I'm in agreement with this... the people have the power but in the main their is a mixture of apathy and the ill-informed.
I truly feel sorry for Americans that are tired of 2-party politics... where there is no 3rd choice. In the UK at least there is a 3rd choice and a few fringe parties... but even then fringe parties tend to be derided - not by the main party politicians - by the voting public itself.
When the UK Pirate Party started running, a lot of ill-informed people consider it to be another Monster Raving Loony Party - just a joke. This is but one of the perceptions to overcome.
But there is a bigger perception to overcome in order to see the 'power of the people' channeled correctly and that is the cognitive dissonance displayed towards 'intellectual property' in general.
Disregarding the quality of the movie. Stop someone in the street and ask them what they think of GM Toons animated Thai "Beauty and the Beast" movie, most of them will respond along the lines of "Oh it's a poor rip off of Disneys movie - despicable".
Then ask them what they think of modern media conglomerates like Disney using public domain works such as "La Belle et la Bête" by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and using them to create animated movies... the response will usually be an opposite one of approval - they may even justify it as a good thing that the work is being adapted for a modern audience.
In order to get copyright issues into a mainstream issue - you have to overcome this kind of mindset. I can tell you it's like try to force the equal poles of 2 magnets together.
I'm reminded of a lesson from history, both Bach and Beethoven were considered by the church at the time to be "devils music" and only played by those godless liberals.
Perhaps it's really down to a disdain for older works. The older the work gets, the more disdain - but somehow a derivative work (by a major brand) earns a level of respect the original will never again see. Anyone wanting to do something similar with the original work somehow then gets the stigma of being a poor imitation if catering to a similar audience (in the example above: children).
Publishers in France and Germany are facing a crisis as revenues have sunk!
No-one is visiting their websites and consequently viewing their ads or purchasing their goods. New legislation demanded to force websites to link to their content!
It's only applying to "01/ Android Robot" which is the part they want to use - you can't use the "Android" text trademark, but you can use the robot with attribution.
The page is aimed at developers but since they're using CC it would apply to any use.
"Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by the Android Open Source Project and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License."
That would be enough for me to go ahead and use the robot.
It's too bad not more detail is given about the conversation with Google, we don't know who they talked to and whether that specific person/dept had any clue about how open source works.
Was it a case of a lawyer using strictly legalalese with them? "It's Open Source, I do not have the authority or am in the position to tell you how to use the trademark".
Was it some marketing drones? "Yeah your idea sounds great... no sorry we don't know anything about Open Source... everyone here seems to like it but I don't know whether it allows you to use it without permission"
Was it a designer? "Awesome, yeah go ahead and use it... Umm you should be OK but obviously I can't speak for the company."
My personal motto tends to be it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, but that's only when money is not involved. OTOH a good lawyer should have been able to advise them on the use without the need to consult Google.
Let's also not forget that it's already being used in the wild and so far Google has not made any hints of moving to shut this stuff down:
This is actually a fallacy based on a grave misunderstanding of Keynesian economics.
In simple terms Keynes actually advocated a 7 fat/7 skinny cows approach to economics. If governments implement it correctly they should store up cash and equity during the good years, then spend it during the bad years - maintaining somewhat of a balance.
The countries who got in trouble at the back end of 2000's were following whogivesafuckian economic theory which basically takes a sell everything that's worth anything and spend, spend, spend. (UK and labour on vanity projects like the Dome, US on the war machine).
What happened is these governments were suddenly faced with the banks being unable to keep up the charade, and as the walls came tumbling down they suddenly switched to Keynesian economics which advocated... spend (more) money to kickstart the economy. Brilliant.
tl;dr:-
Keynesian economic theory advocates that govs save during the fat times, spend during the lean times. These governments spent during the fat times, then used Keynes to justify spending during the lean times.
If Google can work with copyright holders to produce content matching software, it seems like it might be possible to designate certain accounts or entities as "off limits" from the wandering killbots.
Not sure I agree with this, Tim. If Google, uStream and others work with copyrestriction holders to 'whitelist' certain accounts - it will not fix any problem with the automated bots apart from allowing the 'usual suspect' corporations to whitelist their own stuff.
