variants.
I read most of his essays and enjoyed this article too. It helped me finally understand what I knew for years - why those Mead 5-star organizers (and later PDAs) don't work for me and why they can be such a waste of time (except the contact list.)
If "pretty much all of us" were getting a break, it somehow isn't a break no more, is it? And a flat-rate tax (sales tax) can have breaks by having no tax on food (like in PA, where I live) or rebates for low income families.
The thought behind the flat-rate is not the pedantics of flat-rate, but ease of calculation. When there are tax professionals, a profession of people that know the insides of purely man-made arbitrary rules inside out, that the mostly upper-middle-class to rich people hire to find loopholes in said code - it tells me there is something wrong with the system as a whole.
BTW, laws don't get made as the majority of people want them - see DCMA, Patriot Act, etcetera. Laws get made by manipulative politicians (salesmen) who constantly want to push the boundaries of acceptance without crossing the line.
How do you cheaply compute what software? There are so many varieties of computer software and titles and the amount you can download every day becomes bigger. And what about Open-source? Does it then become simply a hardware/computer tax? What about PDAs? Or mobile phones? It seem like any scheme would end up hiring more state employees to calculate all this crap than it would bring it. But perhaps that's the entire point.
But that's government for you - instead of making one flat rate tax (perhaps as a sales tax on consumables) to pay for themselves - they end up chiseling money from you here and there. Of course, the purpose of all this diffusion is so that you don't realize how over-taxed you are (and how overbloated the government budget is) - it gives the people have too many targets to attack. And if the taxes are hidden, even better (like gas taxes).
I'm sure the same manipulative logic goes behind surcharges on (esp. utility) bills.
http://www.fairtax.org/
But is it really?
P2P is only increasing the popularity of their wares. Much in the manner that pirated MS Windows in China only increases the popularity of Windows in China until comes such a time that Microsoft can demand payment (and crackdowns from the Governement). It might be years away, but at least they aren't using/learning to use/programming for that Linux thing.
Either way, the RIAA doesn't lose. It only loses if artists start seeing the RIAA as not the only way to distribute their stuff and earn a living (I gotta get signed man!)
But what is being done in this area? Free P2P downloads are certainly not going to entice artists. MP3.com used to be the avenue that I thought could open the way until some major label bought it and killed it.
Has this vacuum been filled?
Is you situation atypical or perhaps biased by a small sample size of those you know? I don't know, it seems to go for a stereotype for an entire people.
Anyway, here is a blog from a American teacher in Japan, it's funny (and insightful) reading of over there:
http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html
Oh, I got the sarcasm the first time around:-) I thought that the frustration (?) it might have been borne from was caused by having a new programming methods or approaches (aspect-oriented, structural, extreme programming, etcetera) promoted each month and shoved down people's throats by PHBs or 'Gurus'. My only message is that Lisp is a high-level language that can be built up via Macros for the problem you are tackling^_^
Unless, of course, you consider this (my) post which came before those others:o ld=-1&commentsort=3&tid=126&mode=thread&cid=143305 16
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=172103&thresh
Odd, and here I thought the story had to do with Americans as consumers. Oh yes, it does!
Thank you Captain Obvious. I'll take over.
/ 103-6259078-8189458
5 /useless_gadgets.html
Now we fast forward to 2005 and look at the latest technology helping us in our daily lives:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004SPO3
http://www.brandsonsale.com/cg-003691.html
or my personal favorite:
http://sandalsandsocks.typepad.com/soapbox/2004/0
Personally, I'd throw nosehair trimmers, most PDAs, and most feature-laden cell-phones in that bin.
What a strange way of extrapolating productive.
I didn't only mean work, I simply meant "Yielding favorable or useful results; constructive."
It need not be work-related.
Is excercise machine X (gadget) more productive (toward losing weight, staying healthy) than the simple and humble jumprope and stretching exercises/yoga/pilates/your_choice? The former being an expensive gadget and the other can be very, very cheap.
