there is no limit to the number of times you can burn a song purchased from the iTunes music store. There is a limit on the number of times you can burn a play list, but if you are only wanting to "work around" the DRM then this isn't a concern.
... a foiled attempted attack on LAX by the candian government.
The Canadian government attempted to attack LAX and we haven't bombed them into the 51-80th states? [Note: we might need to make more states out of them if 30 states isn't enough to make sure that none of them are bigger than Texas]
If you have a multi-million dollar advertising budget, of course you're not going to recoup that on the first unit sold. The implication is that the hardware unit itself is selling for less than the unit costs to manufacture. So they are subsidizing each unit sold, and if they sell 100 million units at the current price they won't make a profit, much less recoup their advertising money. That is not the same as negative cash flow in their first year. The iPod has never sold below manufacturing costs (most people complain that *shock* Apple sells it for a profit), of course the first unit sold didn't recoup Apple's R&D, manufacturing setup and advertising costs. But it was a profit relative to the cost of goods, and they knew that selling enough would make a profit. That's the difference.
"We had to look at what was in the market and offer a competitive price," said Scott Erickson, Microsoft's senior director of product marketing for Zune. "We're not going to be profitable this holiday but the Zune project is a multiyear strategy."
Apple might have a monopoly on MP3 players but they are not (at least they haven't been convicted of) leveraging that monopoly to muscle out their competition. On the other hand Microsoft is a convicted abuser of their monopoly (sure they weren't punished, but the guilty verdict was not overturned on appeal). Here they are using the cash generated from their monopoly to undercut their competition. Once they muscle out Apple then they will be able to jack prices and screw the consumer. This is not competition to the iPod this is predatory tactics.
To me a micro-payment is something in the order of a couple of cents (US$, fill in appropriate equivalant for other currencies). It is a very difficult problem to solve - how do you track micro-payments in such a way that it doesn't cost you more than what you'll end up collecting. Charges in the order of US$1.00 are not micro-payments. They're small, quite possibly impulse-payments, but definately not micro-payments. Marketing is trying to use the term to get consumers comfortable with the idea of dishing out cash. "Oh... it's just a 'micro'-payment of $5.00"
I think you're confusing "the only thing worse than people saying bad things about you is people saying nothing at all". That's not to say that bad publicity doesn't exist, only that no publicity is worse. Take the PS3 vs 360 vs Revolution - no one was talking about the revolution, and everyone assumed that Nintendo would go the way of Sega. Then the week before E3 Nintendo announced that the Revolution would be sold as the Wii. Everyone cracked jokes about waving a Wii around. It was bad publicity. But no one was talking about the PS3 the week before E3. That was worse. Since Nintendo had all the mindshare going in, the PS3 price was a bombshell, had there been a huge ammount of talk about the PS3 prior to E3 then the price announcement wouldn't have sounded like a bomb going off in a tomb and probably wouldn't have received as big of a backlash.
Or put another way... Why is every single game convention going to be "The Next E3!". If E3 was downsized because Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA, Ubisoft and the other major players weren't getting a good return on investment then no one is going to attract them with a "We'll be bigger than E3" show. If the aforementioned industry heavy hitters want a big E3 show then TNE3! will be [drum roll] E3. It seems that magazines have the most to lose and are trying to appeal to the fans to try and resurrect E3. Unfortunately they do not generate the increase in revenue that is needed to offset the expense of exhibiting at E3 (at least we're being told that is why E3 is no longer keeping it's format). In order for them to get E3 to return to its former glory size, they will need to provide a financial incentive to the publishers. Given their already extensive coverage, I don't think that they can increase their marketing penetration by any significant amount. As for the average fan, they bring zero dollars to the bargaining table, so no amount of whining or pleading will change things. (Yes, you buy games, but you do that anyway, you don't bring money to TNE3! bargaining table.) Whishing for TNE3! may be fun, but until someone who wants a return to the over the top style show provides a financial reason to the publishers to spend the money, no amount of "news" articles about TNE3! will change the fact that E3 will not be as big as it used to.
