Yes. As a female engineer, I absolutely despise applying looser standards to women because it helps perpetuate the stereotype that women are less qualified than men. On the other hand, programs that encourage women to become better at technical fields can help break the stereotype. I can go toe to toe with most men in my field just fine, and I'm even perfectly content to be the only woman in a room with 20 or more men, but it wears me down every time someone I'm meeting with makes the assumption that a male colleague is the right person to direct technical questions to - especially when it continues to happen after both of us have made clear that I'm the technical lead. Then again, I find I have to consciously stop myself from making the same type of assumption when I'm on the other side. More women in technical fields who are in fact qualified to be there is the answer.
This. Paul is a personal friend of mine and a professional colleague and I will vouch for him as knowledgeable, fair-minded, and a talented lawyer and technologist. I have no doubt that he will perform admirably in the spirit of everything ISOC has done over the years to promote a free and open Internet. Then again, any article that would repeatedly misspell the name of the person being smeared proves itself uninformed and sloppy.
If it is, in fact, more effective at teaching students, it could potentially lead to larger class sizes, which could easily pay for the device. I am skeptical that it will be effective, but it could be - that's why they do pilot programs. I'm sure they will quickly begin to use it for other courses, too. I can see it being particularly useful for foreign languages (where being able to hear the text is important). I think the interactive textbook idea can also be really useful in science (especially at the early levels of biology, chemistry, and physics, where animations are so useful), geography (being able to pinch and zoom thousands of old maps, and being able to play games to reinforce learning), civics (being able to actually pull up the essential documents immediately). In fact, it's hard for me to think of a class that couldn't benefit from an iPad.
I think this will really turn out to be best for the students who want to move faster than the class and/or learn the material more thoroughly than required. For those students, this could help counter-balance the modern trend to dumb down the curriculum to produce high standardized test scores, rather than deeply examining the subject and teaching students to appreciate learning and thought. For most students, though, I expect this to be an overpriced toy with little educational value.
Not really. A typical suburban American family has 2 cars - one sedan and one minivan/SUV and may be looking at deciding which one to replace.
Also, it's not the ratio between the gas mileages - it's the inverse that you have to look at. A car that gets 30 mpg uses 333 gallons for 10,000 miles. A car that gets 40 mpg (a "33% improvement) goes 250 miles - a savings of 88 gallons. A SUV that gets 12 mpg uses 833 gallons but one that gets 15 mpg (a mere "25%" improvement) uses 667 - a savings of 166 gallons.
If you are replacing one car this year, is it the civic or the Yukon?
Wait, you're using something that happened in Russia 23 years ago as a reason why the US is not ready to have nuclear power today? Or maybe you mean Three Mile Island, which was 28 years ago in Pennsylvania, but caused no deaths or injuries? How many people died this year in coal mining incidents?
And then you cite hackable control systems for oil power plants are a reason to avoid nuclear power plants (which are generally far more security-conscious)?
There are issues with nuclear power plants, specifically what to do with the waste long-term.* However, nuclear power plants themselves are actually quite safe, in large part because everyone involved respects the harm that can come if something does go wrong.
[*] - France has largely solved that problem by recycling, something the US refuses to do because it creates weapons-grade plutonium.
I'm the tomboy type of female engineer, and I rarely have trouble getting respect and promotions, but I still have a huge problem with first impressions. At a conference, or a meeting with people outside my organization, or just out-on-the-town, people initially assume I don't know what's going on, and assume the men in the room do. I have to work extra hard to prove that I know what I'm talking about.
If I didn't enjoy what I do so much, I don't know if I'd be able to deal with having to prove myself to every new man (or woman, for that matter) that I encounter. I think *this* is what turns women away from the profession.
I used to work with the "hair trigger IT moron." He has a CS degree from one of the best CS schools in the country, he has been running college networks since 2000, and he does, in fact, know what he's doing.
