Applying the "First Amendment" on the Internet would be worse. The First Amendment is a law from the United States of America, and although other countries might have similar laws, they might not want to follow US laws. The name for it is completely wrong and will upset a lot of Americans, enforcing their ideas that the USA is trying to gain more control over the Internet, while they actually want less influence. Besides, the Internet is asking for new, International laws. It doesn't need old, restricted laws from one specific area of this planet. So, the First Amendment is hereby downvoted as Internet-law. Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but please keep in mind that the majority of people on this World are NOT Americans...
Actually, converting from HD to SD just means trimming some of the fat and delivering a smaller product. Converting can be fully automated so that's a couple of cents in the electricity bill but if the SD size is half the HD size, they will save a lot of bandwidth. (And they probably pay per gigabyte...) So, SD is slightly more expensive to create but a lot cheaper to distribute...
Katzenberg is dumb from a technical perspective in my opinion. I don't think he understands the difference between screen size and resolution. But he does know that bigger screens tend to have bigger resolutions thus he thinks the two are related. I also assume that devices know the resolution they are using and are thus capable to select the proper resolution based on this while streaming movies. If you have a 4K projector/screen then it will most likely ask for the best resolution streaming, thus the most expensive package. Your phone probably knows it's screen is too small or that it doesn't have enough bandwidth to support movies at bigger resolutions. It would request the smallest resolution and thus has a great performance while displaying the movie over a slow Wifi connection. - Also, if a device knows the screen resolution, the viewer software on the device would also know it. The software can tell the stream which resolution it wants, thus linking screen size through resolution to the price of the movie. You might be able to change this preference, but it would result in a different quality of your movie. Which for some movies won't make much difference. You could look "Rio Grande" with 'The Duke' on your 4K device but it still won't change the quality of the images, since they have been made with an analog camera in black&white instead of full color.
You're assuming that the player software needs to check the resolution of the device to determine the cost price. Its more likely that they just have to base the price based on the quality that you want for your device. If someone is happy with SD quality, yet is willing to pay a lot for a big 4K screen, fine. Would be a waste of your screen quality but some people will be happy with this. But it's more likely that people with a 4K device will set their preference to 4K quality movies. And people looking on low-quality mobile devices would set their standard preference to the lowest quality to save download bandwidth and storage. (And to improve performance since viewing a 4K movie on my Android phone will be really annoying.)
This model would work just fine and is already in use! How to keep the price related to the screen size? Simply offer the movie at different resolutions! For a mobile device, the movie can be set at a resolution of 640x400 and it would look good on your mobile phone but bad on a moviescreen. Make the resolution bigger and it would look great on a television-sized screen. And offer it at 4K resolution and there's your movie theater quality. It is already possible to buy movies at SD or HD formats, at DVD or Bluray, where BluRay is supposed to have a better quality image. No one will watch a 4K movie on a mobile phone either, since it takes a huge amount of disk space and processing power. Just as no one would use a movie at SD format on a 4K-able monitor. It would look just pixelated. Don't think it will never happen since it's already happening today. It even happened yesterday, the day before that, and even further in the past. Jeffrey Katzenberg is correct that price would vary based on resolution. He just refers to this as screen size.
That depends on the size. As you know, some women have special implants to make their boobs bigger. What if a suicide terrorist gives herself a couple of fake tits by using a dangerous explosive? Then all she has to do is to shake the milkmachines and BOOM! Everyone goes tits-up in the area...
Aren't women allowed to walk topless in NY in any location where men can walk topless? If so, let's go all to ESB and make a whole gallery of bare breasts! Both male and female and everything in-between! (Is someone prepared to pay for my ticket from Europe to NY, btw? :-) )
You don't have to prosecute him. He's already legally dead so if you shoot him, you're not committing murder. You're only damaging a dead body, which is a misdemeanor, if I'm not mistaken.
Yelp has a very good reason. If they win or lose, it doesn't matter. This company is now out in the open for creating fake identities which hurts their reputation and all kinds of forums and blogs (like Techdirt) can report about the bad behaviour of this company.
It also sets an example for other companies telling them Yelp might name and shame them too.
And of course the value of Yelp would decrease if they did nothing... They make a business out of true reviews so overflooding it with fake ones is bad for business. Especially such clueless ones...
Google: "Applications can offer almost always late fee when life payday loans"
I've Googled the part of their spam links and noticed that GWC fills the first 15 to 25 entries with this exact text.
