I don't think that their tools are unreasonably overpriced.
Overpriced, yes. Unreasonably so, no.
That 15 piece screwdriver set is about $4 per driver. Which is about what Craftsman precision screwdrivers used to sell for -- the old standard for top quality consumer-grade tools. Professional brand name tools still sell for considerably more.
I don't expect that these are actually as good as Wera screwdrivers. And they certainly don't have the same benefit as Wera -- near certainty that they are close to the best quality available.
But iFixit does have a good overall reputation, and it's on the upswing. They aren't in a position to be cashing in on their old brand reputation with bottom-tier tools (hello Craftsman). So their brand is worth a healthy mark-up over similar tools from a random seller. I expect that these have a generous profit margin, and I expect that are suitable for serious hobbyist use albeit a little riskier than buying Wera and similar branded tools.
You can be certain that it doesn't actually cost $117K to extend service to the house.
Yes, I'm certain that if they needed to come up with justification for that number, a whole bunch of expenses could be allocated to that work order.
The reality is that either they want the residents to pay for their CapEx, or they are looking for future government subsidies to underwrite it in some way. Perhaps an increase in rates, an outright grant, or an expansion in exclusive territory.
A government agency with special police powers broke the law in order to eliminate a member of their democratically elected oversight committee.
That's unquestionably breaking their oath of office. It's arguably treason.
This wasn't the isolated act of a single individual. Over forty people in the agency felt free to access the file, and apparently shared it with many more. They all knew it was illegal, and should have realized the implications. No one reported this internally.
This is an existential threat to government of the people, by the people.
I don't understand why this isn't considered a copyright issue.
They are effectively rewriting the content and presenting the modified version.
Imagine the uproar and trade sanctions if they claimed they had the right to rebroadcast TV shows with the commercials substituted, or magazines with the advertisements removed.
It's worth mentioning again: it's not just that Roca lies in their advertisements, it's that they legally persecute those that want to tell the truth about Roca's products or their business practices. The latter is the major part of their "adversarial relationship" with the truth.
Lessig is a constitutional law attorney, one of the top ones in the country. He wouldn't weigh in, paid or not, unless there was an important point to be made.
He's not like the lawyers advertising on Criagslist for work that will write anything that you pay them to.
I have to agree with the previous posters: you better have your ducks in a row, both legally and morally, before you go after '2600'. That's like punching a WWII veteran in Quantico. You might feel safe because he can't get out of his wheelchair to hit back, but that's where the danger lies.
But it's done by a big corporation, and therefore gets a pass.
If I copied the New York Times website, or published my version of the Washington Post, substituting my advertisements in place of theirs, I would be quickly sued.
This is no different from a copying viewpoint, and far worse for security.
I'm surprised but delighted to see that the local bar finally issued a complaint against Steele.
I see him as the mastermind, with the Hansmeier brothers (and perhaps even their father) as co-conspirators.
Duffy was just as evil, but ended up without the big payout of the others. He had a failing law practice, and was convinced to buy into the scheme. Apparently in exchange for being the front man, he would turn over most of the early revenue to Steele and Hansmeier (through a shell named "Under the Bridge") and get a larger cut later. But the scheme fell apart before he got his money. He ended up with under $40K for the year that records were released, while the others ended up with millions.
Duffy must have died knowing that he was a sap, just as hated but without money tucked away in judgement-proof Florida homesteads, overseas accounts, and untouchable trusts such as Monyet.
No doubt the 3 year old is currently engaging in practice torture, including sleep deprivation.
Every time we hear the details of these program, and similar web-nanny filters, we find that they are based on the simplest of filter.
Not every search for "nipple" is trying to locate porn. Sometimes it's just looking for plumbing parts. Filtering for supposedly terrorist term is much more likely to identify people interested in world events.
Google not only has no obligation to operate in a specific country, they are better off avoiding the business risk.
Even the in-country businesses shut down rather than take that risk, and they presumably have an advantage. Even if it's not a corrupt advantage of knowing the regulators personally, it's an inherent advantage of knowing the culture.
I've read the income finally transmitted to the Warner subsidiary was $2M. The gross income was approximately $10M/year. Precise numbers e.g. from detailed accounting from ASCAP isn't available.
There is no way for the general public to be made whole from this fraud. The subsidiary likely has little cash on hand and can be trivially put into bankruptcy if needed. Even if there were a way to claw back the recent net income, the middlemen have taken the bulk of the revenue.
The corporate strategy here is clear: they knew the claimed copyright wasn't valid, but at $10M/year (or even $2M/year) it was well worth the legal cost to keep the clock running. And they kept it running until the claimed copyright was essentially expired.
I can see the concern here, but I don't think that it is technically informed.
