Pitabred 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (242)

• On the post: Video Game Developers Continue To Ignorantly Attack Used Game Sales

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2012 @ 12:19pm

  Single player games?

  Wait... he claims that piracy is leading to the death of single-player games? Is that why Skyrim has been consistently in the top of sales charts for so long? Fastest selling title in Steam history?
  
  Maybe they just need to stop making shitty games and they'd sell more.

• On the post: Did The Publisher's Own Insistence On DRM Inevitably Lead To The Antitrust Lawsuit Against Them?

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 18 Apr, 2012 @ 12:44pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Humans!

  Most of the speedup from Vista to 7 was moving to a non-locking graphics server. It's all in the perception... CPU intensive benchmarks can actually go slightly faster on Vista than on 7 because the graphics device isn't periodically given back control.
  
  http://www.pcworld.com/article/164485/speed_test_windows_7_may_not_be_much_faster_than_vista.html
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/04/25/engineering-windows-7-for-graphics-performance.aspx
  
  But the changes do make for a more responsive, more interactive system that "feels" a lot faster than Vista.

• On the post: The Stupidity Of Data Caps: No One Knows What A Megabyte Is

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2012 @ 07:08pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Data caps harm economies & education

  And conversely, an argument for caps is an argument against competition. Right?

• On the post: The Stupidity Of Data Caps: No One Knows What A Megabyte Is

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2012 @ 06:58pm

  Re: Re: Re: Nobody Needs To Know

  WoW uses a Bittorrent style system to deliver patches. Perhaps his friend just ended up as a supernode or whatnot, getting hammered on the bandwidth because the capacity was there?

• On the post: The Stupidity Of Data Caps: No One Knows What A Megabyte Is

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2012 @ 06:55pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nobody Needs To Know

  So... what are the companies doing with the profits they get each year? Why are they running low on capacity, when it's entirely affordable and within their capability to upgrade to deliver what they're selling?

• On the post: The Stupidity Of Data Caps: No One Knows What A Megabyte Is

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2012 @ 03:58pm

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nobody Needs To Know

  So... what exactly have the ISPs been doing with the money the taxpayers have given them to build out their networks? It's not like the companies have been required to pay for it all themselves.
  
  I'm also noticing that Comcast et. al. are increasing their profits year over year. How does that happen if they're investing at all in their networks? What it seems to me is that they're NOT investing in their product because they have monopolies on the lines, and simply adding data caps so they can preserve the profits without adding additional service because, hey, they don't have to.
  
  Feel free to prove me wrong with citations, though.

• On the post: New York Convinces Game Companies To Kick Registered Sex Offenders Off Gaming Services

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2012 @ 08:03am

  Re: Re:

  If they're so dangerous, why aren't they in jail? Really... creating a class of humanity that's not dangerous enough to keep locked away from everyone else, but is so horribly dangerous that they basically can't be allowed to interact with anyone else... doesn't that sound stupid to anyone else? Because that's what we have now.

• On the post: Once Again, The Administration Vindictively Charges A Whistleblower As Being A Spy

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2012 @ 10:41am

  Re: Re: Obama is one of them.

  Seconded. Unfortunately, the other side is fielding Romney and Santorum, who are moral busybodies that are fans of small government as far as business is concerned, but big government as far as the bedroom is concerned. Which evil do you choose?

• On the post: How Can You Be Register Of Copyrights If You Don't Even Understand Copyright's Most Basic Purpose?

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2012 @ 11:32am

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Not intellectually bankrupt. Morally.

• On the post: Court Says Sony Is Free To Change Its Terms Of Service Because Accessing PSN Is A Choice

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2012 @ 11:38pm

  Bait and switch

  This really seems to me like the judge just legalized the bait and switch business model. Or is it just me? Get people using a product, then change the terms to be favorable to the company once they're invested in it.
  
  Hmm... I think I have a business proposal to write.

