Griff 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (264) comment rss

  • On the post: Cisco Sued For Helping China Repress Falun Gong

    Griff ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 04:31am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Not sure I agree.

    If I have a (legal) joint in Amsterdam then fly home to a less permissive country 5 days later then
    - I haven't possessed the drug at home
    - I haven't bought the drug at home
    - I haven't taken the drug at home
    - I have not been "intoxicated" with the drug at home

    But if a very sensitive test can show it still in some qty in my bloodstream are you saying that
    a) there is is an offence under which I could be prosecuted in any country you know of ?
    b) that you'd be OK with that morally ?

  • On the post: Claims In E-Mail Sent Via Google Found To Be Opinion, Not Libel

    Griff ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 04:22am

    Re: Re: Striesand-Giggs effect

    No idea who Briggs is but looking forward to seeing someone sue Twitter in California while remaining anonymous...

  • On the post: Argentina Orders Google To Censor Suggested Searches

    Griff ( profile ), 20 May, 2011 @ 05:58am

    Search complete can offend in its own right

    Honestly, if it was going to order Google to remove the sites from the index anyway, I wonder why the suggested search was even an issue. Once they're out of the index, the suggested search issue becomes meaningless.

    Don't agree.
    Spose the site was something alleging Minister A has been having affair with starlet B.
    Spose google un-index the site.
    If you type Minister A in the search box and it offers "affair" to complete the phrase (based on a million Argentinians having already searched for it) then that is a further thing the govt would like to restrict even though the page itself may have gone.

  • On the post: Another 'Exception'? Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year With No Record Label

    Griff ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 01:38pm

    Crazy

    Has Tom Cruise sued him yet ?

  • On the post: Google Street View Is Invasion Of Privacy… But The BBC Showing Everyone At The Royal Wedding?

    Griff ( profile ), 05 May, 2011 @ 06:07am

    It's important to note...

    .. that in the UK this was a public holiday.

    If people had been pulling a sickie to be there and their boss saw them on the beeb, the story would be completely different.


    My mate and I camped in the street through the night till about noon for LiveAid concert tickets. As the doors opened, the press were there, and my mate's picture made the front page of the evening news (sold at the exit of our large employer's car park as people leave). Needless to say he was supposed to be off sick and his boss saw him in the paper...

  • On the post: Sony Told To Pay Finnish Man 100 Euros For Removing OtherOS

    Griff ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2011 @ 04:18am

    it appears that the Consumer Complaints Board has no enforcement ability.

    Guess the headline should read

    Sony Politely Asked To Pay Finnish Man 100 Euros For Removing OtherOS

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 02:49pm

    Re: Re: Re: Economics knowledge

    I followed the link given by Mike, it does not lead to the image posted by Mike.

    You get
    Publisher: Crown Business (August 11, 2010)
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
    And no mention of who sets pricing

    Now, that may be because I'm in the UK (though I still see dollar pricing, and I'm not rerouted to amazon.co.uk).

    Are you saying that the pricing worldwide is set by Random House ?

    Because the price disparity still exists in my link.

  • On the post: We May Have Unbundled The Music… But We've Smartly Bundled The Music Experience

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 07:04am

    Re:

    Jeez I hate what this s/w does to the greater than sign.

    What I was going to say is that in the olden days some albums were more than a set of unconnected singles.
    Bundling 10 tracks into an album was because of more than just the "inefficiences of the technology".
    many single Pink Floyd tracks I could name would be meaningless without the context of the album, for example...

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 05:27am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Is an ebook edition really less valuable than a paperback?

    Agreed - cheaper may mean more sales (completely different argument to "cheaper is necessary because someone else sells it cheaper).

    However

    1. This economic theory generally applies to price sensitive markets. People who pay $200 for a device to read a book with no realistic expectation of the eBook ever being significantly cheaper than the paper version don't strike me as a price sensitive crowd of people.
    Starbucks sell coffee at up to $5 when a plain filter coffee might be $2 elsewhere in the same street. But they are not catering to the same people as those who buy the cheap stuff elsewhere.

    2. If (as widely suggested) Amazon's costs for eBooks are ridiculously high, then a 10% drop in Amazon sale price might halve their margin. It would have to double sales to be worth it. I think Amazon probably know what they are doing. Kindle owners will bitch about it then keep buying the books either way.

    The only place where there is real competition in this arena is where Amazon try and get you to buy a Kindle over a Nook. After that, you're locked in.

    Of course, the publishers might be idiots for demanding that price from Amazon/B&N. But while the eBooks sell, they'll keep doing it.

    Same as MS will keep charging silly money for Office.

