There is a huge surplus of places that write about technology news, many of them competing to post within minutes of developments. Most are "free" (from the perspective of the reader).
People interested in technology frequently hate ads and block them.
Ars tends to spend a lot of time and effort paying people to producing content (in comparison to other tech sites).
This makes the business model of Ars Technica less than ideal (I'm assuming that they're either losing money or aren't making enough for Conde Nast).
To solve this problem you can (among other things):
Stop spending as much time on producing content (The Register).
Post somewhat infrequently about topics that would cost other organizations a lot of money to do at a high level for readers that spend stupid amounts of money on what you're reviewing and advertising (Anandtech).
Post frequently about topics that aren't covered quickly in other sites about upcoming products from secretive consumer electronics manufacturers for readers that spend stupid amounts of money on what you're posting about and it's accessories (MacRumors).
Make some/much of the content free, but charge for a portion that isn't covered as quickly elsewhere for people that need the content to make money (The Wall Street Journal, Jane's).
Limit the content to people that are using locked down hardware and software (Kindle, iPad).
Charge for the content (Consumer Reports).
Breaking browsers with Adblock or posting about how they may lose their jobs if they can't get more ad revenue won't fix the underlying problem. They're in a crowded market and spend more money than many writing about topics that can be covered quickly and cheaply because companies *want* people to read about what they're doing.
Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows underneath it, at all ? As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and without any services ?
That sounds preposterous to me.
If it were true (and I doubt it), then companies would be selling computers without a windows. This clearly is not happening, so there must be some error in your calculations. I hope you realise that windows is more than just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from start to finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont realise this.
Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does not sound reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into existence overnight like that. It would take billions of dollars and a massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a huge amount of money developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows. Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft.
Its just not possible that a freeware like the Linux could be extended to the point where it runs the entire computer fron start to finish, without using some of the more critical parts of windows. Not possible.
I think you need to re-examine your assumptions.
...can make sense, if you make it competitive to other options available to consumers.
If you're charging $5-$10 a month to download 100s of DRM free mp3s per month that can be easily synced with mobile devices you may have a model on your hands. Want 1000s a month? Want 1000s a month and FLAC? $20 and $30 a month respectively.
The labels could make this work because:
1. People like novelty. Publish a great song this month? People stay subscribed.
2. People like feeling like they aren't being taken advantage of. Being able to stop at any time and keep the tens of thousands of tracks you've downloaded removes the fear of joining in the first place.
3. People like having their friends know what they like. Syncing up "official" subscriber downloads with social networking sites helps show who the "true" fans are.
Of course anything Warner does will suck, have horrible design, have tons of DRM and only work on Windows.
Really? $30 a month is a kick in the balls for data?
Yes, it is. I pay $15 a month for unlimited data from AT&T. Of course, I have an unlocked Nokia E51 (i.e. it's a dumb phone that is mainly a modem for my notebook).
I guess the main reason for this will be so you can play pirated games. Homebrew is already possible on PS3 and lets not kid ourselves, piracy is always what these things are mostly used for.
Piracy on a system lets you know that there are 3rd party developers working on a system. It's like a dial tone.
Since they were unable to commercialize their tech, they shouldn't have been paid a dime.
Correct. If they had been focused on building something that people wanted, they might have founded a company that would still be here today.
There were a number of people working on powered flight in the early 20th century, and had the Wright Brothers been killed in a freak bicycle accident the technology would have been developed without them.
The huge effort that the Wright brothers spent trying to collect on their patents, rather than actually building a commercial aircraft, indicates that a business plan that only involves blue sky R&D isn't the best way to profit from your research.
... thinking there would eventually be some games that I would play on it. I've purchased Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Final Fantasy: Chocobo's Dungeon. Sadly I haven't seen any other new games made for the platform that I want to play.
I'll wait on getting Natal until there are at least 3 games on it that I'll want to buy. Until then I'll continue using my wiimote on my computer to play console games I've had for years.
True. People's ability to use crappy technology to enhance their social status at drinking events astounds me.
Of course, since I'm not invited to such events I'll continue to talk about how much $overpriced_gadget is lame on slashdot, rather than purchasing it and using it in the basement.
These are real patents designed to incentivise R&D and prevent competitors cashing in on another company's research.
We don't need more coachwhip makers. If Kodak is incapable of delivering products that people want to buy in an environment where their cash cow has been destroyed, they don't need to exist.
Slashdot Mirror
Then your friends are boring.
Yes, yes they are.
...kids finding out about stuff on the Internet. I mean, we all turned out fine, didn't we? ;)
How the hell did you use almost 2GB in three days on a cell phone, if you're not downloading full movies?
