"You know, we talk a great deal at Techdirt about dumb criminals and how often they are nabbed by the intersection of their own stupidity and technology."
Wait, is this article going to be about the RIAA or the NSA? No time to read, just throw me the acronym and I'll put the rest together.
P.S. Mike, just thought for once you'd like to have mistaken attribution of a Techdirt post go *away* from you. Plus, as a bonus, this really does read like a Bode post...which is mostly a good thing.
Admittedly, nobody likes the grammar police. So, I'll accept a few jibes for playing the part. But I just can't stand this particular grammatical error, which fits the definition of a pet peeve.
And mothafudge, you are wrong. It is NOT an accepted regionalism. It may be common, but so is the flu. Neither one is good. It is not an evolution of the language. It is a mistake. And one that displays a surprising level of mis-comprehension, illiteracy, and lack of aptitude. How does one get through grade school without having read the "'ve" contraction hundreds and hundreds of times?
1) it's either too brief to notice 2) it's not a service you rely on. Of course, it's all fun and games until it's a service YOU rely on.
Similarly, you would barely notice if I took a pint of blood from your body, or $100 from your bank account. But if I kept on doing it, the effects would become more obvious. I suppose you are someone that needs things to be obvious to understand that they matter.
Totally hypothetical. But lets say that a different airline got word of a crash, and notified half of the next of kin by SMS, but took their time sending out humans to knock on the door of the other half with a grief counselor in tow.
Of course, the press would have the story of the crashed plane all over the news and many would find out that way.
So...how many of the half that didn't get the text would be yelling and screaming "Why didn't I get a text? Why was I kept in the dark? I need answers. Something doesn't add up here."
Re: Vaccination Benefits Society, Not The Individual
A freeloader is someone who sleeps on your couch and empties your fridge. This is a mooch, and there are negative connotations automatically attached to the term.
I think the term you are looking for is "free rider". It's an economics term for those who get benefits from some social investment in public goods (like vax for societal health or public transit) without paying their share of the costs.
In the case of Christopher Best (his comments below) he is a free rider. But economics planning suggests that subsidizing some such free riders is often desirable. This is generally the case when the free rider is someone who, for whatever LEGITIMATE reason, would be unusually burdened by his share of the cost. The marginal cost of the free rider is often negligible (a free rider on a half-full train costs almost zero).
You, sir, are a member in good standing on the side of reason.
I feel like every "movement" needs many voices. Some explanatory, some kind, some tolerant, and some shrill. These different voices are like different tools in the toolbox.
It's funny. You don't see theists complaining that preachers run the full gamut of styles and methods. But put forward ONE vocal atheist (say Hitchens), and he is promptly demonized for having and talking about his own point of view, because it smacks them with cognitive dissonance.
My voice is usually more explanatory, with a hint of condescension. Yours is more of a smackdown. Dawkins is explanatory and in your face, Hitchens was demeaning, the Amazing Randi challenges the other side. Bill Nye is compassionate and explanatory.
On another topic, similarly, we need some Ron Wydens, AND we need some Ed Snowdens. Each fight for justice in their own way.
There is no "right" way to argue the side of reason. We need all of the tools in the toolbox.
It's probably also worthwhile to point out that Silicon Valley is also not just three big companies.
I mean, why stop there. There's some other big daddies and up-and-comers here, which also employ people and create wealth -- on a scale NEVER seen in Detroit.
Wow. I'm so sorry. My memory failed me, and I even had an N95 (wasn't my daily driver, but was my travel phone). It was not a touch screen, you are correct.
So that just leaves the PalmOS phones, all the Windows mobile phones that were resistive touch and played music, as well as a number of Asian feature phones, the Motorola Rokr, etc.
" I'm actually having trouble finding out if there was a touchscreen smartphone with an mp3 player before 2007."
As I mentioned to jupiterkansas, my Nokia N95 is just one example of that. Resistive touchscreen, not capacitive.
The Windows phones of the early century also played music. PalmOS added media, and could also play tunes, making the Treo line another answer to your question. There were many.
Netflix is carrying some 4k streaming content, and ESPN has said they will shoot 100% of their content in 4K.
A DVD is a relic from the awful past. From scratches and slow load times, to "no skip" flags and copious advertisements put *before* the film. And who can forget the fun of region locking? There is a place in my heart for VHS, but I curse and dance on DVD's grave.
No, sir. The Motorola Rokr (built in a partnership with Apple and Verizon) or any of some other devices, like the Nokia N95 had already married music with an 8GB smartphone. Heck, mine even had a removable memory card slot to add more music. When I worked for Korean telco SK Telecom in 2001, we had mp3 feature phones.
So, how did that work out for Nokia versus Apple, I ask?
