Alan Gerow 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: It's Probably Not A Good Idea To Ask People To Spam The Judge Hearing Your Case With Support Emails

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 03:48pm

    Re: Here Come Da Judge

    But they usually give a warning ...

    "one more outburst like that and I'm holding you in contempt of court"

  • On the post: School Accused Of Spying On Kids In Their Homes With Spyware That Secretly Activated Webcams

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 01:01pm

    Re: Video of something similar

    Wow. Disgusting.

  • On the post: School Accused Of Spying On Kids In Their Homes With Spyware That Secretly Activated Webcams

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 12:56pm

    Re: I'll be fascinated...

    Our nation's educators are remarkably stupid.

  • On the post: Philly City Council Members Want To Sue Facebook And Twitter Over Flash Mob Snowball Fight

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 12:52pm

    Re: wow

    I read in another article that kids used a variety of tools to get their agenda accomplished. The list of items now deemed socially threatening are:

    Language - English ... each person is now required to speak in their own unique language that is to be understood by nobody else.

    Brains ... the government education system has spent nearly a century trying to atrophy children's brains so that they can no longer use them. Obviously the government fails another program. People are now forbidden from thinking useful thoughts.

    Computers ... each one of them used a computer. Ban the production of all computers, and impound all existing computers.

    Telecom infrastructure ... the US's own telecom system was used against it in this unparalleled attack by clumps of frozen moisture. Shut down all communications between citizens.

    Mother Nature ... she provided the ammo, that bitch.

    Obviously language, our brains, computers, and the telecom system all shoulder equal responsibility in the tragic events that unsettled a Macy's for an afternoon. Our ancestors should be ashamed of themselves for developing language ... God should be tried for giving us brains ... nothing good has ever come from a computer ... and the telecom system only enables large-scale communication.

    Fortunately, we're already taking care of Mother Nature. A couple more decades of pollution and she'll no longer be a nuisance.

  • On the post: French Government Looking To Set Up The Great Firewall Of France?

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 12:35pm

    Re: Re: Re: What can be done?

    Well considering that the world's largest hardware vendors have a hell of a time keeping their hardware working with Linux by providing native drivers ... I doubt the French programmers are going to worry about creating Windows, Mac AND Linux versions of their trojan horse. So, in essence to a large part of the surveillance issue Linux is a very valid answer.

    And Ubuntu totally cleared away this bad case of athlete's foot I got last month. Worked like a charm!¡

  • On the post: School Accused Of Spying On Kids In Their Homes With Spyware That Secretly Activated Webcams

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 12:18pm

    Re: Forget the lawsuit, jail these people.

    My fiance & I have already decided to do what it takes to get us professionally to a point to be able to home school our kids when we have them. There's no way I'm trusting something so valuable and precious as my (future) children to the government.

  • On the post: School Accused Of Spying On Kids In Their Homes With Spyware That Secretly Activated Webcams

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 12:16pm

    Re: But they did it ...

    Sorry, the ends don't justify the means. It's wrong. Period.

    They could have saved a human life, and I would still say the person responsible for this program should be fired, sued, and socially exiled.

    Surveillance isn't the answer. In the case of your point: the parents are responsible for providing a safe home and are responsible for keeping sex offenders away from their children. The school officials over-extended their bounds.

  • On the post: NBC's Delayed Telecasts Show A Company Living In The Last Century

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 10:27am

    Re:

    This is the first year the Olympics broadcasts in the U.S. are projected to LOSE money ... to the tune of almost a half BILLION dollars.

    You say their strategy is good?!

  • On the post: Why Can't All These Ideas For Content On The iPad/Tablets Also Work On The Web?

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 10:17am

    Re: Re: Control

    It has more to do with desktop publishers missing the layout control.

    An article regarding Wired's app mentioned that the web and magazine teams are completely separate. Whereas the iPad App team are the graphic designers working in InDesign from the same files that make the magazine.

    It's not distribution control, but layout control that many publishers miss from moving from print to web.

  • On the post: NY Times Execs Think People Will Pay $20 To $30 Per Month For The iPad Edition Of The NY Times

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 09:45am

    Re: Re: Re: Why should digital paper costs _have_ to fall?

    You think I'm paying for content. I'm not. I'm paying for a product. And the delivery mechanism should mean a difference in price because the price reflects the costs associated with that product.