I will admit though, that he has been known to get ahead of himself. When he looked at the logs and saw a bunch of iPhone MAC addresses spewing garbage, but no other devices are, he assumed that it's an iPhone problem. The quote in Network World is unfortunate, but he is no "hair trigger IT moron." He continued working on getting to the root of the problem and solved it yesterday.
Keep in mind that the big problems come when a person puts up their own video with a song playing in the background, or takes a Bush speech and intersperses it with animations, or reenacts Star Wars with puppets. Some of these uses *might* be covered by fair use, but many are not. There are two big problems with being able to do something like YouTube does - figuring out who all of the copyright owner(s) are in a particular video, and negotiating a conract with said owners. The government's supposed role in here would be to reduce transaction costs by doing one of the following:
a) Compulsory license system, as they do with radio stations' "public performance" of copyrighted works, b) Change the law to allow for a copyright escrow system, wherein a site like YouTube could said aside money for claims of copyright infringement by unknown parties, c) Reinstate a copyright registration requirement (for US-created works - the Berne Convention prohibits this for foreign works)
There may be other solutions, but the point is that copyright law is too complex for businesspeople (even lawyers) to understand.
Standing is different from having enough evidence to make a case. Standing, in this type of case, means that the plaintiff is alleging harm to itself by the defendant. I, for instance, would lack standing trying to sue Joe for hitting Jane with his car. But, if someone hit my car, and I think it was Joe, but I don't know for sure - I have standing, but perhaps no case.
In this case, the defendant has filed a motion saying that the plaintiffs (RIAA) do not have any evidence against him, and no reasonable judge or jury would find in the plaintiffs' favor. Unlike standing, RIAA could clear this hurdle merely by finding more facts that would implicate the defendant. The question is whether the plaintiff can use the discovery process to build a case if they have no evidence in the first place.
A defendant can be compelled to turn over any documents and records to the opposition that the opposition specifically asks for. However, RIAA needs to show that it has some basis for filing the suit, and that it isn't simply harassing the defendant. RIAA does not need to show it has enough evidence to proceed to trial. I'm not sure where they are on this case.
It was A-K,L-Z at my precinct too (western Fairfax). The L-Z line was about half as long as A-K. I got there before the polls opened and it took me an hour to get through (A-K). I'm not sure why they had to divide it up like that - they easily could have broken up the sheets of paper at a different point.
High voter turnout is great though... I'm happy to wait in line if it means that more people are voting.
About 1400 songs in my collection - 1) 0% 2) 1% (all from Pepsi Promotion or Free though) 3) 1% (a few tracks from friends' bands) 4) 98% 5) 0% (actually, 1 song that my boss ripped off of his old vinyl)
You are right that it is foolish to argue with an officer if your primary goal is to save time and hassle. However, if you leave without any form of fight at all, there is nothing to protest and the offier is free to do the exact same thing to others in similar situations. If a cop simply asks you to stop doing whatever it is you are doing and you comply, any complaint you have will fall on deaf ears because the officer did not commit an offensive act. Only if the officer detains, searches, arressts, or otherwise violates your civil rights without reasonable cause can you mount a successful complaint. Civil disobedience is often the only effective way to get laws or behaviors changed.
Personally, I'd take the safe route and pack up and leave, however I respect anyone who stands up for my rights by being a little defiant.
Loathe as I am to send this thread so far offtopic, I have to address this comment. Yes, the US is better than nearly every other country in the world in this and most respects, but that's no reason to get complacent. We got here by challenging our leaders, by having better education than elsewhere in the world, by innovating, and by being incredibly inhumane. I'd rather not go back to the inhumanity that litters our past, but we should do what we can to continue to improve ourselves in other categories. I don't think our current leaders are doing a good job of promoting the values that I believe are best in our country, and are starting to look a little bit like the paths some other civilizations have taken toward defeat.
Bush is not Emporer Nero, fiddling as Rome burns, nor are we living in 1984, but our government does share some traits with the bad societies of history and fiction. Our duty as citizens of the country and the world is to correct these problems, not to sit idly by and say "it could be worse."
