What's with the Mozilla folks, and being in love with GM muscle car names? I mean Firebird/Camino... next Camaro?
Sooner or later will we get the IROC or IRoC chat client? GOD I hope they stay away from the Z# names... I would hate to tell someone I use a Z28 browser with a Z34 mail client...
Hmmm... I'm still waiting for Microsoft to port their games portfolio to mac.... Now ALOT of home games users are FORCED to buy expensive Wintel hardware to play games... seems like something Apple would do in their strong suite...
C'mon, Apple bought the company, if they force you to use a mac, so be it... I have to use Windows for stuff that microsoft doesn't port (cough cough... Access)...
As long as Apple adds value and develops the software, then users are better off upgrading anyway... just because a new ver is out doesn't mean the old stops working... if the Apple added value isn't worth it; then keep using the old... simple as that...
Grrr sorry, for the lack of formatting... in my last post
Anyone who reads the damages sought by the RIAA regards this as absolutley silly... so what to do? Countersue for 97.8 B/Trillion right back.
Think if it this way... as the student you have nothing to lose, and most students and/.ers realise that IP laws need some modification, so if the RIAA wants to get silly, get silly right back.
Countersue for 97.8 Tr/Billion (harrassment) and and then hold the case up in court for the next forever... as someone with nothing to lose, use the situation to make the RIAA look really dumb. C'mon suing for 97.8 billion dollars just makes the media industry look really greedy (big suprise), so give them some of their own medicine... sue them for everything under the sun... malicious lawsuit/harassment/breach of privacy/violation of 1st ammendment... you don't have to be right... just contentious enough not to get thrown out of court immediatley... Heck, if only one charge stays then it will impact the record companies, who will have to disclose the lawsuit in their financial reports...:) stock markets don't like lawsuits very much.
The costs involved could be relatively minor... considering the publicity you'd get, I'm sure a few lawyers would work pro bono, and heck, the legal fees are miniscule compared to the potential damages.
The real key, as I see it is to keep the case going... countersuing for 97.8 Billion will QUICKLY get the RIAA to back off their claim, and knock a few billion off the charge, but keep it up... make them look REALLY SILLY! The more news outlets hear of the battle of the Trillion dollar lawsuits, the sillier the RIAA looks...
And lastly, competing Trillion dollar lawsuits will definatley get the eye of congress... when an industry starts to sue for Trillions, congress starts to worry (save for Senator Disney).
Anyone who reads the damages sought by the RIAA regards this as absolutley silly... so what to do? Countersue for 97.8 B/Trillion right back.
Think if it this way... as the student you have nothing to lose, and most students and/.ers realise that IP laws need some modification, so if the RIAA wants to get silly, get silly right back.
Countersue for 97.8 Tr/Billion (harrassment) and and then hold the case up in court for the next forever... as someone with nothing to lose, use the situation to make the RIAA look really dumb. C'mon suing for 97.8 billion dollars just makes the media industry look really greedy (big suprise), so give them some of their own medicine... sue them for everything under the sun... malicious lawsuit/harassment/breach of privacy/violation of 1st ammendment... you don't have to be right... just contentious enough not to get thrown out of court immediatley...
Heck, if only one charge stays then it will impact the record companies, who will have to disclose the lawsuit in their financial reports...:) stock markets don't like lawsuits very much.
The costs involved could be relatively minor... considering the publicity you'd get, I'm sure a few lawyers would work pro bono, and heck, the legal fees are miniscule compared to the potential damages.
The real key, as I see it is to keep the case going... countersuing for 97.8 Billion will QUICKLY get the RIAA to back off their claim, and knock a few billion off the charge, but keep it up... make them look REALLY SILLY! The more news outlets hear of the battle of the Trillion dollar lawsuits, the sillier the RIAA looks...
And lastly, competing Trillion dollar lawsuits will definatley get the eye of congress... when an industry starts to sue for Trillions, congress starts to worry (save for Senator Disney).
