Michael Long’s Techdirt Profile
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About Michael Long
Currently I manage the development for ThinkTQ.com, but I also freelance as a consultant for corporations and non-profits specializing in e-commerce, CMS, and scalability/infrastructure.
I'm also a web developer, have been active in applications and systems software development, and have 30 years experience developing for Apple computers (Apple, Lisa, Mac). My long-time familiarity with Apple and their technologies lead me to start iSights.org.
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Re: Re:
That's the mission, yes. And they're true patriots, staffed and managed by human beings who would never, ever even consider abusing the systems under their control.
All for the greater good, of course.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OMG, "disintermediated"!!! Sounds BAD!
Do you deal with Ford directly, or do you deal with a dealership not owned by Ford, but who's simply entered into a contract to sell their cars?
Since it's that later, the dealer is in fact an intermediary between Ford, the manufacturer and you, the buyer.
Re:
Where I've lived I only seen Amber Alerts maybe once or twice a year. And you're right in that most people will be able to do nothing about it.
Then again, it's amazing how often someone does manage to see that yellow Ford pickup truck.
Which tends, in my mind, to prove his point. The fact that they're relatively rare means that when they occur we're more likely to make a mental "note" regarding that yellow truck.
Re: Re: WTF
I mentioned price matching above, but a loyalty / punch card approach has merit too.
And both promotional ideas make more sense than Mike's one-size-fits-all value mantra.
Re: Re: Re:
Ditto. Same for the other "value" adds. Advice. Take it and leave. Classes? Attend and buy elsewhere.
Sounds to me her primary answer should simply be to add value AND advertise that they will price match any other store. Shouldn't be hard to do if their prices are "almost the same."
Re: Free Google Stuff
Given the response from across the web, I bet tons of people were using Google’s back-end systems as a way to manage and synchronize their RSS news feeds, and then feeding that information into dedicated desktop clients and apps like Reeder, NetNewsWire, and Feedly.
As such, it’s not that Google Reader had no users. It’s that Google got stuck running a warehouse full of servers that delivered information and not web pages. Since they weren’t web pages, there were no eyeballs looking at them, and as such Google had no way to serve up ads and monetize the service.
http://www.isights.org/2013/03/thoughts-on-google-readers-demise.html
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I just did a block check, and the 192.58 prefix doesn't appear to be used by the US. http://www.nirsoft.net/countryip/us.html
It's not a spoof, it's a fabrication.
Re: Re: Re:
What IP's? 192.58.XXX.XXX?
Re:
Department Ox Justice? Really? Are those actual accounts, or did some guy setup a fake domain?
And did Mike get spoofed into reporting it?
Re: Re: Re:
Right! But forget armed guards, we need the TSA everywhere! Backscatter scanners, detectors, no shoes, and strip searches at every school, playground, cilld care center, mall, theater and restaurant.
We must completely and totally abrogate the rights of everyone, and turn every building and establishment in the entire United States into an airport security line hell.
All because about 6% of the country is bound and determined to maintain their own private little arsenals...
Re: Re: One possible revolution
Or, more likely, the supply and demand for apples is pretty much in equilibrium, in which case the more likely scenario is that with a 10% increase in per-worker productivity, the owner of the orchard fires 1 worker out of every 10.
Re: Re:
The president of Foxconn has a huge pool of labor from which to draw, and even he has stated that he's going to put a million or so robots online in the next couple of years...
Re: Re: Sales
"There's an implicit assumption there that there's a one-to-one replacement, and that the robots don't lead to new jobs."
It stands to reason, does it not? After all, a company is not going to buy a robot that's less efficient than the worker it replaces.
And yes, a worker might be needed to make the robot. But that's, say, ten man-days work for a set of workers to make a set of robots, and then five-ten man-YEARS of those robots replacing a given set of workers.
The end result is that there's less work for people to do, and there's definitely less work available for the unskilled workers the robots replaced.
Re: Re: Sales
"When the same number of workers can produce more goods there's more money, not less, to pay them."
Brilliant analysis, but missing a rather crucial point. Yes, there's more money with which to pay them, but are they actually doing so?
WalMart runs a highly efficient operation but is also notorious for paying extremely low wages. As a result, they're banking the money which could have gone to higher wages.
Apple is producing iPhones and iPads in China, under the most "efficient" conditions possible, but again, the money is not going to the workers. Instead, Apple is heading towards having $200 billion dollars in the bank, in cash.
So to restate your sentence correctly: Automation and producing goods where there is a comparative advantage to producing those goods are both increases in efficency which MAY lead to higher wages.
Re: Re: Re:
The fine for dumping trash near where I live is $1,000. That's a thousand dollars for throwing a trash bag out of you car. Is that egregious? Am I punishing the person I caught overly severely?
Or is the fine deliberately structured to make dumping trash not worth the risk? In all likelihood, you're not going to get caught. But is littering worth the possibility of paying $1,000?
If you go into a store and shoplift a CD and get caught, you can go to jail. Severe? Yes. Disproportionate? Perhaps. But it makes getting caught at shoplifting not worth the risk for most people.
Now, the "harm" caused to the store is, what, $10? So should the fine for shoplifting a CD equate to the actual harm? In which case, why wouldn't everyone try to shoplift everything? Best case, you get the CD for free, and worst case is that you pay what you would have paid in the first place.
So what's the answer? 2X? 3X? 10X 100X? At what point does the deterrence factor kick in?
Re:
You mean that $400 you took away in taxes in the first place and gave to someone at the studio, who spends part it on a hotel room that actually has costs and has to be provisioned? And then pockets the rest.
You do know what the term "profit" means, don't you?
If your sole incentive is to provide a stimulus, take the $400 and hand it directly to the hotel, cutting out the middleman. Better yet, let the taxpayers keep the $400 in the first place and THEY can spend it at local stores and restaurants.
(untitled comment)
This relates to the ban most hospitals have against recording visits and surgeries. Part of it is related to HIPA and patient privacy issues, but mostly it's about ensuring that there are no recordings of any mistakes a doctor might make being used against them in a lawsuit.
Of course, the flip side to this is a good recording could also save them from a malpractice lawsuit, but they don't see it that way.
Which tends to bring one to the viewpoint that most malpractice lawsuits are justified...
(untitled comment)
"And of course, the numbers are much bigger for younger people, meaning that those overall percentages are only likely to increase over time."
Or not. Younger people become older people, and older people tend to have more disposable income and less time, which means that you start paying for convenience (e.g. not scouring the internet looking for a good copy of a movie).
(untitled comment)
Medtronic is also one of the companies who's stated that they'll be "forced" to fire employees because of the ACA.
Of course, it's not because of employee ACA costs, but because rising profits on medical devices and pharmaceuticals are one of the things controlled by the ACA.
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Red Tails was typical Lucas: Wooden characters, plodding lot line, and lots and lots of loving CGI work on the fighter sequences...