Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Jun 2016 @ 12:52pm
TWC definitely not getting any better.
Just helped my Mom switch away from TWC because of poor customer service and her service regularly going out because they wouldn't maintain their lines. AT&T ran her a new line after discovering that their old one was crap too (shock!), and while they're not really any better, at least she's paying $100 less a month for a year or two.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 12 May 2016 @ 12:50pm
Re: Prisoners, paychecks, same thing right?
The really sad part is that these fees are primarily paid for not by the prisoners, but by their families and loved ones, and those families often have the choice between bankrupting themselves or cutting off communication to their loved ones.
And because those kickbacks go into state and local revenue streams, really all this does is shift the tax burden onto the families of prisoners. If the tax burden was on society, there would be at least some financial incentive to try to fix the disaster that is our criminal justice system. But the rich want and get their tax breaks, while the poor and vulnerable are being stolen from with the support of government.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 25 Feb 2016 @ 9:24am
Re: When will they learn...
Even disclosing a vulnerability anonymously poses issues. If you stumble across a vulnerability in a service you use in the normal coarse of using it, there could be a trail leading back to you. When a company gets that anonymous tip and starts going back through their logs, you could be implicating yourself.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 1 Dec 2015 @ 9:01am
Re:
These prices haven't changed in 20 years
And they never will, unless we get serious about stopping price gouging of sick people. When people only have the choice between buying something at an inflated price and dying, the price cannot be left up to a private company only beholden to it's shareholders.
My sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 7 years old. She's been through insurance companies forcing changes in the type of insulin she could have after they decided to no longer cover certain types. She's been stuck without insurance between jobs before the ACA went into effect, and even when she did have insurance, been unable to afford care she needed and nearly lost vision in both eyes (only lost most in 1, so at least she can function).
To be clear: I have no problem with pharma companies making reasonable profits when they are acting ethically. But ethically does not include evergreening of patents, buying out competition from generics or suing them into the ground, spending exorbitantly on advertising and lobbying or to buy and influence doctors, and raising rates even though the actual costs to make and sell their products are stable or decreasing.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 12 Nov 2015 @ 10:36am
If a single doctor prescribed 5 times as much oxycontin or percocet as any other doc, I bet the DEA would find that suspicious. But if it's a single state judge signing off on wiretaps, the DEA says that's standard operating procedure.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 29 Oct 2015 @ 10:46am
Hold it
Something's fishy halfway through.
Sequence of events: 1) Service quotes guy in a story. 2) Guy gets copy of story. 3) Guy contacts service to discuss concerns about story. 4) Service ask guy where he got the copy. 5) other stuff happens
I have a problem with #4. Why would the news service ask the guy they quoted where/how he got a copy of the story?
Was the service afraid he was going to public say they misquoted him and were trying to shut him up with some kind of anti-disparagement clause?
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 29 Oct 2015 @ 6:27am
F2P
There's a lot wrong in the free-to-play space, but a lawsuit isn't the way to fix it.
It ultimately comes down to poor impulse control and some (or many) developers predatory exploitation of it. There are exceptions, but much of it is in games that have player-vs-player elements, which devolve into whoever pays the most, wins, and those who don't pay can't hope to compete.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 8 Oct 2015 @ 7:40am
Re: Since when is requiring people to pay a pittance for goods a "stick"? That's basic free market.
You can't compete with free.
You can.
I could get all my music for free, whether through torrents, or ripping from Youtube or other sources.
Yet I've been paying $10 a month for Spotify for at least 2, if not 3 years now. I actually can't remember the last time I torrented music, and I've only ripped something from Youtube once or twice in the last year - and only because it wasn't on Spotify, and I'd have to actually spend time searching for where the things are on my hard drive.
Movies or TV? Similar story. I pay for Netflix, and am considering also getting Amazon Prime Video, and my personal piracy rate has dropped dramatically since I started on Netflix - it's just easier. On the other hand, I'll admit that I have torrented more often for video than music - again, it's strictly because the content isn't available in any convenient form for a reasonable price. I won't pay the absurd price for HBO Go along with the restrictions it has just for Game of Thrones. HBO doesn't get my money until they offer GoT for a reasonable price on a convenient service. But I did go and delete all my Dexter torrents from my hard drive, because its available on Netflix - so Showtime can get a cut of my money if I decide I want to rewatch that show sometime.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 6 Oct 2015 @ 12:52pm
Re: When did Woz violate an NDA to make Apple I?
When in the history of Apple did Woz violate a developer NDA on pre-release hardware
The way I remember the story, the first prototype Woz created while he worked for HP, using his knowledge of what in today's world would be called HP's intellectual property, without their permission.