In November, we have to make a pragmatic choice - is A better than B? But the rest of the time we have the freedom to be idealists - to complain, to demonstrate, to write to our leaders, and to campaign to change things. Don't tell me I can't point out the flaws in my country - that is one crucial trait that does make us better than China.
The theory is that the 'expert agency' is better equipped to deal with the details than Congress, whose time is better spent working on more broad policy matters. EPA, FDA, USDA, SEC, FEC, FTC, etc all set policy under authority delegated by Congress. The FCC tends to be the most scrutinized by Slashdot, but it's not a unique issue.
Frankly, you don't want Congress making these decisions - there is legislation on the Hill to extend indecency regulations to Cable and Satellite, and to name specifically those words that are illegal to say (including the f-word).
It's safe to say that this ruling (and any legislation by Congress) would be challenged in court. Based on the language in the Pacifica case, I suspect the ruling and any hypothetical laws would be reversed.
-Alison (IANAL, and I don't speak for my employer)
Some are, some aren't. Bandwidth, hardware, merchant fees, are directly proportional to sales (following a step function, which can really screw you).
Acquiring talent and customers is not directly proportional, but is not exactly constant either.
The maintenance costs and development costs go up as you have to support more complex systems to handle the additional customer load, though again, not directly proportional.
As the site becomes more popular, there are more reasons to upgrade - the calculations I made were based on a fairly bare bones system to start, 1-3 years in the red (based on different projections), and the plans to reinvest nearly all extra revenue beyond the expected in improvements.
Regardless, my point was that I as the site owner would charge a constant 25 cents to the artist and let the artist figure out how much they wanted to get per song.
Lunchbox takes 35 cents from each sale. About two years ago I worked out a business model for this and found out that I would need 25 cents per song to cover my costs (development, bandwidth, maintenance, salaries, advertising, acquiring talent, etc). This was of course based on a more modest estimate of how many sales I would get through (and how many artists I would host) but 25 cents is going to be hard for anyone to do.
If the incremental cost is less than I calculated, say 10 cents/song - you'd need to be 6 times more likely to buy the song for the artist to get the same total amount of money. You can't neglect incremental cost.
It's expensive to hold lots of separate conferences, for the attendees and organizers. All of the topics relate to intellectual property and technology, or a new term I've been seeing pop up, "Law of Information."
Regarding the rhetoric, all of these groups tread a little bit on the side of radicalism - they overstate their side in order to make a point. I chalk this up to the maxim "openers aren't closers."
Unfortunately I have a number of other things to be doing on those two days, or else I would go.
It only applies to digital outputs - S-Video and even Component Analog and RGB (VGA) are perfectly legit. Copies can be made digitally so long as they are made using approved technologies, to be determined by the FCC later this year.
From http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/ FCC-03-273A1.pdf:
(a) A Covered Demodulator Product shall not pass, or direct to be passed, Marked Content to any output except (1) to an analog output; (2) to an 8-VSB, 16-VSB, 64-QAM or 256-QAM modulated output, provided that the Broadcast Flag is retained in the both the EIT and PMT; (3) to a digital output protected by an Authorized Digital Output Protection Technology, in accordance with any applicable obligations established as a part of its approval pursuant to 73.9008; (4) where such Covered Demodulator Product outputs, or directs to be output, such content to another product and such Covered Demodulator Product exercises sole control (such as by using a cryptographic protocol), in compliance with the Demodulator Robustness Requirements, over the access to such content in usable form in such other product; (5) where such Covered Demodulator Product outputs, or directs to be output, such content for the purpose of making a recording of such content pursuant to paragraph (b)(2) of this section, where such content is protected by the corresponding recording method; or (6) where such Covered Demodulator Product is incorporated into a Computer Product and passes, or directs to be passed, such content to an unprotected output operating in a mode compatible with the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) Rev. 1.0 Specification as an image having the visual equivalent of no more than 350,000 pixels per frame (e.g., an image with resolution of 720 x 480 pixels for a 4:3 (nonsquare pixel) aspect ratio), and 30 frames per second. Such an image may be attained by reducing resolution, such as by discarding, dithering or averaging pixels to obtain the specified value, and can be displayed using video processing techniques such as line doubling or sharpening to improve the perceived quality of the image. Federal Communications Commission FCC 03-273 42 (b) A Covered Demodulator Product shall not record or cause the recording of Marked Content in digital form unless such recording is made using one of the following methods: (1) a method that effectively and uniquely associates such recording with a single Covered Demodulator Product (using a cryptographic protocol or other effective means) so that such recording cannot be accessed in usable form by another product except where the content of such recording is passed to another product as permitted under this subpart or (2) an Authorized Recording Method in accordance with any applicable obligations established as a part of its approval pursuant to 73.9008 (provided that for recordings made on removable media, only Authorized Recording Methods expressly approved pursuant to 73.9008 for use in connection with removable media may be used). (c) Paragraph (b) of this section does not impose restrictions regarding the storage of Marked Content as a Transitory Image. (d) The requirements of this section shall become applicable on July 1, 2005.
