Come on, guys. We all knew the iPod video was coming, and all of that junk. The BIG news here is TV episodes in the ITMS--finally, a legit (and not ungodly pricey) alternative to torrenting shows I miss. Granted, right now it is only five shows, but if this takes off (and I am guessing it will--people over 20 care about tv shows a lot more than music videos) then we can expect digital distribution of tv shows to become the norm.
I still cannot understand why the basic networks have yet to start doing this. Why NOT put tv shows online, perhaps with commercials added in? They broadcast them out to the world anyways, so anyone with a TV can recieve them, so why not anyone with an internet connection? DRM it if you need to, just make it easier for me to access. Live in the nows.
Do you really believe that the "cost" of the DVD depends on things like DVD burning, stamping, cover art, and a box? There's usually a multi-million dollar film to be made before any of that can happen. Cutting out burning and packaging costs would save the consumer almost nothing.
If you watch it, and find out it sucks, can you cancel the order/send the hard copy back? How much do they charge you, then?
Re:Stop giving them money
on
RIAA Sues a Child
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I get the feeling that unless any boycott is very wide-reaching and publicly discussed, the RIAA are going to see any drops in sales as further justification to sue everyone they can. Their skewed studies are going to point to rampant evil piracy as the cause of dropped sales, not repeated PR nightmares, intentional boycotts, bad music, etc etc. I agree with what you're saying--I never buy RIAA cds new either--but it's gonna take a tremendous drop in sales, as well as consumers consciously saying "you are a terrible business and that is why I won't buy your product" to let these guys know that they won't get their sales back up by suing little girls.
Who is going to use this? What demographic is this targetting? There's not a platform out there that supports IE but not FF. People who can't install Firefox on public/work machines due to lowered permissions won't be able to install this either. People who want Firefox will use Firefox. This plugin serves no purpose, and the "gets rid of ALL spyware in TEN seconds" line sounds like magical marketing-speak.
$499 + $100 to equip it properly + $200 for a nice monitor + $50 for a nice keyboard and mouse + $35 for speakers = $884. That's a long way from Dell's entry level $299 box, and Dell usually throws in a printer, too. You can usually get a similiarly equipped eMachine from Wal-Mart for $499.
For the severely money-conscious American, an entry-level Apple is still out of the question. Sure, it might be their NEXT computer once they've amassed the peripherals, but you have to convince them to switch away from Windows by that point.
The genetically successful male breeds with as many partners as he can, as often as he can.
This is bullshit. Evolutionary success depends upon producing the most children who go on to have more children, not to spread the most of your genetic material around. A well cared for child that receives proper parental attention, who grows into a stable adult, is a greater "success" and will likely breed more and better children than five kids who are malnourished and mentally underdeveloped without the interaction and protection of the father.
I'm not disagreeing with your first statement. Monogamy can be hard, but don't pull that "men are hardwired for infidelity" crap. The notion that women are "supposed" to try desperately to hold on to one man while men are "supposed" to want to spread their baby batter everywhere is a product of our culture, and is a cop-out for both sexes.
It's really buggy in Firefox. Things don't save like they should, and a couple of times it just reloaded as a blank page. I finally lost my patience and set it up in IE. It's much snappier in IE, and then I can save it and have Firefox just load the new layout.
Keep that in mind next time somebody tells you what a great deal allofmp3.com is. The cost is actually a few pennies a song plus some poor sap's kneecaps somewhere.
If I buy songs from American services, I'm just paying more money to a different mob. At least the Russian mafia isn't gonna sue my friends.
I have not deleted my cookies for a couple YEARS since I last reloaded my computers, and have yet to have a single problem with stolen passwords or any of these other problems that evil cookies are supposedly causing.
This sounds like one of those "I haven't used an antivirus in five years, and I've never had ANY problems" things. How would you know? Just because you have yet to see the ill effects of something does not mean that it's not happening. If an identity theif is good at what he does, you'll NEVER know your information was stolen.
