New rule for the USPTO: Any patent application with [existing process] "online", or [something we do everyday] "on a computer" shall be immediately denied.
Are you next going to publish an article that, like the prior articles on labels and studios, explains how an author isn't going to make any money from a publisher either?
As mentioned above, in the US you can't take it to Verizon or Sprint, since the iPhone is GSM-based hardware and they run on CDMA. Nor can you really take it to T-Mobile, since they use a different 3G frequency band. The technologies are incompatible.
Since Apple doesn't make a CDMA-based phone (and likely won't until LTE), simply demolishing the rule doesn't change one, single, solitary thing.
An Evo can't run on AT&T. An iPhone can't run on Verizon or Sprint. Or to borrow an argument from below, if you buy a car with a diesel engine, don't whine about how you can't fill it up with gasoline.
In the US you can't take it to Verizon or Sprint, since the iPhone is GSM-based hardware and they run on CDMA. Nor can you really take it to T-Mobile, since they use a different 3G frequency band.
So where the heck are you SUPPOSED to be able to take it?
Unions once solved major imbalances in worker rights and workplace safety.
Today, like most organizations, they exist primarily to perpetuate their own power. Rather than working with management to solve problems, they're forced to demand more and more and more. More money, more benefits, more time off, and so on, all to justify their own existence and the dues members pay.
The auto unions killed Detroit, a clear case of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
How is it that Toyota or Honda can build a profitable plant here in the US making cars with US labor... and we can't?
Would you rather have one truck on the road making least-distance-travelled optimized deliveries to 50 people, or have those 50 different people all climbing into their SUVs and heading off to 50 different destinations to buy something?
The later has significantly more impact, wouldn't you agree?
Sales tax also helps cover the services (roads, sewage, police, fire, etc.) provided to all of those local stores and businesses.
"...consumers (and competition) decide if $9.99 is a real price or not."
And actually, "consumers" didn't decide on $9.99 as a price point, Amazon did, just as Apple decided on $0.99 per song as a price point. In fact, according to industry news, Amazon was said subsidizing the $9.99 price to the tune of $5 a copy, as they were supposedly paying the publisher $14.99 a copy.
Now, Amazon might well decide to eat the $5 (for first run books) if it means gaining ebook market share and if it also encourages people to buy older ebooks (and books) on which they DO make money.
Oh yeah... and if doing so sells the occasional $300 Kindle.
If you think Amazon would not decide to lose some money now in order to build up market share, then you're completely forgetting how Amazon became Amazon in the first place.
"The advent of ebooks makes things hard as printing and distribution are two major cost factors in working out your base line cost..."
Well... the following amortized price breakdown from Kindle Review (http://ireaderreview.com/2009/05/03/book-cost-analysis-cost-of-physical-book-publishing/) may be instructional here. This is for the average first-run hardcover book:
Basically the numbers of interest are the retailer (45%), printing (just 10%), and the wholesaler (10%). So it's fairly easy to see that online books can dump wholesaling and printing costs... but that's just 20%, or $6. Retailer costs can drop, but most retailers (physical or otherwise) still need to make a profit, even selling ebooks.
It probably will sell more discs, but I agree that the increase will be minor.
Keep in mind that the only pool of people affected are Netflix customers, and many of them won't care if the disc lands in their queue this month or next month. When it ships, it ships.
I have. If I could put a screenshot clip here I'd show you, but nearly every movie in my list has "long wait" or "extremely long wait" next to it. And some are titles that appeared in late November.
My response? I've cut back my rentals, going from what was once a seven-disc queue to three. I've also started using Redbox a lot more.
Netflix's job (for the moment) is to ship discs. If they can't or won't stock enough of them to meet demand in a reasonable time frame, then people will find someone who can.
"These days, many technologies used in the office are coming from "the bottom up," meaning that they're personal technologies ... that individuals are using/buying on their own first..."
These days? You're showing your age Mike. (Or lack thereof.)
Back in the day, people snuck Apple IIs into the office, just so they could run VisiCalc. Then they started bugging the mainframe staff for data to plug into their spreadsheets and, of course, the IT folk resisted doing the extra work.
"Besides," they said. "Those personal computer things are just toys."
Fast forward a few decades, and it would appear that they're still doing the same type of song and dance. All while people who WANT to be more productive spend their own time and money ushering in the future of communications and connectivity.
"The Music industry told us that the price would go down after the technology was paid for. "
CDs were $30 or more on introduction. Ten years ago it averaged $15-18 a disk. Now WalMart, Target, Amazon, and even my local grocery store sell most of them at $12-15. Or less. There are also the $10 and $5 and even $2 discount bins...
So prices have in fact decreased over the last twenty years. And they've dropped when the price of nearly everything else has INCREASED due to inflation. (Making a $12 disc about $5 in 1980's dollars.)
The facts don't back up your rationalization. Prices have dropped. Dramatically.
Unfortunately, Hollywood is another industry that let itself be taken over by unions. When you can't even move a light stand 6" without waking up a 75$/hour union grip something's very, very wrong with your industry.
On the post: BP Photoshopping Goes From Bad To Ridiculously Bad
Re: Re: look at the gauges
Blame top-level management, not the little people.
On the post: Putting Press Releases Online? Patented! Lots Of Small Companies Sued
New rule
On the post: Author Puts Novel Online For Free... And Gets A Book Deal
On the post: Class Action Against Apple & AT&T Over iPhone Moves Forward
Are you going to demolish physics too?
Since Apple doesn't make a CDMA-based phone (and likely won't until LTE), simply demolishing the rule doesn't change one, single, solitary thing.