IMHO, the cheap-o version is better in most cases.
The purpose of gadgets should be making lives easier, but most of the time, the majority seem to exist for the purpose of being sold, with little regard to the end user - consider the UI and other factors.
I think a more compelling question would be: Is all this technology making us more productive? Or does it simply facilitate our slacking off with more diversions?
I think the original submitter of the story and you both need to read a few Paul Graham essays and perhaps learn lisp:
http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html
Even if you don't use it (though one can with a bit of investigating the possibilities) because it's such an eye opening experience. He also seems to dislike OO (I do too, but he explains his position better), but basically any paradigm in programming, such as the one you suggest Transport Oriented, is good in one situation but not another - it's not a fix all band-aid.
Lisp, otoh, can be built up via macros, to fit the problem. It's a functional language, but it has a good optional OO system (CLOS) if that is what one desires. And it can be easily adapted to fit the other models without feeling like a kludge (like Cplusplus)
Disclaimer: Former C and C++ programmer who looked at Java/C# to only see more of the same in a slightly different language. Currently learning lisp and impressed with the differences.
Many people don't want PC Towers of any size anymore, they'd rather have a notebook. Just like they don't want CRT montiors vs. LCD. Or normal CRT TVs vs. Plasma. Etcetera. For many reasons - aesthetics. It's easier to move (Americans move an average of every 7 years). It takes up less space, for a cramped apartment or just to dispose of (something Europeans think a lot about in both cases).
Thus, the notebook isn't a on-the-go computer anymore (Why pay for 2 computer systems anyway if you aren't a gamer, etcetera.) It's the main computer. This is reinforced by the fact that notebook sales exceeded PC sales for the first time this year.
BTW, dual-cores aren't only handy for rendering. They are handy for responsiveness, it's most obvious when a process hogs the CPU and makes everything else slow to a crawl - including but not only when trying to kill said process if it turns into a zombie. On a dual-core, that's not a problem.
I disagree - why isn't this bought up as copyright infringement instead? It's clearly that. Why bring the DMCA into this?
Other than to set precedent, of course. Where the corporations will start nailing more gray area cases, later on.
So IE work on the Mac must be continuing!
From what I heard, representatives are supposed to represent their constituency. I doubt the Michigan/Wisconsin representatives' constituency is a majority of media "content creators." But I bet most of their constituency would be negatively affected by this legislation.
Good, the founding father's were fanatics too, or considered so. Only fanatics have the energy to keep pounding away at an issue, where more "moderate" people will eventually shrug their shoulders, give up, and flow with the "mainstream." The mainstream in this case being defined by the mass media and their corporate parents.
But look at corporations and what they got passed, such as copyrights + 90 years, or what they are shoving, this law for instance - is it any less fanatical on the opposing side? I don't think so.
Then they need not used GPL software.
It's not that I disagree with that message, it's just depressing the idea of our rights being under constant attack - and we need constant vigilance. It's no different than what they warned us about in the 1700's, but now it comes from all sides.
Sometimes, I wish there was an America 2, where I can dump all those RIAA/MPAA people and let them play their little games amoung themselves.
It's not even a undemocratic idea, Ancient Athens, the first real sizable democracy (and a real democracy, not a republic) instituted it:
http://9.1911encyclopedia.org/O/OS/OSTRACISM.htm
Such a law and vote could serve America well.
Exactly.
I still buy music though, but most of my preffered artists (like Chiasm) aren't part of the RIAA.
I use http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ (aka www.riaaradar.com) to check if a CD I'm about to buy is signed onto a company that's part of the RIAA.
The internet's distribution is more international - it's hard to pass effective laws because it's a pandora's box. It's been opened and and can't be closed anymore.
eBooks - if they are more restrictive than regular books - many people will keep buying regular books. Just like regular cds are still the primary music medium (for buying).