Very true. Also add that although eBay's popularity and resources make it powerful, they also make it vulnerable. A company that size - clearly uberbloated with developers, for one - has huge communication chains and responds incredibly slowly to new ideas.
A small startup with the right idea at the right time can turn on a dime to react to innovation and new markets.
Google is an obvious example - who would have thought in 1996 that Altavista or Yahoo or Excite or... yeah, can't even remember the names of others now... would have been decimated by a couple of post grad students and a bit of funding.
There's nothing to stop this sort of thing toppling eBay - and bear in mind not many people hated Altavista, they just didn't need it. Some people surely do hate eBay, so there's a clear market for the next big thing.
Ah, no. Maybe I didn't phrase that well. I completely agree with you. I meant that eBay is most certainly in the bottom 5 of the league of Customer Service. In fact probably the only company in my experience that proves worse customer service is Paypal, owned of course by eBay.
eBay is merely 458th on the 2006 Fortune 500 list. It's not the top performer it would have you believe. It is likely, however, in the top five when it comes to poor customer service.
How well do you think this character is going to translate into a movie made today?
The character is timeless. Similar characters abound in Norse Sagas and Greek Myths for example. As to whether the actor needs to be replaced, depends on the filmmakers. I would personally say yes, even a good director will have issue making him credible - so change him. I would also say that adding an hour of exposition on a trade embargo and a floppy eared jive talking sidekick would be a terrible terrible terrible mistake.
Can I also add to this list my biggest hatred of IM, that when I have used it in the past I found it extremely invasive. It either steals focus causing you to paste god knows what into an IM to absolutely the wrong person, or still naggingly flashing in the corner of my eye to the point where I have to stop what I'm doing and deal with it. At least you can turn of the annoying sound effects if you want. (why does anything, ever, need to flash and nag in the corner of my screen - not even anti-virus software needs to do this, it should always be optional.)
It is the little slow death of sanity, productivity and concentration.
Still, I don't think this is technically an unsurmountable issue, nor are the points made by the parent post. I'm sure it must be possible to add more control to messaging clients so that you can have them gathering messages in the background, and add a way of storing and logging messages when you need to. Clients need to be able to talk to each other too - AIM to Yahoo to Google talk or whatever.
Or do these things already exist and it's just that my bad experiences with IM historically has prevented me exploring this fact?
Since GMail is the only email application I've used that so far has controlled spam effectively I'm keeping going with it - though I do pop mails from my account into Thunderbird too (since it's beta and I have occasionally had difficulty reaching it).
Bearing in mind the spam deluge we are all suffering from, is a better question not: "will we ever find a suitable replacement for email - and when? Tomorrow's fine by me, I'm ready to ditch email right now, today.
Depends on the producer. Some producers are mean. Usually travel, accommodation and catering is taken care of. And, I've never worked with, or heard of, anyone just being picked off the street. I can only speak for the European productions I've been involved with, not for the industry as a whole. Maybe some do...can't see it though.
Like I said, it's actually pretty hard to perform in front of a camera. Every guy thinks he can do it, but when it comes to it, not so many actually can. People do have to have health checks beforehand and you need proof of identity, age, and documentation thereof too - which often people don't carry. For fetish stuff you have to find someone who wants a particular fantasy fulfilled and is willing to be filmed doing it. Often these tend to be older guys because they aren't so concerned about being seen as getting their dreams come true.
As to why they look like they've escaped from a prison TV series... um, not sure... but you are correct, they do. In fact most of the guys I've filmed have been lawyers, minor politicians, and other such professional types.
Actually, now that I come to think of it, people who should be in prison...
As well as in the adult entertainment industry, I have also worked extensively in theatre, film and tv for the past 20 or so years. Yes, sure, there are indeed many "real" actors including some famous ones who are actually lovely people, and there are also some porn actors who are idiots. Beneath my hyperbole I was merely trying to point out that, on the whole, people's understanding and expectations of porn actors is often misrepresented and misunderstood. For the most part, in my experience, they are nice people to work with, and not just for the obvious reasons.
A band with a PC and a little extra equipment (which they can also borrow) can publish music to the world online. CDs can be produced cheaply, independent from Record labels. Marketing can be done by someone skilled at online marketing (something FOR SURE no record label has the talent to do). Concerts are booked by the bands manager, who can handle most of the other distribution tasks and hire and delegate where appropriate.
