And here's where you're completely wrong. A lot of the midwest stadiums have ads for local tractor supply companies for example. The prominent billboards, such as the one directly behind home plate will always be a big company, such as Fox or Coca Cola, but look around the stadium... a large portion of the rest are local.
Something is definitely going to have to be done with television advertising as PVR's continue to gain popularity. I've had my PVR now for about a year and I almost never watch commercials since I rarely watch live television. Since PVR's have not yet reached critical mass, I don't know that it is a current issue but it soon will be.
I think we've already started to see a lot more product placement than we used to in current programs. If you watch a single episode of American Idol (if you do, I'm sorry) you will have seen the Coke glasses prominently displayed in front of each judge, and carefully sat back down so that the logo is always perfect aligned to the camera. It's one small example, but I think we'll see it taken to extremes soon.
I think the best example of cramming advertising down user's throats and avoiding the PVR problems is with sporting events. By nature, they're not susceptible to the problems of PVR since most viewers would prefer to watch them live instead of delayed, although the product placement in the stadiums is fantastic. With all of the billboards and the camera panning around during downtime, a lot of local businesses get their name out there. It will be interesting to see if a shift to product placement ousts these local businesses and we see more national companies bidding the price up on stadium billboards.
I used to run a Wildcat BBS (and a Renegade BBS actually) back in the day and was just thinking about how slow everything was. I remember sitting there waiting for the busy signal to go away on the popular BBS' so I could get in, play some usurper and download Kathy Ireland pictures. And when I gave it a little thought, that busy signal is really the same as the slashdot effect... just 15 years earlier or so.
I just recently saw a commercial for some insurance company and noticed that they didn't use Geico's name. Instead, the guy says, "She had the gecko." I guess that insurance company made the right move if Geico is litigation happy, trying to protect their name.
I'm not the best one to comment on this by any means, but when I saw in the summary the part about "how great CSS is," I really do have to agree. I threw together a site just as a way to help some of my students back when I was teaching and really didn't know anything about creating a website. I hacked together a site with tables for layout and some very limited PHP and enjoyed doing it. From there, I went to a site that showed a table layout and the exact page done in CSS and used that as a starting point to learn CSS. I have to say, I was impressed with how much easier it was to use and modify later. Like I said, I'm still a horrible web designer by all accounts, but I can attest to how much easier it is for a person new to the concepts to use CSS instead of tables.
If you have a kid that's reasonably responsible and doesn't have a track record of breaking things (his PS2/Xbox still works), I don't see the problem. If you're worried about the laptop getting stolen or broken, you can purchase a rider very affordably through your homeowner's insurance. Like someone before me mentioned, with the falling price of laptops, it makes sense if you can trust the kid. It would especially be nice on road trips where the kid can do school work, watch dvd's, or play some games to pass time in the car.
I have my music collection ripped onto my laptop (which usually sits near my couch). This weekend I went out and bought an Airport Express from Apple and hooked that up to my receiver. I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I was. The entire thing took about 3 minutes to install, and streaming my music from my laptop through the receiver couldn't be easier. The entire setup cost me about $150 and is all I needed. Personally, I'd much rather have the little airport express plugged into the wall with one tiny wire going into my receiver than having another box taking up space on an entertainment center shelf. The other beauty is that the airport express does even more if I want it to, like acting as a wireless print server.
Just my $0.02 but I don't really see the need for this other device here with so many other substitute goods available.
Lik-Sang has been a constant target for legal issues in the past. I remember a couple of years ago they were selling lots of mod chips and other "hacks" for systems until Nintendo (I believe) put an end to that. I doubt this is the last time we'll read about a Lik-Sang lawsuit in the near future.
Neither here nor there. What you're talking about may or may not be done. Who's to say that newegg didn't receive only 30% positive reviews on a given product and stopped selling it. That's not what we're talking about here.
Your last point is valid though. Negative reviews pointing to a better product are valid, and actually rather altruistic.
Right, or how your wife never looks better than she does at the wedding. That's why so many men cry at their own wedding--they know its all downhill from that point on.
This really shouldn't come as a suprise at all. The fact is, companies are out to sell product. I'm not saying they should delete all of the negative reviews, but don't be surprised if a lot of them do get deleted.
When you watch any type of commercial, you're not going to hear a negative review mentioned, correct? Why should the web be any different?
I never gave it much thought but that really is true, especially with all of the sites out there that don't do any form of e-commerce and don't need an SSL certificate. That really could be quite a few sites sharing that IP address. I'm not surprised I didn't think of it, because I'm an idiot, but it does surprise me that the ISP didn't--or maybe they just didn't care.