Once again, "an easy to use software interface" makes a radical difference.
Listen. I don't love the product. I don't even know jack about it. But poking fun at the price is irrelevant. If the progress has been hobbled by the MPAA, and thus the only market the vendor could address is the Billionaire market, it just leaves me to wonder where this product might have gone if it were unhindered.
If the MPAA lawsuit against the VCR had succeeded, we still would have have had crippled functionality VCRs available to the Billionaires for thousands of dollars. And we'd have you telling us how stupid VCR makers are for their overpriced junk. Instead, Sony won, and the product underwent a common evolution.
Ten years later, this product is still $4k. Ten years after the MPAA-Sony lawsuit, VCRs were $50. See the point?
"the only thing new this might have going for it is an easy-to-use software interface"
Oh. Is that all?
Did you really just write that? Do you want to post a retraction?
Cuz that's all the iPhone did when it came out in 2007. And now anybody knows that "just adding easy to use software interface" can make a radical difference.
Early product runs prove a technology and attract competitors. Like expensive PCs attracted Wozniak and thousands of other assemblers. Some of those turn into businesses and sell better and cheaper products.
They're not yet searching for customers like you or me, who can cobble together our own solution with NAS and software like Catalyst or Handbrake. They're looking specifically for people who can't, or don't want to.
Early product runs start at high prices because THEY CAN. They seek rich customers, or customers that are specifically seeking the solution they provide, and then they seek to extract all the consumer surplus from these high demand customers, before lowering the price to sell to the larger mass market. It's just basic price discrimination, and makes perfect sense when you don't even have the ability to produce high volumes yet.
Elon Musk is doing just that with the Model S. First, a car with a high price, the next model will be cheaper and higher volume, and the third model is expected to compete with a BMW 3 series on price. I've been to the factory. They are barely using any of its capacity.
On the post: Progress: An Honest Criminal Turns Himself In After Learning He's Wanted Via Vanity Google Search
Wait...
Wait, is this article going to be about the RIAA or the NSA? No time to read, just throw me the acronym and I'll put the rest together.
On the post: Comcast Says That If You Object To Its Merger With Time Warner Cable, You're Ignorant And Unreasonable
Why do you hate the Cable Cos So?
Why are you always out to get them?
Derek.
P.S. Mike, just thought for once you'd like to have mistaken attribution of a Techdirt post go *away* from you. Plus, as a bonus, this really does read like a Bode post...which is mostly a good thing.
On the post: Exasperation Shines Through As Google Angrily Responds To Contempt Motion Over Innocence Of Muslims
Re:
Sounds like the title of an Easter Bunny horror flick.
On the post: Thanks Anti-Vax Loons: The Return Of The Measles And The Backlash Against Jenny McCarthy
Re: Re: Re: Re: WTF?
And mothafudge, you are wrong. It is NOT an accepted regionalism. It may be common, but so is the flu. Neither one is good. It is not an evolution of the language. It is a mistake. And one that displays a surprising level of mis-comprehension, illiteracy, and lack of aptitude. How does one get through grade school without having read the "'ve" contraction hundreds and hundreds of times?
On the post: FCC Is Sorry, But OpenInternet.gov Cannot Be Found
Re: Re: Re:
1) it's either too brief to notice
2) it's not a service you rely on. Of course, it's all fun and games until it's a service YOU rely on.
Similarly, you would barely notice if I took a pint of blood from your body, or $100 from your bank account. But if I kept on doing it, the effects would become more obvious. I suppose you are someone that needs things to be obvious to understand that they matter.
Good for you. Don't sweat the small stuff!
On the post: Dear Everyone: Stop Freaking Out That Malaysian Airlines Notified Victim's Families By Text Message
What if they were NOT texted
Of course, the press would have the story of the crashed plane all over the news and many would find out that way.
So...how many of the half that didn't get the text would be yelling and screaming "Why didn't I get a text? Why was I kept in the dark? I need answers. Something doesn't add up here."
On the post: Thanks Anti-Vax Loons: The Return Of The Measles And The Backlash Against Jenny McCarthy
Re: Vaccination Benefits Society, Not The Individual
I think the term you are looking for is "free rider". It's an economics term for those who get benefits from some social investment in public goods (like vax for societal health or public transit) without paying their share of the costs.
In the case of Christopher Best (his comments below) he is a free rider. But economics planning suggests that subsidizing some such free riders is often desirable. This is generally the case when the free rider is someone who, for whatever LEGITIMATE reason, would be unusually burdened by his share of the cost. The marginal cost of the free rider is often negligible (a free rider on a half-full train costs almost zero).
