Jared’s Comments

• Feb 16th, 2011 @ 6:19am

  Afraid of competition

  on Cable And Hollywood Fight Having Their Gatekeeper Status Taken Away
  The piracy issue is a red harring, it's not even a particularly good one, thats why it sounds so insane. The cable co's (much like apple, though not nearly as slick) have built a walled garden, this walled garden provides protection from competition.
  
  The average person sees their TV as serving one function, displaying what comes out of the cable, to them it's effectively a dumb display, and thats how the cable co's want it. Many people even plug their TV's power to their set top boxes and use the set top box's volume control.
  
  Once that garden wall comes down the consumer is going to have a lot more options, they'll all be in once easy to access interface. They might just find that services like Netflix are good enough and they no longer have a need for their $70-100/mo cable subscription. This is what the cable co's are truly terrified of. Just read back what they say but replace pirated with competitive and it'll all become clear.
  
  Translated:
  "our content will be presented alongside Hulu, Netflix, etc (services that feature similar content)," MPAA warns. "In essence, this 'shopping mall' approach could enable the consumer to switch from cable co's which up until now have had a (government subsidized) monopoly, causing us to loose a ton of money."
• Dec 9th, 2010 @ 8:32am

  Re: Going a little to far

  on FBI 'Thwarts' Another Of Its Own Bomb Plots
  I wonder that as well.
• Dec 9th, 2010 @ 8:29am

  Reeeally?

  on FBI 'Thwarts' Another Of Its Own Bomb Plots

  Obviously, it's not good to have people who are willing to blow stuff up, but with so many of these stories, you have to wonder if the FBI wouldn't be better off focusing on those who not only want to harm Americans, but who actually have the ability to do so.

  First, "With so many of these..", since when does two constitute "so many". Second, it seems to me they are doing the job of catching idiots who want to blow stuff up. If you have intent and act on that intent then yes you need to be in jail. Read up on unloaded gun felonies, it's one of the first things they teach in just about any criminology or law program.
• Nov 9th, 2010 @ 7:07am

  Re: Guess we shouldn't be surprised

  on 30 Months In Prison For Denial Of Service Hit On Politicians' Websites
  I think there needs to be far stiffer punishment for these sorts of crimes especially because drunk drivers are often repeat offenders and revoking their licenses doesn't seem to do much. I'd like to see a zero tolerance with drunk driving.
  
  On a somewhat related note, my uncle was killed by a woman in an giant SUV while talking on her phone, performing an illegal u-turn. She got a $25 ticket. Meanwhile 30 months for a DDoS.
• Nov 8th, 2010 @ 5:26am

  (untitled comment)

  on Houston Votes To Turn Off Red Light Cameras; City Officials Trying To Figure Out How To Cancel Contract
  It's a shame the red light cameras are used as a revenue center and not for actual traffic safety. If they were cheaper and only ticketed (and it should be a severe fine) when the light had turned green for opposing traffic and someone still runs a red I think that'd be great. Instead you get greedy gov involved, trying to turn a profit, shortening yellows, etc.
• Oct 29th, 2010 @ 7:19am

  (untitled comment)

  on New Cable Talking Point Against Cord Cutters: They May Be Cutting, But They're Poor Nobodies
  They're right that people are cutting the cord to save money but they're wrong that the average cord cutter is broke. I'd bet that many of those supposed poor cord cutters still have high priced, high speed internet, and that many are like me, just sick of the ever increasing prices with every decreasing quality.
  
  If your a sports fan and don't have access to ESPN3 then your pretty much tied to cable. I think thats a big reason TWC doesn't want ESPN3, it would allow for sports fans to more easily cut the cord.
  
  We cut the cord over the summer, it was a rough transition and it's still not nearly as easy to "watch tv" than before, we use a mix of Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Hulu but it is doable and seems to be getting better every month.
  
  We had to invest a several hundred in hardware to make it happen but after one year it'll break even and we'll effectively have a free computer. One nice thing we've found is that we're now very decisive about what we watch and have gotten many hours of life back now that we spend effectively zero time chan surfing.
  
  I do however miss 5.1 and HD on most things, though that seems to be changing. Netflix on the PS3 is really quite amazing and is example of things to come.