Also, even if there is a mixed liquid attact that succeeded because of some crafty new way of smuggling the liquids on board - the officials can point to the "security" measures and say "See we did everything we could". This is similar to some managers that I've had who forced mandatory overtime. We all knew that the project would slip, but with the mandatory over time he could tell his boss that "well we tried everything". Never mind that we were so fried from the death march that our productivity was les than 50%. The apperance of doing something is what is needed to placate the boss [unwashed voting masses]
I hadn't heard about the TSA approved locks - it bothers me that I have to hand my luggage over with no ability to prevent someone from taking anything of value. I didn't care for the combo lock and your link mentioned dual key locks. A quick spin through google led me to an amazon page where there were two reviews (for a combo lock). Both reviewers stated that their TSA "approved" locks had been cut rather than opened. Does anyone have first hand experience with these locks? Do they get cut or opened often?
Until then, I have holiday season colored zip-ties (I figure that the white ones are too comon - sue me if I'm too paranoid)
amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009XLBSI/002-23 20945-5358457?v=glance&n=1036592
As a bicyclist I need to point out that bicyclists are legal vehicles of the road in every state (USA) and Europe too. Though there are traffic laws that apply to bicycles only, that doesn't change your status to unreal vehicle. Even if you were traveling below the posted speed limit you have the right to take up an entire lane if you have to (because of debris/hazards on the shoulder, because the lane is too narrow to safely share with a car, etc).
I have enough trouble with cars that if I can get one driver to realize that I belong on the road just as much as he does then this is not a waste of slashdot space. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now...
In Texas we build roads straight. Which usually works just fine since most of Texas is flat. Of course when there's a hill, the construction crews don't know (at least they don't seem to know) about winding the road to reduce the grade, they build them straight up the hill. Which results in some mean roads to ride up, and fast roads to ride down. I regularly hit 60-65 mph (96 - 104 km/h) on one road that feeds into a highway.
When I was in college, before I could afford a cycle computer, I once had a car ride alongside me as I was going down a hill. The passenger rolled down his window, held up seven fingers, then held up five fingers, then flashed two thumbs up (120 km/h). However, that road has too much traffic on it these days so I can't go back and attempt to measure it for myself.
So, I would say that I have no problem accepting someone going over 55mph, you just need a straight, steep hill and confidence that you can handle a blowout - which does happen, don't try this if your bike or your bike handling skills are not up for the test.
IANAD.
That said, I do checkout the gear at my dentist's office. The water is stored in a plastic bottle next to the chair and they use distilled water, not tap water. The stated reason is to prevent mold and other such growth in the tubes that deliver the water. I would guess that warming the water would make for a better breeding ground, and call me wussy but I'd rather cold water than an infection.
iPod isn't a platform, but the iTunes music store is. Apple already sells video, how long until they feel that they have enough infrastructure in place to sell full length movies? Combine that with a video iPod and OSX with front row and all of a sudden Apple is sitting on top of a brand new market. A market that will sell pods and desktop units to the living room. Microsoft wants that market - the 360 is their way of trying to be in place when it finally opens up.
Note: yes, I know that all self respecting slashdotters have modded xboxes set up to watch streamed media - but hacked consoles with bit torrent content are not a market.
My understanding is that Ti is not stronger than steel by volume. In other words, if you have two pieces of exactly the same dimensions the steel piece will be stronger. However Ti is so much stronger than steel by weight that you can make a bigger Ti piece such that it is stronger yet still weighs less.
Also steel has a wonderful ability to bend and twist when under extreme loads. Ti, and Al for that matter, tends to snap. Which means that a steel part that fails will more than likely keep together (albeit in a useless state), while as Ti will have more catastrophic failure.
My bicycle seat post is Ti though the outside diameter is the same as a steel seat post they can make the wall thickness greater to achieve the same strength.
My saddle rails that clamp onto the seat post are steel. They can't change the size of the rail since it has to fit a standard diameter clamp. I tried a Ti seat twice, though I loved the ride (it flexes more providing extra "comfort") I couldn't afford to replace them as often.
MS tried to buy Intuit in 1994, but it was blocked since that would have left no competition in the market http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ant08.htm as a mac user of quicken, I thank the feds every time I start cursing Intuit for not doing more for the mac version.
You might also argue that itunes and the ipod are natually linked products. One directly relates to the other. You pay a premium for the ipod and get better services (itunes) than if you buy a competing mp3 player. But itunes doesn't prevent you from buying another mp3 player.