As for the rest of it, I think you undervalue your personal information--having your identity stolen is not fun. It's great that you don't care about Doubleclick having your information, but what happens when they link it to personally identifiable info, like your phone number, home address, and email address? Then, they sell it to some no-name company, who sells it to Direct Marketing and a few spammers, who in turn sell it to kids looking for credit cards to steal. Now, you're getting spam, junk mail, telemarketing calls, and random charges to your credit card. If you want to help all of these bottom feeders keep their slimy jobs, go ahead, but I'd rather not encourage a system that annoys me and does not respect my privacy.
Wasn't the PSP supposed to do all this neat shit to begin with? Why can't I browse the web with it, straight out of the box? I'm not a hobbyist or a hardcore gamer, but I was interested in this device until I found out how much Sony had crippled it. Call me in a year, when it's $100 cheaper and the hacking community has made it easy for me, the casual user, to enjoy the full potential of such a machine. Then, I'll pick one up.
Bleeding edgers will switch back when Firefox adds more features, which will likely be within six months of the release of IE7. And Microsoft will either desperately copy Moz/Opera/Safari to win them back, or they'll sit on IE7 for 6 years while Firefox percentages continue to rise.
No, VHS won because Sony wouldn't license porn.
But, with the porn UMDs out there that Sony seemed happy to license, it looks like they have learned from their mistake on that one.
This is a great idea. Another side benefit is, you get to see which magazines are selling your info to junk mail lists or signing you up for random catalog. And then you won't feel bad not paying your bill, because you'll know that Wired already made a killing selling your name and address to the highest bidders.
PCI Micro has served me well when it comes to smaller computer stuff, like cables, fans, thermal grease, and cheap, durable mice and keyboards. You can usually find a free shipping code floating around if you dig for it. Newegg is still my favorite for bigger parts, like motherboards, memory, and DVD burners. Amazon is usually pretty good about having cheap, quality storage media, like blank DVDs or SD cards. Pricewatch can find good deals, but only if you're willing to dig through lots of shady stores posting the "buy 10 units" price and jacking it up when you just want one. And Reseller Ratings is a must when buying from no-name retailers you find on pricewatch. I also like how Reseller Ratings has clear specs on everything, and incorporates Epinions reviews along with their price comparisons.
I'm not understanding this. Are they saying that BitTorrent clients are being bundled with adware? Or, that companies are labeling things as starwars3.torrent and instead of an avi file, the person downloading it gets a 700mb.exe? Who is this affecting? If someone is competent enough to use BT, aren't they competent enough to realize that.exe is not a video? Most sites even allow comments with torrent downloads so you can see what other people have to say about its legitimacy. I don't think the writer of this article really understands how BT works, or he wouldn't be sensationalizing the "threat" of spyware.
You could slipstream SP2 onto your install CD (search google for directions), so you don't have to race against time trying to get it installed before your machine is pwned. It'll just install with XP. Upon installing, if you're really paranoid, you could put a second firewall on your machine, like Kerio or Zone Alarm. After that, get updates and install antivirus and antispyware.
The problem comes when every printer manufacturer starts doing this. There are a limited number of big name printer companies. Xerox, HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark. If the courts say it's ok, all of these manufacturers will decide this method is THE solution to making money. As it is now, most of them see that the protection will usually be defeated, and third party sellers will continue.
Another problem is that most people don't get to research their printer before they buy it. Often, you get them when you purchase new computers, particularly entry level models. Dell is always eager to throw in a new Dell-rebranded Lexmark if you try to customize a system; eMachines from Walmart rarely come without at least a coupon for 50% off a new printer, but more often an actual free printer. It's a brilliant move by Lexmark and HP.
You can't really blame consumers on this one. Especially when buying their first printer, most people don't realize what a racket it is and how many things you have to research. I finally got my hands on a cheap Canon with cheaper third party ink that is good for what I need, but that took three tries with various crappy, proprietary printers. I doubt everyone is so lucky.
Apparently, though, the makers find it more useful to be widely used than widely respected.
Maybe that's because the software functions better with more users? Bittorrent would be pointless if it was limited to small circles posting approved material.
