Austin 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (90) comment rss

  • On the post: HP Tablet Fire Sale Lets Us Put A Price On The Value Of A Strong Development Community

    Austin ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2011 @ 12:13am

    Really?

    All of this and the final answer is the quality of apps? Seriously? Not to be rude to th Apple fanatics out there, but I'll take the selection of apps available on my ASUS EEE Transformer (Android Honeycomb) over those on my mother's iPad any day of the week. I have a better launcher, better browser, better on screen keyboard, better email client, better maps, better music player, better movie player, better jabber client, and lastly, a better version of solitaire than anything she either has or can even get. Add to that hardware with twice the specs and a $299 price tag and frankly I can't understand why anyone would spit on an I pad if it was on fire.

    Apple sells I pads not because they are any better at all, but simply because they LOOK better. If I slapped a white case and an Apple sticker on this thing and sat it in front of the typical Apple user I could earn $100/hour in lost bets. When you compare what actually matters (processor, memory, storage space, etc.) Android ALWAYS wins. mainly because it doesn't include a "coolness tax."

    the really sad thing is, Apple used to be the opposite. there was a time when a G3 would outperform a Pentium 4. then, Steve came back and rapidly returned the company to profitability - by sacrificing ACTUAL greatness and substituting PERCIEVED greatness in its place

    The masses are sheep. That Apple computer has more cash on hand than the US Government just proves this point.
    Anyhow...awful rant, I know, but I had to say it somewhere. Since OP was an editorial I figured why not here.

  • On the post: Student Sues Former Principal For Privacy Rights Violation In Showing Surveillance Video Of Her Having Sex

    Austin ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 03:38pm

    Wrong Court

    Whether or not this is child porn is decided in a criminal court. This is a civil lawsuit brought by the girl in the tape. It is not a criminal charge.

    That said, to prove almost any civil case of this nature, the girl must show damages. She must show how this somehow cost her something. Even if it's only emotional trauma, she has to prove that in some way she deserves money.

    So...how did the principal showing this to his co-workers damage the girl? It's embarrassing, sure, but embarrassment isn't a reason to sue unless it lead to medical bills from seeing a psychologist or some other documented expense. Under what legal theory is this girl seeking relief?

    Seems to me #8 and #9 inadvertently hit the nail on the head here. There's a very credible criminal child porn case. I would say not for production, since the surveillance system is obviously automated. However, most certainly both for possession and distribution. Nevertheless, unless there's something we haven't been told, this girl has no civil case.

    She should drop the lawsuit ASAP and go to the cops, and get him prosecuted criminally. That has a vastly greater chance of resulting in the desirable outcome, i.e. punishing the guy.

    Also, not to denigrate the victim here, but this sounds suspiciously like a shakedown. Yes, the guy is a creep, but if she was genuinely harmed, she should handle this criminally for the reasons above. Of course, even though it's more likely to work, it won't result in any money for the girl. The fact that she waited (at least?) a year and is suing him in civil court now speaks volumes to me. Sounds like someone who is trying to turn this around and profit from what happened.

  • On the post: New Missouri Law May Make It Illegal To Friend Your Former Teachers On Facebook

    Austin ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 10:01am

    One Less Reason to Use Facebook

    I have 3 friends on facebook. One is my mom, one is my best friend, and one is my 8th grade science teacher. My mom and my best friend both communicate via Jabber, so basically the only reason I ever sign into facebook is my old teacher. I'm 24, and I have no interest in her physically (frankly, she's just the only teacher in my entire school career I've ever known who wasn't a total bitch. Ever. At all.)

    So now I'll have no reason to ever go there again. I mean, I'm in Alabama, but anything that's "for the children" spreads like wildfire.

    Dammit Google, open up Plus to Google Apps users now please!

  • On the post: Why Hasn't ICE Been Talking About Its Latest Domain Seizures?

    Austin ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2011 @ 09:38am

    Double Standard

    Mike, I'm ashamed of you!

    The only difference between these seizures and the seizures of previous sites is that Homeland Security is working for the fashion industry instead if the RIAA/MPAA. This is still a branch of the US Federal Government doing something that benefits a private industry, which should be left in civil court. Beyond the specific industry in question, there is no other difference!

    Seriously Mike. I know these aren't tech-related companies, but it's unfair for you to be any less outraged here!

  • On the post: DHS Requests $300 Million To Purchase Even More Devices That Don't Work

    Austin ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2011 @ 03:12pm

    Asking an Expert

    Someone please explain to me why the following won't work:

    - Buy Geiger Counters at 1/300th the cost of these ASPs
    - Bolt said counters to cranes in ports, near the arms that actually pick up the containers ($20 for overpriced bolts)
    - Run wire from counter to speaker in crane operator's cockpit ($30 for overpriced wire)
    - Set threshholds where we inspect the containers in person. If shipper refuses, simply force them to ship it back unless they agree.

    What is wrong with this? What is wrong with using existing, proven technology and common sense? I'm not a nuclear physicist, but from what little I do know, even the comparatively small amount of nuclear material needed for a dirty bomb is detectable several blocks away. Wouldn't a Geiger Counter a whopping 6 inches from the container pick it up? Even if it won't detect it 100% of the time, if Norton Anti-Virus has taught me anything, it's that NOTHING will detect threats 100% of the time. This ASP crap probably doesn't detect more than 80% of the time at best. Can't a simple Geiger Counter match that level of success???