_CMK
The only problems with Laser weapons are that they are illegial under the Geneva conventions, as are any weapons that are designed to permanently blind a person. While it may be possible to skirt the issue by using a non-visable wavelength, targeting becomes an issue... even low power lasers for targeting would be potentially illegial as they could/would be intense enough to harm the vision, OR if they are sufficiently low power, they probably disperse so greatly as to give away the position of the 'shooter'.
Now this is not free bait for trolling, so please do not reply with stupid comments about the U.S. not following the convention as is... this is not about Iraq or GitMo.
IBM sells 1gig micro-hard drives that can fit inside a PCMCIA card... the Hard Drive is like 1/2 the size of a PCMCIA card, SO, I see no reason why not to put one in a phone/MP3 player/phone/ etc.
Well maybe cost, I am sure memory has to be cheaper than a finely tuned drive mechanism and platter, on production scales.
This would probably mean legal (bad) repercussions.
Here's hoping that the public avoids these like the plague. A popular artist with a CD that wont work in Cars will have difficult time selling alot of CDs.
This leads me to two questions of my own. #1) Arista artists should be concerned about being the test case (patient zero), if the plan backfires, their sales could plummet, which is much worse for the artist (they get paid out of NET proffit, record COs take profit from GROSS sales). #2 How many devices would NOT be able to play the CDs (obvious Computers), but Car CD players (standard since mid 90's no?), DVD players, Portable CD players (discman, etc)... economically speaking, how badly are they limiting their market?
Ok NOT Trolling; But I find it oddly convenient that I am not legally able to dupe my DVD collection, and THEN magically they start to break... total boon to the studios and MPAA!
Although, in an odd way this could be the YRO savior... think of it... this is a perfect reason to extend 'fair use' rights to digital media... DVDs break...computers crash, all necessitating backups... with DVDs rotting, it becomes alot harder for the RI/MPAA to argue against allowing 'perfect digital' duplicates...
Mr. Valenti, I now have a perfectly valid and (IANAL but seems) legal reason to dupe my DVDs. I would love to see someone go to court and sue because the product was faulty and they are not legally able to make copies, and the studio wont replace it because the DVD is out of the 90 day warranty period... this could be very interesting!
_CMK
Re:The solution is an iron fist
on
Kazaa Fights Back
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
This is the first well written rebuttal to the 'pirates' among us... However, you fail to address one point... consider the bottled water industry, they compete with the *free* water from the taps, and do quite well... What the RIAA needs to do is to differentiate their products from those you can download... how about the new EMINEM w/DVD features on the CD...that'd be a pain to DL... and remember when album cover art was important...
IF the RIAA wants to compete then make it worth my while to pay for it... I will... all KAZAA et al. represents is 4 million consumers saying that things have to change... that also means that 4 million consumers are a willing market for music that offers something better than 4 minutes of DL and 128kbs or $16.99 @ HMV
Real nerds are watching Star Trek V on TNN and surfing/. not watching the superbowl... why watch guys that would have just given us wedgies in school had we known them?
-CMK
I wonder how much it would cost for Sony to buy Nintendo outright...? No royalties if you buy the plantiff....
That way they keep the playstation moniker and get some cool game stables (mario, metroid, etc).02
_CMK
I generally find Apple to be better than most PC manufacturers... BUT Apple is a BASTARD in planned obsolescence.... a mac is designed to be effective for 18-24 months...
It used to be that Mac would work with the current OS for YEARS... now buy an iMac, no quartz extreme 18 months later... buy a Powerbook w/os 9.& DVD... No DVD in OSX...(ouch)
I am not one of those people who bitches that computers should last _forever_ but when a product works (has a DVD) and Apple just doesn't write a driver for the new OS update it really sucks
_CMK
The way I got started into linux was to buy one of those "for dummies books"... I think it was redhat 7.1...
Anyway if you go to Borders or B&N you can pick one up CHEAP... and you get a pressed CD of the distro... yes I know you can burn one for free but I find CD-Rs to scrach too easy so a pressed CD is definately worth the $15...