I haven't used Office 2007, so this is a question not a criticism. Is this really so innovative? from the screen shots it looks like nothing more than an in-application version of the OSX dock. (which IS fully customizable unlike the ribbon seemingly) I see that it is taking the concept of Dock to a different level, but is it really innovation?
First I've heard of this. While it probably does have its uses, I would bet it will be cited as evidence in at least one divorce case before long. Use with caution!
Those porn actors should not complain about loss of sales, they get busy each and every day for hours! Who are they to complain!:-D
Not sure how things work in the San Fernando valley, but in Europe for straight porn or fetish shoots the men don't usually get paid, just the women. A rare male will get paid if he is exceptionally talented - i.e. hugely endowed and able to perform on camera. You'd be amazed how few men can actually deliver the moneyshot with an audience.
Actually there are many things about the reality of the porn business that would amaze most people, mostly about how mundane and professional it is, and the large number of women who are porn producers - not performers. One day I really should write a book.
And yes, porn actors in my experience are a pretty happy lot. They are much easier to deal with than "real" actors; fewer tantrums, less drug abuse, punctual, professional, sober, reliable, etc...
Well, the tubes are often made of glass, and vigorous shaking will crack them. Then, water rushes into the tubes and the poker chips float up while the racing horses drown, clogging up the internets. It's pandemonium, I tell ya. If only the internet was a big truck...
Should we also perhaps be worried about the affect on marine and seabird life from the resulting v1@gr4 slick? Maybe good for the whale populations to help them recover from Japanese "scientific" whaling? I, for one, welcome our new potent and satisfied cetacean overlords.
Part of me welcomes new methods and new technology where search is concerned. However, the involvement of Mr Wales into this arena isn't one I welcome at all.
The only good thing about this is that possibly Wikipedia might be ousted from the primary or secondary page rank for most subjects. That is an authority most highly undeserved, and proof of nothing more than how far we need to go in terms of achieving accurate search.
I think (hope) this is just a piece of self publicity. I doubt they have the technology - judging by the fact that at peak times Wikipedia search shuts down and defaults to Google and Yahoo.
Interesting too, that while Google employs seriously smart people and is founded by seriously smart people, that Jimbo and whomever he cobbles together from the smart-search-technologists-who-decided-not-to-work -for-google-exactly-why? are likely to succeed where they have failed. Sure, brains aren't necessarily everything, but they really do help. I think no small amount of Google's success is the size of the brains behind it. It's why they have a competitive advantage in most markets they enter.
We have seen very clearly that Wikipedia is extremely vulnerable to, and tainted with, group-think manipulation. (Jimbo's icon, Ayn Rand as one very tiny example of many). Why would anyone think this search will be in any way different. This looks just as vulnerable and easy to manipulate if you get a group together. Which every SEO blackhat on the planet will do on the day of launch. This looks much easier to manipulate than meta tags, or page rank.
I'm sure SEO blackhats and right wing organisations are foaming at the mouth with excitement at this wonderful Christmas announcement.
Between sexual predators, kids who tell all and then regret it when it comes time to look for a job, our daughters posts nearly nude photos and our sons enjoying that a bit more than is healthy, these are a bad idea. I just checked the traffic numbers for Myspace, 3rd most popular in the US and 5th on the planet... Where are the safeguards?
Where are the safeguards? In your home. In your school, and in your church if you believe in that. The behavior of your children is YOUR responsibility. Not mine, and nor it should be the Government's - there is far too much censorship already. Stop asking the Government to think of the children, and start thinking about your own. Spend time with your children, ask them to explain how MySpace or whatever works and educate them in how to use such things safely. Or ban them from them if you're that kind of parent.
Social networking adds nothing new to the World, it just makes it easier to see it. Which is a good thing. (I'm willing to except, rather than accept, MySpace as a good thing though, just from the tech pov.)
Ok, I'm a pornographer and biased. Freedom of speech is still the most important thing on Earth, social networking is an important aspect of that, so please don't spoil it with some foxnews-fud-fuelled family values jihad. Predators make good cheap easy copy, but they are far more dangerous in a shopping mall than they are online.
The irony of Fox News spouting fud about MySpace while being part of the self same organization that owns it is not lost on me. Nor is the fact that other networks will spout fud about MySpace for reasons of competition.
