Man, you beat me to it (was just going to post something similar).
A lot of people might disagree, but there seems to be a lot of truth to this recently.
I have three kids, all close together and we have gone for longer trips with them. When they were babies it was tough but as they got older we gave them age appropriate stuff (started with those in-car activity sets, then Nintendo DS for each, now they are older (teens) they do their own thing (DS, talk, music, read). Will be heading to Massachusetts in a few weeks (its a 10 hour drive).
I only buy standalone units. I figure they have a life of a few years max but I keep my cars for 10 years. Whenever my GPS pisses me off to much i dispose of the unit and get a newer/faster/etc model.
Factor in the dealer option for my car was around $1,200 and it may not cheaper but, i'm also not locked in to a dead model.
How many people have "in car" gps units and no map updates or a broken unit?
I've heard stories about some in-car units costing more then $100 for a map update (around the cost of a reasonable standalone unit).
Come to Ontario. We have both the old school government "patty and Selma" and new "privatized" ones.
We also had "service kiosks" where you could get ripped off for your $75 license plate sticker without being spoken to in a condescending way by someone making twice what you do for sitting at that desk. The Kiosk use to actually charge you a $1 "convenience fee" for saving the government money by not using their resources (only government could do something like this, most places would offer a discount for doing it yourself).
Anyhow the kiosks were closed due to "security concerns".
Now your choices are:
- to hit and miss (selma or a private org)
- do it online.
Since the government site is so terribly designed they take about the same amount of time. It is SERIOUSLY bad. You go there and enter your postal code. It then takes you to new page to validate this and select the address which matches you code. You then go back to the main page to continue adding your address.
How's the US textile manufacturing business doing these days? US TV's and other electronics?
At one point a lot of clothing was "made in the USA". Now even clothing with large US flags or other US patriatism on them are made in Bangladesh (some of the fancier ones are made in not-usa but printed in the USA).
How about as a challenge see if you can find one change of clothes (pants, socks, etc) which is made in the US?
bonus points if said clothing has a US flag and is made in the US.
As someone who owns a few ebook readers I've always been annoyed about how the ebook costs as much or more then the printed version.
Most will argue that the cost of printing and inventory management is overestimated. I think the fee is in some ways a "convenience" charge. I can have a few books on a lightweight device vs the weight and bulk of a real book.
You are correct, the royalties etc are fixed regardless of the format but like everything in the "digital" age its about control. The paper version can be lent, donated, or sold. Ebook version? DRM, no real lending ability, etc.
The current "line" between the customer rights vs the seller's rights is a little imbalanced. This causes me to read a lot of great material off project gutenberg but thanks to perpetual extensions this will dry up as well.
A great example of this problem.
Book was written by Sun Tzu in the second century BC and according to wikipedia translated to french in 1772.
Take a quick look at Amazon and see how many copies are for sale.
All are "translated by" but what is the copywrite on a translation of something clearly in the public domain?
Is this a public domain -> copywrite thing at work?
I think you mean look at project gutenberg for some out of copyright material to turn into a movie?
Why not combine them both and use the star wars characters?
Congratulations now Canadians cant watch US netflix and the world is that much safer.
Good thing the real financial problems were left alone (google "some large bank" + money laundering).
HSBC paid $1.9 billion to settle charges...
Standard Chartered paid $327 Million...
etc...
Perhaps this will motivate netflix to adjust the price based on the content?
Netflix USA = 7.99 US/month
Netflix CA = 7.99 CAD/month for a lot less (a ton of content is regionally locked).
I've often wondered the same thing. Another example is when a union shop goes bankrupt why doesn't the union buy them out?
Some unions have very large strike funds available to them. Often it seems the union is very critical of management and this would be a good chance for them to run the entire company they way they see fit.
Be interesting to see how long until union-management looks at some of the positions and the impact on the bottom line when its their own money on the table.
I don't see why they would ever accept being put in such a position.
Take a look at what they are doing now.
According to the CAW the problem is not that their wages are too high, its that the dollar is too high.
