I don't agree with price fixing, but in this case, it was a winner for consumers. If I remember correctly, they agreed on fixing a price LOWER, to destroy Rambus, which was really bad for consumers.
Last time I checked, all companies except Samsung are losing money on each DRAM chip they sell. These companies are competing themselves to death. Qimonda already went bankrupt last year because of such a competitive environment. In fact, I can't think of many other products where companies compete so hard to make.
Is this the same price fixing that occurred when Intel tried to shove Rambus, a crappy, expensive, proprietary RAM technology down our throats? And they colluded to LOWER their prices to kill Rambus? In my opinion, they did us all a favour. If Rambus became the "standard", we would be paying a lot more money for memory now.
From the article: "You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter". I think he hits it right on the head. Politicians on both sides disseminate blatant lies as facts, and the news media just picks it up and reports it as truths. That's the problem. It's very difficult for the average joe to filter out the lies from facts, and that hurts democracy. Today's news media is a propaganda machine the Soviets only could have dreamed of.
The invisible hand of market forces is slapping the shit out of these companies. I wonder when they're going to realize that it's pointless fighting against it. Adding features that takes away value is no way to win customers. I would LOVE to PAY for an online streaming service, where I have access to all TV shows and movies with any choice of subtitles, and dubbed languages available. So far, since I'm in Germany, I found MaxDome, where I can only watch a limited selection of movies dubbed only in German, no subtitle options. What if I want to watch a movie that's not very well-known? I can either order it from Amazon, or just Google the movie title and stream it.
OMG, if fair use generates $4.7 trillion, imagine what the record companies are LOSING due to piracy. It must be in the $100's of trillions! I thought this financial crisis was due to lax lending to people who couldn't afford it, but now it's clear that piracy is the culprit! If we all stop pirating, our GDP will shoot up 10x!
Why is this stupid? This is just a cool demonstration of the results of research done at a University. You just lack creativity and imagination to see any use for this. The applications for these types of technologies are not yet explored, so I'm sure we might see some really cool applications for this.
Security is completely irrelevant to this story. This is just a really cool prototype of being able gesture 3D input. No one is suggesting that you type your passwords purely with gestures.
I was really impressed by the smoothness and accuracy that the camera was able to track the finger movements. Usually, things like this are really jumpy and horribly inaccurate. Although it's not the best way to type things in, I'm sure there will be a ton of cool applications of this.
I wonder if this would give people an edge in Counter-Strike compared to the regular mouse+keyboard setup. If so, I hope those 12 year olds don't get a hold of it. CS:S is hard enough already!
I think life for most people in China is very difficult. Think about it, there are 1 billion Chinese people in China. There is a HUGE oversupply of workers there allowing companies to take advantage of that and pay them almost nothing to do work. If you're uneducated, what choice do you have? You either make $.50 per hour or earn nothing and starve. If you turn down that job, there are thousands willing to do it instead.
I've started using ad blocker, and I haven't turned back. I always thought that firefox bloat was the reason for website rendering to slow down. But after installing ad block and no script, I realized it's the content that's getting bloated.
Exactly. Apple is allowed to do what they want to do, and we are allowed to buy what we want to buy. With new Android phones coming out, there will be stiff competition for Apple.
Religion? You've got to be kidding me. Where was the morality in the Catholic Church when all those young boys were molested? They just tried to hide it. The Japanese share the same (or similar) religion as China, but the Japanese don't have the same honesty issues like China. It has to do with the culture and the economic situation of the country.
Efficiency rules might encourage behaviour that's inefficient overall. On top of that, they are hard to enforce and are susceptible to loopholes and cheating. The best policy for improving energy efficiency is to increase the cost of energy. Maybe through a tax. This will automatically encourage energy efficiency and there is no enforcement needed. Of course a standards body has no power to do this, which is why I'm wondering why this is an issue that a standards organization should care about.
Deutsche Telekom is pretty damn evil. Try to cancel your subscription if you're leaving the country. Good luck...They will charge you every which way possible. Oh, and they charge per minute for customer service. Try to move your connection to your new apartment. Sorry, that requires that you sign a new 2 year contract. Oh, and when you finally do, it will take months before they switch you over. And they will switch it over incorrectly the first 3 times.
I always thought Australia was a developed country, economically, and politically. This Internet filter craziness makes them seem very un-democratic. What's next? Filtering the opposition party websites? Filtering any websites that has an opposing view of the current government? I don't think that next step is such a big one.
I think Copyright on any piece of work must be inherently owned by the creator. Which means it cannot be owned by another person or company, just leased. Copyright on any works should also be immediately public domain if the author dies. I think this gives the creator greater protection, as the copyright laws are supposed to do.
So what? Then raise taxes on gasoline and lower the VAT. The problem is, adding complicated rules artificially increases the cost, which makes everything cost more anyway. A gas tax is simple and elegant, and will have the desired effect without having to setup agencies to enforce the mileage regulations. Also, companies may find a way to "cheat" or find loopholes.
Yes, that might be their objectives, it will have no beneficial effect for them. Really, the movie companies are fighting a battle of economics. Movie companies need to innovate their way to success, not litigate their way to failure. And it's already happening, with 3D movies. I haven't gone to the movies in years, until 3D came out. It's these types of innovations that they have to make to keep people returning.
You see, the problem was, the music corps had an oligopoly on distribution, and profits were very easy. They essentially became big fat and lazy. Now that the Internet has crushed their oligopoly, the easy money disappeared, and like any fat lazy person would do if the free food was taken away, they're whining and complaining (through the courts), rather than competing. Of course they don't want to work hard and provide customers more value.
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I don't agree with price fixing, but in this case, it was a winner for consumers. If I remember correctly, they agreed on fixing a price LOWER, to destroy Rambus, which was really bad for consumers.
