Devin Moore 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (93) comment rss

  • On the post: Bloomberg Sues The Fed For More Transparency Over $2 Trillion In Emergency Loans

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2008 @ 09:10am

    Bridge for sale

    Hey, there's this guy selling a bridge downtown for 2 trillion dollars. I know, 2 trillion is a lot of money, but "I'm pretty sure it's OK".

  • On the post: Band Incorporates As A Company And Raises Money, Rather Than Signing With A Label

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 06 Nov, 2008 @ 10:17am

    Just take out a loan

    Even better, just incorporate and take out a business loan in the name of the band company. That way, you pay back the minimum for such an investment and then, assuming the band is profitable, the rest is yours. You could crank out one-hit wonders with this structure and even at a minimum return if you can chart a single top 10 hit, you'd easily repay the loan and make 100% profit from then on out on royalties.

  • On the post: Italy Wants To Put Google Execs In Jail Over Uploaded Video

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2008 @ 07:20am

    legality filter

    What's wrong with delaying public display of videos until they are reviewed for legality? I don't see why all videos have to get posted, then only later when enough people are outraged does google have to take it down. It seems they bear some responsibility for making visible the illegal activities without checking first to see if there were any illegal activities in the video. Google could have forwarded the video to the proper authorities without ever making it public, which would have cut off the perpetrators from their sick search for infamy.

  • On the post: What If Movies Went Away?

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 02 Jul, 2008 @ 09:52am

    digital vs. analog copyright

    getting rid of copyright doesn't have much effect on the value of the original... except in the case of digital works. There is only one real Statue of David by Michelangelo, but there are millions of "Enter Sandman" copies by "Metallica", even though there's only one gold master, they are all nearly identical in content to that gold master, to the extent that you can enjoy any copy of the performance as if the band were right there in front of you. The difference? They still aren't right there in front of you, and not capitalizing on that fact is their own fault. Movies can be put on real time, but generally that's called theater, and it has major drawbacks compared to an actual movie. If movie theaters are so concerned about copyright, then stop selling any DVD's and charge more for tickets to see the movie.

  • On the post: What Difference Does It Make If Product Placement Is Disclosed Or Not?

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 25 Jun, 2008 @ 12:39pm

    Content and advertising are different

    The problem is, content and advertising are actually different. I pay for content from my cable provider, and I expect advertisements to come in a block separate from the content, yielding some reduction in the amount of content but nonetheless leaving me with "uninterrupted" blocks of content. To put product placements within the content is to essentially to increase advertisement time, and thus give me less content for my money.

  • On the post: Turning Off Internet In The Classroom Won't Make Lectures Any More Interesting

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2008 @ 07:28am

    boredom is mother of invention

    Boring lectures will always cause kids to tune out. I drew pictures so much in my lectures that I switched to majoring in art, because I figured as long as I'm going to be drawing the whole time, I may as well get credit for it!

  • On the post: Debunking The Wikipedia 'Brain Surgery' Myth

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2008 @ 12:06pm

    Re: WebMD

    Furthermore, can you perform brain surgery because you read about it in a physical Encyclopedia at the library? I wouldn't even trust a brain surgery student to my brain. I would want the most experienced expert at it. Would you want Lance Armstrong as a bike teacher? I dunno, is he any good at teaching it, or can he only ride extremely well by nature? None of these things is connected to the other as the premise implies.

  • On the post: New RIAA Argument: Throwing A Promo CD In The Garbage = Unauthorized Distribution

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2008 @ 10:42am

    Stop making CD's

    The solution to all of this is simple: stop creating digital music, since no one can figure out how to "protect" a cd in any tangible way. Why would you give someone a DVD of a movie if all you wanted was to sell them a ticket to see the movie? It's the same principle.

  • On the post: Can A Luxury Theater Get People To The Theater?

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2008 @ 09:49am

    If they kick out jerks sure

    I would pay 35 bucks if they immediately ejected anyone who's phone goes off or who talks or interrupts the movie in any way.

  • On the post: Online Study Group Creator Not Expelled; But Still Punished

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2008 @ 04:54am

    Explanation of what he did wrong

    The part everyone is ignoring here is how this was cheating. A regular study group is not cheating wholesale because while you could just copy down the answers, in a sense you are exposed to the process of learning with the other students in a real-time environment.

    Posting that content online creates direct access for everyone to just the answers. That's the same thing as taking the answers from a study session and posting them outside the classroom before the assignment is due -- which would clearly be cheating. I hope it finally makes sense to everyone why this was a punishable offense.

  • On the post: Prototype Goggles Make Sure You Never Lose Your Keys Again

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2008 @ 06:53am

    That's not why people lose things

    People mostly lose things because other people move them, not because they can't remember where they put their items in the first place. Seeing the last place I put the keys doesn't help me if they're not there anymore. A much better technology to find my keys would be an rfid tag on my keys, and readers in each room so that at least the house could tell me what room they're in.

  • On the post: Are Blog Comments Like A Laser Pointer To A Cat?

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2008 @ 11:23am

    Chance at Fame

    Many people that post blog comments are aware that an impressive-enough comment may yield some amount of lasting fame, and a regular record of great comments will definitely cement a place in history, possibly to include entries in the dictionary of slang for a commonly-used phrase. In that vein, I must add that in Soviet Russia, blog comments laser-point YOU!

  • On the post: Does It Make Sense To Hire A Convicted Cracker For Security Work?

    Devin Moore ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2008 @ 01:59pm

    Al Capone, Bank Security?

    That sounds like hiring Al Capone to guard a bank vault... major conflict of interest. If you want to hire someone with a background in actually committing real crime, then you are going to pay the price of extremely high risk. However, hiring someone with a slightly less than pristine past in terms of maybe a system hack here and there, who knows how to do it but doesn't want to go to jail, that might be a way better bet. Common sense should prevail, i.e. who's going to guard you against the convicted hacker, regardless of how secure your systems turn out to be? 99% of hacking is physical access, so be careful when 'inviting the wolf into the henhouse'.