    The product I get in a newspaper is more valuable than the content. The paper itself can line my cat's litter box, be used to pad boxes so breakables don't break, I can cut stuff out of it, lend it to a friend, or make a bitchin' pirate hat.

    With this digital version, I'm getting a different product, with less value in some regards, more value in others, and I expect the price I pay to reflect the difference in delivery mechanism. The content may be the same, but the product is ENTIRELY different.

  • On the post: YouTube Joins Hulu In Letting Content Holders Block Access For TV-Connected Devices

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2010 @ 09:39am

    Re: Re: Re: Chrome is the word

    So, the original comment starts implying that Google is giving Chrome preference because Chrome will show YouTube videos.

    But then counters by using MS MCE as an example of media-center software still able to view YouTube?

    Wow.

    Debate fail.

    But to answer your point, it's because the content creators haven't rallied to get MCE on the list of devices to block with the YouTube option that they (not Google) turn on per video.

  • On the post: NY Times Execs Think People Will Pay $20 To $30 Per Month For The iPad Edition Of The NY Times

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 06:26pm

    Re:

    Now, if the high quality porn appeared on my credit card bill as The New York Times...

    Or if The New York Times added a new high quality porn section...

  • On the post: YouTube Joins Hulu In Letting Content Holders Block Access For TV-Connected Devices

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 06:19pm

    Re: "Do no evil"

    Actually this hurts Google's profits, because that's less devices to show their ads on. Remember: Google wants to be on every device, it's how they make money.

    It's the content creators that are instigating the evil. Google just gave them the noose to do it, and shares in the hanging, but it's the content creators that are pulling the rope.

  • On the post: An Olympian Spammer Discovers That Reputation Is A Scarce Good You Don't Want To Destroy

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 06:08pm

    Re: kiing & the Olympics

    When are the Olympics ever about the sports?

  • On the post: YouTube Joins Hulu In Letting Content Holders Block Access For TV-Connected Devices

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 06:04pm

    Re: Chrome is the word

    Probably not since they're talking about specialized media center hardware or software. It's the fact that it's not being displayed in one of the major general purpose web browsers that the content creators are wanting to block.

    They're not blocking IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or Opera ... they're blocking media-centric hardware & software that is designed to make the web video viewing experience more TV-like.

  • On the post: Debunking Reasons For ACTA Secrecy: Just Enforcement Doesn't Tell The Whole Story

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 03:47pm

    Re:

    *nods*

  • On the post: NY Times Execs Think People Will Pay $20 To $30 Per Month For The iPad Edition Of The NY Times

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 03:43pm

    Re:

    "I can't believe that people would pay for an ipad either"

    Nobody has yet.

  • On the post: NY Times Execs Think People Will Pay $20 To $30 Per Month For The iPad Edition Of The NY Times

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 03:42pm

    Re: Re: Re: Why should digital paper costs _have_ to fall?

    But it won't be Flash ads!

  • On the post: NY Times Execs Think People Will Pay $20 To $30 Per Month For The iPad Edition Of The NY Times

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 02:23pm

    Re: Why should digital paper costs _have_ to fall?

    Though, by not altering the price, you're essentially saying the consumer purchased the physical product AND are paying residual pricing for the physical product the newspaper previously provided.

    So, I would spend $500 of my own money on a newspaper delivery device ... and then spend another $20-30/month for the newspaper on top of that, without reaping financial benefits of paying less per issue to save cost in the long-term.

    So, I get less and pay more! That's exactly how to price the digital version of a newspaper to increase "value"¡¡¡ Now, if they do things with the digital edition that they couldn't or didn't do with the print version that provides additional value over the previous print editions ... then we're talking something interesting. Like, for my $30/month a reporter will actually LISTEN and RESPOND to comments and criticism of their reports ...

    But simply repackaging an old product, slapping the "NEW" sticker on it, and schlepping it out the door without a price break ... no dice.

  • On the post: Will People Pay For Content Online?

    Alan Gerow ( profile ), 17 Feb, 2010 @ 12:44pm

    Re: Re: Re: Even without the revised graph....

    For me, the price per song is closer to $.25 to get me to download legit over P2P. And even then, I would expect a minimum level of quality with no artifacts or pops and well crafted IDv3 tags with embedded cover art.

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