What to do on T.V... how about install Linux... just show people how/fast/easy it is... I read somewhere that Mandrake takes 20 minutes or so to load... Sooooo install the program on the show... put in the CD and then do the rest of the show... come back at the end and show people how/easy/fast it is to get Linix on your system...
Just like on FoodTV... start the install and do a swapout @ the end... would be cool for people to see that it is not complicated/or require lots of CLI tinkering
_CMK
Ok... this could be Karma suicide (flinch) but I think/.ers need to examine the strategy everyone here seems to support. Everyone agrees that the MP/RIAA and the media co's are pushing IP law to the limits... I agree, but I think the strategy of stopping _every_ attempt as soon as it pops up is futile...
Simply put, they have deeper pockets than we collectively do, and they certainly have better representation both legally and politically... I AM NOT ADVOCATING rolling over and playing dead, but I am advocating passive resistence...
I think the mainstream computer user does not understand what the media companies are attempting to do...and I also think their efforts will be useless...
Consider the advertisements that the computer field uses to attract new companies..."buy a new P4 to download music"... "use XP to edit video"... "get broadband to speed downloads of music and video"...
I want to know what happens when Joe User tries to do any of the things that are advertised... buy a CD from bestbuy and you cannot play it on your computer? I bet the CD gets returned... rent a DVD and cannot play on computer?... complaint to Custserv @ blockbuster... download music and it won't play on another computer, AND you just paid full frieght?
I WANT to see the media co's get what they want... their sales will tank... who will buy a CD they can only use in one device? Remember all the grumbling when CD's came out (now I have to buy all new CD to replace my cassettes), Atleast the sound was better... a DRM CD only benefits the media co's... nobody will buy it...
I forsee two outcomes to passive resistence. Firstly, the media co's will go to far and the gov will react when Joe Consumer feels he is getting ripped off... the gov likes to act fast when ALOT of people are watching (not just a few thousand geeks)... Secondly, the harsh DRM/palladium regime will create oportunities for new players... everyone on/. seem to hate M$... so screw 'em... they get to close to the MP/RIAA then someone (linus/India/ Lik Sang) will step in to offer people what they want...
Remember information wants to be free, and consumers always prefer the *easiest* solution... someone will step in to offer a better solution...
To conclude, I am only suggesting the/.ers who understand what is going on, to inform as many 'average' computer users how to use the technology the media co's want to stop... hate the RIAA??? teach someone to use KAZAA or limewire... I would like to see the RIAA/MPAA ask users to pay in the U.S> like they did in Denmark... how many calls to congressmen would that generate? C'mon Hilary... I DARE YOU...
Average users will be pissed when P2P gets shut down...don't buy DRM products... import the non DRM one (Gabriel in the EU for instance)... the more the average user gets used to certain technology the more they feel they are entitled to it...
(flinches as he hits submit)
Could this not be a positive for the EU and their 'investigation' into M$??? IANAL but I think Mass will have to try to show how the seatlement is not going to work (if it is not working already)... Mass will probably lose, BUT the EU might be able to gather new evidence when they consider the case... AND the EU does not have the political pressure to support M$ like homegrown American interests do... Although I guess they could just hire everyone of the EU investigators...
This case has NOTHING to do with antitrust... it has to do with the EU protecting their home turf (for good reason). European wireless telecommunications are FAR beyond North American levels. Do you think the EU wants a U.S. corporation famous for the 'blue screen of death' becomming the dominant handset manufacturer? Naa, The EU is protecting their local (domestic) interests...
If M$ was interested in competing with Nokia/Errikson/vodaphone etc they would BUY one of them... the fact that they are entering the market by themselves it is almost implied that they inted to leverage their OS monopoly.
_CMC
And how exactly did you learn this? More importantly, how did you explain it to the guy @ circuit city that your DVD player just decided to ooze elmers school glue?
