Please remember that the very state in which Hollywood resides is arguably the foremost technological hub of the world. More people and more money are involved in that industry than the narrow interpretation of "Entertainment" that Hollywood carries. Yes, they have marketing muscle. But ultimately, they don't drive our country and our planet forward the way that technology does.
Pissing off technologists is a dangerous and politically fatal move, especially as the Youtube/Facebook/Tumblr/whatever generation begins voting. They will care a lot more if Facebook tells them a bill is bad than if some aging studio exec does.
Let's be real here - we've been eating genetically modified foods (animals and plants) for the last 6000 years or so. Domestication, selective breeding and cross-breading of species has been a staple of human cultivation of food sources.
Except now we have people with advanced degrees, selectively modifying genes, instead of randomly cross-breeding species and hoping for the best.
Cross-breeding gave us killer bees. Genetic modification gave tomatoes that can be grown naturally, without harsh pesticide chemicals because they naturally repel insects.
Microsoft isn't in the habit of suing open source projects, even if they're backed by commercial entities.
For example, MS never sued Open Office, despite making the assertion it violated 45 patents (many of which may be invalid). Now, if companies like HP started building Open Office-based school machines? Well, MS might step in.
I think this will be tested when/if the Motorola + Google deal closes, if the existing Motorola + MS license deal doesn't carry forward.
I've struggled with this as well. There's obviously not "no evidence" as Mike claims - otherwise these companies wouldn't be settling. There might not be strong evidence, or legally tested evidence, but there's clearly some.
MS isn't going after tiny devs. These are giant companies with huge legal budgets, they looked at MS's evidence and decided a settlement that both companies felt was fair.
Would you prefer the Apple approach? Sue in every country, blocking competitors from entering the market, harm consumers, submit fraudulent evidence to courts?
There are so many other issues in the patent system and tech companies being sleazy, why focus on this so hard? Let it go - you don't need to be angry on the behalf of two companies that are entering into a mutually beneficial business deal.
Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the original post - I'm not the only one to consider this, and there are many extensions and plugins that do the same thing. Fact is, birthday wishes are something we value to receive but put little thought into sending, so it's unsurprising this person saw so many duplicates. There are fewer than 20 people that I could even roughly guess at their birthday, let alone notice if they moved it every few months.
So, I outsourced my birthday wishes to the Happy Birthday Extension. There are precious few people I want to write something specific to, but the feeling when you log in and see 200 "yay you're wonderful" messages is important to some people. So I compromised, sending them varying but generic messages, unless I really care about them, in which case it's a three- or four-sentence message about their importance to me.
Apple has shown that they're perfectly willing to use every questionably-legal technique to sell their products. Lie with your ads, "accidentally" misquote competitors numbers, snidely mock rival CEOs and make fun of their english in your product announcements, and now - taking out a competitor (and supplier) for a few months right when their product is gaining steam (and mindshare)?
Well, that's just Apple.
What's really upsetting is that there's no cost to Apple for this - if Samsung is later cleared of wrongdoing, the months of lost sales? The'll get no settlement for that. Knocking out a quarter of your competitors sales with bogus patent claims?
The upside to this is that if New Jersey bars think they might get sued if they let total dickbags get wasted and leave, they might just stop serving them alcohol when they're wasted.
I'm pretty sure the women of NJ are about to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Recall - this is the country that sued Google because a bunch of BANKING PASSWORDS were being sent, unencrypted, over open WIFI connections.
Clearly their laws and practices don't make for good security policy. Maybe it's a culture thing?
And why would you ever need a user's password? Any decent program has a "become" feature for admins, so you can log in as that user. All the ones I write have it, anyhow.
This whole article sounds like it is written by someone who is outside the military, business, and technology worlds. Why and how we're listening to this hermit is beyond me. Sure, if these predictions had been made in the 70s, that'd be one thing, but at this point, it seems like they're pointing to the past.
That crap about WoW being an example of how DNA traders will work? I'm sorry, haven't ever come across telepresence or Skype, have ya? Amazed groups of people can talk to each other in teamchat? Gee - where do you think VoIP came from? Oh right - military.