He doesn't use Adblock.
Are there already good alternatives for bittorrents?
Yes, IRC and USENET.
... I'm glad the first generation iPhone can run Android now, but can it run Linux? ;)
You want the Jitterbug.
Slashdot works fine on my Nokia e51 (S60 running Opera Mini). Perhaps you need a different web browser?
This makes the business model of Ars Technica less than ideal (I'm assuming that they're either losing money or aren't making enough for Conde Nast).
To solve this problem you can (among other things):
Breaking browsers with Adblock or posting about how they may lose their jobs if they can't get more ad revenue won't fix the underlying problem. They're in a crowded market and spend more money than many writing about topics that can be covered quickly and cheaply because companies *want* people to read about what they're doing.
Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows underneath it, at all ? As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and without any services ? That sounds preposterous to me. If it were true (and I doubt it), then companies would be selling computers without a windows. This clearly is not happening, so there must be some error in your calculations. I hope you realise that windows is more than just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from start to finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont realise this. Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does not sound reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into existence overnight like that. It would take billions of dollars and a massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a huge amount of money developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows. Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft. Its just not possible that a freeware like the Linux could be extended to the point where it runs the entire computer fron start to finish, without using some of the more critical parts of windows. Not possible. I think you need to re-examine your assumptions.
Yeah, I can't possibly imagine why anyone would want a GUI when manipulating images...
I have RSI you insensitive clod! ;)
...can make sense, if you make it competitive to other options available to consumers.
If you're charging $5-$10 a month to download 100s of DRM free mp3s per month that can be easily synced with mobile devices you may have a model on your hands. Want 1000s a month? Want 1000s a month and FLAC? $20 and $30 a month respectively.
The labels could make this work because:
1. People like novelty. Publish a great song this month? People stay subscribed.
2. People like feeling like they aren't being taken advantage of. Being able to stop at any time and keep the tens of thousands of tracks you've downloaded removes the fear of joining in the first place.
3. People like having their friends know what they like. Syncing up "official" subscriber downloads with social networking sites helps show who the "true" fans are.
Of course anything Warner does will suck, have horrible design, have tons of DRM and only work on Windows.
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Enter "%homepath%\Documents" into the address bar and press enter.
3. Profit!
Really? $30 a month is a kick in the balls for data?
Yes, it is. I pay $15 a month for unlimited data from AT&T. Of course, I have an unlocked Nokia E51 (i.e. it's a dumb phone that is mainly a modem for my notebook).
I guess the main reason for this will be so you can play pirated games. Homebrew is already possible on PS3 and lets not kid ourselves, piracy is always what these things are mostly used for.
Piracy on a system lets you know that there are 3rd party developers working on a system. It's like a dial tone.
When my friends hangout at our apartment, we all bring our laptops.
What are these "friends" you speak of?
Since they were unable to commercialize their tech, they shouldn't have been paid a dime.
Correct. If they had been focused on building something that people wanted, they might have founded a company that would still be here today.
There were a number of people working on powered flight in the early 20th century, and had the Wright Brothers been killed in a freak bicycle accident the technology would have been developed without them.
The huge effort that the Wright brothers spent trying to collect on their patents, rather than actually building a commercial aircraft, indicates that a business plan that only involves blue sky R&D isn't the best way to profit from your research.
... thinking there would eventually be some games that I would play on it. I've purchased Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Final Fantasy: Chocobo's Dungeon. Sadly I haven't seen any other new games made for the platform that I want to play.
I'll wait on getting Natal until there are at least 3 games on it that I'll want to buy. Until then I'll continue using my wiimote on my computer to play console games I've had for years.
nobody wants a phone with a camera built in
True. People's ability to use crappy technology to enhance their social status at drinking events astounds me.
Of course, since I'm not invited to such events I'll continue to talk about how much $overpriced_gadget is lame on slashdot, rather than purchasing it and using it in the basement.
Who?
Xerox.
These are real patents designed to incentivise R&D and prevent competitors cashing in on another company's research.
We don't need more coachwhip makers. If Kodak is incapable of delivering products that people want to buy in an environment where their cash cow has been destroyed, they don't need to exist.
tl;dr Kodak: don't innovate, legislate.
Don't you mean welcome to the USA?
Why not just ship a decent router to the end user? I get detailed bandwidth reports on my WRT54GL running Tomato.
No Linux Netflix Streaming. Binary Deb Package. Lame.
There are lots of really awesome things about Linux. Running proprietary software and supporting DRM infested platforms are not among them.
No one knows if you're a dog unless you tell them.