I have no opinion on his comments about the iPhone. But I think he's wrong about the iPod. He says:
"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like that, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, kind of die out after a while, " he said.
"It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much."
He's basically channeling Yogi Berra, who once said of a popular restaurant, "No one goes there any more. It's too crowded."
He points two popular products, the transistor radio and the Walkman, and said they both died. But he neglects to mention why they died--they were replaced by new technology. The transistor radio was replaced by the Walkman. The Walkman was replaced by the portable CD player. The portable CD player was replaced by the MP3 player. The iPod is currently the #1 MP3 player. Until a new technology comes out, there's no real reason for it to become less popular.
The article in the OP stated: "The companies noted that Alltel is serving 57 mostly rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve." In other words, Verizon is buying out the rural markets, giving those people less choice
How are they getting less choice? As you said, neither Verizon, nor AT&T serve that market, but Alltel does. After the merger, Verizon and whatever local providers will still be there, but no AT&T. How has anything changed?
Actually, according to the FAQ: "Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license." Legally speaking, anyone who downloads the $5 songs can freely distribute them in any manner they want, so long as tit is attributed and non-commercial.
The term "Moreover" suggests that the second statement (not allowed to distribute) is completely separate from the first statement (MP3s are not "authorized copies distributed by Plaintiff").
Microsoft is selling the 120 GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 for $180. For the same price, you could get a 750 GB hard drive for your PC. Or, you could buy a 160 GB hard drive for $50.
I think the REAL message will be delivered come 2008, when this free, 6 month old album goes PLATINUM.
They haven't had a platinum album in the US since Kid A. What makes you think that an album that their main fanbase already has will somehow sell a million copies?
To get on the list, you need to sell 3.8M copies. Guitar Hero is popular, but not that popular.
According to wikipedia, Guitar Hero 1 sold about 1.7 million copies. Guitar Hero 2 sold about 3 million, but thats combined for the Xbox 360 and the PS2.
All of today's $100 cards perform better than cards from 5 years ago. Happy?
Five years ago? Try two. Today's $100 card (Nvidia 7600GS) performs better than my $200 card from two years ago (Nvidia 6600 GT). The top card of two-three years ago was the 6800, and the 7600 performs better in some benchmarks.
Since my HTPC upscaler looks almost as nice as HD,
No it doesn't. There's a world of difference between HD DVD and DVD. (I've never seen BluRay, but it should be the same as HD DVD). The problem might be that some movies are sloppily transferred so barely look better in HD. A well-transferred movie looks amazing in HD.
The offer is over now, but one on-line sportsbook offered a $1000 free bet to the first 5000 people to enter. You only had to bet $1100 on the Steelers. If they won (which they did), you won the bet, just like normal. But if they had lost, they would have refunded the $1100 to you. Word of the offer spread like wildfire over the internet and the promotion quickly filled up.
I wonder if any of the people who took the offer were from the US?
I think you dismiss wallets too quickly. They aren't that hard to sort through if you pre-sort them. E.g., I had classical CDs in one binder. Jazz in another. Roughly alphabetical. The biggest problem is that wallets are rough on the CDs, despite what manufacturers say.
I'm sure that you've read a lot of the responses that say hard drives are the answer, so you may get tired of hearing it. But I'll say it anyway. All my CDs are on an external hard drive now. Nearly instantaneous access to any song in my collection, easy to backup (get another external hard drive.) Easy to listen to portably (get an iPod or other portable MP3 player.
Those aren't exactly "standards". It was just a notation system used by record companies to ostensibly indicate quality. It was long ago abandoned as not being informative at all.
According to this article, more than 1,000,000,000 watched the last Super Bowl. So unless, you're comparing 64 games to 1 game (which is beyond stupid), I doubt that the World Cup Final will have even 50% more viewers than the Super Bowl, which is pretty amazing considering that the Super Bowl is played almost completely by Americans.
According to this article, about 130 million US viewers watched the 2006 Super Bowl. The Worldwide figure is about 1 billion (or, as you would put it: 1,000,000,000). Not bad for a sport that's played at a high-level professionally in only 4 countries (and even in the European countries, played primarily by Americans).
I thought that patent protection had changed. Instead of 17 years from issuance, it is now 20 years from first application. I am pretty certain I read about that change taking place in order to stop people from milking the system by filing an application and then repeatedly ammending it, effectively lengethening the period of protection.