_C
Oh yeah there is the anti-reverse engineering copy protection (cartel) legislation in DCMA... unless Lik Sang is going to do it (and for how long) we will NOT be able to get around the CD protection... this is a matter for lawyers to fight protected CDs... I want to know what happens when the Car stereo manufacturers (Kenwood, alpine et al) get complaints from their customers that the latest Ja Rule CD wont work in their top of the line player w/ mp3 support....
Use one industry against the other... there are competing views and we are stuck in the middle... complain to the "other guy" and see what happens...
_C
I think this will be _very_ difficult to establish.... not only for the aforementioned ROW considerations, but for physical reasons. A *perfect* vacuum is almost unattainable on Earth (very small capsules notwithstanding)... the energy required would be enormous to create a vacuum that is sufficient to reduce friction and drag to useful levels....
Besides, what are the occupants going to breathe? The capsules would have to be airtight... all of this seems pretty challenging and time consuming for a marginal benefit...
I would like to know how much better this system is compared to straight mag-lev...
_C
Actually you have this backwards...demand does not set prices, supply does...consumers are 'price takers'...in other words they accept the prices they are offered and decide on how many (if any) at the given price.
Higher demand indicates lower prices, due to economies of scale, lower demand means the opposite.
Nintendo got in trouble here because they manipulated their position as a monopolist... they attempted to capture monopoly profits by artificially constraining supply (the same way diamond miners do)... this is not unusual in itself, companies set different prices for different markets all te time (Microsoft in Australia for ex.). It becommes illegial when a company manipulates prices within a single market...you wouldn't expect to pay less for a computer in California than you would in NY would you (taxes exclusive)...
The aircraft body is a lifting body... lift is generated all over the aircraft...remember the F104's wings... this is a more advanced application of the same idea.
I bet this thing would need computer controls to fly like the F-117 or B-2 in any 'combat' situations.
Slashdot Mirror
What's with the Mozilla folks, and being in love with GM muscle car names? I mean Firebird/Camino... next Camaro?
Sooner or later will we get the IROC or IRoC chat client? GOD I hope they stay away from the Z# names... I would hate to tell someone I use a Z28 browser with a Z34 mail client...
_CMK
Hmmm... I'm still waiting for Microsoft to port their games portfolio to mac.... Now ALOT of home games users are FORCED to buy expensive Wintel hardware to play games... seems like something Apple would do in their strong suite...
C'mon, Apple bought the company, if they force you to use a mac, so be it... I have to use Windows for stuff that microsoft doesn't port (cough cough... Access)...
As long as Apple adds value and develops the software, then users are better off upgrading anyway... just because a new ver is out doesn't mean the old stops working... if the Apple added value isn't worth it; then keep using the old... simple as that...
_CMK
Grrr sorry, for the lack of formatting... in my last post
/.ers realise that IP laws need some modification, so if the RIAA wants to get silly, get silly right back.
:) stock markets don't like lawsuits very much.
Anyone who reads the damages sought by the RIAA regards this as absolutley silly... so what to do? Countersue for 97.8 B/Trillion right back.
Think if it this way... as the student you have nothing to lose, and most students and
Countersue for 97.8 Tr/Billion (harrassment) and and then hold the case up in court for the next forever... as someone with nothing to lose, use the situation to make the RIAA look really dumb. C'mon suing for 97.8 billion dollars just makes the media industry look really greedy (big suprise), so give them some of their own medicine... sue them for everything under the sun... malicious lawsuit/harassment/breach of privacy/violation of 1st ammendment... you don't have to be right... just contentious enough not to get thrown out of court immediatley...
Heck, if only one charge stays then it will impact the record companies, who will have to disclose the lawsuit in their financial reports...
The costs involved could be relatively minor... considering the publicity you'd get, I'm sure a few lawyers would work pro bono, and heck, the legal fees are miniscule compared to the potential damages.