I'm sorry, the whole thing just reeks of someone who's stumbled into technology, never worked at a real company, and goes "Wow, if only we could get these two together!", blissfully unaware that these applications have been developed side-by-side for decades.
Our press has always generally agreed with the government. Look back at the "Red Scare" - were newspapers decrying the rounding up of citizens accused of being Communists? No, they were supporting it and applauding every time we "caught one"
I dunno, after her initial comments of "it happens all the time", etc, I wonder if it's just come out that she's been plagiarizing for years and is worried about being sued.
Stubhub is not just a listing service. Most of their listings (some 80-90%) come directly from the ticket brokers, and are never actually bought or sold by the public.
Stubhub then takes an additional 15% commssion from the "seller" and 10% from the "buyer". In this way they are acting as an original seller, in many cases tickets that have never hit the public before and are sold, for the first and only time, on Stubhub.
Is Chicago's amusement tax a dumb tax? Probably, but the vast majority of the tickets sold through Stubhub in Chicago should fall into it, because they're not being "resold", but marketed and sold for the first time.
Now let's take this to it's next logical, social+media+web2.0 level.
A service where users can issue warning labels on sites they visit which fall into one of these categories. Other users see the warning labels, comment accordingly, and the most commonly given label stays at the top. Doesn't have to be just negative, too.
Great thing? You do it all through a browser plugin - like Web Of Trust for content quality rather than just malware. Sites who WANT to boast having original, well-researched content can voluntarily display their badges.
On the post: Obama Working To 'Fix' His Relationship With Hollywood
Please Remember
Please remember that the very state in which Hollywood resides is arguably the foremost technological hub of the world. More people and more money are involved in that industry than the narrow interpretation of "Entertainment" that Hollywood carries. Yes, they have marketing muscle. But ultimately, they don't drive our country and our planet forward the way that technology does.
Pissing off technologists is a dangerous and politically fatal move, especially as the Youtube/Facebook/Tumblr/whatever generation begins voting. They will care a lot more if Facebook tells them a bill is bad than if some aging studio exec does.
On the post: Dailydirt: GMO Food -- You Are What You Eat?
A little intellectual honesty, now
Except now we have people with advanced degrees, selectively modifying genes, instead of randomly cross-breeding species and hoping for the best.
Cross-breeding gave us killer bees. Genetic modification gave tomatoes that can be grown naturally, without harsh pesticide chemicals because they naturally repel insects.
On the post: Can We Just Admit That It's Insane When Microsoft Has A 'Licensing Program' For Someone Else's Products?
Re:
For example, MS never sued Open Office, despite making the assertion it violated 45 patents (many of which may be invalid). Now, if companies like HP started building Open Office-based school machines? Well, MS might step in.
I think this will be tested when/if the Motorola + Google deal closes, if the existing Motorola + MS license deal doesn't carry forward.
Source for MS on FOSS Patent Violations: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-free-and-open-source-software-violates-235-microsoft-p atents/436
On the post: Can We Just Admit That It's Insane When Microsoft Has A 'Licensing Program' For Someone Else's Products?
Re: Why Care?
MS isn't going after tiny devs. These are giant companies with huge legal budgets, they looked at MS's evidence and decided a settlement that both companies felt was fair.
Would you prefer the Apple approach? Sue in every country, blocking competitors from entering the market, harm consumers, submit fraudulent evidence to courts?
There are so many other issues in the patent system and tech companies being sleazy, why focus on this so hard? Let it go - you don't need to be angry on the behalf of two companies that are entering into a mutually beneficial business deal.
On the post: The Pavlovian Response To Seeing Birthday Announcements On Facebook
Re: Work Smarter, not Harder
On the post: The Pavlovian Response To Seeing Birthday Announcements On Facebook
Work Smarter, not Harder
http://lifehacker.com/5835409/happybirthday-extension-send-out-b+day-wishes-on-facebook-so-you-d ont-have-to
On the post: Apple Wins Europe-Wide Blockade Of Samsung Tablets; Guess Which Tablet Apple Is Scared Of Most?