But as for the indie artists, the public domain uploads - I very much doubt these will be allowed on this new whitelist. Rather they will continue to get flagged and taken down. The only thing it will do is remove the problem from the eyes of politicians and awards recievers.
Instead, I'm hoping we see an increase of this on political campaign and big media videos. Hopefully enough politicians may get shirty about their videos being blocked that they'll either (worst case) enact some reverse legislation to prevent online services from automating the task altogether or (best case) revoke the DMCA.
When I read the page and the press articles, one thing I find lacking is any intent to actually mass produce and sell these things.
It almost seems like they're coming up with a bunch of ideas (however workable or valid), making a working prototype or mock-up then saying, look what we did.
Oh wait, I know, why not just make the idea credible enough (look - prototype, look - Wired, TED) for someone to license and do the hard work of bringing it to end users (assuming that it's going to work as a mass market product).
Great ideas, yes - it's good to come up with ideas. But not really fair to come up with ideas, do nothing but sit on them and then wait for someone else to come up with something similar; let them spend money and work hard to make it ready for mass market, then ask for a cut.
Seems to be part of the overall conservative American worldview that healthcare is something that only those who can afford it should be entitled to.
What kind of country can an autistic child be denied such a benefit over profits... the same kind of country that says cures for diseases can be patent-protected, that free healthcare is an evil socialist ideal.
Funnily enough they're happy to benefit from free soldiers, free police forces, free fire services, free roads, free garbage disposal... but free healthcare? No, that's for those dirty commies.
So Anonymous Coward, or can I just call you Coward for short?
How much did you pay Pirate Mike for the privilege of commenting at Techdirt? For using Techdirt's bandwidth and storage space with your vexatious rants?
Come to think of it... how much have you paid the creators of html, php, css and the browser you are using to access, read and comment on the web?
Did you seek out Tim Berners Lee or any of the creators of the technologies that make up the internet to see if you required a license to use and access it?
Oh you may think you don't need a license - you're too ignorant to even realise how much you rely on patent-free, open source, goodness provided by people far more intelligent and inventive than you, but have you ever saved or shared a gif file (chances are yes)? Did you pay the license to use the gif format at that time (pre-2004)?
People like you make me sick. You stand on the shoulders of intellectual giants, who provided the platform you use royalty free because they understand the benefits of sharing knowledge and work - and you rail against them and their ideology all the while benefiting from it.
When you pay for your internet browser, when you pay a license to access and run html, php, css, xml, javascript... please come here and comment (after paying for the privelege) and let us know. Then we'll talk. Until then STFU and GTFO.
Encourage classes in critical thinking, analysis, statistics, and financial literacy in K-12 schools.
Disclosure: I have worked in a school as a teaching assistant in a previous life
I've spent some time pondering why financial education doesn't make it into lesson planners and I think the reason is:
a) Most teachers, being average people outside of their specialist subject, aren't really aware of how finance and the economy works and/or
b) The problem is kids are too good at asking "Why?".
We can't do much about (a), this is something that will only trickle upwards as the population becomes educated but (b) is something that I think is part of a greater agenda of dumbing down.
Imagine if kids were taught how to work out real APR on loans; how to tell when they're being overcharged; how fiat money works; how banks leverage risk and debt; how the World Bank and the IMF pressure governments into austerity measures... After a while they're going to start asking questions like - Who decides this is how much it costs? Why are banks allowed to do this? Why do governments act this way? Why can't we choose our own currency or barter goods?
Once people start asking why, it's not long before they either get cynical and dispirited... or they start asking "Why not?"
This is what governments, lobbyists and special interests fear. Therefore it's in their best interests to keep the educational establishment from getting too large or less expensive. Keep the kids learning "Find X", but don't teach them "Why Find X?".
Wait... put down those debunking tools as you're far too inexperienced using them and you're only going to hurt yourself. Let's see...
"In fact, the current race to the bottom to compete with piracy (with 99 cent apps, free apps with ads, nagware) seem to be gutting things pretty solidly."