If appple was to place itunes so that it only ran on a mac, then you could argue that they are using their monopoly in one market (mp3 players) to increase their presence in an other market (desktops/laptops). The fact that apply may have enough market share to be considered a monopoly is not enough reason to be punished. The have to be using their monopoly to stop competition or leverage their way into a new market. As it was stated before, just being a monopoly is not bad - leveraging the monopoly is where you start running into trouble.
Slashdot Mirror
there is no limit to the number of times you can burn a song purchased from the iTunes music store. There is a limit on the number of times you can burn a play list, but if you are only wanting to "work around" the DRM then this isn't a concern.
Are you saying flying pigs migrate?
micro machines v3 on the Playstation with 8 controllers plugged in was pure multiplayer genius - all with out a split screen
glad to provide the smile :-D
If you have a multi-million dollar advertising budget, of course you're not going to recoup that on the first unit sold. The implication is that the hardware unit itself is selling for less than the unit costs to manufacture. So they are subsidizing each unit sold, and if they sell 100 million units at the current price they won't make a profit, much less recoup their advertising money. That is not the same as negative cash flow in their first year. The iPod has never sold below manufacturing costs (most people complain that *shock* Apple sells it for a profit), of course the first unit sold didn't recoup Apple's R&D, manufacturing setup and advertising costs. But it was a profit relative to the cost of goods, and they knew that selling enough would make a profit. That's the difference.
To me a micro-payment is something in the order of a couple of cents (US$, fill in appropriate equivalant for other currencies). It is a very difficult problem to solve - how do you track micro-payments in such a way that it doesn't cost you more than what you'll end up collecting. Charges in the order of US$1.00 are not micro-payments. They're small, quite possibly impulse-payments, but definately not micro-payments. Marketing is trying to use the term to get consumers comfortable with the idea of dishing out cash. "Oh... it's just a 'micro'-payment of $5.00"
I think you're confusing "the only thing worse than people saying bad things about you is people saying nothing at all". That's not to say that bad publicity doesn't exist, only that no publicity is worse. Take the PS3 vs 360 vs Revolution - no one was talking about the revolution, and everyone assumed that Nintendo would go the way of Sega. Then the week before E3 Nintendo announced that the Revolution would be sold as the Wii. Everyone cracked jokes about waving a Wii around. It was bad publicity. But no one was talking about the PS3 the week before E3. That was worse. Since Nintendo had all the mindshare going in, the PS3 price was a bombshell, had there been a huge ammount of talk about the PS3 prior to E3 then the price announcement wouldn't have sounded like a bomb going off in a tomb and probably wouldn't have received as big of a backlash.
Or put another way... Why is every single game convention going to be "The Next E3!". If E3 was downsized because Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA, Ubisoft and the other major players weren't getting a good return on investment then no one is going to attract them with a "We'll be bigger than E3" show. If the aforementioned industry heavy hitters want a big E3 show then TNE3! will be [drum roll] E3. It seems that magazines have the most to lose and are trying to appeal to the fans to try and resurrect E3. Unfortunately they do not generate the increase in revenue that is needed to offset the expense of exhibiting at E3 (at least we're being told that is why E3 is no longer keeping it's format). In order for them to get E3 to return to its former glory size, they will need to provide a financial incentive to the publishers. Given their already extensive coverage, I don't think that they can increase their marketing penetration by any significant amount. As for the average fan, they bring zero dollars to the bargaining table, so no amount of whining or pleading will change things. (Yes, you buy games, but you do that anyway, you don't bring money to TNE3! bargaining table.) Whishing for TNE3! may be fun, but until someone who wants a return to the over the top style show provides a financial reason to the publishers to spend the money, no amount of "news" articles about TNE3! will change the fact that E3 will not be as big as it used to.