But the explanation is simple. The spam has a "nemonn" class name, which has been identified as a hack. At WordPress support (see URL) they have mentioned it and basically it seems to be an additional PHP file that's included in their website which will insert the spam in this specific paragraph.
The purpose of this all is a bit unclear to me, although I suspect the hacker wants to get a higher ranking in search engines for these specific websites. I don't think the hacker would like to draw much attention to it...
This girl isn't stupid. She just wanted to get caught. After a marriage gone wrong, I guess something just snapped in her mind and she wanted to end her current lifestyle, do something crazy and then spend some time in jail. Some people are just nutcases who want to be locked up...
Drones could also be used for medical purposes on the battlefield. Provide some basic medical knowledge to 20% of the battlefield soldiers and then they can call in a medicbot with proper medical equipment for specific wounds. Since the Meditbot would have plenty of testing in the civilian world, it would also be very helpful to save the lives of soldiers shot or otherwise harmed in the line of duty.
But then again, a bad example. It could also be used to move interrogation material to the battlefield to interrogate a fallen enemy soldier, keeping then alive long enough to provide information about the enemy.
Well, the effect of this ruling could be that Apple is now forced to tell the World (okay, just the UK) that Samsung did NOT copy them. Such a confession might have some additional effects on similar cases world-wide and possibly even help with the case in the USA, which Apple won.
In the USA, Samsung could now present this advertisement/confession from Apple and turn that ruling around...
Of course, not just in the USA. It could happen everywhere, where Apple sued Samsung over the design. Apple is forced to confes they've been wrong. Such a confession can be very valuable, when other courts recognize it as such.
Actually, transferring the "original pictures" does make a lot of sense, since it would also transfer any copyrights on those images. With the originals now owned by the Royal family, they can stop any other usage of those images with an infringement claim...
Too bad the magazine wasn't the owner, and thus could not transfer the original license, just the license of what they've done to those images. Basically, they just got a license from the original photographer to create a derived work (which was already published) and then stop any further publishing of this derived work.
It's not a matter of owning the negatives or whatever. It's about owning the rights on those images.
You won't sell much when the "Buy" button is disabled.
Also, I've noticed another problem. I wanted to order a t-shirt for a friend of mine which costs $29.00 but shipping costs to the Netherlands adds another $47.95 to the price. Wow! With such expensive shipping costs, you won't sell much merchandise outside the USA.
Cancelling that order again... Way too expensive! :-)
Please keep in mind that Techdirt has plenty of international visitors. Maybe you should find a way to cut those costs?
On the post: Can We Create A Public Internet Space Where The First Amendment, Not Private Terms Of Service, Rules?
The name for it is completely wrong and will upset a lot of Americans, enforcing their ideas that the USA is trying to gain more control over the Internet, while they actually want less influence.
Besides, the Internet is asking for new, International laws. It doesn't need old, restricted laws from one specific area of this planet. So, the First Amendment is hereby downvoted as Internet-law.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but please keep in mind that the majority of people on this World are NOT Americans...
On the post: FBI Joins The 20th Century, Will Begin Using Recording Equipment During Custodial Interviews
On the post: Jeffrey Katzenberg: The New Pricing Model For Movies Will Be Based On The Viewer's Screen Size
Re: Re: You're wrong!
So, SD is slightly more expensive to create but a lot cheaper to distribute...
On the post: Jeffrey Katzenberg: The New Pricing Model For Movies Will Be Based On The Viewer's Screen Size
Re: Re: Re: Re: You're wrong!
I also assume that devices know the resolution they are using and are thus capable to select the proper resolution based on this while streaming movies. If you have a 4K projector/screen then it will most likely ask for the best resolution streaming, thus the most expensive package. Your phone probably knows it's screen is too small or that it doesn't have enough bandwidth to support movies at bigger resolutions. It would request the smallest resolution and thus has a great performance while displaying the movie over a slow Wifi connection.
-
Also, if a device knows the screen resolution, the viewer software on the device would also know it. The software can tell the stream which resolution it wants, thus linking screen size through resolution to the price of the movie. You might be able to change this preference, but it would result in a different quality of your movie.
Which for some movies won't make much difference. You could look "Rio Grande" with 'The Duke' on your 4K device but it still won't change the quality of the images, since they have been made with an analog camera in black&white instead of full color.