No talk about how to adapt to a changing environment, instead ask the government to look at how to lower the dollar to make Canadian wages competitive.
There are a lot of problems, but i feel a big part of managements may have been they chose not to get into a battle with the union for much needed flexibility.
GM could have screamed at the to of their lungs they need to change. Union rhetoric would have been that you are making money and just trying to cheat us.
Look at Daewoo Motors for a recent example of this.
Given a choice of layoffs or bankruptcy the union opted to call the bluff and take a "no layoffs" position.
There is zero trust between management and the union which only compounds the problems.
What happens when Apple undergoes a huge bond issue simply to avoid repatriating cash?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/839e662a-b3dd-11e2-ace9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2TlsjpzoU
I'm no longer a US taxpayer so i no longer care, but it seems unfair that US taxpayers are giving them a $100MM a year break. They have enough cash to pay their taxes and don't really need any assistance.
I'm unsure how my comment "isn't relevant", is it untrue that percentage taxes paid is an easier means to compare then total taxes paid?
By the way, just because you increase corporate taxes doesnt necessarily mean there will be an increase in prices. There could also be a small reduction in profit margins. Again looking at apple with its huge margins...
Its easier to just hire new auditors to make sure the small guy paid taxes on the 0.0002% interest the bank paid them on their "daily savings account".
What about situations like this: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4596/135/ The recording industry selling CD's and "compensating" artists at some point in the future.
Its odd as when individuals are sued the "fine" for sharing is huge, but when the industry is sued suddenly the cost of distributing music without compensating the artist falls dramatically?
Slashdot Mirror
Man, you beat me to it (was just going to post something similar). A lot of people might disagree, but there seems to be a lot of truth to this recently.
I have three kids, all close together and we have gone for longer trips with them. When they were babies it was tough but as they got older we gave them age appropriate stuff (started with those in-car activity sets, then Nintendo DS for each, now they are older (teens) they do their own thing (DS, talk, music, read). Will be heading to Massachusetts in a few weeks (its a 10 hour drive).
I only buy standalone units. I figure they have a life of a few years max but I keep my cars for 10 years. Whenever my GPS pisses me off to much i dispose of the unit and get a newer/faster/etc model. Factor in the dealer option for my car was around $1,200 and it may not cheaper but, i'm also not locked in to a dead model. How many people have "in car" gps units and no map updates or a broken unit? I've heard stories about some in-car units costing more then $100 for a map update (around the cost of a reasonable standalone unit).
Come to Canada and get 1/2 the netflix service for the full netflix price.
Ah, because you can still get performance fees out of it?
We can, wasn't this story first covered back in JUNE 29?
Opps.. forgot the other link, the cargo, equipment, etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotsam_and_jetsam
oddly enough there are special rules around this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_salvage
Come to Ontario. We have both the old school government "patty and Selma" and new "privatized" ones.
We also had "service kiosks" where you could get ripped off for your $75 license plate sticker without being spoken to in a condescending way by someone making twice what you do for sitting at that desk.
The Kiosk use to actually charge you a $1 "convenience fee" for saving the government money by not using their resources (only government could do something like this, most places would offer a discount for doing it yourself).
Anyhow the kiosks were closed due to "security concerns".
Now your choices are:
- to hit and miss (selma or a private org)
- do it online.
Since the government site is so terribly designed they take about the same amount of time. It is SERIOUSLY bad. You go there and enter your postal code. It then takes you to new page to validate this and select the address which matches you code. You then go back to the main page to continue adding your address.
How's the US textile manufacturing business doing these days? US TV's and other electronics?
At one point a lot of clothing was "made in the USA". Now even clothing with large US flags or other US patriatism on them are made in Bangladesh (some of the fancier ones are made in not-usa but printed in the USA).
How about as a challenge see if you can find one change of clothes (pants, socks, etc) which is made in the US?
bonus points if said clothing has a US flag and is made in the US.
