That is why musicians sign horrible contracts with them. You want a hit record, you need to get on the radio. You want to get on the radio, you need to sign with a big label. If internet radio takes off, suddenly you'll have new outlets which the labels don't control.
What they fail to realize is that the RIAA can't and will not control internet radio overseas especially on the European front which of course don't play that much RIAA music anyways.
Not to mention that if internet radio stations in the states can't play RIAA music then they simply won't be any stations that do not.
Hence, only non-RIAA artists will get played and benefit from that. The thing is that as of now many genres do not get played on your standard radio stations (Industrial, Techno, Death Metal, Hardcore, Trance, Euro Dance) and only get played on internet radio or college radio stations.
Most of these bands are not RIAA because RIAA will not sign them.
In reality, for an indie artist to succeed (as in make a day job living) he needs to sell at least 5,000 CDs. That isn't much compared to the RIAA artists, but you don't really need extreme amounts of hype like the super artists do to sell tens if not hundreds of thousands of records.
Which is why internet radio will help them.
Of course I'm working on a project that hopes to by pass the CD process altogether which will go away in a decade or so because it is so damn expensive to release CDs.
Frankly, I think the average consumer is intimidated by a perceived need for serious technical know-how to be able use just about anything other than MS
Actually, I would argue the average consumer is intimidated by any software regardless of who makes it. Secondly, they most likely really don't know how to use Windows/Office as enough to get by to what they specifically want to do (surf, email, write printed letters).
The only reason most consumers use what software they use is because either:
A.) It came with the computer B.) It was on the shelf at Best Buy/Stapes/Target/Walmart. C.) Their relative/friend gave them a "copy"
Seeing that Windows and MS Office apply to all 3 rather easily it is a no brainier to why it is successful. It isn't that people are too familiar with MS products so much that they are unwilling to move on, but rather there is really no need.
Of these three reasons... Only C provides the opportunity for Linux and Open Office if they happen to have a relative/friend who is in the "know".
Joe would easily plunk down two dollars for a bootleg DVD if Tony where selling them.
Maybe Joe feels uncomfortable buying from a person face to face who he doesn't know if they are a cop or not?
Piracy either way is illegal and if Joe feels more comfortable downloading and less hassled with the fact he feels like he is buying drugs he might go that route.
Once the system is trained, you can think letters at the machine and 'type' via your thoughts.
That sounds rather cool, but wouldn't thinking words be faster?
When I think when I type I think the entire words and my hands type them without spelling the words out. (Kind of like playing the piano)
Of course I suppose this requires training the computer for several thousands words, but it would be having to think the actual spelling out of words at least speed wise.
The problem is that IT has been taken over by Business School Product. They have no grasp of science, no feel for aesthetics, they only have feel for next quarters numbers and covering their ass.
I think the key issue is that most businesses at that point are on life support or only do just enough to get by with employees too unmotivated to find work elsewhere.
Which is why you won't see any of those companies ever exploding as an IPO and making millions for the founders.
Many people don't realize that companies who do see business as science and art as well as uphold IT will often dance circles around their competitors who begrudgingly don't even understand the technology they sell to their customers.
Of course marketing does help, but obviously Microsoft, Sun, Apple, and Google didn't get to where they were by simply catering to the shareholders quarter revenue reports. Yeah Microsoft's marketing practices are very dubious in a sense and there were technological issues with their products but from my understanding their IT and their technical knowledge of their employees was considerably outstanding compared to other brick and mortar companies.
1. Get you from being convicted guilty (as in a person with mental retardation cannot be expected to get the death penalty) 2. May get you out of jail sooner if you have an illness (Al Capone comes to mind)
Like it or not, law favors those ill and disabled and to the chagrin of lawyers... So do juries.
The question should not be "Can disabled can do illegal things?" but rather "Did this persons specific disability even leave them with enough functionality to use a computer and perform said tasks?"
Seriously, employees do not cease to become human when they walk through the office door. It is unreasonable (and indeed illegal, in some places) to expect them to work like machines, denied access to private communication with anyone outside the business during office hours
Hey... You just described one of my former employers right before they brought in the consultants and laid everyone off.