It almost killed Apple in the cradle.
He had to take his invention into HP later and get permission to start making and selling more. Luckily for Apple, HP saw no value in it and let him go forward, thinking it was no threat to them.
The point? Woz didn't ask for permission first. Neither did iFixit.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 30 Sep 2015 @ 6:54am
Re: Homophobia?
Yes, it's fear. Fear tends to be the first instinct when encountering something you don't understand, and there's good reasons this instinct was selected for via evolution. Unfortunately, that instinct doesn't translate well into the modern world where you encounter unfamiliar things on a regular basis. And the way to get over this particular fear is through exposure to the actual thing - which provides that understanding - instead of whatever strawman argument is put up of it. It's even starting to work on the Republicans (albeit slowly).
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 22 Sep 2015 @ 1:37pm
Re: Re:
Agree. I think it's a shame that PETA regularly goes out of it's way too look both foolish and like extreme radicals for really no benefit to themselves or the animals they supposedly try to protect.
As to this story, I think there are some interesting questions on what kind of rights sufficiently intelligent non-humans should have that we'll need to address in the future. We already accept that children and those with certain mental handicaps have some rights, but not others. Whether the first time we have to confront it is some kind of AI, or a genetically enhanced smart animal, or something we can't even foresee, the day is eventually coming.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 21 Sep 2015 @ 10:33am
Re:
"They are simply trying to make their money back."
This drug was on the market 60 years ago. They already made their money back, many times over.
Tauring isn't a pharmaceutical company (at least not in this instance). It's an acquisition and licensing company. It basically bought the trademark name the drug is sold under, and only in the US.
Next development in this story: people will start importing this drug from other countries where Tauring doesn't have the monopoly, and Tauring will sic ICE or some other government agency for-hire on them.
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 21 Sep 2015 @ 7:09am
Re: Man, what a cup of cold, left over the weekend with a cigarette in it, coffee this is to start the week with.
Quite the contrary - this proves that car software should be required to be open source. The ones with the most to gain from hiding things are the manufacturers as this story proves - the same manufacturers that want their software DRM'd and unable to be audited.
On the post: Study Shows Comcast Sucks Just A Tiny Bit Less This Year
Just helped my Mom switch away from TWC because of poor customer service and her service regularly going out because they wouldn't maintain their lines. AT&T ran her a new line after discovering that their old one was crap too (shock!), and while they're not really any better, at least she's paying $100 less a month for a year or two.
On the post: Prison Telecom Monopolies 'Evolve,' Now Rip Off Inmate Families With Shoddy Video Services, Too
Re: Prisoners, paychecks, same thing right?
And because those kickbacks go into state and local revenue streams, really all this does is shift the tax burden onto the families of prisoners. If the tax burden was on society, there would be at least some financial incentive to try to fix the disaster that is our criminal justice system. But the rich want and get their tax breaks, while the poor and vulnerable are being stolen from with the support of government.
On the post: Child-Monitoring Company Responds To Notification Of Security Breach By Publicly Disparaging Researcher Who Reported It
Re: When will they learn...
On the post: Light Bulb DRM: Philips Locks Purchasers Out Of Third-Party Bulbs With Firmware Update
Re:
On the post: No, Google Isn't 'Pushing' People To Vote For Bernie Sanders
Clickbait
Did WaPo hire the same people to make up titles for their stories that scuzzy clickbait articles use?
On the post: Open Insulin Project Could Help Save Thousands Of Lives And Billions Of Dollars
Re:
And they never will, unless we get serious about stopping price gouging of sick people. When people only have the choice between buying something at an inflated price and dying, the price cannot be left up to a private company only beholden to it's shareholders.
My sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 7 years old. She's been through insurance companies forcing changes in the type of insulin she could have after they decided to no longer cover certain types. She's been stuck without insurance between jobs before the ACA went into effect, and even when she did have insurance, been unable to afford care she needed and nearly lost vision in both eyes (only lost most in 1, so at least she can function).
To be clear: I have no problem with pharma companies making reasonable profits when they are acting ethically. But ethically does not include evergreening of patents, buying out competition from generics or suing them into the ground, spending exorbitantly on advertising and lobbying or to buy and influence doctors, and raising rates even though the actual costs to make and sell their products are stable or decreasing.
On the post: DEA Running Massive Wiretap Program Almost Entirely Through A Single California County Courthouse
On the post: Canadian Judge Says Asking For A Copy Of A Legally-Obtained But Paywalled Article Is Circumvention
Hold it
Sequence of events:
1) Service quotes guy in a story.