• On the post: Appeals Court: Bundling Cable Channels Together Isn't Anticompetitive

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2012 @ 05:19pm

  Bundling isn't anticompetitive

  The bundling isn't anticompetitive, it's the lack of competition and the amalgamation of businesses from different industries (Comcast+NBC, etc.) that is.
  
  What pisses me off is that due to that control, it means if I want a DVR I need to buy the cable co's POS equipment made by the lowest bidder, build a system that uses the almost useless CableCARD standard (windows only, natch), or only record OTA stuff.
  
  Guess that's why I'm happy with an antenna, BitTorrent and Netflix any more...

• On the post: Our Gift To The Author's Guild: An Ad For Brick & Mortar Book Stores

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2012 @ 08:00am

  Re:

  I believe the main point of this is that the author's guild is trying to shut down e-books. I completely agree that I like having a number of books in a hard copy. But that should be my choice whether I want a hard copy or an electronic one, depending on my needs and desires. Not the publishers forcing us one way or another. They're in the business of producing content, not telling people how to read that content.

• On the post: Parent Claims 'Ender's Game' Is Pornographic; Teacher Who Read It To Students Put On Temporary Leave

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2012 @ 11:59pm

  Re: Re: Re: I see it the other way

  No.
  
  You can be an agnostic atheist, where you don't think there's a god but you can't be sure. Or a gnostic atheist, where you claim to know there's no god. Just like you can be an agnostic theist, where you think there's a god but can't be sure. Or a gnostic theist, where you claim to know there's a god.
  
  Agnostic is not claiming knowledge. Atheism has to do with belief. Seriously... not a hard concept. The dictionary can help you.

• On the post: Why It's Mathematically Impossible To Avoid Infringing On Software Patents

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2012 @ 02:05pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  I like how you imply that patents are innovation, except that they're not. Patents are tollbooths, and in the software space are VERY rarely used for anything except either rent seeking or protection against that. They don't impart any knowledge, or unveil any mysteries, as is the point of the patent system.
  
  Really... how do you think having every software programmer liable for patent infringement, without them even looking at the patents, is good for innovation?

• On the post: Canadian Muslim Who Sends Text Urging His Employees To 'Blow Away' The Competition Arrested As A 'Terror' Suspect

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2012 @ 03:26pm

  You don't seem to understand that this is a systemic police state issue, Mike. It's the mindset. They ARE using their "common sense" that they should treat everyone like a terrorist so the real ones don't try anything, and the end goal is to make people scared and compliant. Beat the citizens down and it makes the police's job easier, when they can just do whatever they want whenever they want.
  
  I'm not saying it makes sense. But it's what happens when you have racist thugs going on their gut instinct instead of deferring to logic and facts.

• On the post: Tom Brady Watched Last Year's Super Bowl Via Illegal Stream… And Probably Had A Better Experience Than Anyone Watching NBC's Official Stream

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2012 @ 03:59pm

  Re:

  It's called "piracy" and it's already doing it.
  
  BTW, Fox isn't news. It's revisionist spin.

• On the post: Tom Brady Watched Last Year's Super Bowl Via Illegal Stream… And Probably Had A Better Experience Than Anyone Watching NBC's Official Stream

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2012 @ 03:58pm

  Re: Yeah, it kind of sucked

  The main thing that pissed me off is that it uses that crap Silverlight streaming. Not terribly compatible with, well, anything. I don't want to install yet another damn plugin for just one thing. Use what I already have, HTML5, Flash. You know... standards.

• On the post: Judge Says Americans Can Be Forced To Decrypt Laptops

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 01:24pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  It's not a magical phrase. They have her on tape saying that there was evidence in that encrypted volume. That's pretty cut and dry.
  
  Arguing about what constitutes probable cause is quite valid. But the fact that it exists shouldn't be an issue.

• On the post: Judge Says Americans Can Be Forced To Decrypt Laptops

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 01:20pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  I take it you're an armchair lawyer, not a real one?

• On the post: Judge Says Americans Can Be Forced To Decrypt Laptops

  

  Pitabred ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 01:20pm

  Re: Re: Re:

  Not really, no. You've gotta prove that to a judge.

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