I've been waiting for this for a long time. Blockbuster is trying to do this with their "Freedom Pass" ($15/mo), but their limited stock, policy of tying you to a single store, and unwillingness to allow you to check out movies or games interchangably has zero appeal to me. I've tried NetFlix before, and I liked it, but I don't rent enough movies per month to make it worthwhile. However, between games and movies, I could definitely justify $20, maybe $30/mo for buffet-style entertainment.
Isn't it within the buyer's rights to mod their console as they please? Yes, it has some consequences -- you void the warranty, and you're only allowed to make backups of your existing games for archival purposes. And if you choose to pirate games, you're opening yourself up to prosecution under copyright laws, as it pertains to the software, not hardware.
Keeping all of that in mind, you still own the hardware -- it's yours to do with as you please. Just because you mod it doesn't mean you're using it for piracy, even if that is the tendency. The same kind of thing could be said about P2P network file sharing...........
It's like ordering dinner at a restaurant and getting charged for an appetizer you're allergic to because the kitchen needs to get rid of the extra stock.
Awesome -- you got a laugh out of me with that one.:)
Instead of a pick-channels-one-by-one approach there just need to be smaller bundles, and you can pick 3 or 4 of these bundles with basic service and then maybe add an extra bundle for an added charge.
I disagree with that approach because it still affords the companies liberties in packaging channels to their benefit. I would prefer they offer bundles of channels for fixed prices: 5 channels for $25/mo, 10 channels for $35/mo, 20 for $45/mo, etc. But instead of the cable companies creating static bundles of channels, you would be able to choose only those channels you wanted in your package (a-la-carte meets bundling).
Right now, my television consumption is limited to Sci-Fi, Discovery, History, USA Network, SpikeTV, Weather, Bravo and Comedy Central -- all for $50/mo in NYC. I can't help but believe that, if the cable companies were forced to compete with satellite companies by going a-la-carte, you would see prices fall, and consumer choice and overall satisfaction would increase.
It stands to reason that if cable companies need to unbundle, so do dish companies. And I agree with that -- it will level the playing field, force the two to compete for customers and almost definitely lower prices for the majority of cable customers.
$7 per channel sounds exorbitant to me -- why so pricey? And why the required upgrade to digital?
That still implies that cable companies must offer channels a-la-carte. After that, they can offer whatever packages they see fit, and users can opt to buy into any of those packages, assuming they see the value of doing so.
I propose that Bush have a big tall glass of shut-the-hell-up and focus on fixing Medicare, Social Security, corporate malfeasance and skullduggery and our reliance on foreign oil instead. Broadband is spreading without his help, and given his track record on the above issues during his administration, I'd just as soon he not help.
China and Taiwan are in the news again -- Taiwan seems to be pushing for a democracy in their country, and China has gone on record as saying they will never let that happen. And US news agencies have been saying that if China invades Taiwan, that might draw the US into the conflict, as it supports the Taiwanese democracy.
Now here's the question -- why doesn't China have the "right" to invade Taiwan? After all, China perceives Taiwan's democratic agenda as a threat to its national interests and security. After all, the US invaded Iraq after it perceived its regime's perceived agenda -- as a potential supplier of WMDs to hostile nations -- to threaten the USA's security and interests.
I'm not trying to troll, but it does seem rather hypocritcal of the US.... doesn't it? USA claims to support democracies around the world, and will defend the existing institutions with its military....... and China claims to support communist nations around the world, and will take the same hard-line tack. Why not let China do its will?
I hope the EU has the strength of will to really stick it to MS, in terms of both fining them and forcing them to change their business practices. Not because "MS is the evil empire" -- I'm an MS developer, I love their tools and such -- but because a precedent needs to be set that will force Microsoft to address its monopolist strategies. Competition is good for consumers, encourages innovation and lowers prices -- and this is something that Microsoft has been railing against for over a decade.
Anywho, I hope the EU hits Microsoft with the maximum $3 billion fine and forces them to separate their Media Player from the OS. In doing so, the EU will not only make a dent in MS's much-vaunted cash reserves, but they'll also hammer home the point that their strategy of tying apps to their OS to invade new markets won't fly. And if hitting them in the coffers won't significantly prevent them from subsidizing these strategies, it will definitely raise a hue-and-cry amongst their shareholders, to whom Microsoft is ostensibly beholden.
Too bad we don't have a government that will take this kind of action here in the US, tho.
Damn Europa's fragile ecosystem
on
Melting Europa
·
· Score: 1
If it can't withstand human curiousity, it doesn't deserve to exist!
And on a more serious note -- could the person who posted this story have been any more cynical?
I think a more apt analogy would be them announcing "a new quantum computer on par with todays 486".
