This is a good solution to the tragedy of the commons dilemna, and a good way to fund the highways that is fair - people who drive more pay more. Everyone has a stake, benefits from the resource and bears the costs.
If you don't know what the tragedy of the commons is, please find out before you ever comment about taxation ever again.
Besides, at least it's not like New York, where the bridge and tunnel tolls go to subsidize the subway!
"is this the start of real commercialism for google?"
Last time I checked they were a public for profit company. And very profitable. Also closed-source. Like Microsoft. The idea that they are motived by anything other than the profit motive is hopelessly naive. Not that that makes them any different, better or worse than Apple, Sun or Coca-Cola.
So no, this is not the start of "real commercialism". They started that when they took VC money.
The big use for this technology will be companies that are offshoring high value jobs to low wage countries. Communication has been the only effective barrier to this happening... the more stuff like this comes out the worse the job market looks in high wage countries.
If the tech is "real" enough then people like sales and management, thought to be immune to the whole offshoring thing, will be that much less safe.
Japanese people are very accustomed to watching Hollywood movies in English with subtitles. (They have a much higher literacy rate, for one.)
Another factor to prevent re-dubbing in Japanese is the "coolness factor" of English in Japan. Japanese people bend over backwards to use English, often with hilarious results. For example the Playstation game Parrappa the Rapper, though mostly aimed at the Japanese market, in the Japanese version features English songs with Japanese subtitles. Japanese pop songs are often peppered with English phrases, sometimes with wildly different pronunciations and meanings than we are used to, so a Japanese movie in English isn't much of a stretch. Think about the recent Disney decision to put Japanese into the US Princess Mononoke release, but the other direction, ten times stronger.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a good solution to the tragedy of the commons dilemna, and a good way to fund the highways that is fair - people who drive more pay more. Everyone has a stake, benefits from the resource and bears the costs.
If you don't know what the tragedy of the commons is, please find out before you ever comment about taxation ever again.
Besides, at least it's not like New York, where the bridge and tunnel tolls go to subsidize the subway!
"is this the start of real commercialism for google?"
Last time I checked they were a public for profit company. And very profitable. Also closed-source. Like Microsoft. The idea that they are motived by anything other than the profit motive is hopelessly naive. Not that that makes them any different, better or worse than Apple, Sun or Coca-Cola.
So no, this is not the start of "real commercialism". They started that when they took VC money.
The big use for this technology will be companies that are offshoring high value jobs to low wage countries. Communication has been the only effective barrier to this happening... the more stuff like this comes out the worse the job market looks in high wage countries.
If the tech is "real" enough then people like sales and management, thought to be immune to the whole offshoring thing, will be that much less safe.
I was losing a lot of sleep over the 4byte 2038 unix time rollover bug.
Now all I have to do is buy a new Mac and recompile everything!
Yay Apple!
I wonder when 8byte time will roll over..
Google makes all their money from paid placement ads. The difference is just the presentation.
Do you really think google's idealism will survive an IPO?
Another factor to prevent re-dubbing in Japanese is the "coolness factor" of English in Japan. Japanese people bend over backwards to use English, often with hilarious results. For example the Playstation game Parrappa the Rapper, though mostly aimed at the Japanese market, in the Japanese version features English songs with Japanese subtitles. Japanese pop songs are often peppered with English phrases, sometimes with wildly different pronunciations and meanings than we are used to, so a Japanese movie in English isn't much of a stretch. Think about the recent Disney decision to put Japanese into the US Princess Mononoke release, but the other direction, ten times stronger.
Basically, the "suits" won way back when AOL built a browser into its service. It was just downhill from there.
Besides, how are all those people employed at those companies supposed to pay the bills?