I'm not going to name names, but I used to work for a major ISP... And low and behold some policies started to change such as:
1. Making you work like machines by requiring you to be clocked in and taking support calls at all times. You couldn't even go to the bathroom when you pleased or the manager would breathe down your neck. 2. Denial of surfing the web, AIM (they said it was because they feared AOL eavesdropping), and of course making outside phone calls on company phones.
To be fair... You could technically surf the web if you wanted to but they had particular programs that monitored your screens at all time and they would get on your case if they caught you while reviewing your customer records.
Considering you could never be off the phones when you weren't at your desk it kind of made this a moot point.
I quit the damn place after a year, but they laid off all my coworkers shortly after that and sent the jobs to mostly India. Oh well...
The way Hawking explains it is that the total amount of energy in the universe is Zero. Mass and energy can simply be created by stretching space time, however the major side affect is of course increase of gravity which leads of course the black holes when you've created too much matter/energy in the universe.
Basically, it you ascribe to the big crunch theory of the end of the universe (rather than heat death) it makes sense to say that the universe will collapse on itself eventually because of the creation of matter and energy and causing the natural formation of black holes. (he doesn't allude to either though I think, but you can infer it if you are familiar with either Heat Death or the big crunch)
I maybe paraphrasing him incorrectly as well but you should read his Brief History in Time book and that explains it better than I could.
The exact same argument could be used to say that there shouldn't be a law specifically against drunk driving. After all, if they drive dangerously they'll get arrested for that right?
The problem with this is that when you are drunk, you are pretty much dangerous no matter how good of a driver you are. Secondly, you have scientific proof that you are drunk via the breathalyser.
Unless you happen to video tape the blackberry person as he was crashing his car into you (and why were you video taping with a cam corder and driving at the same time?) you will have to get them to confess to said act. (We have the 5th in the states so he could remain silent if asked about the device and that couldn't be used against him in court)
The point of this is it is trying to outlaw changing of cds/radio stations or eating in the car. It can't be really enforced properly and doesn't help to deter anyone anyways.
What so surprising about not targeting a group that can't even figure out how to connect to the internet much less figure out they even have online banking?
We can still report on it, the story of this and other mistakes is getting out and is getting attention. If the dictators had won, you wouldn't even know about it until you were taken off the street and never heard from again.
Are you so sure this matters? Even if you can still report about and protest, what difference does it make it if you can't affect government.
In fact, I would argue a dictatorship could use free press and other freedoms to bleed off dissent as long as the government machine is so complex that no one could possibly right injustices.
Think of it as Tyranny of the Majority over those who don't fall in line.
Secondly, I would argue WW2 did not force change as we often think in some areas of the world. Technically Japan was an elected democracy in a sense that had a constitutional monarchy. Contrary to belief, the emperor did not hold the end all be all power and he simply did not appoint or control the elected government directly.
The main issue is with Japan they had elected a hawk group much like our own that got them embroiled in WW2 with the US even with the disagreement of some military officials of a win (notably Admiral Yamamoto)
Even Tojo resigned in 1944 during the wake of the failures of the war much like you would expect in a parliamentary government.
Germany and Italy were a different matter, but I just would like to point out the parallels between wartime Japan and our own. Not to mention Germany had converted from a democracy to a dictatorship in quite a short span... These things can and will happen if they are not guarded against.
We might have not reached that point and may not, but I'm so not as worried as what Bush is doing with special laws and revocations of rights himself as someone else who comes along 20 years down the road who is actually evil and is drawn to politics simply because of the powers of government that we granted now.
MTBF is an average. So things don't automatically break at after 2 million nor do all of them last till then.
The higher the number, the statically less you'll likely get hit with a drive failure.
Think of it like getting in a car accident in the country road versus getting in a car accident in the busy city. You might go your entire life in both places never getting in an accident, but in both places you always have the possibility you will wreck on your first day of driving.
However, you fare much better on the country road for your insurance rates because statistically you will get in less accidents than you do if you lived in the city.
So the threat of MAD does not apply to a country that has no fear destruction.
I don't think you see the real point. They could only kill 10 million tops with a single hit in a single American city (unless of course they coordinated multiple attacks) and could possibly destroy Israel in a single blow or two.