I've been "fortunate" enough to have an aeron at several workplaces, although admittedly I've never been properly fitted for one. I find it to be a very mediocre chair that is incredibly difficult to adjust. I have worse backaches than I did in college, despite having an excellent bed and not carrying around a 50 pound backpack. I think the chairs in the conference rooms here (which aren't cheap, but are cheaper) are better chairs than the Aeron at my desk. My favorite chair is the one I have at home, which I bought for under $200.
I would much rather sit in a chair that cost half as much and get a better monitor, but for some reason my employer believes that a "better" chair is more important than a better monitor.
You are overestimating the American public. People tend to rationalize crimes they commit to the point where they no longer preceive it as a crime. In this case, most think "it's not as though I was going to buy it anyway and I didn't deprive anyone of anything." And to a point they're right - even the most underhanded accountant won't tell you that the financial impact of downloading a CD for free is identical to stealing the CD off the shelf of Best Buy.
I've sat and listend to people explain that there is nothing wrong with having friends who work in retail establishments "hook them up" with free merchandise, food, etc. They rationalize that it is the same thing as when a professional (accountant, lawyer, doctor) performs a service for a friend (taxes, real estate closing, physical) for free. These same people think nothing of stealing cable or CDs or whatnot because it's their way of "playing the game."
Most people don't think there's anything wrong with speeding, although they realize if caught they'll have to pay a fine. The fact is that there's nothing intuitive about copyright law - information is not exclusive - there is not less of it because a copy has been made. Obviously both you and I understand why copyright law exists - I have absolutely no unlawful copies of software or music on my computer.
I still stand by my original statement that public perception of the types of crimes that fall under three-strikes laws and copyright violations are widly different.
'Three Strikes' laws are actually quite popular among the citizens because they are perceived to protect the law obiding majority from the violent criminals. Likewise, nearly every instance of unfair punishment in the war on drugs has been against a poor minority, and the majority thinks "this won't happen to me."
In contrast, most people do not perceive sharing music as a crime. In fact, it's pretty hard to explain to most people what is wrong with it. Seeing people get sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing a few digital music files is far more likely to evoke a reaction.
I can't predict how the public will react, and I'm especially unsure that people will care enough to do anything about it, but this is quite a different case from those you cited.
Re:I'm not sure how accurate this statement is.
on
MRAM in 2004?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's not the short amount of time it takes to boot up, but the amount of time it takes to log in, start various applications, connect to various computers, etc. That's all interactive and a big pain. Unfortunately, this wouldn't keep me from having to log back into all of the various ssh sessions I have open, but it would help somewhat.
The distributedness was really the clencher though. Basically, the opinion states that Morpheus and Grokster had no ability to prevent copyrighted files from being shared due to the nature of the network. This, of course, requires that there were significant other uses than copyright infringement.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes. As a female engineer, I absolutely despise applying looser standards to women because it helps perpetuate the stereotype that women are less qualified than men. On the other hand, programs that encourage women to become better at technical fields can help break the stereotype. I can go toe to toe with most men in my field just fine, and I'm even perfectly content to be the only woman in a room with 20 or more men, but it wears me down every time someone I'm meeting with makes the assumption that a male colleague is the right person to direct technical questions to - especially when it continues to happen after both of us have made clear that I'm the technical lead. Then again, I find I have to consciously stop myself from making the same type of assumption when I'm on the other side. More women in technical fields who are in fact qualified to be there is the answer.
