First off, your examples of future ads in games are slightly extreme... Ads are also used quite often in "Extreme sports" games. Billboards and logos on skakeboards and on half-pipes, just like real life, which is also what The Sims is doing.
Secondly, ads are just a part of living in our capitalist society. Any time you have a society with choices and the expendable income to purchase things, you're going to have ads. If the only thing there is to eat in a society is gruel, you're not going to see billboards saying "Eat Gruel!" because that's all you CAN eat! And if no one has any money, you won't see ads encouraging people to sleep under a particular bridge because there's no benefit to the advertiser. Unless they charge to sleep under the bridge.
Ads work. Companies pay large amounts of money to marketers and researchers to make sure it works. If you hate ads, make a note every time you see one to NOT buy that product. If everyone did that, things would change.
But most people, like myself, don't really care. I mean, there's people dying because they have nothing to eat and yet we complain that as we speed down the highway in our personal automobiles, billboards advertising dozens of things we can choose to eat come into our field of vision. To many in this world, that's just plain stupid.
I have an RCA television set that has a built-in digital TV guide. It automagically gets TV listings over my cable wire. I pay nothing for this feature.
TiVo users talk about their monthly fee like the company is a charity case. A modem dialing into a mainframe and downloading some data shouldn't cost $13/month. If it does, they're doing something wrong and deserve to go under.
Agreed. My RCA television set has a built-in "program guide" that shows what's on now and what's coming up. You can scroll through the list and even get a one line description of what the show is about. I think you can even have it set your VCR automatically so you can do one button recording. This is through the TV, not my cable company. And it's free. And TiVo wants me to pay montly for this same feature on a PVR? Ick.
But TiVo users yell, "Yeah, but you can't search by actor!" BFD. I don't need super advanced TV watching features. You guys need to get out more..:)
Even the base unit seems pricey since I already have the pieces around my apartment. I have a hard drive. I have a digital TV guide (for free). I have a cable tuner. I have... Geez, that's all TiVo is! A hard drive hooked up to a cable tuner with some TV guide software. Not worth hundreds of dollars to me.
This is another reason I love having a Mac. I've had DSL twice and currently have cable. I've never needed a special install CD. Usually the instructions for the PC installation including putting in the CD, but for the Mac, it just basically tells you to ignore the CD and turn on DHCP. Easy.
I know, this probably has nothing to do with the Mac's coolness. It has more to do with the fact that Macs control a very small piece of the market so there's less software made for it. Sometimes that's bad (games) but sometimes it's good (viruses, spyware, other stupid crap installed by your ISP's install CD)
It's been a few years since I took monopoly law, but yeah, when they do reach this "completely arbitrary" number, they would have to stop doing the bundling, as long as it's determined to be anti-competive.
The number has to do with balance in whatever market you're dealing with. The more competitors there are in a particular market decreases the chance that one of them could be a monopoly. So it's not just "If you have over 50% of the market, you're a monopoly." You also must factor in the share of your competitors.
I wish some people (like Scott McCollum of WorldTechTribune) would give themselves a basic understanding of monopoly law.
Microsoft is a monopoly. That's very easily been proven. They have 90% share of the operating system market. In fact, they're a BIG monopoly. Many monopolies don't even have that large of a share.
When you're a monopoly, there are things that LEGALLY you aren't allowed to do. And it pretty much comes down to using your power as a monopoly to make yourself an even bigger monopoly.
MS can't (legally) tell Compaq/HP/Dell/Gateway that they must buy a copy of MS Word for every copy of MS Windows they purchase. That's bundling and it's illegal *if you're a monopoly*. If you're not a monopoly, isn't not illegal.
There's more restrictions on companies that are monopolies. If you don't like it, too bad. That's the law.
The PVRs work by jumping ahead 30 seconds. What if each commercial was a different length? So instead of 6 30 second commercials in a row, how about a 17 second commercial, a 42 second commercial, and a 74 second commercial? Sure, you could still visually fast forward, but you'll catch something. (the mute button and the dreaded "Channel Up" button have been around for years to "skip over" commercials, but they're still advertising on TV...)