Its not the fact that they are matching old technology, its that the new technlogy is getting mature enough to start competing.
As cool as it would be to have a bleeding-edge 486 quantum computer, I'm gonna stick with my old-school P4 2.8Ghz computer. I have a feeling it'll run Half-Life 2 better...:)
So Darl carries a gun to protect himself from those who might do him harm, just as SCO filed suit against IBM to protect their intellectual property from being improperly exploited.
Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic, then, if Darl's gun accidentally goes off at some point -- in effect, killing himself? This would roughly parallel the grave SCO is digging themselves, even as we speak. After all is said and done, SCO will ultimately be responsible for its own demise........
"If the car says nothing, then everything is fine," said Ms Temm optimistically.
<snip>
"It is minimal maintenance, really, because the customers have limited time and they don't want a car that gives them a lot of hassle," said Ms Christiansen.
I realize this is just a concept car, so I'm not going to get too worked up about this. But this attitude does seems to be an analogue to the open-source vs closed-source software situation.
What this car relies upon is for nothing to go wrong, and for the internal diagnostics to catch any issues or errors that occur. Which is good, because it means most drivers -- who don't know much about how cars work -- will only need to interact with their car in a very cursory way. However, this attitude of welding the hood shut can also work against your average driver. For example, what if you want to add more oil to your car? Even if they redesigned the car so that you could check oil levels or add more oil easily, just as they moved the wiper fluid to more accessible location, what if you wanted to change your own oil, and save $30-$50? You couldn't, and in an emergency, you would need the help of a certified Volve mechanic to remove the hood. To me, this sounds kinda like Windows -- it's really easy to use and designed to take care of most problems, but when things invariably do go wrong, there's not much you can do to investigate (assuming you have the technical expertise, of course).
Right now, cars are kinda clunky and they might not have as much sophisticated diagnostics in place as this concept car, but you can get at everything when you need to. I can't see consumers giving this now that they have it, just as I can't see the open-source movement doing anything but making progress and gaining mind-/market-share in the coming years.
I don't want a G5 on my lap anyway. It'd make me feel guilty, having that much power in a small package while other people can't even get it in a PC tower.
I'll be sure to think about what you said -- and then laugh -- while I'm playing Half-Life 2.
Ever since I discovered this little gem, my need for other players has been rare indeed. In fact, the only occasions on which I've needed any other media players is to play ASX or WMV files. I also have Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative installed for good measure. Incidentally, these downloads come packaged with the ability to install Media Player Classic, albeit not necessarily the latest and greatest version.
1) The new holofilm drive comes out, and eventually ramps up in volume shipments. Prices come down, competition increases, overall storage capacity of all similar technologies is boosted.
2) In the meantime, holofilm supplants all major portable data technologies (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Gameboy Advance, PlayStation Portable, etc). Companies become increasingly reliant on the medium to make their wares available to the public.
3) Somebody figures out how to extract and de-DRM the data stored on these holodisks, thus making an unprecedented amount of information available to those with the know-how.
Double bollocks. I had / have Sprint, and I couldn't get reception. Neither could a roomful of people on their respective cell phones. Maybe you got lucky. We didn't.
Actually, one of the main reasons for keeping an analog line is in case of natural disasters. I was living at 42nd St & 11th Ave in Manhattan on September 11, 2001 -- all of my friends who were in the city that day ended up at my place, since there was no reasonable way to get back to their respective boroughs. And while they were there, everybody was able to use our landline to make phone calls and let their families know they were OK; meanwhile, all of our cellphones were useful only as paperweighs, as the networks were thoroughly saturated with traffic.
Actually, no, you don't have to go see it. I know I won't, I know my g/f won't, and I know a bunch of people who consider themselves Star Wars fans who aren't going. Why? Because the movies have proven to be more tedious than entertaining.
Maybe we'll see it somebody. But that day will probably be whenever it hits cable or network television. In the meantime, Lucas can continue to milk his cash cow for all it's worth, but he'll have to do it without my $$$.
In the meantime, by all means feel free to pay good money for movies you admit sucked. Like a spoiled child, you're only encouraging him to keep making craptastic movies.
I'll just keep my personal information stored in a MySQL database on my desktop machine. That way, I can sue any marketers who use that information without buying a $1,000,000 license.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been waiting for this for a long time. Blockbuster is trying to do this with their "Freedom Pass" ($15/mo), but their limited stock, policy of tying you to a single store, and unwillingness to allow you to check out movies or games interchangably has zero appeal to me. I've tried NetFlix before, and I liked it, but I don't rent enough movies per month to make it worthwhile. However, between games and movies, I could definitely justify $20, maybe $30/mo for buffet-style entertainment.