Good: Scholarship programs, outreach, mentorship. Bad: lower standards, hiring/admission preferences, token females.
This. Paul is a personal friend of mine and a professional colleague and I will vouch for him as knowledgeable, fair-minded, and a talented lawyer and technologist. I have no doubt that he will perform admirably in the spirit of everything ISOC has done over the years to promote a free and open Internet. Then again, any article that would repeatedly misspell the name of the person being smeared proves itself uninformed and sloppy.
If it is, in fact, more effective at teaching students, it could potentially lead to larger class sizes, which could easily pay for the device. I am skeptical that it will be effective, but it could be - that's why they do pilot programs. I'm sure they will quickly begin to use it for other courses, too. I can see it being particularly useful for foreign languages (where being able to hear the text is important). I think the interactive textbook idea can also be really useful in science (especially at the early levels of biology, chemistry, and physics, where animations are so useful), geography (being able to pinch and zoom thousands of old maps, and being able to play games to reinforce learning), civics (being able to actually pull up the essential documents immediately). In fact, it's hard for me to think of a class that couldn't benefit from an iPad.
I think this will really turn out to be best for the students who want to move faster than the class and/or learn the material more thoroughly than required. For those students, this could help counter-balance the modern trend to dumb down the curriculum to produce high standardized test scores, rather than deeply examining the subject and teaching students to appreciate learning and thought. For most students, though, I expect this to be an overpriced toy with little educational value.
Not really. A typical suburban American family has 2 cars - one sedan and one minivan/SUV and may be looking at deciding which one to replace.
Also, it's not the ratio between the gas mileages - it's the inverse that you have to look at. A car that gets 30 mpg uses 333 gallons for 10,000 miles. A car that gets 40 mpg (a "33% improvement) goes 250 miles - a savings of 88 gallons. A SUV that gets 12 mpg uses 833 gallons but one that gets 15 mpg (a mere "25%" improvement) uses 667 - a savings of 166 gallons.
If you are replacing one car this year, is it the civic or the Yukon?
It's not ODF, but the FCC does release all documents in pdf and plain text. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-294159A1.pdf or http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-294159A1.txt
Wait, you're using something that happened in Russia 23 years ago as a reason why the US is not ready to have nuclear power today? Or maybe you mean Three Mile Island, which was 28 years ago in Pennsylvania, but caused no deaths or injuries? How many people died this year in coal mining incidents?
And then you cite hackable control systems for oil power plants are a reason to avoid nuclear power plants (which are generally far more security-conscious)?
There are issues with nuclear power plants, specifically what to do with the waste long-term.* However, nuclear power plants themselves are actually quite safe, in large part because everyone involved respects the harm that can come if something does go wrong.
[*] - France has largely solved that problem by recycling, something the US refuses to do because it creates weapons-grade plutonium.
I'm the tomboy type of female engineer, and I rarely have trouble getting respect and promotions, but I still have a huge problem with first impressions. At a conference, or a meeting with people outside my organization, or just out-on-the-town, people initially assume I don't know what's going on, and assume the men in the room do. I have to work extra hard to prove that I know what I'm talking about.
If I didn't enjoy what I do so much, I don't know if I'd be able to deal with having to prove myself to every new man (or woman, for that matter) that I encounter. I think *this* is what turns women away from the profession.
I used to work with the "hair trigger IT moron." He has a CS degree from one of the best CS schools in the country, he has been running college networks since 2000, and he does, in fact, know what he's doing.
I will admit though, that he has been known to get ahead of himself. When he looked at the logs and saw a bunch of iPhone MAC addresses spewing garbage, but no other devices are, he assumed that it's an iPhone problem. The quote in Network World is unfortunate, but he is no "hair trigger IT moron." He continued working on getting to the root of the problem and solved it yesterday.