You are correct. The term of the patent is determined from the date of filing. But you can't enforce a patent until the patent is granted.
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He's basically channeling Yogi Berra, who once said of a popular restaurant, "No one goes there any more. It's too crowded."
He points two popular products, the transistor radio and the Walkman, and said they both died. But he neglects to mention why they died--they were replaced by new technology. The transistor radio was replaced by the Walkman. The Walkman was replaced by the portable CD player. The portable CD player was replaced by the MP3 player. The iPod is currently the #1 MP3 player. Until a new technology comes out, there's no real reason for it to become less popular.
How are they getting less choice? As you said, neither Verizon, nor AT&T serve that market, but Alltel does. After the merger, Verizon and whatever local providers will still be there, but no AT&T. How has anything changed?
Mono -- one. As long as Verizon and At&t don't merge, there's a choice. As long as there's a choice, it's not a monopoly.
There are times when I almost convince myself that DVD is "good enough". Then I'll pop in an HD-DVD and realize how much better real HD looks.
Actually, according to the FAQ: "Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license." Legally speaking, anyone who downloads the $5 songs can freely distribute them in any manner they want, so long as tit is attributed and non-commercial.
The term "Moreover" suggests that the second statement (not allowed to distribute) is completely separate from the first statement (MP3s are not "authorized copies distributed by Plaintiff").
As an old guy (mid-30s) who doesn't use IM, what exactly is the advantage of IM for "lunch?" I send that email out many times.
Microsoft is selling the 120 GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 for $180. For the same price, you could get a 750 GB hard drive for your PC. Or, you could buy a 160 GB hard drive for $50.
They haven't had a platinum album in the US since Kid A. What makes you think that an album that their main fanbase already has will somehow sell a million copies?
According to wikipedia, Guitar Hero 1 sold about 1.7 million copies. Guitar Hero 2 sold about 3 million, but thats combined for the Xbox 360 and the PS2.
But not Guitar Hero I, Guitar Hero II, or Guitar Hero II: Rocks the 80s. PS2 is the only console with all 4 titles.
In similar news, the death knell of the video tape was the combination of home IMAX projectors and DVD players.
All of today's $100 cards perform better than cards from 5 years ago. Happy? Five years ago? Try two. Today's $100 card (Nvidia 7600GS) performs better than my $200 card from two years ago (Nvidia 6600 GT). The top card of two-three years ago was the 6800, and the 7600 performs better in some benchmarks.
FWIW, the reccomended $100 card performs better than my card that cost $200 two years ago (6600 GT).
No it doesn't. There's a world of difference between HD DVD and DVD. (I've never seen BluRay, but it should be the same as HD DVD). The problem might be that some movies are sloppily transferred so barely look better in HD. A well-transferred movie looks amazing in HD.
That's his point. Friendster used to be big. Now no one has heard of it. Who knows if someone will say the same thing about facebook in 5 years?
Oooh, Look At Me, I Read The Economist!
Try making a faucet company with the same name as Delta Airlines. Oh wait, that has already happened.
I wonder if any of the people who took the offer were from the US?
I'm sure that you've read a lot of the responses that say hard drives are the answer, so you may get tired of hearing it. But I'll say it anyway. All my CDs are on an external hard drive now. Nearly instantaneous access to any song in my collection, easy to backup (get another external hard drive.) Easy to listen to portably (get an iPod or other portable MP3 player.
Those aren't exactly "standards". It was just a notation system used by record companies to ostensibly indicate quality. It was long ago abandoned as not being informative at all.
According to this article, more than 1,000,000,000 watched the last Super Bowl. So unless, you're comparing 64 games to 1 game (which is beyond stupid), I doubt that the World Cup Final will have even 50% more viewers than the Super Bowl, which is pretty amazing considering that the Super Bowl is played almost completely by Americans.
Where the hell did you come up with that fake story? Soccer has been ad-free in the US for 2 decades. They put ads on the bottom of the screen.
According to this article, about 130 million US viewers watched the 2006 Super Bowl. The Worldwide figure is about 1 billion (or, as you would put it: 1,000,000,000). Not bad for a sport that's played at a high-level professionally in only 4 countries (and even in the European countries, played primarily by Americans).
You are correct. The term of the patent is determined from the date of filing. But you can't enforce a patent until the patent is granted.