On the post: Jeffrey Katzenberg: The New Pricing Model For Movies Will Be Based On The Viewer's Screen Size
Re: Re: You're wrong!
On the post: Jeffrey Katzenberg: The New Pricing Model For Movies Will Be Based On The Viewer's Screen Size
Re: Re: Re: You're wrong!
On the post: Jeffrey Katzenberg: The New Pricing Model For Movies Will Be Based On The Viewer's Screen Size
You're wrong!
How to keep the price related to the screen size? Simply offer the movie at different resolutions! For a mobile device, the movie can be set at a resolution of 640x400 and it would look good on your mobile phone but bad on a moviescreen. Make the resolution bigger and it would look great on a television-sized screen. And offer it at 4K resolution and there's your movie theater quality.
It is already possible to buy movies at SD or HD formats, at DVD or Bluray, where BluRay is supposed to have a better quality image.
No one will watch a 4K movie on a mobile phone either, since it takes a huge amount of disk space and processing power. Just as no one would use a movie at SD format on a 4K-able monitor. It would look just pixelated.
Don't think it will never happen since it's already happening today. It even happened yesterday, the day before that, and even further in the past. Jeffrey Katzenberg is correct that price would vary based on resolution. He just refers to this as screen size.
On the post: Empire State Building Supposedly Sues Photographer Over Photograph Of Topless Woman
Re:
On the post: Empire State Building Supposedly Sues Photographer Over Photograph Of Topless Woman
(Is someone prepared to pay for my ticket from Europe to NY, btw? :-) )
On the post: Ohio Zombie-Man Confirmed Dead By The Court He Personally Attended
On the post: Yelp Sues Law Firm For Posting Fake Reviews
It also sets an example for other companies telling them Yelp might name and shame them too.
And of course the value of Yelp would decrease if they did nothing... They make a business out of true reviews so overflooding it with fake ones is bad for business. Especially such clueless ones...
On the post: Bizarre Legal Threat Of The Day: Confused Zoo Owner Threatens Popehat Over... Well... Just Read It
Re: Google: "Applications can offer almost always late fee when life payday loans"
On the post: Bizarre Legal Threat Of The Day: Confused Zoo Owner Threatens Popehat Over... Well... Just Read It
Google: "Applications can offer almost always late fee when life payday loans"
But the explanation is simple. The spam has a "nemonn" class name, which has been identified as a hack. At WordPress support (see URL) they have mentioned it and basically it seems to be an additional PHP file that's included in their website which will insert the spam in this specific paragraph.
The purpose of this all is a bit unclear to me, although I suspect the hacker wants to get a higher ranking in search engines for these specific websites. I don't think the hacker would like to draw much attention to it...
On the post: Protip: After Successfully Stealing A Car And Robbing A Bank... Don't Brag About It On YouTube
No, not stupid.
On the post: How A Drone Might Save Your Life
But then again, a bad example. It could also be used to move interrogation material to the battlefield to interrogate a fallen enemy soldier, keeping then alive long enough to provide information about the enemy.
On the post: Yes, Apple, You Have To Tell The UK Public That Samsung Didn't Copy You
In the USA, Samsung could now present this advertisement/confession from Apple and turn that ruling around...
Of course, not just in the USA. It could happen everywhere, where Apple sued Samsung over the design. Apple is forced to confes they've been wrong. Such a confession can be very valuable, when other courts recognize it as such.
On the post: French Court Detaches Itself From Reality, Demands Tabloid Turn Over 'Original' Topless Kate Middleton Photos
Copyright...
Too bad the magazine wasn't the owner, and thus could not transfer the original license, just the license of what they've done to those images. Basically, they just got a license from the original photographer to create a derived work (which was already published) and then stop any further publishing of this derived work.
It's not a matter of owning the negatives or whatever. It's about owning the rights on those images.
On the post: This T-Shirt Has Been Seized
Just a reminder...
On the post: Announcing The New Techdirt Insider Shop
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Announcing The New Techdirt Insider Shop
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Also, I've noticed another problem. I wanted to order a t-shirt for a friend of mine which costs $29.00 but shipping costs to the Netherlands adds another $47.95 to the price. Wow! With such expensive shipping costs, you won't sell much merchandise outside the USA.
Cancelling that order again... Way too expensive! :-)
Please keep in mind that Techdirt has plenty of international visitors. Maybe you should find a way to cut those costs?
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