Something that amazes me is that there are hobbyists building those model jet engines from scratch, using detailed plans that this guy published in this book.
I think "amazes" isn't the word I'd use. I was thinking the Swiss is guy is really cool - crazy - but really cool. Then I see your post about people building planes based on designs from Wikipedia and I realize the Swiss guy is the paragon of sane and normal.
They'd build something as dangerous as a plane based on plans from one of the world's most notoriously dubious and manipulated sources of "facts"? They're mental patients, or cadavers, which ever comes first...
Trusting Wikipedia for a high school essay is foolish, but a plane... Mark my words, it's only a question of time before there's some form Wikipedia related deaths, planes or otherwise.
Until a few years ago Google search sucked from a great height, returning vast abouts of garbage mainly consisting of outdated and broken links.
Are there two Googles? I ask because nearly 10 years ago I was pointed towards Google by one of my university professors before the site was really public. At the time the choice was Yahoo, Altavista, or Infoseek or similar. Google search actually worked, compared with the metatag spammed crap that was the others. Google gained ground virally because it really worked.
If anything the opposite of what you suggest is true, now that Google is regarded as the best search engine many SEO blackhats are trying to game it. So actually it is less accurate than it was a few years ago - but still the best though.
No. Google Earth, as one example, is also out of Beta.
I have a blogger account set up as a mirror of my Wordpress one. So I saw this news earlier today when I updated the blog. It surprised me. The reason why I use the Wordpress blog as my main one, is quite simply it is light years ahead of Blogger. The Wordpress one even has a built in Analytics - from Google nonetheless - you have to open an account separately for Blogger.
Blogger isn't bad, it's simply ho-hum. My personal feeling is that it should have stayed in beta another six months or so and grown a little more feature rich, and actually, stable as well - adding sidebar widgets etc is a little precarious with Blogger.
It was easier to make lots of money in porn at the beginning of the web. For those of us who entered the marker later it's actually pretty tough, you need to do all the work that every other site is doing, adult or otherwise, to make money. And no, not even in that order of magnitude amount - if you are doing things legitimately an least - as I endeavor to do. Maybe if you are doing things illegally you can make much more, but that's not for me, I'd rather settle for a reasonable income and be able to sleep at night.
I have few friends who did start up at the beginning of the web, and sure they are pretty rich, but they didn't make anything like that kind of money. Either this guy is really good, or (likely) there's still more to the story to be told.
I own 3 domains, 2 have been created for a while, the 3rd is new. Since the middle of November, for the first two I have now moved to a whitelist. I use Thunderbird, but it has vast room for improvement in the way its filters work. It is far too time consuming to keep adding things to the filters, its hard to redesign new filters with the clunky TB interface, and I don't have the power I need, I can't repel attachments for example (at least as far as I know).
Despite this, I was winning up until November, but now I have surrendered. Spam has won.
For the 3rd domain, I didn't even set up any email addresses, I just set up Gmail accounts. Possibly this doesn't look as professional as it should, however, that's the way it's going to be from now on for me. I'm happy to have Google do the anti-spam work for me - successfully so far I may add.
I really wished I lived in Korea and could let the old folks send their email, while I did something more productive.
Congratulations to our new Spam overlords, they own us.
Slashdot Mirror
Very true. Also add that although eBay's popularity and resources make it powerful, they also make it vulnerable. A company that size - clearly uberbloated with developers, for one - has huge communication chains and responds incredibly slowly to new ideas.
A small startup with the right idea at the right time can turn on a dime to react to innovation and new markets.
Google is an obvious example - who would have thought in 1996 that Altavista or Yahoo or Excite or... yeah, can't even remember the names of others now... would have been decimated by a couple of post grad students and a bit of funding.
There's nothing to stop this sort of thing toppling eBay - and bear in mind not many people hated Altavista, they just didn't need it. Some people surely do hate eBay, so there's a clear market for the next big thing.
Ah, no. Maybe I didn't phrase that well. I completely agree with you. I meant that eBay is most certainly in the bottom 5 of the league of Customer Service. In fact probably the only company in my experience that proves worse customer service is Paypal, owned of course by eBay.
eBay is merely 458th on the 2006 Fortune 500 list. It's not the top performer it would have you believe. It is likely, however, in the top five when it comes to poor customer service.