The real key, as I see it is to keep the case going... countersuing for 97.8 Billion will QUICKLY get the RIAA to back off their claim, and knock a few billion off the charge, but keep it up... make them look REALLY SILLY! The more news outlets hear of the battle of the Trillion dollar lawsuits, the sillier the RIAA looks...
And lastly, competing Trillion dollar lawsuits will definatley get the eye of congress... when an industry starts to sue for Trillions, congress starts to worry (save for Senator Disney).
_CMK
Anyone who reads the damages sought by the RIAA regards this as absolutley silly... so what to do? Countersue for 97.8 B/Trillion right back. Think if it this way... as the student you have nothing to lose, and most students and /.ers realise that IP laws need some modification, so if the RIAA wants to get silly, get silly right back.
Countersue for 97.8 Tr/Billion (harrassment) and and then hold the case up in court for the next forever... as someone with nothing to lose, use the situation to make the RIAA look really dumb. C'mon suing for 97.8 billion dollars just makes the media industry look really greedy (big suprise), so give them some of their own medicine... sue them for everything under the sun... malicious lawsuit/harassment/breach of privacy/violation of 1st ammendment... you don't have to be right... just contentious enough not to get thrown out of court immediatley...
Heck, if only one charge stays then it will impact the record companies, who will have to disclose the lawsuit in their financial reports... :) stock markets don't like lawsuits very much.
The costs involved could be relatively minor... considering the publicity you'd get, I'm sure a few lawyers would work pro bono, and heck, the legal fees are miniscule compared to the potential damages.
The real key, as I see it is to keep the case going... countersuing for 97.8 Billion will QUICKLY get the RIAA to back off their claim, and knock a few billion off the charge, but keep it up... make them look REALLY SILLY! The more news outlets hear of the battle of the Trillion dollar lawsuits, the sillier the RIAA looks...
And lastly, competing Trillion dollar lawsuits will definatley get the eye of congress... when an industry starts to sue for Trillions, congress starts to worry (save for Senator Disney).
_CMK
The only problems with Laser weapons are that they are illegial under the Geneva conventions, as are any weapons that are designed to permanently blind a person. While it may be possible to skirt the issue by using a non-visable wavelength, targeting becomes an issue... even low power lasers for targeting would be potentially illegial as they could/would be intense enough to harm the vision, OR if they are sufficiently low power, they probably disperse so greatly as to give away the position of the 'shooter'.
Now this is not free bait for trolling, so please do not reply with stupid comments about the U.S. not following the convention as is... this is not about Iraq or GitMo.
_CMK
IBM sells 1gig micro-hard drives that can fit inside a PCMCIA card... the Hard Drive is like 1/2 the size of a PCMCIA card, SO, I see no reason why not to put one in a phone/MP3 player /phone/ etc.
Well maybe cost, I am sure memory has to be cheaper than a finely tuned drive mechanism and platter, on production scales.
_CMK
My money is on b)...
This would probably mean legal (bad) repercussions.
Here's hoping that the public avoids these like the plague. A popular artist with a CD that wont work in Cars will have difficult time selling alot of CDs.
This leads me to two questions of my own.
#1) Arista artists should be concerned about being the test case (patient zero), if the plan backfires, their sales could plummet, which is much worse for the artist (they get paid out of NET proffit, record COs take profit from GROSS sales).
#2 How many devices would NOT be able to play the CDs (obvious Computers), but Car CD players (standard since mid 90's no?), DVD players, Portable CD players (discman, etc)... economically speaking, how badly are they limiting their market?
_CMK
You've got to be kidding right? Footnotes are essential for scholarly work...
_CMK
Ok NOT Trolling;
But I find it oddly convenient that I am not legally able to dupe my DVD collection, and THEN magically they start to break... total boon to the studios and MPAA!
Although, in an odd way this could be the YRO savior... think of it... this is a perfect reason to extend 'fair use' rights to digital media... DVDs break...computers crash, all necessitating backups... with DVDs rotting, it becomes alot harder for the RI/MPAA to argue against allowing 'perfect digital' duplicates...