Isn't it within the buyer's rights to mod their console as they please? Yes, it has some consequences -- you void the warranty, and you're only allowed to make backups of your existing games for archival purposes. And if you choose to pirate games, you're opening yourself up to prosecution under copyright laws, as it pertains to the software, not hardware.
Keeping all of that in mind, you still own the hardware -- it's yours to do with as you please. Just because you mod it doesn't mean you're using it for piracy, even if that is the tendency. The same kind of thing could be said about P2P network file sharing...........
http://www.chips-tv.com/
It's like ordering dinner at a restaurant and getting charged for an appetizer you're allergic to because the kitchen needs to get rid of the extra stock.
:)
Awesome -- you got a laugh out of me with that one.
Instead of a pick-channels-one-by-one approach there just need to be smaller bundles, and you can pick 3 or 4 of these bundles with basic service and then maybe add an extra bundle for an added charge.
I disagree with that approach because it still affords the companies liberties in packaging channels to their benefit. I would prefer they offer bundles of channels for fixed prices: 5 channels for $25/mo, 10 channels for $35/mo, 20 for $45/mo, etc. But instead of the cable companies creating static bundles of channels, you would be able to choose only those channels you wanted in your package (a-la-carte meets bundling). Right now, my television consumption is limited to Sci-Fi, Discovery, History, USA Network, SpikeTV, Weather, Bravo and Comedy Central -- all for $50/mo in NYC. I can't help but believe that, if the cable companies were forced to compete with satellite companies by going a-la-carte, you would see prices fall, and consumer choice and overall satisfaction would increase.
It stands to reason that if cable companies need to unbundle, so do dish companies. And I agree with that -- it will level the playing field, force the two to compete for customers and almost definitely lower prices for the majority of cable customers.
$7 per channel sounds exorbitant to me -- why so pricey? And why the required upgrade to digital?
That still implies that cable companies must offer channels a-la-carte. After that, they can offer whatever packages they see fit, and users can opt to buy into any of those packages, assuming they see the value of doing so.
I propose that Bush have a big tall glass of shut-the-hell-up and focus on fixing Medicare, Social Security, corporate malfeasance and skullduggery and our reliance on foreign oil instead. Broadband is spreading without his help, and given his track record on the above issues during his administration, I'd just as soon he not help.
China and Taiwan are in the news again -- Taiwan seems to be pushing for a democracy in their country, and China has gone on record as saying they will never let that happen. And US news agencies have been saying that if China invades Taiwan, that might draw the US into the conflict, as it supports the Taiwanese democracy.
Now here's the question -- why doesn't China have the "right" to invade Taiwan? After all, China perceives Taiwan's democratic agenda as a threat to its national interests and security. After all, the US invaded Iraq after it perceived its regime's perceived agenda -- as a potential supplier of WMDs to hostile nations -- to threaten the USA's security and interests.
I'm not trying to troll, but it does seem rather hypocritcal of the US.... doesn't it? USA claims to support democracies around the world, and will defend the existing institutions with its military....... and China claims to support communist nations around the world, and will take the same hard-line tack. Why not let China do its will?
I've heard it mentioned a few times in the replies to this article, but no links. Can anybody hook me up with some informational goodness?
I hope the EU has the strength of will to really stick it to MS, in terms of both fining them and forcing them to change their business practices. Not because "MS is the evil empire" -- I'm an MS developer, I love their tools and such -- but because a precedent needs to be set that will force Microsoft to address its monopolist strategies. Competition is good for consumers, encourages innovation and lowers prices -- and this is something that Microsoft has been railing against for over a decade.
Anywho, I hope the EU hits Microsoft with the maximum $3 billion fine and forces them to separate their Media Player from the OS. In doing so, the EU will not only make a dent in MS's much-vaunted cash reserves, but they'll also hammer home the point that their strategy of tying apps to their OS to invade new markets won't fly. And if hitting them in the coffers won't significantly prevent them from subsidizing these strategies, it will definitely raise a hue-and-cry amongst their shareholders, to whom Microsoft is ostensibly beholden.
Too bad we don't have a government that will take this kind of action here in the US, tho.
If it can't withstand human curiousity, it doesn't deserve to exist!
And on a more serious note -- could the person who posted this story have been any more cynical?
I think a more apt analogy would be them announcing "a new quantum computer on par with todays 486".
:)
Its not the fact that they are matching old technology, its that the new technlogy is getting mature enough to start competing.
As cool as it would be to have a bleeding-edge 486 quantum computer, I'm gonna stick with my old-school P4 2.8Ghz computer. I have a feeling it'll run Half-Life 2 better...
