This is yet another example (and a fine one, at that) of the idea that our elected representatives utterly lack any comprehension of how current tech actually works and affects our lives.
This lack of knowledge leads to issues like TFA, as well as the **AA's raping of our copyright laws, and the rampant policy wrangling of the Telco's.
Of course, the argument falls apart if he had ever used his IM program while at school, or even possibly in communication with someone who was at the school.
What kind of odds would you take on the fact that the kid never got bored in the library and decided to have some hot IM cyb0rz with b1gb00tyb@be99?
Re:How would Cringely's model work?
on
Own the Last Mile
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· Score: 1
You're right.
One of the major problems of the economics of tech (more specifically, internet connectivity) is that so few people are as technologically informed as we are.
To that end, I propose that we take a page out of the 60's and create Tech Communes. Why don't we buy up acres of farmland where we could go live by our ideals of shared wireless, free clock cycles and pr0n for everyone?
Besides, it's not like geeks bathe a lot more than hippies do anyway...
Of course, they could also just be using this tactic to convince the ISP's that they're planning to do as you have theorized.
In the end, the big ISP's will be clamoring all over each other to be the one that doesn't piss off Google into becoming their own ISP, and thusly curries their favor, and their support.
Essentially we have a giant game of corporate chicken, in which Google has the biggest cock.
I imagine (and actually support the idea) that not only will they get prison time for their actions, but that Ms Hilton will be suing these gentleman into the Stone Age.
I'm sure she has a rather high powered cadre of lawyers, and if she doesn't, I'm sure her father has a few who would be more than willing to take vengeance on these guys for sullying her good... er... decent... er... human name.
But why should we have to set up a seperate TV audio stream in another language simply to appeal to people who haven't taken the time to learn the language of the country the moved to?
It seems to me that using the SAP for something like an additional commentary track would bring in many more viewers (ie: higher ratings, more money) than setting it to a language that only immigrants who don't know the native language require.
Then again, if the number of immigrants who can not speak English well enough to follow a TV program is high enough to prove my idea wrong, we've got a whole different set of problems.
Yay for pretty pictures and all, but I'm still a bit miffed at Valve for not having released Team Fortress 2 yet.
It's been almost a decade since it was first announced, and we haven't heard anything about it for, at least, 5 years.
Valve, I will personally buy each of you a signed copy of Duke Nukem Forever if you can have a copy of Team Fortress 2 on my hardrive by the end of the year.
With the current administration it would only be a matter of time before they removed the government's accountability from that amendment in the name of "fighting terrorism".
Sadly, in the end, they'd be making 1/10th of what they currently make by annoying the hell out of us.
The problem is not that spammers are innately evil bastards, the problem is that their line of work is so profitable. As long as the money is there to be made, we will suffer through the spam.
If you're looking for more information about Sega in all of it's many incarnations, take a look at http://www.sega-16.com/.
It has many articles on what various factors led to the downfall of Sega, as well as what made it so great and which games were worthwhile on all of the various systems (with a reasonable bias towards the Genesis).
I think that the single greatest achievement of the Genesis-era Sega was The Sega Channel. It provided me with years of entertainment as a rambunctious kid, and no facet of any system since that time has even come close to matching the sheer entertainment value you got for your monthly fee.
And you dont think that sending information through a pipe is a bit more risky than having a person with a laptop handcuffed to their wrist walking it over manually?
Not only should it have been the sort of thing that you would imagine they would have just done by default, but now that they have to switch gears to go back and fix things, it's going to cost tax payers millions of dollars.
And has anyone ever wondered why everything costs the government millions of dollars? Just once I'd like to hear that a policy change or a new program cost $99.99.
Personally, since I started playing WoW in second beta, I have bought exactly one other game (Halflife 2), and I very rarely play it. This is down from 2 to 3 games a month.
The reality of the situation is just that Blizzard has made a fantastic product. They worked VERY hard and support it amazingly well and it's paying off for them. With such a deep game, people simply don't need anything else.
I, for one, think the other game companies should simply be scared because they aren't willing to work as hard as Blizzard has to deliver a fantastic, quality product. The days of them being able to milk games they churn out of programming sweatshops every 10 months are now over.
The demographic for this kind of thing is probably larger than you'd think.
Think about the number of people who go to great lengths to personalize their avatar in a game like WoW which has very limited customization options. With a game like Second Life, where your character IS YOU, the desire to "pimp your toon" is HUGE.
Also, this business model, has almost no overhead costs. Sure, advertising factors in, but you only need to design the items once, and never actually need to manufacture them.
Sadly though, because of the smaller populations of a game like Second Life, I dont think it's going to be a huge cash cow any time soon. However, once a game like Second Life that's more of a Life Sim than a game like WoW (which is a murloc-killing sim) becomes the top MMO, the profits could be amazing.
As a former tech at CompUSA I cant count the amount of times that people brought in a system that had "been fixed" by the Geeksquad only to work even worse than it did before.
My favorite example is a gentleman who brought a computer to Best Buy to have spyware removed. Apparently not only did they wipe his drive, but the high school kid (his words) who worked on it didn't tell him of their policy regarding liability for lost data. So, they went ahead and formatted it. Thankfully he was one of the customers who knows the value of bitching until you get monetary compensation and they ended up giving him $50 more than he had paid for the service just to get him to leave the store.
He brought it to us to have a brand new video card installed courtesy of Best Buy's generous hush money.
Slashdot Mirror
But how many average American customers would want to subscribe to "Google Broandband Beta v2" ?
This is yet another example (and a fine one, at that) of the idea that our elected representatives utterly lack any comprehension of how current tech actually works and affects our lives.
This lack of knowledge leads to issues like TFA, as well as the **AA's raping of our copyright laws, and the rampant policy wrangling of the Telco's.
Screw this, I'm moving to the moon.
Well if we're going to go to that length, why don't we test the abilities of people having sex as well?
Of course, the argument falls apart if he had ever used his IM program while at school, or even possibly in communication with someone who was at the school.
What kind of odds would you take on the fact that the kid never got bored in the library and decided to have some hot IM cyb0rz with b1gb00tyb@be99?
You're right.
One of the major problems of the economics of tech (more specifically, internet connectivity) is that so few people are as technologically informed as we are.
To that end, I propose that we take a page out of the 60's and create Tech Communes. Why don't we buy up acres of farmland where we could go live by our ideals of shared wireless, free clock cycles and pr0n for everyone?
Besides, it's not like geeks bathe a lot more than hippies do anyway...
Of course, they could also just be using this tactic to convince the ISP's that they're planning to do as you have theorized.
In the end, the big ISP's will be clamoring all over each other to be the one that doesn't piss off Google into becoming their own ISP, and thusly curries their favor, and their support.
Essentially we have a giant game of corporate chicken, in which Google has the biggest cock.
For that matter, there are parts of Mexico where you can walk around and not hear a word of Spanish.
Americans love to swim with dolphins, amigo.
I imagine (and actually support the idea) that not only will they get prison time for their actions, but that Ms Hilton will be suing these gentleman into the Stone Age.
I'm sure she has a rather high powered cadre of lawyers, and if she doesn't, I'm sure her father has a few who would be more than willing to take vengeance on these guys for sullying her good... er... decent... er... human name.
But why should we have to set up a seperate TV audio stream in another language simply to appeal to people who haven't taken the time to learn the language of the country the moved to?
It seems to me that using the SAP for something like an additional commentary track would bring in many more viewers (ie: higher ratings, more money) than setting it to a language that only immigrants who don't know the native language require.
Then again, if the number of immigrants who can not speak English well enough to follow a TV program is high enough to prove my idea wrong, we've got a whole different set of problems.
Yay for pretty pictures and all, but I'm still a bit miffed at Valve for not having released Team Fortress 2 yet.
It's been almost a decade since it was first announced, and we haven't heard anything about it for, at least, 5 years.
Valve, I will personally buy each of you a signed copy of Duke Nukem Forever if you can have a copy of Team Fortress 2 on my hardrive by the end of the year.
If that's the goal, why not just post a picture of Senor Goatse on your fridge?
Then if you're still overeating you'd at least know that it's not the worst of your problems.
With the current administration it would only be a matter of time before they removed the government's accountability from that amendment in the name of "fighting terrorism".
Then they'd kick your dog.
What if they bought you a pony?
I bet they could afford it now...
I read the headline as "Allah Freed". For a moment I was amazed that the DoJ was able to detain a major deity.
Sadly, in the end, they'd be making 1/10th of what they currently make by annoying the hell out of us.
The problem is not that spammers are innately evil bastards, the problem is that their line of work is so profitable. As long as the money is there to be made, we will suffer through the spam.
If you're looking for more information about Sega in all of it's many incarnations, take a look at http://www.sega-16.com/.
It has many articles on what various factors led to the downfall of Sega, as well as what made it so great and which games were worthwhile on all of the various systems (with a reasonable bias towards the Genesis).
I think that the single greatest achievement of the Genesis-era Sega was The Sega Channel. It provided me with years of entertainment as a rambunctious kid, and no facet of any system since that time has even come close to matching the sheer entertainment value you got for your monthly fee.
Agreed. It's going to be like trying to hold back the ocean with a broom.
Unless you take away the country's internet backbone, people will find ways around it.
When porn torrents are outlawed, only outlaws will have porn torrents.
I dont believe your theory applies to Microsoft products.
Or did you miss out on the last 15 year of technology?
And you dont think that sending information through a pipe is a bit more risky than having a person with a laptop handcuffed to their wrist walking it over manually?
Not only should it have been the sort of thing that you would imagine they would have just done by default, but now that they have to switch gears to go back and fix things, it's going to cost tax payers millions of dollars.
And has anyone ever wondered why everything costs the government millions of dollars? Just once I'd like to hear that a policy change or a new program cost $99.99.
Yay for the legitimization of BT!
This only makes it easier to steal... er pirate... er... find movies to download...
Personally, since I started playing WoW in second beta, I have bought exactly one other game (Halflife 2), and I very rarely play it. This is down from 2 to 3 games a month.
The reality of the situation is just that Blizzard has made a fantastic product. They worked VERY hard and support it amazingly well and it's paying off for them. With such a deep game, people simply don't need anything else.
I, for one, think the other game companies should simply be scared because they aren't willing to work as hard as Blizzard has to deliver a fantastic, quality product. The days of them being able to milk games they churn out of programming sweatshops every 10 months are now over.
The demographic for this kind of thing is probably larger than you'd think.
Think about the number of people who go to great lengths to personalize their avatar in a game like WoW which has very limited customization options. With a game like Second Life, where your character IS YOU, the desire to "pimp your toon" is HUGE.
Also, this business model, has almost no overhead costs. Sure, advertising factors in, but you only need to design the items once, and never actually need to manufacture them.
Sadly though, because of the smaller populations of a game like Second Life, I dont think it's going to be a huge cash cow any time soon. However, once a game like Second Life that's more of a Life Sim than a game like WoW (which is a murloc-killing sim) becomes the top MMO, the profits could be amazing.
As a former tech at CompUSA I cant count the amount of times that people brought in a system that had "been fixed" by the Geeksquad only to work even worse than it did before. My favorite example is a gentleman who brought a computer to Best Buy to have spyware removed. Apparently not only did they wipe his drive, but the high school kid (his words) who worked on it didn't tell him of their policy regarding liability for lost data. So, they went ahead and formatted it. Thankfully he was one of the customers who knows the value of bitching until you get monetary compensation and they ended up giving him $50 more than he had paid for the service just to get him to leave the store. He brought it to us to have a brand new video card installed courtesy of Best Buy's generous hush money.
Familiar?