Or instead of having 7 three minute commercial breaks an hour, what about 84 fifteen second commercial breaks? The break would be done before you could reach the remote.:)
Yeah, you pay for HBO and there's no commercials during the show. But much of this programming is third run stuff. They're movies that have already made money in the theaters, already made money in video rentals/sales, and have trickled down to HBO, Cinemax, etc.
Sure, HBO might have some original programming now and then. But they're not spending as much on it as NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.... Therefore, they don't have to bring in as much revenue to support themselves.
If you wanted NBC commercial free, you'd have to pay a lot more than $10/month.
I mean anyone can do what the MPAA is doing. Why should ISPs listen to them? Because they're big and have money? "Oooo, the MPAA!" BFD. People act like they're the mafia or something.
But I guess the ISP can do whatever they want. I'm sure I agreed to something with my ISP that says they can kill my access for whatever reason they want. But I hope there's some ISPs out there who have the balls to say "Unless our users have been charged of criminal activity in a court of law, we're not going to kill their access just because of allegations a third party is making."
And if there was ever a way to track down every single person who had an illegal MP3 somewhere on his hard drive, ISPs would probably be pretty pissed when they're asked to kill access to 90% of their customers.:)
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First off, your examples of future ads in games are slightly extreme... Ads are also used quite often in "Extreme sports" games. Billboards and logos on skakeboards and on half-pipes, just like real life, which is also what The Sims is doing.
Secondly, ads are just a part of living in our capitalist society. Any time you have a society with choices and the expendable income to purchase things, you're going to have ads. If the only thing there is to eat in a society is gruel, you're not going to see billboards saying "Eat Gruel!" because that's all you CAN eat! And if no one has any money, you won't see ads encouraging people to sleep under a particular bridge because there's no benefit to the advertiser. Unless they charge to sleep under the bridge.
Ads work. Companies pay large amounts of money to marketers and researchers to make sure it works. If you hate ads, make a note every time you see one to NOT buy that product. If everyone did that, things would change.
But most people, like myself, don't really care. I mean, there's people dying because they have nothing to eat and yet we complain that as we speed down the highway in our personal automobiles, billboards advertising dozens of things we can choose to eat come into our field of vision. To many in this world, that's just plain stupid.
Hardees is nasty. I had a "shake" there once that was warm, yet it still managed to keep the proper shake consistency. Creepy.
Here's an idea... Don't play the game. Nothing speaks louder than your wallet.
You mean they're doing something WRONG over at the economic superpower of Belgium?!
If I wanted to use software that I had to pay a subscription fee for, I'd look to Microsoft.
The PowerBooks don't ship with 128MB RAM.
The "Fast" ships with 256MB and the "Faster" and "Fastest" ship with 512MB.
The bottom two iBook configurations ship with 128MB RAM. The third config ships with 256MB and the high end iBook ships with 640MB. (640MB?!)
Hmmm. I have a DVD player with most those features that cost less than $100.
Face it - PVRs cost so much because they're managed by small startups with poor business models that aren't selling enough units to bring costs down.
Where's the Apex PVR?
I have an RCA television set that has a built-in digital TV guide. It automagically gets TV listings over my cable wire. I pay nothing for this feature.
TiVo users talk about their monthly fee like the company is a charity case. A modem dialing into a mainframe and downloading some data shouldn't cost $13/month. If it does, they're doing something wrong and deserve to go under.
Hmm. I skip commercials and I don't even have a PVR.
I call it "Getting up and taking a piss."
Companies very often get upset when their brand names get used that way. Xerox, Kleenex, Band-Aid. It dilutes the brand.
Agreed. My RCA television set has a built-in "program guide" that shows what's on now and what's coming up. You can scroll through the list and even get a one line description of what the show is about. I think you can even have it set your VCR automatically so you can do one button recording. This is through the TV, not my cable company. And it's free. And TiVo wants me to pay montly for this same feature on a PVR? Ick.
:)
But TiVo users yell, "Yeah, but you can't search by actor!" BFD. I don't need super advanced TV watching features. You guys need to get out more..
Even the base unit seems pricey since I already have the pieces around my apartment. I have a hard drive. I have a digital TV guide (for free). I have a cable tuner. I have... Geez, that's all TiVo is! A hard drive hooked up to a cable tuner with some TV guide software. Not worth hundreds of dollars to me.