Last time I checked, all companies except Samsung are losing money on each DRAM chip they sell. These companies are competing themselves to death. Qimonda already went bankrupt last year because of such a competitive environment. In fact, I can't think of many other products where companies compete so hard to make.
Is this the same price fixing that occurred when Intel tried to shove Rambus, a crappy, expensive, proprietary RAM technology down our throats? And they colluded to LOWER their prices to kill Rambus? In my opinion, they did us all a favour. If Rambus became the "standard", we would be paying a lot more money for memory now.
From the article: "You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter". I think he hits it right on the head. Politicians on both sides disseminate blatant lies as facts, and the news media just picks it up and reports it as truths. That's the problem. It's very difficult for the average joe to filter out the lies from facts, and that hurts democracy. Today's news media is a propaganda machine the Soviets only could have dreamed of.
The invisible hand of market forces is slapping the shit out of these companies. I wonder when they're going to realize that it's pointless fighting against it. Adding features that takes away value is no way to win customers. I would LOVE to PAY for an online streaming service, where I have access to all TV shows and movies with any choice of subtitles, and dubbed languages available. So far, since I'm in Germany, I found MaxDome, where I can only watch a limited selection of movies dubbed only in German, no subtitle options. What if I want to watch a movie that's not very well-known? I can either order it from Amazon, or just Google the movie title and stream it.
OMG, if fair use generates $4.7 trillion, imagine what the record companies are LOSING due to piracy. It must be in the $100's of trillions! I thought this financial crisis was due to lax lending to people who couldn't afford it, but now it's clear that piracy is the culprit! If we all stop pirating, our GDP will shoot up 10x!
Why is this stupid? This is just a cool demonstration of the results of research done at a University. You just lack creativity and imagination to see any use for this. The applications for these types of technologies are not yet explored, so I'm sure we might see some really cool applications for this.
Security is completely irrelevant to this story. This is just a really cool prototype of being able gesture 3D input. No one is suggesting that you type your passwords purely with gestures.
I was really impressed by the smoothness and accuracy that the camera was able to track the finger movements. Usually, things like this are really jumpy and horribly inaccurate. Although it's not the best way to type things in, I'm sure there will be a ton of cool applications of this.
I wonder if this would give people an edge in Counter-Strike compared to the regular mouse+keyboard setup. If so, I hope those 12 year olds don't get a hold of it. CS:S is hard enough already!
I think life for most people in China is very difficult. Think about it, there are 1 billion Chinese people in China. There is a HUGE oversupply of workers there allowing companies to take advantage of that and pay them almost nothing to do work. If you're uneducated, what choice do you have? You either make $.50 per hour or earn nothing and starve. If you turn down that job, there are thousands willing to do it instead.
I've started using ad blocker, and I haven't turned back. I always thought that firefox bloat was the reason for website rendering to slow down. But after installing ad block and no script, I realized it's the content that's getting bloated.
What the hell's a rant?
Exactly. Apple is allowed to do what they want to do, and we are allowed to buy what we want to buy. With new Android phones coming out, there will be stiff competition for Apple.
And since you bought it, it's your fault for supporting a platform that's ruled with an iron fist.
Religion? You've got to be kidding me. Where was the morality in the Catholic Church when all those young boys were molested? They just tried to hide it. The Japanese share the same (or similar) religion as China, but the Japanese don't have the same honesty issues like China. It has to do with the culture and the economic situation of the country.
Ummm, youporn? I'm in full support of the US cyber-counterattacks!!
Efficiency rules might encourage behaviour that's inefficient overall. On top of that, they are hard to enforce and are susceptible to loopholes and cheating. The best policy for improving energy efficiency is to increase the cost of energy. Maybe through a tax. This will automatically encourage energy efficiency and there is no enforcement needed. Of course a standards body has no power to do this, which is why I'm wondering why this is an issue that a standards organization should care about.
Deutsche Telekom is pretty damn evil. Try to cancel your subscription if you're leaving the country. Good luck...They will charge you every which way possible. Oh, and they charge per minute for customer service. Try to move your connection to your new apartment. Sorry, that requires that you sign a new 2 year contract. Oh, and when you finally do, it will take months before they switch you over. And they will switch it over incorrectly the first 3 times.
I always thought Australia was a developed country, economically, and politically. This Internet filter craziness makes them seem very un-democratic. What's next? Filtering the opposition party websites? Filtering any websites that has an opposing view of the current government? I don't think that next step is such a big one.
I think Copyright on any piece of work must be inherently owned by the creator. Which means it cannot be owned by another person or company, just leased. Copyright on any works should also be immediately public domain if the author dies. I think this gives the creator greater protection, as the copyright laws are supposed to do.
So what? Then raise taxes on gasoline and lower the VAT. The problem is, adding complicated rules artificially increases the cost, which makes everything cost more anyway. A gas tax is simple and elegant, and will have the desired effect without having to setup agencies to enforce the mileage regulations. Also, companies may find a way to "cheat" or find loopholes.
Yes, that might be their objectives, it will have no beneficial effect for them. Really, the movie companies are fighting a battle of economics. Movie companies need to innovate their way to success, not litigate their way to failure. And it's already happening, with 3D movies. I haven't gone to the movies in years, until 3D came out. It's these types of innovations that they have to make to keep people returning.
Good, it just means that the current industry will die quicker, so a new industry can be reborn.
You see, the problem was, the music corps had an oligopoly on distribution, and profits were very easy. They essentially became big fat and lazy. Now that the Internet has crushed their oligopoly, the easy money disappeared, and like any fat lazy person would do if the free food was taken away, they're whining and complaining (through the courts), rather than competing. Of course they don't want to work hard and provide customers more value.