Keep in mind that the big problems come when a person puts up their own video with a song playing in the background, or takes a Bush speech and intersperses it with animations, or reenacts Star Wars with puppets. Some of these uses *might* be covered by fair use, but many are not. There are two big problems with being able to do something like YouTube does - figuring out who all of the copyright owner(s) are in a particular video, and negotiating a conract with said owners. The government's supposed role in here would be to reduce transaction costs by doing one of the following:
a) Compulsory license system, as they do with radio stations' "public performance" of copyrighted works,
b) Change the law to allow for a copyright escrow system, wherein a site like YouTube could said aside money for claims of copyright infringement by unknown parties,
c) Reinstate a copyright registration requirement (for US-created works - the Berne Convention prohibits this for foreign works)
There may be other solutions, but the point is that copyright law is too complex for businesspeople (even lawyers) to understand.
IANAL, but I am a third year law student:
Standing is different from having enough evidence to make a case. Standing, in this type of case, means that the plaintiff is alleging harm to itself by the defendant. I, for instance, would lack standing trying to sue Joe for hitting Jane with his car. But, if someone hit my car, and I think it was Joe, but I don't know for sure - I have standing, but perhaps no case.
In this case, the defendant has filed a motion saying that the plaintiffs (RIAA) do not have any evidence against him, and no reasonable judge or jury would find in the plaintiffs' favor. Unlike standing, RIAA could clear this hurdle merely by finding more facts that would implicate the defendant. The question is whether the plaintiff can use the discovery process to build a case if they have no evidence in the first place.
A defendant can be compelled to turn over any documents and records to the opposition that the opposition specifically asks for. However, RIAA needs to show that it has some basis for filing the suit, and that it isn't simply harassing the defendant. RIAA does not need to show it has enough evidence to proceed to trial. I'm not sure where they are on this case.
It was A-K,L-Z at my precinct too (western Fairfax). The L-Z line was about half as long as A-K. I got there before the polls opened and it took me an hour to get through (A-K). I'm not sure why they had to divide it up like that - they easily could have broken up the sheets of paper at a different point.
High voter turnout is great though... I'm happy to wait in line if it means that more people are voting.
About 1400 songs in my collection -
1) 0%
2) 1% (all from Pepsi Promotion or Free though)
3) 1% (a few tracks from friends' bands)
4) 98%
5) 0% (actually, 1 song that my boss ripped off of his old vinyl)
You are right that it is foolish to argue with an officer if your primary goal is to save time and hassle. However, if you leave without any form of fight at all, there is nothing to protest and the offier is free to do the exact same thing to others in similar situations. If a cop simply asks you to stop doing whatever it is you are doing and you comply, any complaint you have will fall on deaf ears because the officer did not commit an offensive act. Only if the officer detains, searches, arressts, or otherwise violates your civil rights without reasonable cause can you mount a successful complaint. Civil disobedience is often the only effective way to get laws or behaviors changed.
Personally, I'd take the safe route and pack up and leave, however I respect anyone who stands up for my rights by being a little defiant.
Loathe as I am to send this thread so far offtopic, I have to address this comment. Yes, the US is better than nearly every other country in the world in this and most respects, but that's no reason to get complacent. We got here by challenging our leaders, by having better education than elsewhere in the world, by innovating, and by being incredibly inhumane. I'd rather not go back to the inhumanity that litters our past, but we should do what we can to continue to improve ourselves in other categories. I don't think our current leaders are doing a good job of promoting the values that I believe are best in our country, and are starting to look a little bit like the paths some other civilizations have taken toward defeat.
Bush is not Emporer Nero, fiddling as Rome burns, nor are we living in 1984, but our government does share some traits with the bad societies of history and fiction. Our duty as citizens of the country and the world is to correct these problems, not to sit idly by and say "it could be worse."
