Danny 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (265) comment rss

  • On the post: MLB.com Writers Told They Can Only Tweet About Baseball

    Danny ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2010 @ 07:57am

    Three strikes and yur out!

    It seems to me that it is perfectly legitimate for MLB to offer to trade privileged access or benefits in exchange for consideration of their own set of rules. It is a straightforward contractual arrangement that is potentially beneficial for both sides.

    If MLB does this, then reporters can decide whether to accept the contractual offer, try to negotiate their own deal, or reject the offer and report independent of any such rules (and privileges.)

    MLB, had they a sense of humor, might install a three strike rule for those engaged in the contractual arrangement.

  • On the post: Redbox Follows Netflix's Lead, Delays Fox and Universal DVD Releases by 28 Days

    Danny ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2010 @ 01:56pm

    Re: Make your profit where you can.

    Perhaps I am atypical, but I've stopped even renting movies.

    There is way more material on my 200 satellite channels than I am ever going to TiVo and watch. Lots of movies are out there.

    About 4 to 6 times a year I am moved to go to a movie theater and watch a movie. The rest of my time my entertainment needs are met by my TV and my computer.

  • On the post: Is Hulu About To Find Out That There's Always Somewhere Else To Get Content Online?

    Danny ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2010 @ 03:57pm

    Why I didn't go to Hulu

    I watched an episode of CSI a year or so ago on Hulu. It was a great experience; I didn't mind that it forced me through commercials; that seemed like a fair trade to me.

    Then, I had two bad experiences, neither is Hulu's fault.

    1. I wanted to keep watching CSI on Hulu, and found myself on a business trip to Europe shortly after the first experience. I tried it from there, but Hulu reported that their license didn't permit viewing outside of the US. I am sure that was CBS's doing, not Hulu's. They both lost my eyeballs, though.

    Month's later I found that CBS removed their content from Hulu. No problem, I figured, I'd go to the CBS site and watch. Did that and found CBS no longer offers episodes online - they offer short previews. That doesn't interest me; I want full episodes.

    Note that I am not fighting the advertising model online. I accept it. And note that when I watch CBS shows via DVR I always fast forward through commercials (cause I can). So, it have no idea what CBS is thinking here.

    2. Last week my wife and I sat through an episode of Criminal Minds on the DVR (skipped commercials, of course.) When we got to the end, I find it is a two parter, but my wife informed me she had already deleted part two as she had previously seen it.

    I grumbled, headed to the computer, and went searching for part two to view. It wasn't at Hulu or the CBS site (just damn previews), so I googled the episode title and found LOTS of services that would let me watch "for free". Of course each of these services has a nasty business model that requires me to exchange lots of information with a company I've never heard of, or download proprietary viewing software that seemed rather convoluted and risky.

    So, I went to iTunes, paid about $3 and watched my episode.

    I guess CBS made a cut of that, so they are probably happy. And so is Steve Jobs.

    But somehow there must be a cleaner way for these guy to monetize what they are doing; and there must be a way for them to do so without getting me so pissed off.

  • On the post: Reed Elsevier Sues Punk Band Over Parody Logo That Was Discontinued Years Ago

    Danny ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2010 @ 02:02pm

    Calling Rona Barrett

    Well, if nothing else, it gives Variety some more gossip to cover instead of covering the real news they, apparently, can afford to cover.

  • On the post: US Convicts Nigerian 419 Email Scammer

    Danny ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2010 @ 01:56pm

    Re:

    I get well more than one a day, but my spam filter handles the majority of them. Two slipped through this morning, for example.