"racist propaganda cartoons starring your favorite childhood heroes"...produced by Hanna Barbara themselves. No one is going to sue over the cartoons with squinty-eyed Japanese soldiers and the like. The publicity would be bad. As of right now, they can only be found by those who seek them out...if Hanna Barbara or Disney sues anyone about these, a whole lot of other people (included the concerned mothers of America) will become aware of them, and will be outraged by their existance. And, like I said, they're occasionally licensed and sold to collectors or used in history films/tv shows.
You're right to be concerned, but it's unlikely that these cartoons are ever going to be flushed from our memories--there's a huge group of people out there who collect these racist/sexist/ultraviolent cartoons that are unlikely to be shown on Saturday mornings anymore. Do a search on eMule for "banned cartoons" and you'll see what I'm talking about. A lot of them are war-themed, dirty, or make cigarettes look really really cool. Occasionally, some companies will license these cartoons and sell them in collections on the internet or on late-night TV. I know it may seem like they're being lost if you're not really looking for them, but they're never going to be forgotten, especially if people are interested in them and willing to pay for them.
Yeah, right. We know who is really pushing for this--phone companies who want to put VOIP providers out of business or at leaast bleed them financially. If nothing else, it's a scare tactic. "Not yet, Joe Consumer. You want to keep your land line in case of an emergency!" While I agree that VOIP companies should disclose their 911 abilities and should make moves towards getting 911 working, 120 days is an unreasonably short amount of time, and seems designed for failure with companies who haven't even started yet. How about we give them a year so they can put something reliable together instead of each company scrambling to hack it together before they're fined?
Isn't the list of seeders and sharers on btefnet.com or the like a more trackable indicator of a show's popularity than anything the networks have come up with? I suppose satellite companies and Tivo have the tech to measure viewership, but as far as cable and network television, the only way to measure viewership is through actively surveying people or using Nielsen set-top boxes. You're already only getting the opinions of people who "opt in." AFAICT, measuring the amount of people who download a show is a much better indicator of popularity and fans than throwing a signal out there and expecting everyone who likes the show to tell you about it.
Slashdot Mirror
Come on, guys. We all knew the iPod video was coming, and all of that junk. The BIG news here is TV episodes in the ITMS--finally, a legit (and not ungodly pricey) alternative to torrenting shows I miss. Granted, right now it is only five shows, but if this takes off (and I am guessing it will--people over 20 care about tv shows a lot more than music videos) then we can expect digital distribution of tv shows to become the norm.
I still cannot understand why the basic networks have yet to start doing this. Why NOT put tv shows online, perhaps with commercials added in? They broadcast them out to the world anyways, so anyone with a TV can recieve them, so why not anyone with an internet connection? DRM it if you need to, just make it easier for me to access. Live in the nows.
Do you really believe that the "cost" of the DVD depends on things like DVD burning, stamping, cover art, and a box? There's usually a multi-million dollar film to be made before any of that can happen. Cutting out burning and packaging costs would save the consumer almost nothing.
If you watch it, and find out it sucks, can you cancel the order/send the hard copy back? How much do they charge you, then?
I get the feeling that unless any boycott is very wide-reaching and publicly discussed, the RIAA are going to see any drops in sales as further justification to sue everyone they can. Their skewed studies are going to point to rampant evil piracy as the cause of dropped sales, not repeated PR nightmares, intentional boycotts, bad music, etc etc. I agree with what you're saying--I never buy RIAA cds new either--but it's gonna take a tremendous drop in sales, as well as consumers consciously saying "you are a terrible business and that is why I won't buy your product" to let these guys know that they won't get their sales back up by suing little girls.
The Inquirer reports tech news.
The Enquirer reports stories about bat boy.
Small, but important, difference.
Who is going to use this? What demographic is this targetting? There's not a platform out there that supports IE but not FF. People who can't install Firefox on public/work machines due to lowered permissions won't be able to install this either. People who want Firefox will use Firefox. This plugin serves no purpose, and the "gets rid of ALL spyware in TEN seconds" line sounds like magical marketing-speak.