  • On the post: Secret Service Descends on Artist For Mildly Creepy Public Photography

    Austin ( profile ), 11 Jul, 2011 @ 08:37am

    Jurisdiction

    The real question here is, "What crimes does the secret service have jurisdiction over." The answer seems to be "nothing that anyone could misconstrue as what this guy did."

    Personally? I don't think this was the Secret Service. Why on earth would they collect his stuff and just leave? It sounds to me like something Apple themselves would do. These dudes were probably private security of some sort hired to attempt to scare the hell out of the artist. My money says they'll wipe his systems and he'll receive them in the mail in 4-7 weeks from "0 Infinite Loop" with a note inside the box that says "Gotcha! -J" The fact that there isn't any apparent law that they could charge him under would seem to support this.

  • On the post: Because Of Online Pranks, German Politician Recommends Kids Get Internet Licenses

    Austin ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2011 @ 03:11pm

    Mandatory Training Video

    I have to agree that a license for using the internet is going several steps too far. However, I've often thought that when a user gets new service from an ISP, they should be required to watch a 10-15 minute training video on the Internet. Seriously. They shouldn't be able to load a web page or pass any other traffic until they watch it. No test, no real verification that they actually watched it, but maybe, just maybe, if 10% of the total dumbasses on the internet had seen such a short video before they were unleashed on the web, we'd all be 10% better off.

    As to the content of the video...well, I'd try to stick primarily to the technological end of things. "This is a web browser, it loads web pages. This is an email client, it reads and sends email." So on and so fourth. That said, a quick, 2 minute etiquette section would do the web as a whole a world of good. I'm not saying we should tell everyone 4chan is bad. But perhaps we should explain to the newbies that what happens on 4chan is best left there and not spread elsewhere on the web?

  • On the post: More Details On Spanish Music Collection Society Corruption: Accused Of Stealing $550 Million From Artists

    Austin ( profile ), 06 Jul, 2011 @ 09:26am

    I Blame the Artists

    This is 2011. We've finally hit a point where artists can self-promote to the point where they can earn as much money as a signed act without a studio behind them. Furthermore, their fan base will be smaller, but they'll be more engaged, and more likely to buy. If I was an artist, I'd rather have 10,000 fanatics than 1 million casual fans. With the advent of the internet, any Artist can now achieve this without a label.

    So yeah, I blame the Artists. If they had chosen the wiser path, and done this on their own, they wouldn't need a label, and a label they wouldn't be signed to wouldn't be stealing their profits.

    Or to distill this for any Artists who may be reading: Wake up and smell the savings guys! The suits in Hollywood and Nashville are giving you 50 cents every time they sell a $20 CD with your hard work on it! A record contract is NOT the answer! Your fans ARE the answer!

  • On the post: First Totally Bogus Privacy Issue Over Google+ Raised

    Austin ( profile ), 01 Jul, 2011 @ 11:27am

    Not an issue

    Beyond the other arguments that the issue here is basic human communication rather than a technology issue...

    "In fact, Google's setup here is even more conducive to privacy than pretty much everything else, because it actually gives you the ability to block that ability on each thing you share."

    I'm pretty sure this should nip 100% of this issue in the bud before it becomes an issue. With this feature, the only reason something wouldn't remain private is if the original poster forgets to make it private, and if they do, then the fault doesn't lie with Google, it lies with the idiot who forgot to check the damn box.

    Or in other words, this is another case of a flawed user, not flawed technology.

  • On the post: The Misconceptions Of 'Free' Abound; Why Do Brains Stop At The Zero?

    Austin ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2011 @ 01:16pm

    Price as a measure of quality?

    Mike covers most of what I'd like to say, but I thought I'd add one counter-argument Mike seems to have overlooked:

    "There are three big reasons for not doing this: first, ... second, your product price says something about the quality and intended audience of your product"

    Stop. Just stop right there. Anyone who has ever paid $549 for Microsoft Office, then tried OpenOffice knows good and well this is sugar-coated BS on a stick. Price is NEVER a mark of quality. In some specific markets - which does NOT include software - cost can be used as a measure of quality. However, Price isn't Cost. Cost is a measure of the resources the company puts into a product, which should sometimes be an accurate measure of what they get out of it. Price is a measure of what the average idiot is willing to pay for it. Price is a measure of greed, and the stupidity of the consumer. Price can even be seen as an indicator of how well the overall global Economy is doing at any given point in time. However, price is never, NEVER an indicator of quality. To confuse price with cost is a grave mistake.

    This is important because Mr. Muscat doesn't seem to understand the difference. If he did, he'd know that software development has an incredibly low resource cost when compared to virtually every other industry. Basically, power and an internet connection. This is how Google was still serving over 12,000 hits per minute before they finally moved it out of Larry Page's garage. The primary cost of software development (including web software) is time. Virtually every language can be developed for FOR FREE. You could spend $2,000 on Visual Studio, but you could also use Eclipse for free. However, no matter how hard you work, how much code you can pump out, and how skilled you are, you gotta sleep eventually. To that end, the real cost of software development, barring something on a massive scale like Google, is time, electricity, and an internet connection. That's all.

    When your startup cost is under $1,000/month, you can go work at McDonald's for $7/hour and code it in your free time. The concept that you must charge your users $19.95/month before you ever get off the ground is kinda crazy.

    Also, I love the way that Mr. Muscat is giving away his work - writings, which cost him no money, no raw materials, only his time - for free, supported by ads. Yes, I realize this is to help sell books but...oh wait, that's right, he's giving away some of the product for free in an effort to sell the rest of the product for money. Like a free trial, or a premium version upgrade to software, or something like that. Well done Mr. Muscat. You just proved the very point you're trying to disprove...