App developers aren't competing with piracy, they're competing with all the other 99c apps on the market. If you do a search for a generic term like "shoot birds" you will get over 1000 results. How would a company like Rovio rise to the top of the casual gamers market if they start out their app at $20. Whilst many of those apps at 0-99c would be inferior, they would be fulfilling another measurable unit in peoples list of necessities... and that's 'time'.
A while ago I downloaded Mass Effect Infiltrator for 99c on sale. I haven't played in once. Why? because I currently tend to whip out my mobile for gaming only when I have a 5 minute break and I just want to continue on something casual with the sound off. I don't know when I'll play ME - if I ever will - because they stupidly haven't released it for my tablet yet (and they are lucky because I tend to avoid purchasing games entirely when they ignore the Asus Transformer).
Another competitor is 'trend-setting'. When Android was first released on phones, free/1.99 Angry Birds was the gaming standard in terms of price and graphics - the thing you had to beat in order to be a success. The latecomers like EA and Gameloft can't price their apps too high because with a choice of 1000s of slightly inferior titles versus a high priced one is just not enough of a pull. I'll purchase Dead Space for $6 but if they were asking for $30, well an alternative like Dark Area 3 will do me fine - after all it's my TIME as well as money.
3rd, they're competing with space. My first Android phone had just 200mb memory! 200mb - these days that's enough for all 4 Angry Birds titles and a couple of other budget games. In fact, I'm coming up against that problem now with my 16gb Transformer - I can't fit anymore games on it so I'm less likely to spend even on titles I really want to play.
"Music? More is being created because there are more tool, but often what passed for music is remixes and such. Not exactly productive life, is it? The time between major artist releases is generally getting longer, as they spend more time on the road making a living and less time making new music for the mooches."
So you think they'd make MORE money by staying in the studio and signing over the rights to their new songs to a big company who's going to spend it all on the RIAA? Did you even do the research before commenting here? Go on, google and find out how most artists make their money - I'll give you a clue - it doesn't happen by recording.
"Movies? Box office dollars have been pretty consistent, but actual ticket sales are down. The numbers are propped up only by the extra charge (slowly disappearing) for 3D movies and Imax presentations. The number of releases has gone up, the time in theaters has dropped, and the income per movie as a result is generally dropping, which is never a good sign."
Since I was a little boy I've noticed ticket prices at the cinema have risen consistently - along with condiments to point where the price of a cinema trip for 2 is almost the same price as what you'd pay at a chain restaurant.
But you know what else has increased - or should I say been introduced - since my childhood? Mobile phones and TV adverts before the main picture. So before I used to sit through 10-20 minutes of trailers for new films - which I always enjoyed anyway - now I've got to sit an extra 30 minutes through adverts I can see at home anytime! And when the main picture finally does start, how many times am I going to be distracted by a small bright shiny light or a ringtone?
That's not to mention the noisy gang of kids on the back row giggling through fairly serious or intense scenes because the producers just had to lower their age rating to get more punters and more spent on tickets.
I once sat in a cinema where someone lit up a cigarette! I didn't complain because I didn't want to miss something on screen but you can bet if they'd taken a picture on the iPhone the staff would be there! Funny thing is, someone with a camera on a tripod at the back wouldn't really effect my viewing pleasure - the noise, the mobile phones, the price and the occasional smoking does.
Since TV's have gotten pretty large and much cheaper over the years I guess that's why I, and everyone like me, is staying at home and waiting for DVD release or just downloading movies - and no - I NEVER watch cammed movies because they are such poor quality!
Speaking of staying at home to watch TV - have you noticed how large budgets have gotten for TV shows now? high production values, huge continuous story arcs... Ask yourself why so many Hollywood actors are now jumping ship from movies to TV?
"Simply, the internet for a short period of time increased the size and scope of the porn industry, making sales where none existed, with a landrush of companies moving online. Today, 15 years after that land rush started, the porn industry is decimated by piracy, with almost every single major studio and production company either closed out, sold, or consolidated into one of a few ownership groups...
...Now, ask around, and there is plenty of amateur porn, stuff people shoot of themselves on their iphones, sexting, and such.
So... which is it? Piracy, or the democratisation of publishing something that EVERYONE does? Which btw has no trademark, copyright or patent (which is a good thing because the human race would probably be wiped out in 2 generations - well unless everyone turned to pirate sex. Aaarrr!).
