Here in Portugal two carriers have been offering the iPhone from the start (Vodafone and Optimus). However, according to something I read when the original iPhone was launched here, Optimus might not be getting the iPhones directly from Apple but from a UK carrier.
Only TMN, the biggest carrier with something like 60% market share, doesn't have the iPhone. And like Derek said, they have been very keen in launching touch phones from Samsung, Nokia and HTC. They where the first to launch an Android phone here, the HTC Magic, and they offered a 50% discount for it during the iPhone 3GS launch day. It sold out from the online store in less than 1 hour. I was one of the luck few that got one. 224€ without any "plan" or "contract" attached, I think it was a good deal.
"this is a game that purposely is based on stealing cars, killing people, drug dealing and other sorts of illegal activity... and suddenly people got upset because of a hidden level that included a bit of consensual sex?"
Exactly! I have been saying that all this time. Probably the ONLY thing in that game that didn't involve hurting anyone (quite the opposite, the goal was to pleasure your girlfriend), was the part that generated a scandal!
So, you can kill people, kill policemen, have sex for money AND kill the hocker after if you want your money back... that's fine! No problem. But a mini-game whose goal is to pleasure your girlfriend... now that's to far!
A 17+ rating was enough for the violence in the US, unlike the rest of the world, but for consensual sex... Oh no! Don't you dare play that a single day before your 18th birthday!
Now, that really sent a GREAT message to the kids. You can have sex with hookers and shoot them in the face right after, but don't you dare give your girlfriend an orgasm!
If different databases exist, for related purposes (in this case diagnostic and treatment), then using/consulting/merging them is totally an obvious thing. Even if there was no prior art, to me this should be an open and shut case.
If the fact that this is about "knowledge bases" or "data bases" confuses the issue, then think about them as books! Enough said!
I sent this one to Mike too, but I guess someone bit me to it. True or not, its a fascinating story. We may think this is new, that the current disputes are from the internet age, but 1450 years ago they where debating access to knowledge, copies devaluing the originals, and the familiar property rhetoric! One demanded the right to make copies and spread them, the other demanded control of any copying of "his" book. Sounds familiar? Well it happened 1450 years ago!
I guess the RIAA and our governments are lucky the Columbas of today cant exactly raise an army, defeat them in battle and dethrone them. We'll have to make do with the EFFs and Pirate Parties.
RecycledBottle, then I guess you turn your music off when you have visits, and never invite people to watch your DVDs with you... or even let anyone use your computer! You probably don't even share that stuff with your family! They didn't pay for the license, after all.
There are 2 or 3 newspapers here in Portugal that seem to get very well that they are truly ad vehicles. They are free and distributed all over the place in major cities. They are placed in public transportation hubs, office buildings, waiting rooms, and given away to drivers waiting in red lights at busy intersections.
Do they make quality news? No. Are they "newspapers of record"? Hell no! But the formula works. They are there when people are bored with nothing to do, commuting or in a waiting room, and usually have at least some mildly interesting stuff to make people want to browse them. They capture that audience and sell it to advertisers.
There are also companies here using "news" to make flyers/catalogs more interesting. Lidl, a chain of supermarkets of German origin, wraps their weekly catalogs (inserted in thousands of mailboxes) in several pages of a basic newspaper/magazine. There's always a celebrity interview, some news, funny stories, comics, puzzles, etc. It's another example of free content paid by advertising.
The major (paid) newspapers also understand it's important to give people "reasons to buy" beyond news. They often make bundles with books, DVDs, tools, silverware, jewelery, etc, for a couple more euros or at no extra cost. It's all about circulation. How many eye balls they get on ads.
So why are so many newspaper people in the US unable to see things aren't that much different online? What matters are page views. How many people view the ads and potentially click on them. The difference is, newspapers can't "force" themselves in front of people (short of spamming). So aggregators, blogs, etc, that send people to newspaper websites are truly their friends, not enemies. And like bundling goodies in the offline world, they must give reasons (beyond news) for people to go back to their sites again and again. Build a community like Techdirt says all the time. Perhaps online versions of puzzles with score rankings that foster competition. Perhaps encouraging discussion around the news. Etc.
I find it funny that the US, having quite probably the most restrictive copyright laws in the world, doesn't have an exclusive renting right (not cancelled under first sale). Redbox can by DVDs through distributors or retail, and rent them out as they please! Here in Europe that would be illegal. And apparently it's part of the TRIPS treaty as well. Which means the US is in breach of TRIPS. :)
facebone, except what Tenenbaum did is nothing like stealing "pizza out the back door of the pizza place". It's more like he copied the recipe, made pizzas at home and gave them away to his friends. Tenenbaum didn't steal CDs from a store! He made copies of the songs; that's it. No additional cost was imparted on the labels for each of those copies. The only "loss" is a potential (but not certain) decrease in the opportunity to sell the CDs.