2) Guy gets copy of story.
3) Guy contacts service to discuss concerns about story.
4) Service ask guy where he got the copy.
5) other stuff happens
I have a problem with #4. Why would the news service ask the guy they quoted where/how he got a copy of the story?
Was the service afraid he was going to public say they misquoted him and were trying to shut him up with some kind of anti-disparagement clause?
On the post: Judge Tells Plaintiff That Paying Real Money For Virtual Gold Doesn't Somehow Lead To Gambling Law Violations
F2P
It ultimately comes down to poor impulse control and some (or many) developers predatory exploitation of it. There are exceptions, but much of it is in games that have player-vs-player elements, which devolve into whoever pays the most, wins, and those who don't pay can't hope to compete.
On the post: The Right Way To Stop Piracy
Re: Since when is requiring people to pay a pittance for goods a "stick"? That's basic free market.
You can.
I could get all my music for free, whether through torrents, or ripping from Youtube or other sources.
Yet I've been paying $10 a month for Spotify for at least 2, if not 3 years now. I actually can't remember the last time I torrented music, and I've only ripped something from Youtube once or twice in the last year - and only because it wasn't on Spotify, and I'd have to actually spend time searching for where the things are on my hard drive.
Movies or TV? Similar story. I pay for Netflix, and am considering also getting Amazon Prime Video, and my personal piracy rate has dropped dramatically since I started on Netflix - it's just easier. On the other hand, I'll admit that I have torrented more often for video than music - again, it's strictly because the content isn't available in any convenient form for a reasonable price. I won't pay the absurd price for HBO Go along with the restrictions it has just for Game of Thrones. HBO doesn't get my money until they offer GoT for a reasonable price on a convenient service. But I did go and delete all my Dexter torrents from my hard drive, because its available on Netflix - so Showtime can get a cut of my money if I decide I want to rewatch that show sometime.
On the post: Apple Punishes iFixit For Doing A Tear Down On Apple TV
Re: When did Woz violate an NDA to make Apple I?
The way I remember the story, the first prototype Woz created while he worked for HP, using his knowledge of what in today's world would be called HP's intellectual property, without their permission.
It almost killed Apple in the cradle.
He had to take his invention into HP later and get permission to start making and selling more. Luckily for Apple, HP saw no value in it and let him go forward, thinking it was no threat to them.
The point? Woz didn't ask for permission first. Neither did iFixit.
On the post: DailyDirt: Next-Generation Fission Energy?
Pandora's Promise
On the post: Russia 'Investigating' Apple Over The Diabolical Menace That Is LGBT-Friendly Emojis
Re: Homophobia?
On the post: Monkey Business: PETA Sues On Behalf Of The Monkey Selfie; Claims Copyright Belongs To The Monkey
Re: Re:
As to this story, I think there are some interesting questions on what kind of rights sufficiently intelligent non-humans should have that we'll need to address in the future. We already accept that children and those with certain mental handicaps have some rights, but not others. Whether the first time we have to confront it is some kind of AI, or a genetically enhanced smart animal, or something we can't even foresee, the day is eventually coming.
On the post: Company Acquires Rights To Drug Used By AIDS/Cancer Patients; Immediately Raises Per Pill Price From Under $14 To $750
Re:
This drug was on the market 60 years ago. They already made their money back, many times over.
Tauring isn't a pharmaceutical company (at least not in this instance). It's an acquisition and licensing company. It basically bought the trademark name the drug is sold under, and only in the US.
Next development in this story: people will start importing this drug from other countries where Tauring doesn't have the monopoly, and Tauring will sic ICE or some other government agency for-hire on them.
On the post: Texas Attorney General Sues Self To Stop Self From Releasing Documents He Says Can't Be Released
Zero
On the post: VW Accused Of Using Software To Fool Emissions Tests: Welcome To The Internet Of Cheating Things
Re: Man, what a cup of cold, left over the weekend with a cigarette in it, coffee this is to start the week with.
On the post: Texas Police Arrest Kid For Building A Clock
Re: Re: Someone help Ahmed set up a Kickstarter
3 days after he does that the headline would be: Ahmed Mohamed arrested for selling bomb-making instructions
On the post: Larry Lessig Tells New Zealand Court That DOJ's Case Against Kim Dotcom Is A Sham
Re: Who are the trolls here?
So tough to tell actual shenanigans from internet stupidity lately, though.
On the post: Larry Lessig Tells New Zealand Court That DOJ's Case Against Kim Dotcom Is A Sham
Re:
The same could easily be said of the DOJ being paid to shut Dotcom down on behalf of the copyright cartels.
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