Price to reach supply/demand equilibrium
on
Xbox 360 for $300
·
· Score: 1
I hate to be the resident finance geek around here, but I'm actually a little surprised at the price--I thought it would be much higher. I remember when the PS2 and Xbox initially came out, they were amazingly hard to find, and to make matters worse, it seemed that everyone wanted one. I remember someone telling me the exact number that were shipped to the US (for the PS2) and thinking it was extremely low. The point is, unless Microsoft can bring huge supply initially to the US, I would have expected them to price it higher in order to curb demand. If it were say $499 initially, a lot of people would want it but know that they couldn't get one at that price. That way, the early adopters could get their Xbox 360 and there wouldn't be a supply problem. Then, as Microsoft caught up and brought more supply, a price drop could bring in more people and so on. I just hope this price point doesn't entice more demand than supply. A shortage is never good for the consumers.
One of the things that just struck me is how hard it is going to be for me to give tech support to my parents and their friends now over the phone. I'm constantly saying, "Ok, click that" and hearing "Left click or right click." For some reason, that just doesn't sink in to these people. Now I'm going to have to say, "Click kind of on the left" or "Click kind of on the right" and hope for the best.
You have to give the folks in Apple's marketing department a lot of credit. They do a fantastic job of releasing "good" hardware and capturing the attention of the mainstream. Springing products on the market in their secretive fashion creates the effect a previous poster pointed out where we suddenly have 1400 comments in slashdot about the post.
I haven't used one of these mice, nor have I even seen one. But the fact is, Apple has generated a ton of response for a simple $50 peripheral. When any other company releases a mouse, we might hear about it but likely not. This thing has everyone talking.
It's great that Apple finally came to their senses and created this mouse, but what I thought was really interesting is the fact that they allow you to still program it to use as a one button mouse. They're really holding onto their beliefs that people can only handle one button at a time with this thing. But, if they believe that people want the simplicity of a one button mouse, wouldn't they ship this thing out of the box with only one button functioning? Those people that want the simplicity of a one button mouse surely won't be the ones changing the settings to disable the other buttons. After all, that sounds awfully hard to do!
But just imagine how many people would take those linux CD's and actually try installing it. These are the people that likely have trouble using AOL (there's a lot of them out there) and suddenly a little clicking through the FDISK screens in the installer has their computer in the shop and them wondering where their bookmarks are. It would happen, and be quite a liability for AOL. I'd imagine their tech support would be ringing off the hook the day the linux CD's showed up in people's mailboxes. Not to mention, what's in it for AOL?
Slashdot Mirror
And here's where you're completely wrong. A lot of the midwest stadiums have ads for local tractor supply companies for example. The prominent billboards, such as the one directly behind home plate will always be a big company, such as Fox or Coca Cola, but look around the stadium... a large portion of the rest are local.
Something is definitely going to have to be done with television advertising as PVR's continue to gain popularity. I've had my PVR now for about a year and I almost never watch commercials since I rarely watch live television. Since PVR's have not yet reached critical mass, I don't know that it is a current issue but it soon will be.
I think we've already started to see a lot more product placement than we used to in current programs. If you watch a single episode of American Idol (if you do, I'm sorry) you will have seen the Coke glasses prominently displayed in front of each judge, and carefully sat back down so that the logo is always perfect aligned to the camera. It's one small example, but I think we'll see it taken to extremes soon.
I think the best example of cramming advertising down user's throats and avoiding the PVR problems is with sporting events. By nature, they're not susceptible to the problems of PVR since most viewers would prefer to watch them live instead of delayed, although the product placement in the stadiums is fantastic. With all of the billboards and the camera panning around during downtime, a lot of local businesses get their name out there. It will be interesting to see if a shift to product placement ousts these local businesses and we see more national companies bidding the price up on stadium billboards.
Just my $0.02.
I used to run a Wildcat BBS (and a Renegade BBS actually) back in the day and was just thinking about how slow everything was. I remember sitting there waiting for the busy signal to go away on the popular BBS' so I could get in, play some usurper and download Kathy Ireland pictures. And when I gave it a little thought, that busy signal is really the same as the slashdot effect... just 15 years earlier or so.
I just recently saw a commercial for some insurance company and noticed that they didn't use Geico's name. Instead, the guy says, "She had the gecko." I guess that insurance company made the right move if Geico is litigation happy, trying to protect their name.
I'm not the best one to comment on this by any means, but when I saw in the summary the part about "how great CSS is," I really do have to agree. I threw together a site just as a way to help some of my students back when I was teaching and really didn't know anything about creating a website. I hacked together a site with tables for layout and some very limited PHP and enjoyed doing it. From there, I went to a site that showed a table layout and the exact page done in CSS and used that as a starting point to learn CSS. I have to say, I was impressed with how much easier it was to use and modify later. Like I said, I'm still a horrible web designer by all accounts, but I can attest to how much easier it is for a person new to the concepts to use CSS instead of tables.
Doesn't it seem odd for a company to express concern over getting sued? Seems close to an admission of guilt to me.
Maybe you heard about it today but I think a lot of us heard about it a few days ago.
Didn't we hear about this a few days ago?
Woot, as an aside, I finally got my first story posted on the front page of slashdot... Love the site, hope to keep being able to contribute.
FTA: "For parents of high school and middle school kids, the decision to invest in a laptop is far from given."