The additional power used is negligible. Supporting an additional network doesn't require an extra WiFi chip. All of the 'networks' are supported with a single chip, which is multiplexed as needed. Yes, there is a tiny bit of extra power to broadcast an additional SSID, and to transfer the foreign traffic, but that is milliwatts for microseconds.
The traffic inside the router is likely transferred using an internal network switch, with the isolation largely handled by the hardware. Looking at the software used to configure the switch won't be especially helpful for deciding that the system is secure. The hardware support also means that the effort to route foreign packets is negligible, as is the resulting power use.
I predict that there will be a long gap between self-driving cars, and autonomous self-driving cars that will be allowed on the public roads.
Both have been demonstrated, but the autonomous self-driving cars primarily have been shown finding an empty spot in a parking garage.
The public will be much more comfortable starting with human supervised self-driving cars. Even if they are drunk or sleeping, there is the illusion of control and an easy target of blame when something goes wrong.
The absurdity is that the label was granting an explicit license to use the work.
This wasn't a question of fair use, it was a claim of "we own everything" gone wild.
As for the statement about needing to own the copyright, most labels do not own all rights to the music they publish. The artists are often playing a song and singing lyrics separately copyrighted by others, and sometimes even the resulting performance is only licensed to the label.
The media companies got what they wanted -- news stories that it's not legal to do anything but directly listen to your CDs.
At some point they'll push too far. If they convince people that almost everything is illegal, then getting unlicensed music by copying from a friend or downloading ethically feel pretty much the same as buying a CD and copying it to your device.
Many of those were described as "left the roadway" or "crossed the centerline". Only a few were during a pursuit, which is a separate category.
Note that you have to read the descriptions to get an accurate count, since some seem to stretch the definition of a police fatality (e.g. a police dog killed in an accident, cancer described as 9/11-related).
There were 11 deaths from heart attacks, 1/6 of the total. It seems odd to count those as police deaths when comparing the count to people killed by police.
On the post: Apple Punishes iFixit For Doing A Tear Down On Apple TV
Overpriced, yes. Unreasonably so, no.
That 15 piece screwdriver set is about $4 per driver. Which is about what Craftsman precision screwdrivers used to sell for -- the old standard for top quality consumer-grade tools. Professional brand name tools still sell for considerably more.
I don't expect that these are actually as good as Wera screwdrivers. And they certainly don't have the same benefit as Wera -- near certainty that they are close to the best quality available.
But iFixit does have a good overall reputation, and it's on the upswing. They aren't in a position to be cashing in on their old brand reputation with bottom-tier tools (hello Craftsman). So their brand is worth a healthy mark-up over similar tools from a random seller. I expect that these have a generous profit margin, and I expect that are suitable for serious hobbyist use albeit a little riskier than buying Wera and similar branded tools.
On the post: Cable Company Totally Unsure What Neighborhoods It Serves, Wants $117,000 For Broadband Service
Yes, I'm certain that if they needed to come up with justification for that number, a whole bunch of expenses could be allocated to that work order.
The reality is that either they want the residents to pay for their CapEx, or they are looking for future government subsidies to underwrite it in some way. Perhaps an increase in rates, an outright grant, or an expansion in exclusive territory.
On the post: Secret Service Agents Dug Through Personal Info To Discredit Legislator Investigating Agency Wrongdoing
A government agency with special police powers broke the law in order to eliminate a member of their democratically elected oversight committee.
That's unquestionably breaking their oath of office. It's arguably treason.
This wasn't the isolated act of a single individual. Over forty people in the agency felt free to access the file, and apparently shared it with many more. They all knew it was illegal, and should have realized the implications. No one reported this internally.
This is an existential threat to government of the people, by the people.
On the post: ISP Announces It's Blocking All Facebook And Google Ads Until Companies Pay A Troll Toll
They are effectively rewriting the content and presenting the modified version.
Imagine the uproar and trade sanctions if they claimed they had the right to rebroadcast TV shows with the commercials substituted, or magazines with the advertisements removed.
On the post: FTC: 'Roca Labs Has An Adversarial Relationship With The Truth'; Suggests Plans To Crack Down On More Gag Clauses
On the post: FTC: 'Roca Labs Has An Adversarial Relationship With The Truth'; Suggests Plans To Crack Down On More Gag Clauses
It sounds like an hyperbole, but it is actually an accurate description of the situation.
On the post: Larry Lessig Tells New Zealand Court That DOJ's Case Against Kim Dotcom Is A Sham
He's not like the lawyers advertising on Criagslist for work that will write anything that you pay them to.
On the post: NYC Judge: Taxis Must Compete With Uber, No Matter The Medallion Industry
Not as a reason to continue it.