So pretending piracy is the reason for decline in certain industries when those industries are only facing what all industries face when technology advances (ice sellers vs refridgerators, horse & carts vs the automobile, film (photography) manufacturers vs digital cameras, I could go on), is just ignorant.
So Big Media may disappear, so what? Really, so what? Music, film, the arts.. they existed before Big Media, before copyright, they will exist after. Not in the form we are used to now, but when has any practice stayed in it's exact form from inception? Should cars be made to be pulled by horses?
Yeah I discovered that playing KoTOR1&2 in Wine on Linux. I thought it was just because I was using the cracked version through an emulator - until I played it on Windows...
...and I STILL had to use the cracked executables!
nospacesorspecialcharacters (profile), 31 Aug 2012 @ 8:59am
Re: Re: Re: Always more to the story
Please... they were distributing a flyer!
"At the event, a brochure from the Iranian government's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance cited World of Warcraft as..."
I can't think of a straight US example but it's like the Department for Culture Media and Sport in the UK denouncing the GTA series as encouraging car theft. It means they disapprove of it but if the government was going to ban access, they wouldn't have gone to a game conference to hand out flyers.
There's only one theocracy in this specific case abusing their power and waving the ban hammer and for once it's not Iran.
On the post: Your Cynicism About Lobbyists Only Helps The Lobbyists Win
Voter Reform
"Politician" as a career choice needs to end.
So far it seems Switzerland is the best example the world has ever seen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Switzerland
On the post: Your Cynicism About Lobbyists Only Helps The Lobbyists Win
Re:
I truly feel sorry for Americans that are tired of 2-party politics... where there is no 3rd choice. In the UK at least there is a 3rd choice and a few fringe parties... but even then fringe parties tend to be derided - not by the main party politicians - by the voting public itself.
When the UK Pirate Party started running, a lot of ill-informed people consider it to be another Monster Raving Loony Party - just a joke. This is but one of the perceptions to overcome.
But there is a bigger perception to overcome in order to see the 'power of the people' channeled correctly and that is the cognitive dissonance displayed towards 'intellectual property' in general.
Just checkout this YouTube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ioBjbPliU
Then read this review-
http://www.slashfilm.com/lol-thai-rip-off-of-disneys-beauty-and-the-beast/
Disregarding the quality of the movie. Stop someone in the street and ask them what they think of GM Toons animated Thai "Beauty and the Beast" movie, most of them will respond along the lines of "Oh it's a poor rip off of Disneys movie - despicable".
Then ask them what they think of modern media conglomerates like Disney using public domain works such as "La Belle et la Bête" by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and using them to create animated movies... the response will usually be an opposite one of approval - they may even justify it as a good thing that the work is being adapted for a modern audience.
In order to get copyright issues into a mainstream issue - you have to overcome this kind of mindset. I can tell you it's like try to force the equal poles of 2 magnets together.
I'm reminded of a lesson from history, both Bach and Beethoven were considered by the church at the time to be "devils music" and only played by those godless liberals.
Perhaps it's really down to a disdain for older works. The older the work gets, the more disdain - but somehow a derivative work (by a major brand) earns a level of respect the original will never again see. Anyone wanting to do something similar with the original work somehow then gets the stigma of being a poor imitation if catering to a similar audience (in the example above: children).
But I digress.
On the post: French Publishers Want In On German Plan To Force Everyone To Pay To Link To News
Headline Prediction: 6 months later...
No-one is visiting their websites and consequently viewing their ads or purchasing their goods. New legislation demanded to force websites to link to their content!
On the post: Robot Makers Redesign Robot After Google Refuses To Give Permission To Make Android-Style Bots
Re: Re:
It's only applying to "01/ Android Robot" which is the part they want to use - you can't use the "Android" text trademark, but you can use the robot with attribution.
The page is aimed at developers but since they're using CC it would apply to any use.
more info:
http://developer.android.com/distribute/googleplay/promote/brand.html
That would be enough for me to go ahead and use the robot.