Then the retaliation would result in again... 90 million Iranians dead. Followed by complete occupation of several million US soldiers that were drafted in a war that is supported by the American public (whether they have a choice in the matter is another question) and a constitution removed and interment camps for all person with a middle eastern dissent in US occupied territories.
Perhaps, it is really what they want, but I can't really see how it provides anyone with the progression of their religion if they are all dead.
Unfortunately, too many people use the "US does it" excuse to justify the nuclear proliferation of other countries (read: Iran). I feel this is an accurate counterpoint to such an argument.
Um... That was the whole point of MAD. If one side did it, both had to do it to ensure no one used it. It may not be moral, but it is logical to create any type of weapons in response to the fact the other side has done so.
However, this in itself in the past was a benefit to the US because it can afford to build such technologies whereas the other sides could not afford it and simply force them into submission by outspending them. (See: Regan vs the Soviets)
Sure, Iran could make nukes, but economically they are pointless to them other than nuclear energy since using them would entail the extermination of 90 million Iranians by a US retaliation response. Besides... The could inflict more political damage and gain so much more with using proxy groups like Hezbollah than actively taking on the US directly in a nuclear arms race.
However, China on the other hand... Well, we are seeing for the first time in 50 years a nation that could soon simply outspend us on the military front.
At sometime in the 2020s to 2030s it won't be us chiding others for doing things because we did them but rather trying to justify our new weapons because "China had them first."
Say what you will about Windows on the desktop, but the homogenization of the desktop OS is one of the main things that accelerated the growth of the PC.
Umm... No, it wasn't the ubiquity of Windows, but rather the fact that it ran on almost all common (cheap) hardware. The reason the Mac failed in the 90s was because they didn't allow anyone to make clones, but Windows ran on cheap generic hardware (Intel, AMD, and even Cyrix... remember them) and anything could usually run on it.
So it was decentralization that helped it along with the likes of Dell, HP, Compac, and even crap systems like eMachines and Packard Bell.
Actually, I'd argue the flaws surrounding the Windows OS actually created a support and repair market to the likes humanity has never seen.
I'm not saying this is a bad or good thing, but it created jobs for thousands if not millions of computer technicians around the world.
It must be nice to work in a business that can adjust business hours on their own without any serious repercussions but a lot of us don't have that luxury. I have to be at work when my clients are at work.
Eh? You must not have many international clients. Many of our clients are over seas. I talked to someone in Hamburg the other day and one of my coworkers talked to someone in Siberia.
DST means nothing to us other than we as an individual arrive. We are simply 24hour/7day a week shop.
IMO all businesses will have to shift to a 24/7 business model to compete globally. I'm surprised we don't have a stock market yet that runs without stopping.
An "editable search engine"? Great, now even MORE of the searches I run will pop up ads for v14GR4 and enhancements for body parts I don't possess, nevermind those linkspam sites that just insert the entire fucking dictionary in metacode.
True, but to be fair I wish you could have some sort of voting system based off unique IPs.
Every time I do a search for something, chances are I'll come across a site or two that is listed that is totally crap, spam, or blatantly used some sort of method to get hits with the search.
If I could only vote "This is spam!", "This is crap!", "This has nothing to do with the search query!" , and "Ban this site from all search engines for all time!" then I think we would see prevalent results more than not.
Slashdot Mirror
That is why musicians sign horrible contracts with them. You want a hit record, you need to get on the radio. You want to get on the radio, you need to sign with a big label. If internet radio takes off, suddenly you'll have new outlets which the labels don't control.
What they fail to realize is that the RIAA can't and will not control internet radio overseas especially on the European front which of course don't play that much RIAA music anyways.
Not to mention that if internet radio stations in the states can't play RIAA music then they simply won't be any stations that do not.
Hence, only non-RIAA artists will get played and benefit from that. The thing is that as of now many genres do not get played on your standard radio stations (Industrial, Techno, Death Metal, Hardcore, Trance, Euro Dance) and only get played on internet radio or college radio stations.
Most of these bands are not RIAA because RIAA will not sign them.