You can say its a kind of unfair competition, as Tenenbaum didn't pay for the creation of the music he was distributing, but it's definitely not stealing. He infringed on a government granted monopoly right, designed to regulate commercial transactions in support of a particular business model. The problem is that this regulation is now being applied to private individuals and private non-commercial transactions, with the senseless consequences we see here.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My analysis of your analysis...
"If you produce something and decide to sell it, you have the right to get paid for your work. It is a pretty basic thing. [...] If you want it enough, pay for it. If you don't want it that much, then you don't get it."
So if I start selling oxygen, should I then expect you to pay me or stop breathing? Sure you wont be breathing the oxygen I made (unless I release it into the atmosphere... then you could be) but an exact copy. According to RIAA logic, if you get for free what I'm selling, then you are "stealing" from me, right?
That is what Tenenbaum did. He obtained and distributed for free, (inferior) copies of what RIAA members where selling. He didn't steal anything, and didn't even profit from it.
Let me put it another way. No one affiliated with the RIAA produced the copies that Tenenbaum distributed. He made them! Copies of MP3 that the labels probably weren't even selling. Tenenbaum distributed sequences of 1s and 0s, that were actually quite different than the sequences found on the CDs the labels sold. When properly interpreted by the right software they produce a result close to the original, but they are not even exact copies. They are kinda like Pepsy is to Coke (something engineered to taste similar, but not quite the same).
Sure, the artists and the labels can demand payment and set whatever price they want on the copies they sell. They made them, and they control the transaction. But if somebody makes a copy and distributes it, the artist or the label are not involved in making those copies or those transactions. If we were talking about pizzas and most other tangible goods there would be no discussion about whether the labels have any right to be payed for copies made by others. Copies of tangible goods can be restricted via patents but, like copyright, that is the government interfering in the free market, and that restriction lasts 17-20 years, not 50 or life + 70.
Remove the government granted monopolies and copies, and what remains is basic economic principles and free market rules. If people are not buying your product and are getting it cheaper or for free somewhere else, either you are selling it at to high a price or you are selling it WRONG (ie not providing good reasons to buy). The labels, etc, have been insulated from market rules for so long they have forgotten basic salesmanship. Every company has to constantly rethink about how best to sell their products. Only the content companies get to go cry on the courts when they fail!
"Amanda Palmer makes little playing music, but makes half her yearly income selling crap online on a Friday night, and you don't see anything wrong with it?"
And 10 years ago, an aspiring musician would spend "months writing, rehearsing, recording" a demo tape, only to be rejected by a label, have his or her dream shattered and go back to waiting tables. OR, he or she was contracted by the label, forced to change the music to make it "commercial", be exploited to no end, and end up making little money from the damn CDs! This was the story for MANY MANY musicians! And you dont see anything wrong with it?
No business model is perfect, but some will work better than others in the given market conditions and given technology available.
At least Amanda Palmer doesn't have label execs bossing her around. She does what she wants, AND gets to earn thousands of dollars on a Friday night! And you don't see what is right with that?
Video game execs are being short-sighted indeed. They should talk to a few car sales execs. They know that if a car has more potential resell value, people are more likely to buy.
However, the used video game market might cause some lost revenue in value priced old games.
I personally hope the used video game market thrives, precisely so direct download prices come down. It makes little sense for games to be sold on Steam, etc, at retail shop prices, precisely because of the cost savings involved. I like Steam, and have bought a few games there, but only old games or during promotions. New games are sold at 50€ just like in stores, and I can order them on amazon.co.uk or play.com saving 15-25€! It makes no sense to me to buy new games on Steam.
For file-sharers who wouldn't buy anyway -> no impact
For file-sharers who try before they buy -> no impact
This doesn't mean there is no impact from file sharing, and I don't think Mike has said that, but shows it's not always negative.
As for games bought via download, it harms the used video game market because they can't be resold! It reduces the product availability in that market. No product to be sold, no market! It's a completely different question.
France's contitutional council didn't just demand that a judge decide these cases, but also said that presumption of innocence and due process must be respected. So the accused must be proven guilty and given an opportunity to defend themselves.
How does having a judge decide in 5 minutes address that?? It's exactly like the previous system, only with a judge behind the desk instead of a bureaucrat!
Rob, I don't know if this is true, but Matt Mason, author of the book "The Pirate's Dilemma" claims that Yankee comes from the slang Dutch term "jankays" (not sure about spelling). It means, guess what... pirates!