If you can't compete, litegate
Well, that's just Apple.
What's really upsetting is that there's no cost to Apple for this - if Samsung is later cleared of wrongdoing, the months of lost sales? The'll get no settlement for that. Knocking out a quarter of your competitors sales with bogus patent claims?
On the post: Caught With A DUI In New Jersey? You Can Now Blame The Bar That Served You
There's a silver lining
I'm pretty sure the women of NJ are about to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
On the post: France Goes Overboard In Data Retention: Wants User Passwords Retained
Re: Re: Re:
Clearly their laws and practices don't make for good security policy. Maybe it's a culture thing?
And why would you ever need a user's password? Any decent program has a "become" feature for admins, so you can log in as that user. All the ones I write have it, anyhow.
On the post: Groupon Sued For Having Short Expirations On Coupons
Re: The suit has merit.
If you buy a groupon for $30 for a haircut that normally costs $60, and you let it expire, it's still worth $30, it's just not worth the $60.
And if it expires and you can't redeem it (say, service no longer offered or something), groupon will refund your money.
This lawsuit is a pure moneygrab.
On the post: Match.com Sued Over Dead/Fake Profiles
Re: a pertinent link
On the post: Has The Video Game Industry Surpassed The Military In Driving The Next Wave Of Technological Change?
Outsider's View
That crap about WoW being an example of how DNA traders will work? I'm sorry, haven't ever come across telepresence or Skype, have ya? Amazed groups of people can talk to each other in teamchat? Gee - where do you think VoIP came from? Oh right - military.
I'm sorry, the whole thing just reeks of someone who's stumbled into technology, never worked at a real company, and goes "Wow, if only we could get these two together!", blissfully unaware that these applications have been developed side-by-side for decades.
On the post: Harvard Newspaper Staff Apparently In Need Of A Lesson On Copyright Basics
Re: Re: Re:
Please read up:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040603092645/commons.somewhere.com/rre/2000/RRE.Al.Gore.and.the.In te1.html
On the post: Mainstream Press Seems To Think Fighting For Civil Liberties Is Childish
Is it that new?
On the post: Cooks Source Editor Gives First Interview; Says She'll Probably Shut Down The Magazine
Maybe she deserves it?
On the post: Texas Sends Amazon $269M Sales Tax Bill; Could Woot Have Pushed Texas Over The Edge?
About Woot
It'd be interesting how they argued that Woot's presence in TX means that they really do owe taxes back for years where they didn't own Woot.
On the post: Texas Sends Amazon $269M Sales Tax Bill; Could Woot Have Pushed Texas Over The Edge?
Re: I'm Sad
My last one had a baby blanket, child-sized earbuds, crappy COBY headphones, and a pair of USB-powered Wootoff lights.
You're not missing much, don't worry.
On the post: Inflatable Gorilla Sues Google Over Copyright?
Free publicity
On the post: Appeals Court Says Section 230 Does Not Protect Stubhub From Having To Pay 'Amusement Tax' On Tix Sold
Stubhub is not just a listing service
Stubhub then takes an additional 15% commssion from the "seller" and 10% from the "buyer". In this way they are acting as an original seller, in many cases tickets that have never hit the public before and are sold, for the first and only time, on Stubhub.
Is Chicago's amusement tax a dumb tax? Probably, but the vast majority of the tickets sold through Stubhub in Chicago should fall into it, because they're not being "resold", but marketed and sold for the first time.
Read more about Stubhub's business model here:
http://dontcostnothing.wordpress.com/2007/03/09/stubhub-the-biggest-fraud-in-the-ticket-busin ess/
On the post: Journalism Warning Labels: This Article Is Just A Press Release Copied & Pasted
This would be an awesome Plugin!
A service where users can issue warning labels on sites they visit which fall into one of these categories. Other users see the warning labels, comment accordingly, and the most commonly given label stays at the top. Doesn't have to be just negative, too.
Great thing? You do it all through a browser plugin - like Web Of Trust for content quality rather than just malware. Sites who WANT to boast having original, well-researched content can voluntarily display their badges.
Hmm, I might have to work on this...
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