In reality, for an indie artist to succeed (as in make a day job living) he needs to sell at least 5,000 CDs. That isn't much compared to the RIAA artists, but you don't really need extreme amounts of hype like the super artists do to sell tens if not hundreds of thousands of records.
Which is why internet radio will help them.
Of course I'm working on a project that hopes to by pass the CD process altogether which will go away in a decade or so because it is so damn expensive to release CDs.
There is a video in the article showing you how ebay plans to use it...
i ndex.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/videos/apollo_demo07/
Looks very Apple OS X-esque with the interface., but to be fair they are running OS X in the video.
Frankly, I think the average consumer is intimidated by a perceived need for serious technical know-how to be able use just about anything other than MS
Actually, I would argue the average consumer is intimidated by any software regardless of who makes it. Secondly, they most likely really don't know how to use Windows/Office as enough to get by to what they specifically want to do (surf, email, write printed letters).
The only reason most consumers use what software they use is because either:
A.) It came with the computer
B.) It was on the shelf at Best Buy/Stapes/Target/Walmart.
C.) Their relative/friend gave them a "copy"
Seeing that Windows and MS Office apply to all 3 rather easily it is a no brainier to why it is successful. It isn't that people are too familiar with MS products so much that they are unwilling to move on, but rather there is really no need.
Of these three reasons... Only C provides the opportunity for Linux and Open Office if they happen to have a relative/friend who is in the "know".
Joe would easily plunk down two dollars for a bootleg DVD if Tony where selling them.
Maybe Joe feels uncomfortable buying from a person face to face who he doesn't know if they are a cop or not?
Piracy either way is illegal and if Joe feels more comfortable downloading and less hassled with the fact he feels like he is buying drugs he might go that route.
Once the system is trained, you can think letters at the machine and 'type' via your thoughts.
That sounds rather cool, but wouldn't thinking words be faster?
When I think when I type I think the entire words and my hands type them without spelling the words out. (Kind of like playing the piano)
Of course I suppose this requires training the computer for several thousands words, but it would be having to think the actual spelling out of words at least speed wise.
The problem is that IT has been taken over by Business School Product. They have no grasp of science, no feel for aesthetics, they only have feel for next quarters numbers and covering their ass.
I think the key issue is that most businesses at that point are on life support or only do just enough to get by with employees too unmotivated to find work elsewhere.
Which is why you won't see any of those companies ever exploding as an IPO and making millions for the founders.
Many people don't realize that companies who do see business as science and art as well as uphold IT will often dance circles around their competitors who begrudgingly don't even understand the technology they sell to their customers.
Of course marketing does help, but obviously Microsoft, Sun, Apple, and Google didn't get to where they were by simply catering to the shareholders quarter revenue reports. Yeah Microsoft's marketing practices are very dubious in a sense and there were technological issues with their products but from my understanding their IT and their technical knowledge of their employees was considerably outstanding compared to other brick and mortar companies.
Of course any company can change...
You can.
It is called a vasectomy and then adoption.
How many people have died because of violence on TV?
How many people have died because of violence in Iraq?
And lastly... How many children's lives have been ruined by the former and then the latter?
aren't they going to grow up and wish all that stuff would be taken down?
Only because it reminds them they didn't age gracefully.
Except for those Grannies gone Wild types... Which in this case, we are the ones wishing they would take those images down off the net.
Having a stroke and/or receiving disability payments renders one incapable of copyright infringement?
To be fair, having a stroke renders one inable to speak, feed themselves, or wipe their own butts depending on the severity.
We all know the ill and disable are pure of heart
IANAL, but being ill and disabled will either:
1. Get you from being convicted guilty (as in a person with mental retardation cannot be expected to get the death penalty)
2. May get you out of jail sooner if you have an illness (Al Capone comes to mind)
Like it or not, law favors those ill and disabled and to the chagrin of lawyers... So do juries.
The question should not be "Can disabled can do illegal things?" but rather "Did this persons specific disability even leave them with enough functionality to use a computer and perform said tasks?"
Seriously, employees do not cease to become human when they walk through the office door. It is unreasonable (and indeed illegal, in some places) to expect them to work like machines, denied access to private communication with anyone outside the business during office hours
Hey... You just described one of my former employers right before they brought in the consultants and laid everyone off.