Apparently they used it to refer to the US for not respecting foreign patents and copyrights during the industrial revolution. Oh the irony!
On the post: French Politician Proposes Warning Labels On Any Photoshopped Ad Or Marketing Label
On the post: iPhone To Be Offered From Multiple Carriers, eh
Only TMN, the biggest carrier with something like 60% market share, doesn't have the iPhone. And like Derek said, they have been very keen in launching touch phones from Samsung, Nokia and HTC. They where the first to launch an Android phone here, the HTC Magic, and they offered a 50% discount for it during the iPhone 3GS launch day. It sold out from the online store in less than 1 hour. I was one of the luck few that got one. 224€ without any "plan" or "contract" attached, I think it was a good deal.
On the post: Hot Coffee Finally History? Take-Two Pays $20 Million To Investors
Exactly!
Exactly! I have been saying that all this time. Probably the ONLY thing in that game that didn't involve hurting anyone (quite the opposite, the goal was to pleasure your girlfriend), was the part that generated a scandal!
So, you can kill people, kill policemen, have sex for money AND kill the hocker after if you want your money back... that's fine! No problem. But a mini-game whose goal is to pleasure your girlfriend... now that's to far!
A 17+ rating was enough for the violence in the US, unlike the rest of the world, but for consensual sex... Oh no! Don't you dare play that a single day before your 18th birthday!
Now, that really sent a GREAT message to the kids. You can have sex with hookers and shoot them in the face right after, but don't you dare give your girlfriend an orgasm!
On the post: Forget Software Copyrights And Patents... How About Trade Dress?
Speaking of trademarking interfaces...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/01/developers-be-warned-apple-has-apparently-trademarked -those-shiny-chat-bubbles/
On the post: USPTO: Using Three Knowledge Bases To Diagnose Is Patentable
Re:
If different databases exist, for related purposes (in this case diagnostic and treatment), then using/consulting/merging them is totally an obvious thing. Even if there was no prior art, to me this should be an open and shut case.
If the fact that this is about "knowledge bases" or "data bases" confuses the issue, then think about them as books! Enough said!
On the post: The Very First Copyright Trial, In 6th Century Ireland, Sounds Really Familiar
I guess the RIAA and our governments are lucky the Columbas of today cant exactly raise an army, defeat them in battle and dethrone them. We'll have to make do with the EFFs and Pirate Parties.
On the post: Since When Is Sharing So Bad?
Re: Shortsighted
On the post: Why Newspapers Are Failing (Hint: Failure To Get Users To Pay Is NOT The Reason)
Newspapers as ad vehicles
Do they make quality news? No. Are they "newspapers of record"? Hell no! But the formula works. They are there when people are bored with nothing to do, commuting or in a waiting room, and usually have at least some mildly interesting stuff to make people want to browse them. They capture that audience and sell it to advertisers.
There are also companies here using "news" to make flyers/catalogs more interesting. Lidl, a chain of supermarkets of German origin, wraps their weekly catalogs (inserted in thousands of mailboxes) in several pages of a basic newspaper/magazine. There's always a celebrity interview, some news, funny stories, comics, puzzles, etc. It's another example of free content paid by advertising.
The major (paid) newspapers also understand it's important to give people "reasons to buy" beyond news. They often make bundles with books, DVDs, tools, silverware, jewelery, etc, for a couple more euros or at no extra cost. It's all about circulation. How many eye balls they get on ads.
So why are so many newspaper people in the US unable to see things aren't that much different online? What matters are page views. How many people view the ads and potentially click on them. The difference is, newspapers can't "force" themselves in front of people (short of spamming). So aggregators, blogs, etc, that send people to newspaper websites are truly their friends, not enemies. And like bundling goodies in the offline world, they must give reasons (beyond news) for people to go back to their sites again and again. Build a community like Techdirt says all the time. Perhaps online versions of puzzles with score rankings that foster competition. Perhaps encouraging discussion around the news. Etc.
On the post: Hollywood's War With Redbox Expanding To Netflix As Well?
No rental right?
On the post: Correcting A Few 'Facts' From The RIAA... For Which We Feel We Deserve Payment
Re: pizza
You can say its a kind of unfair competition, as Tenenbaum didn't pay for the creation of the music he was distributing, but it's definitely not stealing. He infringed on a government granted monopoly right, designed to regulate commercial transactions in support of a particular business model. The problem is that this regulation is now being applied to private individuals and private non-commercial transactions, with the senseless consequences we see here.