Also, even if there is a mixed liquid attact that succeeded because of some crafty new way of smuggling the liquids on board - the officials can point to the "security" measures and say "See we did everything we could". This is similar to some managers that I've had who forced mandatory overtime. We all knew that the project would slip, but with the mandatory over time he could tell his boss that "well we tried everything". Never mind that we were so fried from the death march that our productivity was les than 50%. The apperance of doing something is what is needed to placate the boss [unwashed voting masses]
I hadn't heard about the TSA approved locks - it bothers me that I have to hand my luggage over with no ability to prevent someone from taking anything of value. I didn't care for the combo lock and your link mentioned dual key locks. A quick spin through google led me to an amazon page where there were two reviews (for a combo lock). Both reviewers stated that their TSA "approved" locks had been cut rather than opened. Does anyone have first hand experience with these locks? Do they get cut or opened often? Until then, I have holiday season colored zip-ties (I figure that the white ones are too comon - sue me if I'm too paranoid) amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009XLBSI/002-23 20945-5358457?v=glance&n=1036592
As a bicyclist I need to point out that bicyclists are legal vehicles of the road in every state (USA) and Europe too. Though there are traffic laws that apply to bicycles only, that doesn't change your status to unreal vehicle. Even if you were traveling below the posted speed limit you have the right to take up an entire lane if you have to (because of debris/hazards on the shoulder, because the lane is too narrow to safely share with a car, etc). I have enough trouble with cars that if I can get one driver to realize that I belong on the road just as much as he does then this is not a waste of slashdot space. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now...
In Texas we build roads straight. Which usually works just fine since most of Texas is flat. Of course when there's a hill, the construction crews don't know (at least they don't seem to know) about winding the road to reduce the grade, they build them straight up the hill. Which results in some mean roads to ride up, and fast roads to ride down. I regularly hit 60-65 mph (96 - 104 km/h) on one road that feeds into a highway. When I was in college, before I could afford a cycle computer, I once had a car ride alongside me as I was going down a hill. The passenger rolled down his window, held up seven fingers, then held up five fingers, then flashed two thumbs up (120 km/h). However, that road has too much traffic on it these days so I can't go back and attempt to measure it for myself. So, I would say that I have no problem accepting someone going over 55mph, you just need a straight, steep hill and confidence that you can handle a blowout - which does happen, don't try this if your bike or your bike handling skills are not up for the test.
IANAD. That said, I do checkout the gear at my dentist's office. The water is stored in a plastic bottle next to the chair and they use distilled water, not tap water. The stated reason is to prevent mold and other such growth in the tubes that deliver the water. I would guess that warming the water would make for a better breeding ground, and call me wussy but I'd rather cold water than an infection.
iPod isn't a platform, but the iTunes music store is. Apple already sells video, how long until they feel that they have enough infrastructure in place to sell full length movies? Combine that with a video iPod and OSX with front row and all of a sudden Apple is sitting on top of a brand new market. A market that will sell pods and desktop units to the living room. Microsoft wants that market - the 360 is their way of trying to be in place when it finally opens up. Note: yes, I know that all self respecting slashdotters have modded xboxes set up to watch streamed media - but hacked consoles with bit torrent content are not a market.
My understanding is that Ti is not stronger than steel by volume. In other words, if you have two pieces of exactly the same dimensions the steel piece will be stronger. However Ti is so much stronger than steel by weight that you can make a bigger Ti piece such that it is stronger yet still weighs less. Also steel has a wonderful ability to bend and twist when under extreme loads. Ti, and Al for that matter, tends to snap. Which means that a steel part that fails will more than likely keep together (albeit in a useless state), while as Ti will have more catastrophic failure. My bicycle seat post is Ti though the outside diameter is the same as a steel seat post they can make the wall thickness greater to achieve the same strength. My saddle rails that clamp onto the seat post are steel. They can't change the size of the rail since it has to fit a standard diameter clamp. I tried a Ti seat twice, though I loved the ride (it flexes more providing extra "comfort") I couldn't afford to replace them as often.
Just how did Miyamoto's work teach you about sex?
MS tried to buy Intuit in 1994, but it was blocked since that would have left no competition in the market http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ant08.htm as a mac user of quicken, I thank the feds every time I start cursing Intuit for not doing more for the mac version.
bust me for being off topic... but I thought that your sig was part of the priceless joke.
You might also argue that itunes and the ipod are natually linked products. One directly relates to the other. You pay a premium for the ipod and get better services (itunes) than if you buy a competing mp3 player. But itunes doesn't prevent you from buying another mp3 player. If appple was to place itunes so that it only ran on a mac, then you could argue that they are using their monopoly in one market (mp3 players) to increase their presence in an other market (desktops/laptops). The fact that apply may have enough market share to be considered a monopoly is not enough reason to be punished. The have to be using their monopoly to stop competition or leverage their way into a new market. As it was stated before, just being a monopoly is not bad - leveraging the monopoly is where you start running into trouble.