$499 + $100 to equip it properly + $200 for a nice monitor + $50 for a nice keyboard and mouse + $35 for speakers = $884. That's a long way from Dell's entry level $299 box, and Dell usually throws in a printer, too. You can usually get a similiarly equipped eMachine from Wal-Mart for $499.
For the severely money-conscious American, an entry-level Apple is still out of the question. Sure, it might be their NEXT computer once they've amassed the peripherals, but you have to convince them to switch away from Windows by that point.
The genetically successful male breeds with as many partners as he can, as often as he can.
This is bullshit. Evolutionary success depends upon producing the most children who go on to have more children, not to spread the most of your genetic material around. A well cared for child that receives proper parental attention, who grows into a stable adult, is a greater "success" and will likely breed more and better children than five kids who are malnourished and mentally underdeveloped without the interaction and protection of the father.
I'm not disagreeing with your first statement. Monogamy can be hard, but don't pull that "men are hardwired for infidelity" crap. The notion that women are "supposed" to try desperately to hold on to one man while men are "supposed" to want to spread their baby batter everywhere is a product of our culture, and is a cop-out for both sexes.
It's really buggy in Firefox. Things don't save like they should, and a couple of times it just reloaded as a blank page. I finally lost my patience and set it up in IE. It's much snappier in IE, and then I can save it and have Firefox just load the new layout.
Keep that in mind next time somebody tells you what a great deal allofmp3.com is. The cost is actually a few pennies a song plus some poor sap's kneecaps somewhere.
If I buy songs from American services, I'm just paying more money to a different mob. At least the Russian mafia isn't gonna sue my friends.
I have not deleted my cookies for a couple YEARS since I last reloaded my computers, and have yet to have a single problem with stolen passwords or any of these other problems that evil cookies are supposedly causing. This sounds like one of those "I haven't used an antivirus in five years, and I've never had ANY problems" things. How would you know? Just because you have yet to see the ill effects of something does not mean that it's not happening. If an identity theif is good at what he does, you'll NEVER know your information was stolen. As for the rest of it, I think you undervalue your personal information--having your identity stolen is not fun. It's great that you don't care about Doubleclick having your information, but what happens when they link it to personally identifiable info, like your phone number, home address, and email address? Then, they sell it to some no-name company, who sells it to Direct Marketing and a few spammers, who in turn sell it to kids looking for credit cards to steal. Now, you're getting spam, junk mail, telemarketing calls, and random charges to your credit card. If you want to help all of these bottom feeders keep their slimy jobs, go ahead, but I'd rather not encourage a system that annoys me and does not respect my privacy.
Wasn't the PSP supposed to do all this neat shit to begin with? Why can't I browse the web with it, straight out of the box? I'm not a hobbyist or a hardcore gamer, but I was interested in this device until I found out how much Sony had crippled it. Call me in a year, when it's $100 cheaper and the hacking community has made it easy for me, the casual user, to enjoy the full potential of such a machine. Then, I'll pick one up.
Bleeding edgers will switch back when Firefox adds more features, which will likely be within six months of the release of IE7. And Microsoft will either desperately copy Moz/Opera/Safari to win them back, or they'll sit on IE7 for 6 years while Firefox percentages continue to rise.
No, VHS won because Sony wouldn't license porn. But, with the porn UMDs out there that Sony seemed happy to license, it looks like they have learned from their mistake on that one.
This is a great idea. Another side benefit is, you get to see which magazines are selling your info to junk mail lists or signing you up for random catalog. And then you won't feel bad not paying your bill, because you'll know that Wired already made a killing selling your name and address to the highest bidders.
PCI Micro has served me well when it comes to smaller computer stuff, like cables, fans, thermal grease, and cheap, durable mice and keyboards. You can usually find a free shipping code floating around if you dig for it.
Newegg is still my favorite for bigger parts, like motherboards, memory, and DVD burners.
Amazon is usually pretty good about having cheap, quality storage media, like blank DVDs or SD cards.
Pricewatch can find good deals, but only if you're willing to dig through lots of shady stores posting the "buy 10 units" price and jacking it up when you just want one.
And Reseller Ratings is a must when buying from no-name retailers you find on pricewatch. I also like how Reseller Ratings has clear specs on everything, and incorporates Epinions reviews along with their price comparisons.