I'm not going to name names, but I used to work for a major ISP... And low and behold some policies started to change such as:
1. Making you work like machines by requiring you to be clocked in and taking support calls at all times. You couldn't even go to the bathroom when you pleased or the manager would breathe down your neck.
2. Denial of surfing the web, AIM (they said it was because they feared AOL eavesdropping), and of course making outside phone calls on company phones.
To be fair... You could technically surf the web if you wanted to but they had particular programs that monitored your screens at all time and they would get on your case if they caught you while reviewing your customer records.
Considering you could never be off the phones when you weren't at your desk it kind of made this a moot point.
I quit the damn place after a year, but they laid off all my coworkers shortly after that and sent the jobs to mostly India. Oh well...
Actually, it does... In a weird way.
The way Hawking explains it is that the total amount of energy in the universe is Zero. Mass and energy can simply be created by stretching space time, however the major side affect is of course increase of gravity which leads of course the black holes when you've created too much matter/energy in the universe.
Basically, it you ascribe to the big crunch theory of the end of the universe (rather than heat death) it makes sense to say that the universe will collapse on itself eventually because of the creation of matter and energy and causing the natural formation of black holes. (he doesn't allude to either though I think, but you can infer it if you are familiar with either Heat Death or the big crunch)
I maybe paraphrasing him incorrectly as well but you should read his Brief History in Time book and that explains it better than I could.
The exact same argument could be used to say that there shouldn't be a law specifically against drunk driving. After all, if they drive dangerously they'll get arrested for that right?
The problem with this is that when you are drunk, you are pretty much dangerous no matter how good of a driver you are. Secondly, you have scientific proof that you are drunk via the breathalyser.
Unless you happen to video tape the blackberry person as he was crashing his car into you (and why were you video taping with a cam corder and driving at the same time?) you will have to get them to confess to said act. (We have the 5th in the states so he could remain silent if asked about the device and that couldn't be used against him in court)
The point of this is it is trying to outlaw changing of cds/radio stations or eating in the car. It can't be really enforced properly and doesn't help to deter anyone anyways.
What so surprising about not targeting a group that can't even figure out how to connect to the internet much less figure out they even have online banking?
Where is your pr0n to save you now?
What? The ones being seeded or the ones in queue to download?
Seriously, I don't think porn is an issue these days because you can just download it for free or very easily for a small fee at certain sites.
People don't want to go into shady stores to buy porn if they don't want to.
However, I personally believe digital downloads will defeat both BluRay and HDDVD if given the chance by a major corporation.
just don't leave those of us who only need about $25 worth of that plan in the dust.
The problem is you can't find any plans cheaper than $39.99 these days and those usually end up being $60 after taxes and other "fees".
I never have even come close to using up all my minutes at all at any given time.
Why not let the market take care of it?
If we truly had a "free market" then we wouldn't have the DMCA making illegal to bypass DRM.
We can still report on it, the story of this and other mistakes is getting out and is getting attention. If the dictators had won, you wouldn't even know about it until you were taken off the street and never heard from again.
Are you so sure this matters? Even if you can still report about and protest, what difference does it make it if you can't affect government.
In fact, I would argue a dictatorship could use free press and other freedoms to bleed off dissent as long as the government machine is so complex that no one could possibly right injustices.
Think of it as Tyranny of the Majority over those who don't fall in line.
Secondly, I would argue WW2 did not force change as we often think in some areas of the world. Technically Japan was an elected democracy in a sense that had a constitutional monarchy. Contrary to belief, the emperor did not hold the end all be all power and he simply did not appoint or control the elected government directly.
The main issue is with Japan they had elected a hawk group much like our own that got them embroiled in WW2 with the US even with the disagreement of some military officials of a win (notably Admiral Yamamoto)
Even Tojo resigned in 1944 during the wake of the failures of the war much like you would expect in a parliamentary government.
Germany and Italy were a different matter, but I just would like to point out the parallels between wartime Japan and our own. Not to mention Germany had converted from a democracy to a dictatorship in quite a short span... These things can and will happen if they are not guarded against.