On the post: Robot Makers Redesign Robot After Google Refuses To Give Permission To Make Android-Style Bots
Re:
http://developer.android.com/license.html#attribution
Free to adapt and make commercial use - attribution required.
On the post: Robot Makers Redesign Robot After Google Refuses To Give Permission To Make Android-Style Bots
Re:
Was it a case of a lawyer using strictly legalalese with them? "It's Open Source, I do not have the authority or am in the position to tell you how to use the trademark".
Was it some marketing drones? "Yeah your idea sounds great... no sorry we don't know anything about Open Source... everyone here seems to like it but I don't know whether it allows you to use it without permission"
Was it a designer? "Awesome, yeah go ahead and use it... Umm you should be OK but obviously I can't speak for the company."
My personal motto tends to be it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, but that's only when money is not involved. OTOH a good lawyer should have been able to advise them on the use without the need to consult Google.
Let's also not forget that it's already being used in the wild and so far Google has not made any hints of moving to shut this stuff down:
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/22758
http://www.khamtran.com/2010/08/andy-android-goes- to-phuket/
http://nexus404.com/2010/10/26/vodafone-australia-unleashes-man-sized-android-mascot-gia nt-andy-the-android-wandering-australian-streets-to-drum-up-support-for-android/
http://www.android central.com/android-cooler-gets-made-we-want-one-our-next-party-video
Maybe with a little more research they could have attempted to reach this guy for some better advice :-
http://blog.dyzplastic.com/2010/02/android-mini-collectibles.html
I mean, I may be wrong, has anyone got examples of Google stomping on any of this great creativity?
On the post: Big Banks Finally Punishing Employees For Fraud... Like The Call Center Guy Who Used A Fake Dime 50 Years Ago
Re: Re:
In simple terms Keynes actually advocated a 7 fat/7 skinny cows approach to economics. If governments implement it correctly they should store up cash and equity during the good years, then spend it during the bad years - maintaining somewhat of a balance.
The countries who got in trouble at the back end of 2000's were following whogivesafuckian economic theory which basically takes a sell everything that's worth anything and spend, spend, spend. (UK and labour on vanity projects like the Dome, US on the war machine).
What happened is these governments were suddenly faced with the banks being unable to keep up the charade, and as the walls came tumbling down they suddenly switched to Keynesian economics which advocated... spend (more) money to kickstart the economy. Brilliant.
tl;dr:-
Keynesian economic theory advocates that govs save during the fat times, spend during the lean times. These governments spent during the fat times, then used Keynes to justify spending during the lean times.
On the post: Big Banks Finally Punishing Employees For Fraud... Like The Call Center Guy Who Used A Fake Dime 50 Years Ago
Re: Re: Re: His Mistake
Equally, swindle one person out of their money, it's fraud, swindle millions, it's an accounting error.
On the post: The Legacy Entertainment Industry's Business Model: Charge A Ridiculous Markup On The 'Copy File' Command
Re: Re:
Perhaps then the hyperbolic language that conflates 'stealing' with 'copying' is really going to be shown up for what it is.
Finally the media and average Joe might actually agree and say, how can it be stealing if you still have the original?!
But it's going to happen, when 3D printers hit mainstream it's going to happen...
On the post: Copyright Killbots Strike Again: Official DNC Livestream Taken Down By Just About Every Copyright Holder
Not sure I agree with this, Tim. If Google, uStream and others work with copyrestriction holders to 'whitelist' certain accounts - it will not fix any problem with the automated bots apart from allowing the 'usual suspect' corporations to whitelist their own stuff.
But as for the indie artists, the public domain uploads - I very much doubt these will be allowed on this new whitelist. Rather they will continue to get flagged and taken down. The only thing it will do is remove the problem from the eyes of politicians and awards recievers.
Instead, I'm hoping we see an increase of this on political campaign and big media videos. Hopefully enough politicians may get shirty about their videos being blocked that they'll either (worst case) enact some reverse legislation to prevent online services from automating the task altogether or (best case) revoke the DMCA.
On the post: Forget The Death-Star Anti-Mosquito Lasers, Here's How Nathan Myhrvold Can Help Tackle Malaria -- And Improve His Image
Ideas... prototypes... but no product?
