I came across that one too -- fascinating work. The ironic thing is that I listened to both of the tracks, before and after the work that the restorers did, and I actually liked the original better.
Joe, there's a fairly reasonable response to the Second Life criticism here. Basically, the author compares Second Life to a small developing nation, and says its financial issues are no different than any small economy without a lot of liquidity (and no central bank). If the writer of that Valleywag piece decided to go after an arbitrage opportunity in Kazakhstan or Ulan Bator, he'd probably have a similar experience (except for the avatars, of course).
Hey @Cleverboy -- I couldn't help noticing that your name links to a site called FreeHear, where you can search for BitTorrented music files on sites like Pirate Bay. Where do you think that stuff comes from? Or maybe your comment was a clever (or not so clever) piece of marketing for your service.
I've been to a number of places that print the day's password for the Wi-Fi on a sales slip, so you don't get it unless you buy something -- at least that way they would get a cup of coffee or a donut out of the guy now and then.
That's a good point, Mike -- the labels have made this particular bed in many ways, and now they are being forced to lie in it. It's not like they haven't had years to get their own versions of iTunes off the ground, but instead they've been too busy suing their own customers.
A fair point, Mike -- and you're right that price-fixing is usually something that manufacturers do, not retailers. My point is that with a quasi-monopoly-level market share in downloadable music, iTunes is a lot closer to having a stranglehold on the market than many people -- particularly rabid Apple fans -- would like to admit. And I think if it was Microsoft doing all that price-controlling, there would be a lot more uproar than there has been about Apple.
As I mentioned in my email, I'm sorry for addressing my comment to you instead of Carlo. I would blame it on posting late at night, but it was the middle of the afternoon :-)
Anyway, the point I was trying to make (badly) is that the judge can't wait until the patent office rules -- even if it is a ruling the USPTO describes as "final" -- because NTP can then appeal not just to the patent review board, but then to the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court if it wants to.
In other words, the USPTO's decision won't be the end, in a legal sense, as much as RIM would like it to be. And one of the things NTP might appeal on, it seems to me, is what appears to be the undue pressure that the U.S. government has brought to bear on the patent office. If I was a lawyer, that would be number one on my list.
Mike -- I think your post ignores the fact that the patent office's rejections are "non-final." And even when that part of the process is done, the issue won't be completely resolved, since NTP can appeal. For the judge to wait for that entire process to be finished could take years.
Mike, with all due respect I think you (and many of your readers) are missing the point. It's not that analysts set their targets too high for Google -- which they undoubtedly did. It's that the company got its tax rate wrong in a big way, and that could be a sign of a bigger issue. Why did it get the tax rate wrong? Because it didn't sell as much in Europe as it thought. That's the real issue. Is it a big deal? Maybe not. But it's not Wall Street's fault.
You might want to do a little more research before jumping into the fray on the NTP vs. RIM patent issue. Five of NTP's eight patents have been re-examined, but only two of those five had anything to do with RIM, so it's not really correct to suggest that those re-examinations somehow affected the case with RIM. And of the two that did have something to do with RIM, only one or two claims out of hundreds in each patent had anything to do with the RIM case.
That's an interesting article, except for one crucial thing -- copyright legislation in Canada considers "private copying" to be copying by an individual of recorded material that he or she has already paid for. Thus, it doesn't provide a loophole for P2P file-sharers. Paying a levy also doesn't necessarily give a user carte blanche to do whatever they wish with a CD, although some Canadians would like to think so. That said, however, the laws on digital file-sharing are murky in Canada, since we haven't agreed to abide by the terms of the DMCA...
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Mathew Ingram.
Nice to know that our great minds are still thinking alike, Mike :-)
I came across that one too -- fascinating work. The ironic thing is that I listened to both of the tracks, before and after the work that the restorers did, and I actually liked the original better.
second life
Joe, there's a fairly reasonable response to the Second Life criticism here. Basically, the author compares Second Life to a small developing nation, and says its financial issues are no different than any small economy without a lot of liquidity (and no central bank). If the writer of that Valleywag piece decided to go after an arbitrage opportunity in Kazakhstan or Ulan Bator, he'd probably have a similar experience (except for the avatars, of course).
Hey @Cleverboy -- I couldn't help noticing that your name links to a site called FreeHear, where you can search for BitTorrented music files on sites like Pirate Bay. Where do you think that stuff comes from? Or maybe your comment was a clever (or not so clever) piece of marketing for your service.
google video lawsuit
It could be thuis lawsuit.
Wi-Fi "theft"
I've been to a number of places that print the day's password for the Wi-Fi on a sales slip, so you don't get it unless you buy something -- at least that way they would get a cup of coffee or a donut out of the guy now and then.
Re: iTunes
That's a good point, Mike -- the labels have made this particular bed in many ways, and now they are being forced to lie in it. It's not like they haven't had years to get their own versions of iTunes off the ground, but instead they've been too busy suing their own customers.
iTunes
A fair point, Mike -- and you're right that price-fixing is usually something that manufacturers do, not retailers. My point is that with a quasi-monopoly-level market share in downloadable music, iTunes is a lot closer to having a stranglehold on the market than many people -- particularly rabid Apple fans -- would like to admit. And I think if it was Microsoft doing all that price-controlling, there would be a lot more uproar than there has been about Apple.
Edgeio
How dare you question the great and powerful Oz, er... Mike Arrington? You don't know who you're dealing with, my friend ;-)
RIM
Mike:
As I mentioned in my email, I'm sorry for addressing my comment to you instead of Carlo. I would blame it on posting late at night, but it was the middle of the afternoon :-)
Anyway, the point I was trying to make (badly) is that the judge can't wait until the patent office rules -- even if it is a ruling the USPTO describes as "final" -- because NTP can then appeal not just to the patent review board, but then to the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court if it wants to.
In other words, the USPTO's decision won't be the end, in a legal sense, as much as RIM would like it to be. And one of the things NTP might appeal on, it seems to me, is what appears to be the undue pressure that the U.S. government has brought to bear on the patent office. If I was a lawyer, that would be number one on my list.
Google
Mike -- I think your post ignores the fact that the patent office's rejections are "non-final." And even when that part of the process is done, the issue won't be completely resolved, since NTP can appeal. For the judge to wait for that entire process to be finished could take years.
Google
Mike, with all due respect I think you (and many of your readers) are missing the point. It's not that analysts set their targets too high for Google -- which they undoubtedly did. It's that the company got its tax rate wrong in a big way, and that could be a sign of a bigger issue. Why did it get the tax rate wrong? Because it didn't sell as much in Europe as it thought. That's the real issue. Is it a big deal? Maybe not. But it's not Wall Street's fault.
RIM vs. NTP
You might want to do a little more research before jumping into the fray on the NTP vs. RIM patent issue. Five of NTP's eight patents have been re-examined, but only two of those five had anything to do with RIM, so it's not really correct to suggest that those re-examinations somehow affected the case with RIM. And of the two that did have something to do with RIM, only one or two claims out of hundreds in each patent had anything to do with the RIM case.
RIAA and Canada
That's an interesting article, except for one crucial thing -- copyright legislation in Canada considers "private copying" to be copying by an individual of recorded material that he or she has already paid for. Thus, it doesn't provide a loophole for P2P file-sharers. Paying a levy also doesn't necessarily give a user carte blanche to do whatever they wish with a CD, although some Canadians would like to think so. That said, however, the laws on digital file-sharing are murky in Canada, since we haven't agreed to abide by the terms of the DMCA...