Invest really isn't the correct term since the item is going to depreciate so quickly. It really is a consumption. Just my $0.02...
If you have a kid that's reasonably responsible and doesn't have a track record of breaking things (his PS2/Xbox still works), I don't see the problem. If you're worried about the laptop getting stolen or broken, you can purchase a rider very affordably through your homeowner's insurance. Like someone before me mentioned, with the falling price of laptops, it makes sense if you can trust the kid. It would especially be nice on road trips where the kid can do school work, watch dvd's, or play some games to pass time in the car.
Please, I like to believe women don't do #2.
I wonder which I'll get first... my Apple refund or my 40 acres and a mule.
I have my music collection ripped onto my laptop (which usually sits near my couch). This weekend I went out and bought an Airport Express from Apple and hooked that up to my receiver. I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I was. The entire thing took about 3 minutes to install, and streaming my music from my laptop through the receiver couldn't be easier. The entire setup cost me about $150 and is all I needed. Personally, I'd much rather have the little airport express plugged into the wall with one tiny wire going into my receiver than having another box taking up space on an entertainment center shelf. The other beauty is that the airport express does even more if I want it to, like acting as a wireless print server.
Just my $0.02 but I don't really see the need for this other device here with so many other substitute goods available.
Lik-Sang has been a constant target for legal issues in the past. I remember a couple of years ago they were selling lots of mod chips and other "hacks" for systems until Nintendo (I believe) put an end to that. I doubt this is the last time we'll read about a Lik-Sang lawsuit in the near future.
Neither here nor there. What you're talking about may or may not be done. Who's to say that newegg didn't receive only 30% positive reviews on a given product and stopped selling it. That's not what we're talking about here.
Your last point is valid though. Negative reviews pointing to a better product are valid, and actually rather altruistic.
Right, or how your wife never looks better than she does at the wedding. That's why so many men cry at their own wedding--they know its all downhill from that point on.
This really shouldn't come as a suprise at all. The fact is, companies are out to sell product. I'm not saying they should delete all of the negative reviews, but don't be surprised if a lot of them do get deleted.
When you watch any type of commercial, you're not going to hear a negative review mentioned, correct? Why should the web be any different?
Bootable floppy is great for those that still have a floppy drive.
I never gave it much thought but that really is true, especially with all of the sites out there that don't do any form of e-commerce and don't need an SSL certificate. That really could be quite a few sites sharing that IP address. I'm not surprised I didn't think of it, because I'm an idiot, but it does surprise me that the ISP didn't--or maybe they just didn't care.
I hate to be the resident finance geek around here, but I'm actually a little surprised at the price--I thought it would be much higher. I remember when the PS2 and Xbox initially came out, they were amazingly hard to find, and to make matters worse, it seemed that everyone wanted one. I remember someone telling me the exact number that were shipped to the US (for the PS2) and thinking it was extremely low. The point is, unless Microsoft can bring huge supply initially to the US, I would have expected them to price it higher in order to curb demand. If it were say $499 initially, a lot of people would want it but know that they couldn't get one at that price. That way, the early adopters could get their Xbox 360 and there wouldn't be a supply problem. Then, as Microsoft caught up and brought more supply, a price drop could bring in more people and so on. I just hope this price point doesn't entice more demand than supply. A shortage is never good for the consumers.
One of the things that just struck me is how hard it is going to be for me to give tech support to my parents and their friends now over the phone. I'm constantly saying, "Ok, click that" and hearing "Left click or right click." For some reason, that just doesn't sink in to these people. Now I'm going to have to say, "Click kind of on the left" or "Click kind of on the right" and hope for the best.
You have to give the folks in Apple's marketing department a lot of credit. They do a fantastic job of releasing "good" hardware and capturing the attention of the mainstream. Springing products on the market in their secretive fashion creates the effect a previous poster pointed out where we suddenly have 1400 comments in slashdot about the post.
I haven't used one of these mice, nor have I even seen one. But the fact is, Apple has generated a ton of response for a simple $50 peripheral. When any other company releases a mouse, we might hear about it but likely not. This thing has everyone talking.
It's great that Apple finally came to their senses and created this mouse, but what I thought was really interesting is the fact that they allow you to still program it to use as a one button mouse. They're really holding onto their beliefs that people can only handle one button at a time with this thing. But, if they believe that people want the simplicity of a one button mouse, wouldn't they ship this thing out of the box with only one button functioning? Those people that want the simplicity of a one button mouse surely won't be the ones changing the settings to disable the other buttons. After all, that sounds awfully hard to do!
But just imagine how many people would take those linux CD's and actually try installing it. These are the people that likely have trouble using AOL (there's a lot of them out there) and suddenly a little clicking through the FDISK screens in the installer has their computer in the shop and them wondering where their bookmarks are. It would happen, and be quite a liability for AOL. I'd imagine their tech support would be ringing off the hook the day the linux CD's showed up in people's mailboxes. Not to mention, what's in it for AOL?