    These are real emails that came in today:

    ---------------
    This mail is to remind you of your registered package. CONTENT: Bank Draft of $720,000 USD officially registered by an Official of the United Nations. The $720,000 USD is a donation to you from the U.N through their Annual e-mails Balloting Promo. For your information the VAT and COD have been paid except the security keeping fee of $210USD and it is payable to our account department.
    Please Contact FedEx
    Delivery Department Mr. William Harrison for shipment details and requirements.
    Email: fedex.delunit2_ng@live.com
    Tel: +2348182248485
    It is mandatory to reconfirm your Postal address and telephone number:
    Full Name:
    Address:
    City:
    Postal Address:
    Phone:
    Country:
    Yours Faithfully,
    Mrs. Margaret Blair
    ©Federal Express Corporation
    All rights reserved. © 1995-2010 FedEx.
    --------------------
    SHELL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT SPAIN has just concluded final draws from it's periodical promotional program An exclusive list of thousands of individual and corporate bodies were picked by automated random computer search from the internet No tickets were sold. You emerged as one of the lucky winners and you are therefore entitled to a sum of €350.000.00 Euros Only .
    See attachment for more details and procedures.

    For the security purpose,a password is required to enable you view the
    attachment.

    Password: (boy).

    Dr Ellen R..Gomez,
    Managing Director .
    Shell Petroleum Company Spain.
    No 72 Avenida Parque Grande,
    Madrid Spain.
    Email:shellpetroleumcompany@europe.com
    :shelllottery1@yahoo.es
    -----------------------

    PS: If any of you get rich from one of these, please share some of the proceeds with me.

  • On the post: US Convicts Nigerian 419 Email Scammer

    Danny ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2010 @ 01:53pm

    Stuck in England

    Related. I haven't heard, so am wondering if anyone else has:

    With so many people stuck in Europe last week due to the volcano, has there been a surge of emails that say "am stuck in Europe and out of funds, please wire money to this address" kinds of scams? Seems this event is ripe for them.

  • On the post: Newspapers' Revenue Plan: If Lots Of People Used To Give Us A Little, We'll Now Get A Few People To Give Us A Lot!

    Danny ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2010 @ 11:30am

    Re: *Very* Annoying.

    What was your name before you changed it to "The Infamous Joe"?

  • On the post: Should We Allow Consumers To Sell Their Souls?

    Danny ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2010 @ 09:08am

    Re:

    There's an app for that.

  • On the post: Should We Allow Consumers To Sell Their Souls?

    Danny ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2010 @ 07:33am

    There is no "sanity clause"

    Even if I were to read the complete text of the several online licenses I click through each week, there is no way for me to understand the implications of the word choices the author made as I am completely unfamiliar with the relevant case law.

    The author may have included (or omitted) specific phrasing in order to sculpt the meaning of the agreement. I would have to have, first, the base skill set in legal research and, second, the time to do the research in order to fully understand the implications of the license terms I click to accept.

    The whole system is absurd.

  • On the post: Steve Ballmer Tasked With Fixing The Deficit — With A Video Game

    Danny ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2010 @ 04:06pm

    I can't wait for version 3.0

    We all know MS software doesn't do much of anything until version 3.0...

    But seriously, Karl's post is a bit negative. It isn't as though this commission is ONLY commissioning a video game. And it does make sense to find an appropriate mechanism to help people experience a simulation of why balancing the budget is so hard.

    I do think it will be very difficult to write a game that is Red/Blue value neutral, but it is well worth a try.

    And, rather than Microsoft, they might have approached the Sim City people: there is likely stronger related simulation engine experience there.

  • On the post: Be Aware Of Labor Laws Before You Decide To Hire An Unpaid Intern

    Danny ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2010 @ 07:53pm

    Re: Implication

    Actually, the government is interfering because many interns seem to be taken advantage of.

  • On the post: Be Aware Of Labor Laws Before You Decide To Hire An Unpaid Intern

    Danny ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2010 @ 07:51pm

    Re: Pay - Cost = $0.00

    If you fired them from the internship, you might then still owe them the contracted training (or at least their tuition back). It could get amusing if the fired obnoxious intern sued for specific performance.

  • On the post: Is The iPad The Disneyland Of Computers?

    Danny ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2010 @ 02:49pm

    Re: Re: hallelujah!

    Do they ever print anything negative now?