It almost seems like they're coming up with a bunch of ideas (however workable or valid), making a working prototype or mock-up then saying, look what we did.
Oh wait, I know, why not just make the idea credible enough (look - prototype, look - Wired, TED) for someone to license and do the hard work of bringing it to end users (assuming that it's going to work as a mass market product).
Great ideas, yes - it's good to come up with ideas. But not really fair to come up with ideas, do nothing but sit on them and then wait for someone else to come up with something similar; let them spend money and work hard to make it ready for mass market, then ask for a cut.
On the post: Google Follows Apple In Unnecessarily Pulling App That Allowed A Little Girl To Speak
Re: Re:
What kind of country can an autistic child be denied such a benefit over profits... the same kind of country that says cures for diseases can be patent-protected, that free healthcare is an evil socialist ideal.
Funnily enough they're happy to benefit from free soldiers, free police forces, free fire services, free roads, free garbage disposal... but free healthcare? No, that's for those dirty commies.
On the post: Hackers Get Personal Info On 12-Million Apple Users... From An FBI Laptop
Re:
On the post: Copyright Enforcement Bots Seek And Destroy Hugo Awards
Re: Re: Re:
How much did you pay Pirate Mike for the privilege of commenting at Techdirt? For using Techdirt's bandwidth and storage space with your vexatious rants?
Come to think of it... how much have you paid the creators of html, php, css and the browser you are using to access, read and comment on the web?
Did you seek out Tim Berners Lee or any of the creators of the technologies that make up the internet to see if you required a license to use and access it?
Oh you may think you don't need a license - you're too ignorant to even realise how much you rely on patent-free, open source, goodness provided by people far more intelligent and inventive than you, but have you ever saved or shared a gif file (chances are yes)? Did you pay the license to use the gif format at that time (pre-2004)?
People like you make me sick. You stand on the shoulders of intellectual giants, who provided the platform you use royalty free because they understand the benefits of sharing knowledge and work - and you rail against them and their ideology all the while benefiting from it.
When you pay for your internet browser, when you pay a license to access and run html, php, css, xml, javascript... please come here and comment (after paying for the privelege) and let us know. Then we'll talk. Until then STFU and GTFO.
On the post: Some Thoughts On An Innovation Agenda
Financial Education
Disclosure: I have worked in a school as a teaching assistant in a previous life
I've spent some time pondering why financial education doesn't make it into lesson planners and I think the reason is:
a) Most teachers, being average people outside of their specialist subject, aren't really aware of how finance and the economy works and/or
b) The problem is kids are too good at asking "Why?".
We can't do much about (a), this is something that will only trickle upwards as the population becomes educated but (b) is something that I think is part of a greater agenda of dumbing down.
Imagine if kids were taught how to work out real APR on loans; how to tell when they're being overcharged; how fiat money works; how banks leverage risk and debt; how the World Bank and the IMF pressure governments into austerity measures... After a while they're going to start asking questions like - Who decides this is how much it costs? Why are banks allowed to do this? Why do governments act this way? Why can't we choose our own currency or barter goods?
Once people start asking why, it's not long before they either get cynical and dispirited... or they start asking "Why not?"
This is what governments, lobbyists and special interests fear. Therefore it's in their best interests to keep the educational establishment from getting too large or less expensive. Keep the kids learning "Find X", but don't teach them "Why Find X?".
On the post: Piracy Is A Cultural Opportunity; Embrace It
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Piracy Is A Cultural Opportunity; Embrace It
Re: Re: Re: Re:
App developers aren't competing with piracy, they're competing with all the other 99c apps on the market. If you do a search for a generic term like "shoot birds" you will get over 1000 results. How would a company like Rovio rise to the top of the casual gamers market if they start out their app at $20. Whilst many of those apps at 0-99c would be inferior, they would be fulfilling another measurable unit in peoples list of necessities... and that's 'time'.
A while ago I downloaded Mass Effect Infiltrator for 99c on sale. I haven't played in once. Why? because I currently tend to whip out my mobile for gaming only when I have a 5 minute break and I just want to continue on something casual with the sound off. I don't know when I'll play ME - if I ever will - because they stupidly haven't released it for my tablet yet (and they are lucky because I tend to avoid purchasing games entirely when they ignore the Asus Transformer).