On the post: Getty Images Tries To Copyright Troll 2600 Magazine Over Content It Has No Copyright Over
On the post: As TPP Grinds To A Halt, Asian Countries Start Focusing On Rival Trade Agreement RCEP
(Do I need '/s'?)
On the post: AT&T Injecting Ads Into Its Wi-Fi Hotspot Data Streams
But it's done by a big corporation, and therefore gets a pass.
If I copied the New York Times website, or published my version of the Washington Post, substituting my advertisements in place of theirs, I would be quickly sued.
This is no different from a copying viewpoint, and far worse for security.
On the post: Illinois Attorney Discipline Board Finally Moves Against Prenda Mastermind John Steele
I see him as the mastermind, with the Hansmeier brothers (and perhaps even their father) as co-conspirators.
Duffy was just as evil, but ended up without the big payout of the others. He had a failing law practice, and was convinced to buy into the scheme. Apparently in exchange for being the front man, he would turn over most of the early revenue to Steele and Hansmeier (through a shell named "Under the Bridge") and get a larger cut later. But the scheme fell apart before he got his money. He ended up with under $40K for the year that records were released, while the others ended up with millions.
Duffy must have died knowing that he was a sap, just as hated but without money tucked away in judgement-proof Florida homesteads, overseas accounts, and untouchable trusts such as Monyet.
On the post: UK Prevent Strategy For Identifying Potential Terrorists Identifies 3 Year Old Because Of Course It Did
Every time we hear the details of these program, and similar web-nanny filters, we find that they are based on the simplest of filter.
Not every search for "nipple" is trying to locate porn. Sometimes it's just looking for plumbing parts. Filtering for supposedly terrorist term is much more likely to identify people interested in world events.
On the post: Study Of Spain's 'Google Tax' On News Shows How Much Damage It Has Done
Even the in-country businesses shut down rather than take that risk, and they presumably have an advantage. Even if it's not a corrupt advantage of knowing the regulators personally, it's an inherent advantage of knowing the culture.
On the post: Happy Birthday Copyright Bombshell: New Evidence Warner Music Previously Hid Shows Song Is Public Domain
There is no way for the general public to be made whole from this fraud. The subsidiary likely has little cash on hand and can be trivially put into bankruptcy if needed. Even if there were a way to claw back the recent net income, the middlemen have taken the bulk of the revenue.
The corporate strategy here is clear: they knew the claimed copyright wasn't valid, but at $10M/year (or even $2M/year) it was well worth the legal cost to keep the clock running. And they kept it running until the claimed copyright was essentially expired.
On the post: Cablevision Follows Comcast Down The Compulsory WiFi Hotspot Rabbit Hole
The additional power used is negligible. Supporting an additional network doesn't require an extra WiFi chip. All of the 'networks' are supported with a single chip, which is multiplexed as needed. Yes, there is a tiny bit of extra power to broadcast an additional SSID, and to transfer the foreign traffic, but that is milliwatts for microseconds.
The traffic inside the router is likely transferred using an internal network switch, with the isolation largely handled by the hardware. Looking at the software used to configure the switch won't be especially helpful for deciding that the system is secure. The hardware support also means that the effort to route foreign packets is negligible, as is the resulting power use.
On the post: Driverless Cars: Disrupting Government Reliance On Petty Traffic Enforcement
Both have been demonstrated, but the autonomous self-driving cars primarily have been shown finding an empty spot in a parking garage.
The public will be much more comfortable starting with human supervised self-driving cars. Even if they are drunk or sleeping, there is the illusion of control and an easy target of blame when something goes wrong.
On the post: One Direction Offers Remix Competition, Then Sony/Soundcloud Punish The Entrants As Copyright Infringers
This wasn't a question of fair use, it was a claim of "we own everything" gone wild.
As for the statement about needing to own the copyright, most labels do not own all rights to the music they publish. The artists are often playing a song and singing lyrics separately copyrighted by others, and sometimes even the resulting performance is only licensed to the label.
On the post: UK High Court Goes Even Further In Emphasizing That You Cannot Rip Your Own CDs
Law or regularion, only the headline matters
At some point they'll push too far. If they convince people that almost everything is illegal, then getting unlicensed music by copying from a friend or downloading ethically feel pretty much the same as buying a CD and copying it to your device.
On the post: Judge Orders Release Of Dashcam Footage City Officials Thought They Had Paid To Keep Buried
https://www.odmp.org/search/year?year=2015
Many of those were described as "left the roadway" or "crossed the centerline". Only a few were during a pursuit, which is a separate category.
Note that you have to read the descriptions to get an accurate count, since some seem to stretch the definition of a police fatality (e.g. a police dog killed in an accident, cancer described as 9/11-related).
There were 11 deaths from heart attacks, 1/6 of the total. It seems odd to count those as police deaths when comparing the count to people killed by police.
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