On the post: Correcting A Few 'Facts' From The RIAA... For Which We Feel We Deserve Payment
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My analysis of your analysis...
So if I start selling oxygen, should I then expect you to pay me or stop breathing? Sure you wont be breathing the oxygen I made (unless I release it into the atmosphere... then you could be) but an exact copy. According to RIAA logic, if you get for free what I'm selling, then you are "stealing" from me, right?
That is what Tenenbaum did. He obtained and distributed for free, (inferior) copies of what RIAA members where selling. He didn't steal anything, and didn't even profit from it.
Let me put it another way. No one affiliated with the RIAA produced the copies that Tenenbaum distributed. He made them! Copies of MP3 that the labels probably weren't even selling. Tenenbaum distributed sequences of 1s and 0s, that were actually quite different than the sequences found on the CDs the labels sold. When properly interpreted by the right software they produce a result close to the original, but they are not even exact copies. They are kinda like Pepsy is to Coke (something engineered to taste similar, but not quite the same).
Sure, the artists and the labels can demand payment and set whatever price they want on the copies they sell. They made them, and they control the transaction. But if somebody makes a copy and distributes it, the artist or the label are not involved in making those copies or those transactions. If we were talking about pizzas and most other tangible goods there would be no discussion about whether the labels have any right to be payed for copies made by others. Copies of tangible goods can be restricted via patents but, like copyright, that is the government interfering in the free market, and that restriction lasts 17-20 years, not 50 or life + 70.
Remove the government granted monopolies and copies, and what remains is basic economic principles and free market rules. If people are not buying your product and are getting it cheaper or for free somewhere else, either you are selling it at to high a price or you are selling it WRONG (ie not providing good reasons to buy). The labels, etc, have been insulated from market rules for so long they have forgotten basic salesmanship. Every company has to constantly rethink about how best to sell their products. Only the content companies get to go cry on the courts when they fail!
On the post: Reasons Why Copyright On Art And Music Could Be Deemed Unconstitutional
Re: Re: Re:
"Amanda Palmer makes little playing music, but makes half her yearly income selling crap online on a Friday night, and you don't see anything wrong with it?"
And 10 years ago, an aspiring musician would spend "months writing, rehearsing, recording" a demo tape, only to be rejected by a label, have his or her dream shattered and go back to waiting tables. OR, he or she was contracted by the label, forced to change the music to make it "commercial", be exploited to no end, and end up making little money from the damn CDs! This was the story for MANY MANY musicians! And you dont see anything wrong with it?
No business model is perfect, but some will work better than others in the given market conditions and given technology available.
At least Amanda Palmer doesn't have label execs bossing her around. She does what she wants, AND gets to earn thousands of dollars on a Friday night! And you don't see what is right with that?
On the post: Video Game Downloads Harming The Used Video Game Market?
Short-sighted indeed
However, the used video game market might cause some lost revenue in value priced old games.
I personally hope the used video game market thrives, precisely so direct download prices come down. It makes little sense for games to be sold on Steam, etc, at retail shop prices, precisely because of the cost savings involved. I like Steam, and have bought a few games there, but only old games or during promotions. New games are sold at 50€ just like in stores, and I can order them on amazon.co.uk or play.com saving 15-25€! It makes no sense to me to buy new games on Steam.
On the post: Video Game Downloads Harming The Used Video Game Market?
Re:
Duhhh.
For file-sharers who wouldn't buy anyway -> no impact
For file-sharers who try before they buy -> no impact
This doesn't mean there is no impact from file sharing, and I don't think Mike has said that, but shows it's not always negative.
As for games bought via download, it harms the used video game market because they can't be resold! It reduces the product availability in that market. No product to be sold, no market! It's a completely different question.
On the post: Oh Look, Viral Video On YouTube Boosting Sales... And Reputation For Chris Brown
I dont see buy links
On the post: Is The NY Times Looking To CwF + RtB?
NY Times Crystal Ball
On the post: New French Three Strikes Law: Judges Will Get Five Minutes To Rule
I wonder what the constitutional council will say
How does having a judge decide in 5 minutes address that?? It's exactly like the previous system, only with a judge behind the desk instead of a bureaucrat!
On the post: Swedish Pirate Party Wins
TwoOne Seat In EU ParliamentRe: Re:
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6483543718966313073&hl=en
Watch from 12m20s.
On the post: Swedish Pirate Party Wins
TwoOne Seat In EU ParliamentRe:
Apparently they used it to refer to the US for not respecting foreign patents and copyrights during the industrial revolution. Oh the irony!
On the post: Bad Science's Ben Goldacre Rips Apart Bogus Study On File Sharing
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