We need more "roBort" license plates in the gift shop.
I'm not understanding this. Are they saying that BitTorrent clients are being bundled with adware? Or, that companies are labeling things as starwars3.torrent and instead of an avi file, the person downloading it gets a 700mb .exe? Who is this affecting? If someone is competent enough to use BT, aren't they competent enough to realize that .exe is not a video? Most sites even allow comments with torrent downloads so you can see what other people have to say about its legitimacy. I don't think the writer of this article really understands how BT works, or he wouldn't be sensationalizing the "threat" of spyware.
You could slipstream SP2 onto your install CD (search google for directions), so you don't have to race against time trying to get it installed before your machine is pwned. It'll just install with XP. Upon installing, if you're really paranoid, you could put a second firewall on your machine, like Kerio or Zone Alarm. After that, get updates and install antivirus and antispyware.
The problem comes when every printer manufacturer starts doing this. There are a limited number of big name printer companies. Xerox, HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark. If the courts say it's ok, all of these manufacturers will decide this method is THE solution to making money. As it is now, most of them see that the protection will usually be defeated, and third party sellers will continue.
Another problem is that most people don't get to research their printer before they buy it. Often, you get them when you purchase new computers, particularly entry level models. Dell is always eager to throw in a new Dell-rebranded Lexmark if you try to customize a system; eMachines from Walmart rarely come without at least a coupon for 50% off a new printer, but more often an actual free printer. It's a brilliant move by Lexmark and HP.
You can't really blame consumers on this one. Especially when buying their first printer, most people don't realize what a racket it is and how many things you have to research. I finally got my hands on a cheap Canon with cheaper third party ink that is good for what I need, but that took three tries with various crappy, proprietary printers. I doubt everyone is so lucky.
Apparently, though, the makers find it more useful to be widely used than widely respected.
Maybe that's because the software functions better with more users? Bittorrent would be pointless if it was limited to small circles posting approved material.
"racist propaganda cartoons starring your favorite childhood heroes"...produced by Hanna Barbara themselves. No one is going to sue over the cartoons with squinty-eyed Japanese soldiers and the like. The publicity would be bad. As of right now, they can only be found by those who seek them out...if Hanna Barbara or Disney sues anyone about these, a whole lot of other people (included the concerned mothers of America) will become aware of them, and will be outraged by their existance. And, like I said, they're occasionally licensed and sold to collectors or used in history films/tv shows.
You're right to be concerned, but it's unlikely that these cartoons are ever going to be flushed from our memories--there's a huge group of people out there who collect these racist/sexist/ultraviolent cartoons that are unlikely to be shown on Saturday mornings anymore. Do a search on eMule for "banned cartoons" and you'll see what I'm talking about. A lot of them are war-themed, dirty, or make cigarettes look really really cool. Occasionally, some companies will license these cartoons and sell them in collections on the internet or on late-night TV. I know it may seem like they're being lost if you're not really looking for them, but they're never going to be forgotten, especially if people are interested in them and willing to pay for them.
Yeah, right. We know who is really pushing for this--phone companies who want to put VOIP providers out of business or at leaast bleed them financially. If nothing else, it's a scare tactic. "Not yet, Joe Consumer. You want to keep your land line in case of an emergency!" While I agree that VOIP companies should disclose their 911 abilities and should make moves towards getting 911 working, 120 days is an unreasonably short amount of time, and seems designed for failure with companies who haven't even started yet. How about we give them a year so they can put something reliable together instead of each company scrambling to hack it together before they're fined?
Isn't the list of seeders and sharers on btefnet.com or the like a more trackable indicator of a show's popularity than anything the networks have come up with? I suppose satellite companies and Tivo have the tech to measure viewership, but as far as cable and network television, the only way to measure viewership is through actively surveying people or using Nielsen set-top boxes. You're already only getting the opinions of people who "opt in." AFAICT, measuring the amount of people who download a show is a much better indicator of popularity and fans than throwing a signal out there and expecting everyone who likes the show to tell you about it.