lens42’s Comments

• Feb 7th, 2011 @ 10:31pm

  (untitled comment)

  on The Inefficiency Of DRM: Empires Built On Barbed Wire Never Last
  No surprise when you consider that the executives at record and movie companies are really not at all interested in the future of their organizations. They are working only to preserve their bonuses and departure packages for the next 3 to 5 years. When you realize that, the "barbed wire" schemes make a lot of sense. Of course the shareholders of these companies should be mad a hell, but they ignorantly believe what managements tells them.
• Nov 4th, 2010 @ 11:27pm

  Re:

  on Jury Finds Terra Firma Just Made A Bad Deal In Buying EMI
  Yup. People played music long before there were record companies, and they'll be playing long after as well.
• Nov 4th, 2010 @ 12:07am

  (untitled comment)

  on Warner Bros. So Thrilled With Netflix 28-Day Delays, It Wants To Have Longer Delays
  My advice to Netflix is to do whatever it takes to increase the catalog. The delays are irrelevant. All that matters is the catalog. The only date that registers in peoples' heads is the original screen release, DVD dates are lost in the noise. People may chomp at the bit to a see a new movie in the theater, but who's in that much of a hurry to watch a DVD?
• Jul 2nd, 2010 @ 11:09pm

  A truly fair plan would be...

  on Why iPhone Broadband Caps Aren't Actually A 'Good Deal'
  a simple $10 per GB. No trying to figure your usage in advance. No free ride for movie downloads. Nice and simple, but of course too complex for the great minds at the wireless carriers. The electric company doesn't make me figure my power usage in advance. I don't understand why AT&T can't see how much people hate having to predict the future.
• Apr 24th, 2010 @ 12:22am

  (untitled comment)

  on Confused Users Keep Racking Up Ridiculous 3G Bills, Wireless Carriers Keep Helping Them
  How can a company that sells to consumers think they are helping themselves with these charges? How much fine print parsing is a cell-phone customer supposed to do? I prefer to deal with companies that don't require me to constantly watch my back. If you get a $27,0000 bill, the real cost to Verizon is probably a few percent of that.
  
  Just think how attractive a carrier would be if they said, "Go ahead and do whatever you want, and we will automatically put you on the best price package for that billing month". Then I wouldn't have to worry about getting ripped off. I'd still be discouraged from hogging data because I'd still have to pay, but I wouldn't then be forced to guess about what I'm going to need next month, and they'd sell MORE that way because customer like me wouldn't just turn OFF data when traveling for fear of a $10,000 bill.
  
  The current system of making people predict their future needs is idiotic, makes consumers constantly worry about getting screwed, and puts the carriers in an unnecessarily adversarial relationship with their customers. You'd think somebody would break ranks and bill sensibly.
• Apr 4th, 2010 @ 1:34am

  Jailbreak?

  on The Fool's Gold At The End Of The iPad Rainbow
  Won't most of the complaints in this thread be rendered moot when (not if) the iPad gets jail broken? Without a required AT&T contract, it would seem that there would not much risk to this. Those that like the walled garden can stay there, and those that want to climb over the wall will. A greater truth than the ills of a closed system is that closing a system that wants to be open is futile.
• Feb 26th, 2010 @ 11:25pm

  So pointless

  on But, Wait, Whoever Said That Twitter Would Save The World?
  All of these rants against things that will not go away are so pointless. Who cares if Google, Twitter, file sharing, Wikipedia, etc. etc. etc. don't live up to someone's view of how the world should be. They might as well be ranting about air and water. This is the world as it is. Deal with it.
• Feb 26th, 2010 @ 11:08pm

  Less flakey than most engergy announcements

  on Will Bloom Energy Live Up To The Hype?
  I don't know if Bloom will succeed, but you have to give them credit for not shooting their mouths off and showing nothing, or some questionable lab experiment, like most new-energy companies. Usually the best products these businesses generate are press releases. Here you have a company that has built a REAL BOX, and even better, has several installed in REAL COMPANIES that care about cost effectiveness. To me that puts them in a FAR better position on the BS scale than the majority of EV and energy stories. It may still fall short, but it sure ain't Steorn.
• Oct 3rd, 2009 @ 12:10am

  Re: Ooh! Google Wave

  on WSJ Defies NFL's Restriction On Live Blogging
  The "end of sports as we know it!"??? You're kidding, right? It doesn't matter what happens in this case. The more people blogging, tweeting, texting, whatevering about the NFL means more money in their pocket. The NFL is being stupid here for sure. The only way they lose is if people stop paying attention to football. In spite of their claims, they NEVER lose if people "steal" their content. No one bends over to get fleeced like a football fan.
• Aug 14th, 2009 @ 1:03am

  "profesionally"

  on Hollywood Kills More Innovation; Judge Overturns DVD Jukebox Ruling
  EXACTLY. People who need to create art will do it anyway. 95% of all musicians barely make a living now! The DMCA is not helping them one iota. John Phillips Sousa wrote an article against music recordings when the Victrolla appeared. NOT because he was afraid of losing income, but because he was afraid people would stop learning how to PLAY music. He was right. Imagine that nobody makes money selling recordings anymore and the only thing people will pay for are live performances, and if you want to hear music, you have to PLAY music. That doesn't sound too bad to me.
• Aug 14th, 2009 @ 12:27am

  Re: requests "pouring in"

  on SitePoint: Rather Than Freaking Out Over Piracy, We Decided To Adapt
  The mistake many businesses make, that Sitepoint apparently has not, is that you don't need *that* many complaints in your inbox to warrant action. The complaints are from the people who give a sh1t. Most people don't bother to complain, they just walk away. You may only get one complaint, but if it makes sense, you should act on it.
• Jun 27th, 2009 @ 11:24pm

  Nobody is asking "Why do they do this?"

  on Mythbusters' Adam Savage Discovers Insane Roaming Fees: $11,000 iPhone Bill For A Few Hours Surfing
  Why do they do this? Wouldn't it be better to come up up with a rate that is painful enough, but not outrageous? Then people wouldn't live in terror of using their phones out of the country, AT&T would get more business, and MAKE MORE MONEY!
  
  AT&T has to kill these plans where you have to to think in advance, based on info you don't have, to pick the best rate. How about AUTOMATICALLY switching you to the best bulk rate when you cross each data threshold. The frugal people will still watch their Mbytes and not tax the system, and those that need data will know they will pay more, but not get ripped off. This would increase roaming revenue. Come on tellco's, get a brain!
• May 6th, 2009 @ 9:18pm

  I agree, but the conclusion is all wrong (as lens)

  on Will Content Company Greed Destroy The Pay TV Business?
  I have no cable, and get most of what I watch over the internet or Netflix. Mr. Masnick seems to get all the points right, but blows the conclusion. The content creators are not screwing themselves by jacking costs to cable companies. If I was the Discovery Channel, that's exactly what I would do. I wouldn't care what happens to Comcast Cable (I might even WANT them gone) because I'll then be able to cut out the middleman and sell directly to consumers, or at least get a bigger share of the ad dollars.