    When you're competing with "free and not quite as good" (as some would perceive OpenOffice) dropping MS Office prices by 25% wouldn't win over many OpenOffice users. They've already learnt to live with the shortcomings of OO and it's FREE.

    So if there's someone out there happy with a shitty crooked scan of a paper book for free, they don't suddenly buy the Kindle edition because the price comes down 25%, do they ?

    Or maybe you are thinking of a load of Kindle users with only $50 per month to spend. They could buy more ebooks if the price was lower. But that's just the same revenue at lower margin, isn't it ?

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 04:15am

    Re: Economics knowledge

    Amazon does set the price of eBooks.
    What they can't always set is the cost, and so they have even chosen to sell them at a loss in the past.

    It is in Amazon's interest to find the correct price point for optimal sales (even if it below the cost they are forced to pay) so they can go back to the idiot publishers and show them the figures. Semi-Emotional arguments ("eBooks should be priced at less than paper") won't make the publishers change their minds. But hard data might.

    Thus they start high, watch sales, and reduce the price if required. And if they sell a ton with the price high, then that proves the Kindle adds value and the publishers might stop seeing it as an afterthought in their strategy.

    If they start low, they can't put the price up later and so they have incomplete data.

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 04:09am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Is an ebook edition really less valuable than a paperback?

    A dodgy poorly aligned graphic scan of a paper book is not THE SAME THING as a well formatted Kindle ebook. After OCR and a lot of formatting effort (akak "added value") it might be.

    Do you think it is ?

    I'm a huge fan of free ebooks - I get them from the Gutenberg site, in a format to go on my PDA for when I want to read while travelling or when forced to sit somewhere for hours unexpectedly. But the "free" PDF at the link given is no use for that whatsoever.

    For time rich / money poor people, this may seem like a free eBook.

    A friend of mine told me he could get a Napster streaming subscription and then record albums to MP3. Of course, track lengths were never exactly right so automatic track naming via internet webservice wasn't possible. And even after he manually renamed the tracks, the MP3 file properties were not as you'd like them so certain players (ie a Sonos) would not group tracks by author.
    After he described the palaver he'd go through to get an album properly onto his Sonos, I compared this with buying the MP3 album from Amazon, and you know what ? The Napster route (probably violating TOS, maybe even illegal) simply wasn't cost effective for me.
    I value my time more.

    So for me there is NOT a meaningful free copy online (unless someone has a better link).

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 23 Apr, 2011 @ 12:39am

    Re: Re: Is an ebook edition really less valuable than a paperback?

    People buy something when value to them >= price.

    If the value remains high, there is no reason for the price to come down (regardless of production cost) unless they can buy THE SAME THING cheaper elsewhere.

    You seem to be suggesting that even though Amazon can clearly sell stuff at this price, they should actually drop the price because of a theory about price eventually tending to marginal cost.

    Or are you in fact suggesting they won't manage to sell at that price because
    - the paper book is cheaper
    - there is some comparable digital alternative (such as ?)
    - some other reason

    Or are you saying they won't sell any ?

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2011 @ 11:49pm

    Re: Re: Come on TechDirt...

    Have to take issue with a few things there.

    First, the book is freaking free.
    Indeed !

    Wrong. A pretty poor raw scan of a dead tree book is free.
    It's not like a PDF I could reformat and put on my eReader.

    It's not *should*. This is basic economics: price gets driven to marginal cost. A recipe for failure is if you ignore this basic tenet, because it means competitors will eat your lunch.

    You think Amazon are stupid ?
    Yeah, they're clearly going out of business.

    In a competitive market, pricing is driven by marginal cost, or you fail. That's the point.

    This is not a competitive market. Who else sells a Kindle edition ? To a person with a Kindle, who wants a full featured experience, this is the only deal in town.

    My argument is that this pricing is a mistake, and basic economics (the kind found in a book like this) should point that out.

    1. If people buy it, the pricing is not a mistake.
    And as their pricing is easily changeable, they can rectify such a mistake easily. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens in an almost automated fashion when they assess sales periodically.

    2. The price you should compare this with is that of a kindle edition elsewhere (or an other format that can be read on a Kindle) not a paper book. Comparing the price with that of a paper book is irrelevant. The Kindle owner didn't come here looking for a paper book.

    3. Maybe (just maybe) Amazon has been reading Techdirt and realises that the content alone has a marginal cost of zero, so they are finding ways (ie Kindle) to add value over and above the raw content, so they can charge more for it.

    I'd have thought the Mike Masnick reaction to this pricing would have been "go Amazon, finding a way to break free of the curse of downward price pressure".

  • On the post: 'Economics In One Lesson' Apparently Doesn't Include Pricing; Kindle Version Most Expensive

    Griff ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2011 @ 11:17pm

    Re: Re:

    You'll need to OCR it first. It looks like a straight scan of an (old) dead tree book.