Another competitor is 'trend-setting'. When Android was first released on phones, free/1.99 Angry Birds was the gaming standard in terms of price and graphics - the thing you had to beat in order to be a success. The latecomers like EA and Gameloft can't price their apps too high because with a choice of 1000s of slightly inferior titles versus a high priced one is just not enough of a pull. I'll purchase Dead Space for $6 but if they were asking for $30, well an alternative like Dark Area 3 will do me fine - after all it's my TIME as well as money.
3rd, they're competing with space. My first Android phone had just 200mb memory! 200mb - these days that's enough for all 4 Angry Birds titles and a couple of other budget games. In fact, I'm coming up against that problem now with my 16gb Transformer - I can't fit anymore games on it so I'm less likely to spend even on titles I really want to play.
So you think they'd make MORE money by staying in the studio and signing over the rights to their new songs to a big company who's going to spend it all on the RIAA? Did you even do the research before commenting here? Go on, google and find out how most artists make their money - I'll give you a clue - it doesn't happen by recording.
Since I was a little boy I've noticed ticket prices at the cinema have risen consistently - along with condiments to point where the price of a cinema trip for 2 is almost the same price as what you'd pay at a chain restaurant.
But you know what else has increased - or should I say been introduced - since my childhood? Mobile phones and TV adverts before the main picture. So before I used to sit through 10-20 minutes of trailers for new films - which I always enjoyed anyway - now I've got to sit an extra 30 minutes through adverts I can see at home anytime! And when the main picture finally does start, how many times am I going to be distracted by a small bright shiny light or a ringtone?
That's not to mention the noisy gang of kids on the back row giggling through fairly serious or intense scenes because the producers just had to lower their age rating to get more punters and more spent on tickets.
I once sat in a cinema where someone lit up a cigarette! I didn't complain because I didn't want to miss something on screen but you can bet if they'd taken a picture on the iPhone the staff would be there! Funny thing is, someone with a camera on a tripod at the back wouldn't really effect my viewing pleasure - the noise, the mobile phones, the price and the occasional smoking does.
Since TV's have gotten pretty large and much cheaper over the years I guess that's why I, and everyone like me, is staying at home and waiting for DVD release or just downloading movies - and no - I NEVER watch cammed movies because they are such poor quality!
Speaking of staying at home to watch TV - have you noticed how large budgets have gotten for TV shows now? high production values, huge continuous story arcs... Ask yourself why so many Hollywood actors are now jumping ship from movies to TV?
So... which is it? Piracy, or the democratisation of publishing something that EVERYONE does? Which btw has no trademark, copyright or patent (which is a good thing because the human race would probably be wiped out in 2 generations - well unless everyone turned to pirate sex. Aaarrr!).
So pretending piracy is the reason for decline in certain industries when those industries are only facing what all industries face when technology advances (ice sellers vs refridgerators, horse & carts vs the automobile, film (photography) manufacturers vs digital cameras, I could go on), is just ignorant.
So Big Media may disappear, so what? Really, so what? Music, film, the arts.. they existed before Big Media, before copyright, they will exist after. Not in the form we are used to now, but when has any practice stayed in it's exact form from inception? Should cars be made to be pulled by horses?
On the post: Piracy Is A Cultural Opportunity; Embrace It
Re: Re: Re: Re:
...and I STILL had to use the cracked executables!
On the post: Blizzard Blocking Iranian WoW Players Due To US Sanctions
Re: Re: Re: Always more to the story
I can't think of a straight US example but it's like the Department for Culture Media and Sport in the UK denouncing the GTA series as encouraging car theft. It means they disapprove of it but if the government was going to ban access, they wouldn't have gone to a game conference to hand out flyers.
There's only one theocracy in this specific case abusing their power and waving the ban hammer and for once it's not Iran.
On the post: Blizzard Blocking Iranian WoW Players Due To US Sanctions
Re: Re: Its because there is no security...
Stormwind guard: No...
Hot draenei shaman: Then am I free to go on a raid?
Stormwind guard: Umm...
Next >>