Can I also add to this list my biggest hatred of IM, that when I have used it in the past I found it extremely invasive. It either steals focus causing you to paste god knows what into an IM to absolutely the wrong person, or still naggingly flashing in the corner of my eye to the point where I have to stop what I'm doing and deal with it. At least you can turn of the annoying sound effects if you want. (why does anything, ever, need to flash and nag in the corner of my screen - not even anti-virus software needs to do this, it should always be optional.)
It is the little slow death of sanity, productivity and concentration.
Still, I don't think this is technically an unsurmountable issue, nor are the points made by the parent post. I'm sure it must be possible to add more control to messaging clients so that you can have them gathering messages in the background, and add a way of storing and logging messages when you need to. Clients need to be able to talk to each other too - AIM to Yahoo to Google talk or whatever.
Or do these things already exist and it's just that my bad experiences with IM historically has prevented me exploring this fact?
...that the Russian response was something along the lines of:
Xa,Xa,Xa,Xa,Xa,Xa....!!!!
What part of "beta" did everyone miss?
Since GMail is the only email application I've used that so far has controlled spam effectively I'm keeping going with it - though I do pop mails from my account into Thunderbird too (since it's beta and I have occasionally had difficulty reaching it).
Bearing in mind the spam deluge we are all suffering from, is a better question not: "will we ever find a suitable replacement for email - and when? Tomorrow's fine by me, I'm ready to ditch email right now, today.
Depends on the producer. Some producers are mean. Usually travel, accommodation and catering is taken care of. And, I've never worked with, or heard of, anyone just being picked off the street. I can only speak for the European productions I've been involved with, not for the industry as a whole. Maybe some do...can't see it though.
Like I said, it's actually pretty hard to perform in front of a camera. Every guy thinks he can do it, but when it comes to it, not so many actually can. People do have to have health checks beforehand and you need proof of identity, age, and documentation thereof too - which often people don't carry. For fetish stuff you have to find someone who wants a particular fantasy fulfilled and is willing to be filmed doing it. Often these tend to be older guys because they aren't so concerned about being seen as getting their dreams come true.
As to why they look like they've escaped from a prison TV series... um, not sure... but you are correct, they do. In fact most of the guys I've filmed have been lawyers, minor politicians, and other such professional types.
Actually, now that I come to think of it, people who should be in prison...
As well as in the adult entertainment industry, I have also worked extensively in theatre, film and tv for the past 20 or so years. Yes, sure, there are indeed many "real" actors including some famous ones who are actually lovely people, and there are also some porn actors who are idiots. Beneath my hyperbole I was merely trying to point out that, on the whole, people's understanding and expectations of porn actors is often misrepresented and misunderstood. For the most part, in my experience, they are nice people to work with, and not just for the obvious reasons.
In this new digital age...
What are you for? What purpose do you serve?
A band with a PC and a little extra equipment (which they can also borrow) can publish music to the world online. CDs can be produced cheaply, independent from Record labels. Marketing can be done by someone skilled at online marketing (something FOR SURE no record label has the talent to do). Concerts are booked by the bands manager, who can handle most of the other distribution tasks and hire and delegate where appropriate.
So again, I ask you; what are you for?
I haven't used Office 2007, so this is a question not a criticism. Is this really so innovative? from the screen shots it looks like nothing more than an in-application version of the OSX dock. (which IS fully customizable unlike the ribbon seemingly) I see that it is taking the concept of Dock to a different level, but is it really innovation?
First I've heard of this. While it probably does have its uses, I would bet it will be cited as evidence in at least one divorce case before long. Use with caution!
I won't thank you for a Vista'd laptop. But if anyone is handing out Charisma Carpenters I'll do my very very best to give a good review. Promise.
Actually there are many things about the reality of the porn business that would amaze most people, mostly about how mundane and professional it is, and the large number of women who are porn producers - not performers. One day I really should write a book.
And yes, porn actors in my experience are a pretty happy lot. They are much easier to deal with than "real" actors; fewer tantrums, less drug abuse, punctual, professional, sober, reliable, etc...
Part of me welcomes new methods and new technology where search is concerned. However, the involvement of Mr Wales into this arena isn't one I welcome at all.
k -for-google-exactly-why? are likely to succeed where they have failed. Sure, brains aren't necessarily everything, but they really do help. I think no small amount of Google's success is the size of the brains behind it. It's why they have a competitive advantage in most markets they enter.