  • On the post: If FreeCreditReport.com Doesn't Even Offer A Free Credit Report… Is That Truth In Advertising?

    Danny ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2010 @ 02:47pm

    If you just read this, you owe me a dollar. Send it to Mike.

    How is this any different from all those late night TV products offered for free, just pay shipping and handling - and there is a decent profit margin built into the handling charge?

    In fact, if they really are giving the money to charity, it probably is different in a good way.

  • On the post: Son Gets Mom Charged With Harassment Over Facebook Account Hijacking

    Danny ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2010 @ 04:06pm

    Minor infraction

    I don't know enough about the case to know what the mother's intentions (or specific behaviors) were. But I do note the kid is 16.

    So I ask the question: does a 16 year old have the legal right to have a Facebook account that his legal guardians don't have access to? Or, do his legal guardians have the right to manage a minor's online presence if they so desire?

    I am not asking whether this is smart parenting (I presume something less confrontational would be smarter parenting), rather: to what extent does the law give parents control over their minor's online presence?

    [And I am guessing the answer is: the law is silent on this as it is too new an issue.]

  • On the post: Sony Deletes Feature On PS3's; You Don't Own What You Thought You Bought

    Danny ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2010 @ 11:44am

    Two questions; two sides

    The Sony bashing here isn't helpful to intelligent consideration of the situation.

    I have a thought and a question.

    Thought: Perhaps we don't want to say that vendors are not permitted to remove features post-sale because sometimes removing features will make sense to do. Examples:
    - if a feature inadvertantly creates a security risk;
    - if a feature creates a situation such that technical support of the feature would bankrupt the company (and make any future support for the product disappear).

    So before one rushes off to say that companies shouldn't be able to do this, one ought to address how to differentiate from situations where perhaps they should be able to do this.

    Question: Even if Sony is legally permitted to remove features post sale, in this case it is completely unclear to me why they would want to.

    As best I can tell, they have already sold several thousand extra units because customers have figured out how to repurpose them. If Sony cooperated in promoting how to repurpose PS3s, wouldn't they sell many tens of thousands of additional extra units? If Sony makes $200 wholesale from a unit they reap an extra $1m for every 5,000 more they sell.

    Why would they not want to do this?

  • On the post: Hollywood Seeks To Kill Off 3D Golden Goose With Much Higher Prices

    Danny ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2010 @ 07:17am

    Thumbs down

    Roger Ebert's review of Alice in Wonderland was, essentially, "great movie; see it in 2d"

    His reasoning was that the movie was shot in 2d and then post-productioned into 3d. He said the technique they used removed about 20 percent of the light but added few interesting 3d effects. He said the colors pop much more and it is much closed to Tim Burton's vision in 2d.

    Seems the studios knew 3d was the current thing and figured they could milk it for more money, quality be damned.

  • On the post: Is A Moron In A Hurry Confused Between Plastic Building Blocks And A Youth Empowerment Charity?

    Danny ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2010 @ 06:40pm

    LOOK HERE

    Perhaps they should call the organization:

    Opportunity, Growth, Leadership, Empowerment, Sustainability.

    That ought to make the kiddie watchers happy :-/

  • On the post: Is A Moron In A Hurry Confused Between Plastic Building Blocks And A Youth Empowerment Charity?

    Danny ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2010 @ 06:38pm

    This moron is a little slow

    If I were to see a Childrens' Charity called Project Legos, I would assume a connection with the building blocks.

    So, while it would be nice if LEGO cut a charity some slack, I think they are on solid IP ground here.

  • On the post: Syphilis (Or Was It Facebook?) Blamed For People Not Understanding That Correlation Does Not Mean Causation

    Danny ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2010 @ 09:03am

    Re: Re: Re: I like Facebook's response

    I remember someone (perhaps it was James Randi?) once arguing that the best predictor of death we have is what century you were born in.

    It turns out that 100% of the people born in the 18th century are dead. Ergo, if you don't want to die, don't get born in the 18th century.

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