You're wrong. It hasn't been out for a while. It was ANNOUNCED a while back, but they just started shipping last week.
http://home.attbi.com/~mrwatchdawg_01/4.JPG
This is another reason I love having a Mac. I've had DSL twice and currently have cable. I've never needed a special install CD. Usually the instructions for the PC installation including putting in the CD, but for the Mac, it just basically tells you to ignore the CD and turn on DHCP. Easy.
I know, this probably has nothing to do with the Mac's coolness. It has more to do with the fact that Macs control a very small piece of the market so there's less software made for it. Sometimes that's bad (games) but sometimes it's good (viruses, spyware, other stupid crap installed by your ISP's install CD)
Wow, there's some new AAA Xbox title that slashdots sites to death?
Coooool.
It's been a few years since I took monopoly law, but yeah, when they do reach this "completely arbitrary" number, they would have to stop doing the bundling, as long as it's determined to be anti-competive.
The number has to do with balance in whatever market you're dealing with. The more competitors there are in a particular market decreases the chance that one of them could be a monopoly. So it's not just "If you have over 50% of the market, you're a monopoly." You also must factor in the share of your competitors.
I wish some people (like Scott McCollum of WorldTechTribune) would give themselves a basic understanding of monopoly law.
Microsoft is a monopoly. That's very easily been proven. They have 90% share of the operating system market. In fact, they're a BIG monopoly. Many monopolies don't even have that large of a share.
When you're a monopoly, there are things that LEGALLY you aren't allowed to do. And it pretty much comes down to using your power as a monopoly to make yourself an even bigger monopoly.
MS can't (legally) tell Compaq/HP/Dell/Gateway that they must buy a copy of MS Word for every copy of MS Windows they purchase. That's bundling and it's illegal *if you're a monopoly*. If you're not a monopoly, isn't not illegal.
There's more restrictions on companies that are monopolies. If you don't like it, too bad. That's the law.
It's live at 8 p.m. ET. The PT version is taped.
Let's hope this is more exciting than when Geraldo unlocked the "secrets" of Al Capone's hidden vault live on TV. *yawn*
(here's the secret: there's nothing there)
Yes, but whether you're in a Ford or Toyota, gas is on the right, break is in the middle, and you turn the car with a round "steering wheel".
The PVRs work by jumping ahead 30 seconds. What if each commercial was a different length? So instead of 6 30 second commercials in a row, how about a 17 second commercial, a 42 second commercial, and a 74 second commercial? Sure, you could still visually fast forward, but you'll catch something. (the mute button and the dreaded "Channel Up" button have been around for years to "skip over" commercials, but they're still advertising on TV...)
:)
Or instead of having 7 three minute commercial breaks an hour, what about 84 fifteen second commercial breaks? The break would be done before you could reach the remote.
Yeah, BBC is great if you want to sit around and watch Big Brother and people with bad teeth all day.
Yeah, you pay for HBO and there's no commercials during the show. But much of this programming is third run stuff. They're movies that have already made money in the theaters, already made money in video rentals/sales, and have trickled down to HBO, Cinemax, etc.
Sure, HBO might have some original programming now and then. But they're not spending as much on it as NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.... Therefore, they don't have to bring in as much revenue to support themselves.
If you wanted NBC commercial free, you'd have to pay a lot more than $10/month.
Who cares what happens to those people in the future? As long as I can still pirate Hollywood's warez on a sweet, sweet P2P network. Sooooo 31337.
I mean anyone can do what the MPAA is doing. Why should ISPs listen to them? Because they're big and have money? "Oooo, the MPAA!" BFD. People act like they're the mafia or something.
But I guess the ISP can do whatever they want. I'm sure I agreed to something with my ISP that says they can kill my access for whatever reason they want. But I hope there's some ISPs out there who have the balls to say "Unless our users have been charged of criminal activity in a court of law, we're not going to kill their access just because of allegations a third party is making."
And if there was ever a way to track down every single person who had an illegal MP3 somewhere on his hard drive, ISPs would probably be pretty pissed when they're asked to kill access to 90% of their customers. :)