As someone who owns a few ebook readers I've always been annoyed about how the ebook costs as much or more then the printed version. Most will argue that the cost of printing and inventory management is overestimated. I think the fee is in some ways a "convenience" charge. I can have a few books on a lightweight device vs the weight and bulk of a real book. You are correct, the royalties etc are fixed regardless of the format but like everything in the "digital" age its about control. The paper version can be lent, donated, or sold. Ebook version? DRM, no real lending ability, etc. The current "line" between the customer rights vs the seller's rights is a little imbalanced. This causes me to read a lot of great material off project gutenberg but thanks to perpetual extensions this will dry up as well.
Is there 5? Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5, include the following five governments: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
All while gutting the public domain for a story for their next blockbuster...
A great example of this problem.
Book was written by Sun Tzu in the second century BC and according to wikipedia translated to french in 1772.
Take a quick look at Amazon and see how many copies are for sale. All are "translated by" but what is the copywrite on a translation of something clearly in the public domain?
Is this a public domain -> copywrite thing at work?
I think you mean look at project gutenberg for some out of copyright material to turn into a movie? Why not combine them both and use the star wars characters?
Congratulations now Canadians cant watch US netflix and the world is that much safer. Good thing the real financial problems were left alone (google "some large bank" + money laundering).
HSBC paid $1.9 billion to settle charges...
Standard Chartered paid $327 Million...
etc...
Perhaps this will motivate netflix to adjust the price based on the content?
Netflix USA = 7.99 US/month
Netflix CA = 7.99 CAD/month for a lot less (a ton of content is regionally locked).
The only thing that changes is how its implemented. Communist countries control the press, we control it via finances.
I've often wondered the same thing. Another example is when a union shop goes bankrupt why doesn't the union buy them out? Some unions have very large strike funds available to them. Often it seems the union is very critical of management and this would be a good chance for them to run the entire company they way they see fit. Be interesting to see how long until union-management looks at some of the positions and the impact on the bottom line when its their own money on the table. I don't see why they would ever accept being put in such a position.
Take a look at what they are doing now. According to the CAW the problem is not that their wages are too high, its that the dollar is too high. No talk about how to adapt to a changing environment, instead ask the government to look at how to lower the dollar to make Canadian wages competitive. There are a lot of problems, but i feel a big part of managements may have been they chose not to get into a battle with the union for much needed flexibility. GM could have screamed at the to of their lungs they need to change. Union rhetoric would have been that you are making money and just trying to cheat us. Look at Daewoo Motors for a recent example of this. Given a choice of layoffs or bankruptcy the union opted to call the bluff and take a "no layoffs" position. There is zero trust between management and the union which only compounds the problems.
What happens when Apple undergoes a huge bond issue simply to avoid repatriating cash? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/839e662a-b3dd-11e2-ace9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2TlsjpzoU I'm no longer a US taxpayer so i no longer care, but it seems unfair that US taxpayers are giving them a $100MM a year break. They have enough cash to pay their taxes and don't really need any assistance. I'm unsure how my comment "isn't relevant", is it untrue that percentage taxes paid is an easier means to compare then total taxes paid? By the way, just because you increase corporate taxes doesnt necessarily mean there will be an increase in prices. There could also be a small reduction in profit margins. Again looking at apple with its huge margins...
The amount of taxes paid isn't relevant, its the percentage. I think the average american pays around 28%, what did apple pay?
Its easier to just hire new auditors to make sure the small guy paid taxes on the 0.0002% interest the bank paid them on their "daily savings account".
Just wait until they start finding out who's names are on the list and see where it goes. Here in Canada we had the story of a Senator's husband running having accounts in tax havens. http://www.cbc.ca/m/rich/news/canada/story/2013/04/03/merchant-offshore-trust.html
What about situations like this: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4596/135/ The recording industry selling CD's and "compensating" artists at some point in the future. Its odd as when individuals are sued the "fine" for sharing is huge, but when the industry is sued suddenly the cost of distributing music without compensating the artist falls dramatically?
Hollywood accounting means no income for the artist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting