I couldn't agree more. These were placed on heavily traveled bridges. The police probably couldn't have cared less about what the device looked like, except for the fact that there were more than a half dozen of them strapped under bridges across the city, and they hadn't heard about them.
I'm not sure what the chain of events was, but if you're the official responsible for saying "sure, leave the bridge open until we get down there to check it out" and the next thing you know 15 cars went flying into the harbor because the Zakim bridge went kaboom... well, Let's just say I can understand his point of view.
And believe it or not, this is all coming from someone who takes immense pleasure in asking people who are so worried about dying at the hands of the terrorists whatever they shall do if they get behind the wheel of the infinitely more dangerous contraption called an "automobile."
Engineers advocating their preferred system really shouldn't have much say in this. If an engineer is uncomfortable converting units, then they never should have made it past their first year in college. And it's funny, because once you leave the realm of science, having units derived from each other really loses its benefit. A meter was originally based on 1/gajillionth of a meridian. The mile, on the other hand, was originally a thousand paces. Which one's easier to use if you're trying to guess distances while you're taking a walk? The thing about the imperial system that everyone seems to forget is that a lot of the units were created for very specific and useful purposes. And when a country converts to a new system of measurement, the ENTIRE country has to convert, not just the small minority that works in science and technology. Why should a baker care if, with metric, an engineer doesn't need to remember some arbitrary constant in a dynamics equation? Even if we did make the switch, both systems would live on in perpetuity.
I just don't understand why this has to be such an issue. Why does the US have to change its street signs? To each his own; we're not hurting anyone but ourselves when our Mars lander flies into the sun:).
Have you ever even read Mein Kampf? There's an entire section dedicated to how syphilis is second only to the Jew as the greatest threat to the German people. Without feeling one way or the other about what was contained between the covers of that book, it was at the very least... scatterbrained.
Now you're just wrong. The major labels negogiated the $0.99 price because they thought it would totally flop. iTunes' contract is almost up, and ready to be renegotiated. The RIAA's not about to let them continue on their path. $9.99 a CD is NOT the price point they've demonstrated they're comfortable with. Try twice that.
I can't say for sure that Blockbuster has an explicit nationwide policy of not renting out NC-17 movies, but I believe they do. Blockbuster has deals with production companies to get exclusive, censored versions of movies. The recent NC-17 John Waters movie, A Dirty Shame, had a "Neuter" R-rated edit of the movie for Blockbuster (it should still be on their shelves). And I believe it is Blockbuster's policy as a family-oriented video store to not carry NC-17 movies, especially if a special, official Blockbuster-approved edit exists.
A lot of people don't realize that the more popular tracks EMI's talking about make up the vast majority of sales. They don't care about some independent act you particularly think is "brilliant". I work in a digital music company, and 50% of our sales come from the same 50 artists out of 30000. For those of you not mathematically inclined, that's the top 0.17%. So, more likely than not, as long as you don't like Britney Spears or Kanye West, you could actually be positively affected by this.
Why do people even assume the record labels are going to be around forever anyways? The ONLY thing the record labels have is a distribution channel. Clearly, file sharing has proven that the digital distribution model is a force to be reckoned with. We all know artists don't make any money from the labels, so why would they need them?
In the new age of viral marketing and independent labels, why do people just believe the RIAA's going to be stronger than ever? I think they're shaking in their boots.
I love that regardless of the huge note about using tin foil specifically, the picture clearly shows them using aluminum foil. Some "crack team of technicians" they are.
This is something people never seem to notice. Anyone know that Crazy Frog ringtone? Guess what--a few months ago, it was the number 1 selling SINGLE (not ringtone) in the UK. That's right. Better selling than Britney Spears and Kanye West. Ringtones are a 1.5 BILLION dollar market.
The other thing people never seem to notice is that Apple wasn't first in the mobile market, just like they're not first in any market. The ROKR, just like the iPod, was nothing new. All it does is act as another sideloader for your phone. But enough of that, I don't need to tell people here how much the ROKR blew.
But the reason Apple failed so miserably was because they completely underestimated what it takes to compete in the mobile market. I don't know if anyone here has ever worked in the wireless industry, but it is TOUGH. We all know how hard it is to get cross-platform compatibility. In the mobile industry, you have Java phones, Windows phones, Symbian phones, and countless proprietary OS's. I say bravo for even getting TWO phones from different manufacturers to work.
Also, for all you Sprint bashers out there, the product's not even really Sprint's. The company powering the backend (content provider as well as app author), Groove Mobile, http://www.groovemobile.net/, has launched on half a dozen carriers across Europe and Asia, including Orange UK. They're no late arrival to the show.
And, to be fair, for the $2.50, you also get a DRM'd WMA 128 (that you can then burn then rip if you dislike the DRM so) and a ringtone. Judging by some of the market precedents set by ringtones, I'd say it's not so unreasonable, especially since the labels and publishing societies have to take their cut as well as Sprint.
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Oh God, the irony. Is there really only two things? Pirate grammar nazi says "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRE."