The only good thing about this is that possibly Wikipedia might be ousted from the primary or secondary page rank for most subjects. That is an authority most highly undeserved, and proof of nothing more than how far we need to go in terms of achieving accurate search.
I think (hope) this is just a piece of self publicity. I doubt they have the technology - judging by the fact that at peak times Wikipedia search shuts down and defaults to Google and Yahoo.
Interesting too, that while Google employs seriously smart people and is founded by seriously smart people, that Jimbo and whomever he cobbles together from the smart-search-technologists-who-decided-not-to-wor
We have seen very clearly that Wikipedia is extremely vulnerable to, and tainted with, group-think manipulation. (Jimbo's icon, Ayn Rand as one very tiny example of many). Why would anyone think this search will be in any way different. This looks just as vulnerable and easy to manipulate if you get a group together. Which every SEO blackhat on the planet will do on the day of launch. This looks much easier to manipulate than meta tags, or page rank.
I'm sure SEO blackhats and right wing organisations are foaming at the mouth with excitement at this wonderful Christmas announcement.
Social networking adds nothing new to the World, it just makes it easier to see it. Which is a good thing. (I'm willing to except, rather than accept, MySpace as a good thing though, just from the tech pov.)
Ok, I'm a pornographer and biased. Freedom of speech is still the most important thing on Earth, social networking is an important aspect of that, so please don't spoil it with some foxnews-fud-fuelled family values jihad. Predators make good cheap easy copy, but they are far more dangerous in a shopping mall than they are online.
The irony of Fox News spouting fud about MySpace while being part of the self same organization that owns it is not lost on me. Nor is the fact that other networks will spout fud about MySpace for reasons of competition.
...call Dr Octopus!
They'd build something as dangerous as a plane based on plans from one of the world's most notoriously dubious and manipulated sources of "facts"? They're mental patients, or cadavers, which ever comes first...
Trusting Wikipedia for a high school essay is foolish, but a plane... Mark my words, it's only a question of time before there's some form Wikipedia related deaths, planes or otherwise.
If anything the opposite of what you suggest is true, now that Google is regarded as the best search engine many SEO blackhats are trying to game it. So actually it is less accurate than it was a few years ago - but still the best though.
No. Google Earth, as one example, is also out of Beta.
I have a blogger account set up as a mirror of my Wordpress one. So I saw this news earlier today when I updated the blog. It surprised me. The reason why I use the Wordpress blog as my main one, is quite simply it is light years ahead of Blogger. The Wordpress one even has a built in Analytics - from Google nonetheless - you have to open an account separately for Blogger.
Blogger isn't bad, it's simply ho-hum. My personal feeling is that it should have stayed in beta another six months or so and grown a little more feature rich, and actually, stable as well - adding sidebar widgets etc is a little precarious with Blogger.
so those of us who are left handed would be better off with ilm.com? Perfect for Princess Leia in the gold bikini porn?
It was easier to make lots of money in porn at the beginning of the web. For those of us who entered the marker later it's actually pretty tough, you need to do all the work that every other site is doing, adult or otherwise, to make money. And no, not even in that order of magnitude amount - if you are doing things legitimately an least - as I endeavor to do. Maybe if you are doing things illegally you can make much more, but that's not for me, I'd rather settle for a reasonable income and be able to sleep at night.
I have few friends who did start up at the beginning of the web, and sure they are pretty rich, but they didn't make anything like that kind of money. Either this guy is really good, or (likely) there's still more to the story to be told.
I own 3 domains, 2 have been created for a while, the 3rd is new. Since the middle of November, for the first two I have now moved to a whitelist. I use Thunderbird, but it has vast room for improvement in the way its filters work. It is far too time consuming to keep adding things to the filters, its hard to redesign new filters with the clunky TB interface, and I don't have the power I need, I can't repel attachments for example (at least as far as I know).
Despite this, I was winning up until November, but now I have surrendered. Spam has won.
For the 3rd domain, I didn't even set up any email addresses, I just set up Gmail accounts. Possibly this doesn't look as professional as it should, however, that's the way it's going to be from now on for me. I'm happy to have Google do the anti-spam work for me - successfully so far I may add.
I really wished I lived in Korea and could let the old folks send their email, while I did something more productive.
Congratulations to our new Spam overlords, they own us.