In November, we have to make a pragmatic choice - is A better than B? But the rest of the time we have the freedom to be idealists - to complain, to demonstrate, to write to our leaders, and to campaign to change things. Don't tell me I can't point out the flaws in my country - that is one crucial trait that does make us better than China.
The theory is that the 'expert agency' is better equipped to deal with the details than Congress, whose time is better spent working on more broad policy matters. EPA, FDA, USDA, SEC, FEC, FTC, etc all set policy under authority delegated by Congress. The FCC tends to be the most scrutinized by Slashdot, but it's not a unique issue.
Frankly, you don't want Congress making these decisions - there is legislation on the Hill to extend indecency regulations to Cable and Satellite, and to name specifically those words that are illegal to say (including the f-word).
It's safe to say that this ruling (and any legislation by Congress) would be challenged in court. Based on the language in the Pacifica case, I suspect the ruling and any hypothetical laws would be reversed.
-Alison (IANAL, and I don't speak for my employer)
Some are, some aren't. Bandwidth, hardware, merchant fees, are directly proportional to sales (following a step function, which can really screw you).
Acquiring talent and customers is not directly proportional, but is not exactly constant either.
The maintenance costs and development costs go up as you have to support more complex systems to handle the additional customer load, though again, not directly proportional.
As the site becomes more popular, there are more reasons to upgrade - the calculations I made were based on a fairly bare bones system to start, 1-3 years in the red (based on different projections), and the plans to reinvest nearly all extra revenue beyond the expected in improvements.
Regardless, my point was that I as the site owner would charge a constant 25 cents to the artist and let the artist figure out how much they wanted to get per song.
-Alison
Lunchbox takes 35 cents from each sale. About two years ago I worked out a business model for this and found out that I would need 25 cents per song to cover my costs (development, bandwidth, maintenance, salaries, advertising, acquiring talent, etc). This was of course based on a more modest estimate of how many sales I would get through (and how many artists I would host) but 25 cents is going to be hard for anyone to do.
If the incremental cost is less than I calculated, say 10 cents/song - you'd need to be 6 times more likely to buy the song for the artist to get the same total amount of money. You can't neglect incremental cost.
-Alison
It's expensive to hold lots of separate conferences, for the attendees and organizers. All of the topics relate to intellectual property and technology, or a new term I've been seeing pop up, "Law of Information."
Regarding the rhetoric, all of these groups tread a little bit on the side of radicalism - they overstate their side in order to make a point. I chalk this up to the maxim "openers aren't closers."
Unfortunately I have a number of other things to be doing on those two days, or else I would go.
-Alison
It only applies to digital outputs - S-Video and even Component Analog and RGB (VGA) are perfectly legit. Copies can be made digitally so long as they are made using approved technologies, to be determined by the FCC later this year.
/ FCC-03-273A1.pdf:
From http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch
(a) A Covered Demodulator Product shall not pass, or direct to be passed,
Marked Content to any output except
(1) to an analog output;
(2) to an 8-VSB, 16-VSB, 64-QAM or 256-QAM modulated output, provided
that the Broadcast Flag is retained in the both the EIT and PMT;
(3) to a digital output protected by an Authorized Digital Output Protection
Technology, in accordance with any applicable obligations established as a part of its
approval pursuant to 73.9008;
(4) where such Covered Demodulator Product outputs, or directs to be output,
such content to another product and such Covered Demodulator Product exercises sole
control (such as by using a cryptographic protocol), in compliance with the Demodulator
Robustness Requirements, over the access to such content in usable form in such other
product;
(5) where such Covered Demodulator Product outputs, or directs to be output,
such content for the purpose of making a recording of such content pursuant to paragraph
(b)(2) of this section, where such content is protected by the corresponding recording
method; or
(6) where such Covered Demodulator Product is incorporated into a Computer
Product and passes, or directs to be passed, such content to an unprotected output
operating in a mode compatible with the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) Rev. 1.0
Specification as an image having the visual equivalent of no more than 350,000 pixels
per frame (e.g., an image with resolution of 720 x 480 pixels for a 4:3 (nonsquare pixel)
aspect ratio), and 30 frames per second. Such an image may be attained by reducing
resolution, such as by discarding, dithering or averaging pixels to obtain the specified
value, and can be displayed using video processing techniques such as line doubling or
sharpening to improve the perceived quality of the image.