We might have not reached that point and may not, but I'm so not as worried as what Bush is doing with special laws and revocations of rights himself as someone else who comes along 20 years down the road who is actually evil and is drawn to politics simply because of the powers of government that we granted now.
MTBF is an average. So things don't automatically break at after 2 million nor do all of them last till then.
The higher the number, the statically less you'll likely get hit with a drive failure.
Think of it like getting in a car accident in the country road versus getting in a car accident in the busy city. You might go your entire life in both places never getting in an accident, but in both places you always have the possibility you will wreck on your first day of driving.
However, you fare much better on the country road for your insurance rates because statistically you will get in less accidents than you do if you lived in the city.
So the threat of MAD does not apply to a country that has no fear destruction.
I don't think you see the real point. They could only kill 10 million tops with a single hit in a single American city (unless of course they coordinated multiple attacks) and could possibly destroy Israel in a single blow or two.
Then the retaliation would result in again... 90 million Iranians dead. Followed by complete occupation of several million US soldiers that were drafted in a war that is supported by the American public (whether they have a choice in the matter is another question) and a constitution removed and interment camps for all person with a middle eastern dissent in US occupied territories.
Perhaps, it is really what they want, but I can't really see how it provides anyone with the progression of their religion if they are all dead.
Unfortunately, too many people use the "US does it" excuse to justify the nuclear proliferation of other countries (read: Iran). I feel this is an accurate counterpoint to such an argument.
Um... That was the whole point of MAD. If one side did it, both had to do it to ensure no one used it. It may not be moral, but it is logical to create any type of weapons in response to the fact the other side has done so.
However, this in itself in the past was a benefit to the US because it can afford to build such technologies whereas the other sides could not afford it and simply force them into submission by outspending them. (See: Regan vs the Soviets)
Sure, Iran could make nukes, but economically they are pointless to them other than nuclear energy since using them would entail the extermination of 90 million Iranians by a US retaliation response. Besides... The could inflict more political damage and gain so much more with using proxy groups like Hezbollah than actively taking on the US directly in a nuclear arms race.
However, China on the other hand... Well, we are seeing for the first time in 50 years a nation that could soon simply outspend us on the military front.
At sometime in the 2020s to 2030s it won't be us chiding others for doing things because we did them but rather trying to justify our new weapons because "China had them first."
Say what you will about Windows on the desktop, but the homogenization of the desktop OS is one of the main things that accelerated the growth of the PC.
Umm... No, it wasn't the ubiquity of Windows, but rather the fact that it ran on almost all common (cheap) hardware. The reason the Mac failed in the 90s was because they didn't allow anyone to make clones, but Windows ran on cheap generic hardware (Intel, AMD, and even Cyrix... remember them) and anything could usually run on it.
So it was decentralization that helped it along with the likes of Dell, HP, Compac, and even crap systems like eMachines and Packard Bell.
Actually, I'd argue the flaws surrounding the Windows OS actually created a support and repair market to the likes humanity has never seen.
I'm not saying this is a bad or good thing, but it created jobs for thousands if not millions of computer technicians around the world.
It must be nice to work in a business that can adjust business hours on their own without any serious repercussions but a lot of us don't have that luxury. I have to be at work when my clients are at work.
Eh? You must not have many international clients. Many of our clients are over seas. I talked to someone in Hamburg the other day and one of my coworkers talked to someone in Siberia.
DST means nothing to us other than we as an individual arrive. We are simply 24hour/7day a week shop.
IMO all businesses will have to shift to a 24/7 business model to compete globally. I'm surprised we don't have a stock market yet that runs without stopping.
An "editable search engine"? Great, now even MORE of the searches I run will pop up ads for v14GR4 and enhancements for body parts I don't possess, nevermind those linkspam sites that just insert the entire fucking dictionary in metacode.
True, but to be fair I wish you could have some sort of voting system based off unique IPs.
Every time I do a search for something, chances are I'll come across a site or two that is listed that is totally crap, spam, or blatantly used some sort of method to get hits with the search.
If I could only vote "This is spam!", "This is crap!", "This has nothing to do with the search query!" , and "Ban this site from all search engines for all time!" then I think we would see prevalent results more than not.