So Darl carries a gun to protect himself from those who might do him harm, just as SCO filed suit against IBM to protect their intellectual property from being improperly exploited.
Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic, then, if Darl's gun accidentally goes off at some point -- in effect, killing himself? This would roughly parallel the grave SCO is digging themselves, even as we speak. After all is said and done, SCO will ultimately be responsible for its own demise........
"If the car says nothing, then everything is fine," said Ms Temm optimistically.
<snip>
"It is minimal maintenance, really, because the customers have limited time and they don't want a car that gives them a lot of hassle," said Ms Christiansen.
I realize this is just a concept car, so I'm not going to get too worked up about this. But this attitude does seems to be an analogue to the open-source vs closed-source software situation.
What this car relies upon is for nothing to go wrong, and for the internal diagnostics to catch any issues or errors that occur. Which is good, because it means most drivers -- who don't know much about how cars work -- will only need to interact with their car in a very cursory way. However, this attitude of welding the hood shut can also work against your average driver. For example, what if you want to add more oil to your car? Even if they redesigned the car so that you could check oil levels or add more oil easily, just as they moved the wiper fluid to more accessible location, what if you wanted to change your own oil, and save $30-$50? You couldn't, and in an emergency, you would need the help of a certified Volve mechanic to remove the hood. To me, this sounds kinda like Windows -- it's really easy to use and designed to take care of most problems, but when things invariably do go wrong, there's not much you can do to investigate (assuming you have the technical expertise, of course).
Right now, cars are kinda clunky and they might not have as much sophisticated diagnostics in place as this concept car, but you can get at everything when you need to. I can't see consumers giving this now that they have it, just as I can't see the open-source movement doing anything but making progress and gaining mind-/market-share in the coming years.
I don't want a G5 on my lap anyway. It'd make me feel guilty, having that much power in a small package while other people can't even get it in a PC tower.
I'll be sure to think about what you said -- and then laugh -- while I'm playing Half-Life 2.
Step 1: Collect underpants.
Step 2: Release new consumer chips with built-in buffer-overflow protection.
Step 3: Profit!
Ever since I discovered this little gem, my need for other players has been rare indeed. In fact, the only occasions on which I've needed any other media players is to play ASX or WMV files. I also have Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative installed for good measure. Incidentally, these downloads come packaged with the ability to install Media Player Classic, albeit not necessarily the latest and greatest version.
Let them think it's secure. Here's why:
1) The new holofilm drive comes out, and eventually ramps up in volume shipments. Prices come down, competition increases, overall storage capacity of all similar technologies is boosted.
2) In the meantime, holofilm supplants all major portable data technologies (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Gameboy Advance, PlayStation Portable, etc). Companies become increasingly reliant on the medium to make their wares available to the public.
3) Somebody figures out how to extract and de-DRM the data stored on these holodisks, thus making an unprecedented amount of information available to those with the know-how.
CompUSA has a $30 rebate on 9800 Pros purchased between February 14 - 21, 2004, which brings the price of that card down to $200. Sounds like a sweet offer to me, considering that the same cash bought a 9500 Pro a year ago.
Outsource e-mail tech support to a third world nation in which nobdoy speaks English!
Who is this "Nobdoy" you speak of? Does he speak English? And if so, why are you making such a big deal about it?
Double bollocks. I had / have Sprint, and I couldn't get reception. Neither could a roomful of people on their respective cell phones. Maybe you got lucky. We didn't.
Actually, one of the main reasons for keeping an analog line is in case of natural disasters. I was living at 42nd St & 11th Ave in Manhattan on September 11, 2001 -- all of my friends who were in the city that day ended up at my place, since there was no reasonable way to get back to their respective boroughs. And while they were there, everybody was able to use our landline to make phone calls and let their families know they were OK; meanwhile, all of our cellphones were useful only as paperweighs, as the networks were thoroughly saturated with traffic.
Actually, no, you don't have to go see it. I know I won't, I know my g/f won't, and I know a bunch of people who consider themselves Star Wars fans who aren't going. Why? Because the movies have proven to be more tedious than entertaining.
Maybe we'll see it somebody. But that day will probably be whenever it hits cable or network television. In the meantime, Lucas can continue to milk his cash cow for all it's worth, but he'll have to do it without my $$$.
In the meantime, by all means feel free to pay good money for movies you admit sucked. Like a spoiled child, you're only encouraging him to keep making craptastic movies.
I'll just keep my personal information stored in a MySQL database on my desktop machine. That way, I can sue any marketers who use that information without buying a $1,000,000 license.
Imagine if you had to pay for you street address to receive mail.
You do. It's called "rent" or "mortgage", depending on the type of contract you've entered into with your "housing provider".