Mr. Valenti, I now have a perfectly valid and (IANAL but seems) legal reason to dupe my DVDs. I would love to see someone go to court and sue because the product was faulty and they are not legally able to make copies, and the studio wont replace it because the DVD is out of the 90 day warranty period... this could be very interesting!
_CMK
This is the first well written rebuttal to the 'pirates' among us... However, you fail to address one point... consider the bottled water industry, they compete with the *free* water from the taps, and do quite well... What the RIAA needs to do is to differentiate their products from those you can download... how about the new EMINEM w/DVD features on the CD...that'd be a pain to DL... and remember when album cover art was important...
IF the RIAA wants to compete then make it worth my while to pay for it... I will... all KAZAA et al. represents is 4 million consumers saying that things have to change... that also means that 4 million consumers are a willing market for music that offers something better than 4 minutes of DL and 128kbs or $16.99 @ HMV
_CMK
Real nerds are watching Star Trek V on TNN and surfing /. not watching the superbowl... why watch guys that would have just given us wedgies in school had we known them?
-CMK
no they are called licensees! _CMK
I wonder how much it would cost for Sony to buy Nintendo outright...? No royalties if you buy the plantiff.... That way they keep the playstation moniker and get some cool game stables (mario, metroid, etc) .02
_CMK
I generally find Apple to be better than most PC manufacturers... BUT Apple is a BASTARD in planned obsolescence.... a mac is designed to be effective for 18-24 months... It used to be that Mac would work with the current OS for YEARS... now buy an iMac, no quartz extreme 18 months later... buy a Powerbook w/os 9.& DVD... No DVD in OSX...(ouch) I am not one of those people who bitches that computers should last _forever_ but when a product works (has a DVD) and Apple just doesn't write a driver for the new OS update it really sucks _CMK
The way I got started into linux was to buy one of those "for dummies books"... I think it was redhat 7.1... Anyway if you go to Borders or B&N you can pick one up CHEAP... and you get a pressed CD of the distro... yes I know you can burn one for free but I find CD-Rs to scrach too easy so a pressed CD is definately worth the $15... What to do on T.V... how about install Linux... just show people how /fast/easy it is... I read somewhere that Mandrake takes 20 minutes or so to load... Sooooo install the program on the show... put in the CD and then do the rest of the show... come back at the end and show people how /easy/fast it is to get Linix on your system...
Just like on FoodTV ... start the install and do a swapout @ the end... would be cool for people to see that it is not complicated/or require lots of CLI tinkering
_CMK
Ok ... this could be Karma suicide (flinch) but I think /.ers need to examine the strategy everyone here seems to support. Everyone agrees that the MP/RIAA and the media co's are pushing IP law to the limits... I agree, but I think the strategy of stopping _every_ attempt as soon as it pops up is futile...
Simply put, they have deeper pockets than we collectively do, and they certainly have better representation both legally and politically... I AM NOT ADVOCATING rolling over and playing dead, but I am advocating passive resistence...
I think the mainstream computer user does not understand what the media companies are attempting to do...and I also think their efforts will be useless...
Consider the advertisements that the computer field uses to attract new companies..."buy a new P4 to download music"... "use XP to edit video"... "get broadband to speed downloads of music and video"...
I want to know what happens when Joe User tries to do any of the things that are advertised... buy a CD from bestbuy and you cannot play it on your computer? I bet the CD gets returned... rent a DVD and cannot play on computer?... complaint to Custserv @ blockbuster... download music and it won't play on another computer, AND you just paid full frieght?
I WANT to see the media co's get what they want... their sales will tank... who will buy a CD they can only use in one device? Remember all the grumbling when CD's came out (now I have to buy all new CD to replace my cassettes), Atleast the sound was better... a DRM CD only benefits the media co's... nobody will buy it...