A free rider problem occurs when too many people elect to become free riders, like antivaxxers do with herd immunity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem
On the post: Thanks Anti-Vax Loons: The Return Of The Measles And The Backlash Against Jenny McCarthy
Re: Re: WTF?
"Would of", "Could of" and any writing of the contraction "would've" as including the word "of" is incorrect.
"'ve" is short for have, it isn't "of". People who have read English books should know this.
On the post: Thanks Anti-Vax Loons: The Return Of The Measles And The Backlash Against Jenny McCarthy
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The difference...
You, sir, are a member in good standing on the side of reason.
I feel like every "movement" needs many voices. Some explanatory, some kind, some tolerant, and some shrill. These different voices are like different tools in the toolbox.
It's funny. You don't see theists complaining that preachers run the full gamut of styles and methods. But put forward ONE vocal atheist (say Hitchens), and he is promptly demonized for having and talking about his own point of view, because it smacks them with cognitive dissonance.
My voice is usually more explanatory, with a hint of condescension. Yours is more of a smackdown. Dawkins is explanatory and in your face, Hitchens was demeaning, the Amazing Randi challenges the other side. Bill Nye is compassionate and explanatory.
On another topic, similarly, we need some Ron Wydens, AND we need some Ed Snowdens. Each fight for justice in their own way.
There is no "right" way to argue the side of reason. We need all of the tools in the toolbox.
On the post: Bogus Comparison Between Detroit In 1990 And Silicon Valley In 2012
More Than Three
I mean, why stop there. There's some other big daddies and up-and-comers here, which also employ people and create wealth -- on a scale NEVER seen in Detroit.
Yahoo, Intel, AMD, Oracle, HP, Cisco, eBay, Uber, Gilead, VMWare, oh, just read this:
http://www.mercurynews.com/sv150/ci_23063782/sv-150-2013-silicon-valley-150-listings-nos-1-75
It 's pretty asinine to include just three, cuz that's what Detroit has, then compare the regions.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
So that just leaves the PalmOS phones, all the Windows mobile phones that were resistive touch and played music, as well as a number of Asian feature phones, the Motorola Rokr, etc.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
As I mentioned to jupiterkansas, my Nokia N95 is just one example of that. Resistive touchscreen, not capacitive.
The Windows phones of the early century also played music. PalmOS added media, and could also play tunes, making the Treo line another answer to your question. There were many.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
um...so you're now saying that the iPhone played songs like other phones did, but had an easy to user interface.
Are you arguing my side, or yours?
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re:
http://mashable.com/2014/01/03/youtube-4k-ces/
Netflix is carrying some 4k streaming content, and ESPN has said they will shoot 100% of their content in 4K.
A DVD is a relic from the awful past. From scratches and slow load times, to "no skip" flags and copious advertisements put *before* the film. And who can forget the fun of region locking? There is a place in my heart for VHS, but I curse and dance on DVD's grave.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
So, how did that work out for Nokia versus Apple, I ask?
Once again, "an easy to use software interface" makes a radical difference.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Lame excuse is still lame.
If the MPAA lawsuit against the VCR had succeeded, we still would have have had crippled functionality VCRs available to the Billionaires for thousands of dollars. And we'd have you telling us how stupid VCR makers are for their overpriced junk. Instead, Sony won, and the product underwent a common evolution.
Ten years later, this product is still $4k. Ten years after the MPAA-Sony lawsuit, VCRs were $50. See the point?
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re:
Oh. Is that all?
Did you really just write that? Do you want to post a retraction?
Cuz that's all the iPhone did when it came out in 2007. And now anybody knows that "just adding easy to use software interface" can make a radical difference.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Lame excuse is still lame.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re:
Doesn't matter.
Early product runs prove a technology and attract competitors. Like expensive PCs attracted Wozniak and thousands of other assemblers. Some of those turn into businesses and sell better and cheaper products.
They're not yet searching for customers like you or me, who can cobble together our own solution with NAS and software like Catalyst or Handbrake. They're looking specifically for people who can't, or don't want to.
Early product runs start at high prices because THEY CAN. They seek rich customers, or customers that are specifically seeking the solution they provide, and then they seek to extract all the consumer surplus from these high demand customers, before lowering the price to sell to the larger mass market. It's just basic price discrimination, and makes perfect sense when you don't even have the ability to produce high volumes yet.
Elon Musk is doing just that with the Model S. First, a car with a high price, the next model will be cheaper and higher volume, and the third model is expected to compete with a BMW 3 series on price. I've been to the factory. They are barely using any of its capacity.
On the post: Hollywood's Piracy Fears Turn Potentially Useful Product Into A $4,000 Brick
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Meanwhile, that Sandisk is a pretty good price/MB.
Kryder's law is in full effect.
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