  • On the post: We May Have Unbundled The Music… But We've Smartly Bundled The Music Experience

    Griff ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2011 @ 11:04pm

    >> Rather than a bundle borne out of the inefficiencies of the technology

  • On the post: Canadians Face Fines & Jail Time If They Tweet Election Result News Prior To West Coast Poll Closings

    Griff ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2011 @ 09:35am

    So easy to fix

    As many have said, rather than try to ban the transfer of info that is in the public domain already, just don't release it.

    But on commenter suggests that the problem still remains with exit polling.

    But it does in any election. Early exit polling can influence late voters.
    Though only a terribly biased TV station could convince a sane person of the result based on early exit polls, and if they take their cue from such a station, all is lost anyway surely ?

    Worries about information asymmetry would prohibit publication of exit poll results.

    I'm sure in the UK the exit polls used for the pundit shows on election night are kept under wraps until the last voter votes. Same rules would apply to multi timezone voting, surely ?

  • On the post: New RIAA Evidence Comes To Light: Napster Killed Kerosene Too!

    Griff ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 08:56am

    Kerosene ?

    Do people use kerosene to transport themselves to the record shop or what ?

    Or maybe there is illegal kerosene sharing ?

  • On the post: Studios Offering $30 Movie Rentals; Theater Owner Complains That He Can't Compete With That

    Griff ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 08:49am

    Re:

    I'd say it shows why Netflix is popular.
    If it wasn't for Netflix and their ilk the illegal downloading would surely be worse.

    In the UK we have LoveFilm (which seemed to take over from Amazon rental). It is reasonably priced and it works.

    Plus for about ?3 I can decide on the spur of the moment to stream a movie on demand for the kids. I even get 4 hrs / month free on my basic DVD by mail plan.



    Now, near us is a "community theatre". Internet booking of movies for ?2 / child, maybe ?3 (?4 tops) for adults. Basic, new clean comfortable theatre, (good sound, big screen) attached to a nice "wholefood coffee shop" sort of place.
    Movies that the kids have only just seen the trailers for on rental disks come around regularly.
    And they don't let you take food into the theatre which means
    - no sticky stuff down your back
    - less opportunity to bankrupt yourself on popcorn.

    Compared to this place the "mainstream" movie theatres feel like a mugging in a huge Macdonalds.


    At one point I thought that with kids animated movies, the prices would come down, as there would be no need to pay giant celeb actor wages. But now all the decent animated movies are voiced by stars anyway.

    It's a bit like going to see soccer live in the UK. Costs a fortune then you see the players salaries and see why. Is this why movies cost so much ? Or is it just greed ? Or is it like drug development - you need to pay for all the failures as well ?

  • On the post: Studios Offering $30 Movie Rentals; Theater Owner Complains That He Can't Compete With That

    Griff ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 08:39am

    Re: Re: Lame experience

    Are you sure you can lend it to friends ?
    Isn't that terrorism , sorry, piracy , er ... against the terms of use ?

  • On the post: Woman Sues Match.com Because She Was Assaulted By Someone She Met On Site

    Griff ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2011 @ 04:52am

    Re:

    In other news the law will be extended to all other places where single adults might hook up.

    weddings (you must now screen your guests)
    out walking your dog (parks must now have a security screen on the gate)
    supermarkets (loyalty cards to now work with DHS)
    the school gate (school districts in league with TSA)
    the beach
    public streets

    The perp, meanwhile, will sue match.com for hooking him up with someone he later went on to assault, claiming "they should have prevented this, it has ruined my life".

    Match.com will sue google for lowering everyone's expectations of what things cost on the internet making it unfeasible for them to screen everyone.

    Lawyers will sue CNN for publicising the event thus reducing the likelihood of lucrative repeat events.

    Microsoft will unearth an obscure patent related to an algorithm for choosing a victim and sue the perp.

    MPAA will claim the whole incident was the plot of some movie noone ever watched and sue everyone for copyright.

    SCO will try to claim Match.com is somehow based on an
    infringing version of Linux.

    TAM will claim that Mike Masnick said online dating should be free.

    Various senators will try and pass a "Clear Tubes Act" written by lobbyists which will allow online dating packets to be prioritised.

    Some college pal of the match.com founder will unearth a restauraunt napkin on which supposedly a deal was signed to give him half the company.

    Jonathon Tasini will claim that he posted stuff in his Match.com profile without payment and has just realised match.com are making money and hence some it should be his.

    And (to quote Del Amitri) we'll all be lonely tonight, and lonely tomorrow... (see link above)

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