Federal Communications Commission FCC 03-273
42
(b) A Covered Demodulator Product shall not record or cause the recording of
Marked Content in digital form unless such recording is made using one of the following
methods:
(1) a method that effectively and uniquely associates such recording with a single
Covered Demodulator Product (using a cryptographic protocol or other effective means)
so that such recording cannot be accessed in usable form by another product except
where the content of such recording is passed to another product as permitted under this
subpart or
(2) an Authorized Recording Method in accordance with any applicable
obligations established as a part of its approval pursuant to 73.9008 (provided that for
recordings made on removable media, only Authorized Recording Methods expressly
approved pursuant to 73.9008 for use in connection with removable media may be
used).
(c) Paragraph (b) of this section does not impose restrictions regarding the
storage of Marked Content as a Transitory Image.
(d) The requirements of this section shall become applicable on July 1, 2005.
-Alison
I pay $22 to have the dealer change the oil in my Jetta... why would you pay $24 in materials and then have to do it yourself?
-Alison
I've been "fortunate" enough to have an aeron at several workplaces, although admittedly I've never been properly fitted for one. I find it to be a very mediocre chair that is incredibly difficult to adjust. I have worse backaches than I did in college, despite having an excellent bed and not carrying around a 50 pound backpack. I think the chairs in the conference rooms here (which aren't cheap, but are cheaper) are better chairs than the Aeron at my desk. My favorite chair is the one I have at home, which I bought for under $200.
I would much rather sit in a chair that cost half as much and get a better monitor, but for some reason my employer believes that a "better" chair is more important than a better monitor.
-Alison
You are overestimating the American public. People tend to rationalize crimes they commit to the point where they no longer preceive it as a crime. In this case, most think "it's not as though I was going to buy it anyway and I didn't deprive anyone of anything." And to a point they're right - even the most underhanded accountant won't tell you that the financial impact of downloading a CD for free is identical to stealing the CD off the shelf of Best Buy.
I've sat and listend to people explain that there is nothing wrong with having friends who work in retail establishments "hook them up" with free merchandise, food, etc. They rationalize that it is the same thing as when a professional (accountant, lawyer, doctor) performs a service for a friend (taxes, real estate closing, physical) for free. These same people think nothing of stealing cable or CDs or whatnot because it's their way of "playing the game."
Most people don't think there's anything wrong with speeding, although they realize if caught they'll have to pay a fine. The fact is that there's nothing intuitive about copyright law - information is not exclusive - there is not less of it because a copy has been made. Obviously both you and I understand why copyright law exists - I have absolutely no unlawful copies of software or music on my computer.
I still stand by my original statement that public perception of the types of crimes that fall under three-strikes laws and copyright violations are widly different.
'Three Strikes' laws are actually quite popular among the citizens because they are perceived to protect the law obiding majority from the violent criminals. Likewise, nearly every instance of unfair punishment in the war on drugs has been against a poor minority, and the majority thinks "this won't happen to me."
In contrast, most people do not perceive sharing music as a crime. In fact, it's pretty hard to explain to most people what is wrong with it. Seeing people get sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing a few digital music files is far more likely to evoke a reaction.
I can't predict how the public will react, and I'm especially unsure that people will care enough to do anything about it, but this is quite a different case from those you cited.
It's not the short amount of time it takes to boot up, but the amount of time it takes to log in, start various applications, connect to various computers, etc. That's all interactive and a big pain. Unfortunately, this wouldn't keep me from having to log back into all of the various ssh sessions I have open, but it would help somewhat.
The distributedness was really the clencher though. Basically, the opinion states that Morpheus and Grokster had no ability to prevent copyrighted files from being shared due to the nature of the network. This, of course, requires that there were significant other uses than copyright infringement.
-Alison