An Evo can't run on AT&T. An iPhone can't run on Verizon or Sprint. Or to borrow an argument from below, if you buy a car with a diesel engine, don't whine about how you can't fill it up with gasoline.
On the post: Class Action Against Apple & AT&T Over iPhone Moves Forward
Re: Re: That's a long time...
So where the heck are you SUPPOSED to be able to take it?
On the post: Describing How To Create A Software Program Now Puts You At Risk Of Contributory Patent Infringement?
Paper by one of Shazam's authors
http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~dpwe/papers/Wang03-shazam.pdf
Do you think they'll now threaten to sue themselves?
On the post: When Recording Everything We See Is Standard, What Happens To Copyright?
Nothing. Other than blinding his bionic eye with the movie theater's anti-camera laser system...
On the post: Has the New York Times Run Afoul of the FTC's Endorsement Guides?
Conspiracy
Naw. Must be a conspiracy. (grin)
On the post: The US Postal Service's Business Model Is Outdated. Is It Time To Wind It Down Or Privatize It?
Re: Re: Re: Re:Unions
Today, like most organizations, they exist primarily to perpetuate their own power. Rather than working with management to solve problems, they're forced to demand more and more and more. More money, more benefits, more time off, and so on, all to justify their own existence and the dues members pay.
The auto unions killed Detroit, a clear case of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
How is it that Toyota or Honda can build a profitable plant here in the US making cars with US labor... and we can't?
On the post: Amazon Shutting Down Colorado-Based Associates Over Sales Tax Issue
Re: Re: Re: the trend is headed - but which way
Would you rather have one truck on the road making least-distance-travelled optimized deliveries to 50 people, or have those 50 different people all climbing into their SUVs and heading off to 50 different destinations to buy something?
The later has significantly more impact, wouldn't you agree?
Sales tax also helps cover the services (roads, sewage, police, fire, etc.) provided to all of those local stores and businesses.
On the post: Author Claims $9.99 Is Not A 'Real Price' For Books
Re: What is a real price
And actually, "consumers" didn't decide on $9.99 as a price point, Amazon did, just as Apple decided on $0.99 per song as a price point. In fact, according to industry news, Amazon was said subsidizing the $9.99 price to the tune of $5 a copy, as they were supposedly paying the publisher $14.99 a copy.
Now, Amazon might well decide to eat the $5 (for first run books) if it means gaining ebook market share and if it also encourages people to buy older ebooks (and books) on which they DO make money.
Oh yeah... and if doing so sells the occasional $300 Kindle.
If you think Amazon would not decide to lose some money now in order to build up market share, then you're completely forgetting how Amazon became Amazon in the first place.
On the post: Author Claims $9.99 Is Not A 'Real Price' For Books
Re: What is a real price
Well... the following amortized price breakdown from Kindle Review (http://ireaderreview.com/2009/05/03/book-cost-analysis-cost-of-physical-book-publishing/) may be instructional here. This is for the average first-run hardcover book:
Book Retail Price: $27.95.
Retailer (discount, staffing, rent, etc.) - $12.58. That's 45%.
Author Royalties - $4.19. Exactly 15%.
Wholesaler - $2.80. Exactly 10%.
Pre-production (Publisher) - $3.55. That's 12.7%.
Printing (Publisher) - $2.83. Translates to 10.125%
Marketing (Publisher) - $2. That's approximately 7.15%.
Basically the numbers of interest are the retailer (45%), printing (just 10%), and the wholesaler (10%). So it's fairly easy to see that online books can dump wholesaling and printing costs... but that's just 20%, or $6. Retailer costs can drop, but most retailers (physical or otherwise) still need to make a profit, even selling ebooks.
On the post: Netflix Exec Claims That Delaying Movie Rentals For A Month Benefits Customers
Re: Re:
Keep in mind that the only pool of people affected are Netflix customers, and many of them won't care if the disc lands in their queue this month or next month. When it ships, it ships.
On the post: Netflix Exec Claims That Delaying Movie Rentals For A Month Benefits Customers
Re: Netflix Customer
My response? I've cut back my rentals, going from what was once a seven-disc queue to three. I've also started using Redbox a lot more.
Netflix's job (for the moment) is to ship discs. If they can't or won't stock enough of them to meet demand in a reasonable time frame, then people will find someone who can.
On the post: In A World Of Bottom Up Technology, Should IT Support Your iPhone?
They should...
These days? You're showing your age Mike. (Or lack thereof.)
Back in the day, people snuck Apple IIs into the office, just so they could run VisiCalc. Then they started bugging the mainframe staff for data to plug into their spreadsheets and, of course, the IT folk resisted doing the extra work.
"Besides," they said. "Those personal computer things are just toys."
Fast forward a few decades, and it would appear that they're still doing the same type of song and dance. All while people who WANT to be more productive spend their own time and money ushering in the future of communications and connectivity.
On the post: Why The Record Labels Are Still Confused: The Difference Between Transformative And Incremental Change
Re: Re: Re: Re:
CDs were $30 or more on introduction. Ten years ago it averaged $15-18 a disk. Now WalMart, Target, Amazon, and even my local grocery store sell most of them at $12-15. Or less. There are also the $10 and $5 and even $2 discount bins...
So prices have in fact decreased over the last twenty years. And they've dropped when the price of nearly everything else has INCREASED due to inflation. (Making a $12 disc about $5 in 1980's dollars.)
The facts don't back up your rationalization. Prices have dropped. Dramatically.
On the post: Researchers: Copying And Imitation Is Good For Society
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Will 'Paranormal Activity' Teach The Movie Industry A Lesson?
Unions
On the post: Switzerland Tells Google To Take Down Street View
Why?
Why does every business would wants to launch a new service have to seek "assurances" from the government?
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