Wow. I've made five 911 calls in my time, all in Colorado. The first three were made to report three separate wildland fires spotted near my neighborhood, all the year of the Hayman Fire. (Each time the operator said the fire had been previously spotted, and emergency services were on the way.) The last two were made on my cell phone to report large debris in traffic lanes of I-25. I thought I was being public spirited, but not to the tune of $1500.
My husband the videophile was a Netflix early adopter. When he explained the service to me, I was skeptical. No late fees? Up to five DVD's at a time, delivered and picked up at our rural mailbox? Prepaid postage? I thought there had to be a catch. When I couldn't find one, I knew then that this service was going to eat the lunch of Blockbuster and other rental stores.
I pretty much quit watching when the US broadcasters decided that the only thing worth watching was areas where the US dominated and that everything had to have a "heartwarming personal story." The last time I tried to watch the Olympics I gave up because they were spending more time on background pieces and talking heads than they were on showing athletes.
I amazed how many people who are trying to sell paid subscriptions to online manage to overlook the fact that people already pay quite a lot to get to their "free" websites. We live in a rural neighborhood with no cable, DSL, or ISDN access. For our broadband access, we have a wireless antenna on our house which points down the valley to a wireless transmitter on someone's house. Speed is acceptable, but not stellar. Reliability isn't too bad, considering. This is $50 a month. My husband is a video-phile, so he pays a subscription for his big dish satellite receiver. ($?? / month.) He also has a Netflix subscription and loves his Roka box. ($25 / month). By the time we add in the landline phone service ($40) and our cell phone fees ($30), we're paying close to $200 a month for "free."
Although we occasionally discuss ditching the landline, we like the redundancy in case of emergencies.
SCO is awaiting the appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee, so in theory, McBride and the rest of the management team will no longer being calling the shots.
Are they also going to ban access in the US to foreign newspapers? Because frankly, I go to the BBC a lot as it is, and their coverage of world news is far better than US papers or sites.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Elaine Normandy.
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
(untitled comment)
Although we occasionally discuss ditching the landline, we like the redundancy in case of emergencies.
(untitled comment)
Newspaper Paywalls
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Elaine Normandy.
Submit a story now.
Tools & Services
TwitterFacebook
RSS
Podcast
Research & Reports
Company
About UsAdvertising Policies
Privacy
Contact
Help & FeedbackMedia Kit
Sponsor/Advertise
Submit a Story
More
Copia InstituteInsider Shop
Support Techdirt