I forsee two outcomes to passive resistence. Firstly, the media co's will go to far and the gov will react when Joe Consumer feels he is getting ripped off... the gov likes to act fast when ALOT of people are watching (not just a few thousand geeks)... Secondly, the harsh DRM/palladium regime will create oportunities for new players... everyone on /. seem to hate M$... so screw 'em... they get to close to the MP/RIAA then someone (linus/India/ Lik Sang) will step in to offer people what they want...
Remember information wants to be free, and consumers always prefer the *easiest* solution... someone will step in to offer a better solution...
To conclude, I am only suggesting the /.ers who understand what is going on, to inform as many 'average' computer users how to use the technology the media co's want to stop... hate the RIAA??? teach someone to use KAZAA or limewire... I would like to see the RIAA/MPAA ask users to pay in the U.S> like they did in Denmark... how many calls to congressmen would that generate? C'mon Hilary... I DARE YOU...
Average users will be pissed when P2P gets shut down...don't buy DRM products... import the non DRM one (Gabriel in the EU for instance)... the more the average user gets used to certain technology the more they feel they are entitled to it...
(flinches as he hits submit)
Could this not be a positive for the EU and their 'investigation' into M$??? IANAL but I think Mass will have to try to show how the seatlement is not going to work (if it is not working already)... Mass will probably lose, BUT the EU might be able to gather new evidence when they consider the case... AND the EU does not have the political pressure to support M$ like homegrown American interests do... Although I guess they could just hire everyone of the EU investigators...
This case has NOTHING to do with antitrust... it has to do with the EU protecting their home turf (for good reason). European wireless telecommunications are FAR beyond North American levels. Do you think the EU wants a U.S. corporation famous for the 'blue screen of death' becomming the dominant handset manufacturer? Naa, The EU is protecting their local (domestic) interests... If M$ was interested in competing with Nokia/Errikson/vodaphone etc they would BUY one of them... the fact that they are entering the market by themselves it is almost implied that they inted to leverage their OS monopoly. _CMC
spoilsport... :P
And how exactly did you learn this? More importantly, how did you explain it to the guy @ circuit city that your DVD player just decided to ooze elmers school glue? _C
Oh yeah there is the anti-reverse engineering copy protection (cartel) legislation in DCMA... unless Lik Sang is going to do it (and for how long) we will NOT be able to get around the CD protection... this is a matter for lawyers to fight protected CDs... I want to know what happens when the Car stereo manufacturers (Kenwood, alpine et al) get complaints from their customers that the latest Ja Rule CD wont work in their top of the line player w/ mp3 support.... Use one industry against the other... there are competing views and we are stuck in the middle... complain to the "other guy" and see what happens... _C
I think this will be _very_ difficult to establish.... not only for the aforementioned ROW considerations, but for physical reasons. A *perfect* vacuum is almost unattainable on Earth (very small capsules notwithstanding)... the energy required would be enormous to create a vacuum that is sufficient to reduce friction and drag to useful levels.... Besides, what are the occupants going to breathe? The capsules would have to be airtight... all of this seems pretty challenging and time consuming for a marginal benefit... I would like to know how much better this system is compared to straight mag-lev... _C
Actually you have this backwards...demand does not set prices, supply does...consumers are 'price takers'...in other words they accept the prices they are offered and decide on how many (if any) at the given price. Higher demand indicates lower prices, due to economies of scale, lower demand means the opposite. Nintendo got in trouble here because they manipulated their position as a monopolist... they attempted to capture monopoly profits by artificially constraining supply (the same way diamond miners do)... this is not unusual in itself, companies set different prices for different markets all te time (Microsoft in Australia for ex.). It becommes illegial when a company manipulates prices within a single market...you wouldn't expect to pay less for a computer in California than you would in NY would you (taxes exclusive)...
use internal stores like the JSF does... no pylons needed at all.
The aircraft body is a lifting body... lift is generated all over the aircraft...remember the F104's wings... this is a more advanced application of the same idea. I bet this thing would need computer controls to fly like the F-117 or B-2 in any 'combat' situations.