I couldn't agree more. These were placed on heavily traveled bridges. The police probably couldn't have cared less about what the device looked like, except for the fact that there were more than a half dozen of them strapped under bridges across the city, and they hadn't heard about them. I'm not sure what the chain of events was, but if you're the official responsible for saying "sure, leave the bridge open until we get down there to check it out" and the next thing you know 15 cars went flying into the harbor because the Zakim bridge went kaboom... well, Let's just say I can understand his point of view. And believe it or not, this is all coming from someone who takes immense pleasure in asking people who are so worried about dying at the hands of the terrorists whatever they shall do if they get behind the wheel of the infinitely more dangerous contraption called an "automobile."
Aaron Aardvark? Hmmm... sounds more like a stuffed animal than open source software. I tried!
I couldn't agree more.
:).
Engineers advocating their preferred system really shouldn't have much say in this. If an engineer is uncomfortable converting units, then they never should have made it past their first year in college. And it's funny, because once you leave the realm of science, having units derived from each other really loses its benefit. A meter was originally based on 1/gajillionth of a meridian. The mile, on the other hand, was originally a thousand paces. Which one's easier to use if you're trying to guess distances while you're taking a walk? The thing about the imperial system that everyone seems to forget is that a lot of the units were created for very specific and useful purposes. And when a country converts to a new system of measurement, the ENTIRE country has to convert, not just the small minority that works in science and technology. Why should a baker care if, with metric, an engineer doesn't need to remember some arbitrary constant in a dynamics equation? Even if we did make the switch, both systems would live on in perpetuity.
I just don't understand why this has to be such an issue. Why does the US have to change its street signs? To each his own; we're not hurting anyone but ourselves when our Mars lander flies into the sun
Have you ever even read Mein Kampf? There's an entire section dedicated to how syphilis is second only to the Jew as the greatest threat to the German people. Without feeling one way or the other about what was contained between the covers of that book, it was at the very least... scatterbrained.
You guys are forgetting the most important part of the acronym, "Uniting and Strengthening America"! It's the "USA PATRIOT Act", losers.
Now you're just wrong. The major labels negogiated the $0.99 price because they thought it would totally flop. iTunes' contract is almost up, and ready to be renegotiated. The RIAA's not about to let them continue on their path. $9.99 a CD is NOT the price point they've demonstrated they're comfortable with. Try twice that.
I can't say for sure that Blockbuster has an explicit nationwide policy of not renting out NC-17 movies, but I believe they do. Blockbuster has deals with production companies to get exclusive, censored versions of movies. The recent NC-17 John Waters movie, A Dirty Shame, had a "Neuter" R-rated edit of the movie for Blockbuster (it should still be on their shelves). And I believe it is Blockbuster's policy as a family-oriented video store to not carry NC-17 movies, especially if a special, official Blockbuster-approved edit exists.
A lot of people don't realize that the more popular tracks EMI's talking about make up the vast majority of sales. They don't care about some independent act you particularly think is "brilliant". I work in a digital music company, and 50% of our sales come from the same 50 artists out of 30000. For those of you not mathematically inclined, that's the top 0.17%. So, more likely than not, as long as you don't like Britney Spears or Kanye West, you could actually be positively affected by this.
Why do people even assume the record labels are going to be around forever anyways? The ONLY thing the record labels have is a distribution channel. Clearly, file sharing has proven that the digital distribution model is a force to be reckoned with. We all know artists don't make any money from the labels, so why would they need them?
In the new age of viral marketing and independent labels, why do people just believe the RIAA's going to be stronger than ever? I think they're shaking in their boots.
I love that regardless of the huge note about using tin foil specifically, the picture clearly shows them using aluminum foil. Some "crack team of technicians" they are.
This is something people never seem to notice. Anyone know that Crazy Frog ringtone? Guess what--a few months ago, it was the number 1 selling SINGLE (not ringtone) in the UK. That's right. Better selling than Britney Spears and Kanye West. Ringtones are a 1.5 BILLION dollar market. The other thing people never seem to notice is that Apple wasn't first in the mobile market, just like they're not first in any market. The ROKR, just like the iPod, was nothing new. All it does is act as another sideloader for your phone. But enough of that, I don't need to tell people here how much the ROKR blew. But the reason Apple failed so miserably was because they completely underestimated what it takes to compete in the mobile market. I don't know if anyone here has ever worked in the wireless industry, but it is TOUGH. We all know how hard it is to get cross-platform compatibility. In the mobile industry, you have Java phones, Windows phones, Symbian phones, and countless proprietary OS's. I say bravo for even getting TWO phones from different manufacturers to work. Also, for all you Sprint bashers out there, the product's not even really Sprint's. The company powering the backend (content provider as well as app author), Groove Mobile, http://www.groovemobile.net/, has launched on half a dozen carriers across Europe and Asia, including Orange UK. They're no late arrival to the show. And, to be fair, for the $2.50, you also get a DRM'd WMA 128 (that you can then burn then rip if you dislike the DRM so) and a ringtone. Judging by some of the market precedents set by ringtones, I'd say it's not so unreasonable, especially since the labels and publishing societies have to take their cut as well as Sprint.