ElijahBlue 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Things I Was Wrong About

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2008 @ 10:36pm

    I have a memory to add. Circa 1995, the tech homies and I, all early adopters of all things online, some of us veteranos going back to the online world of the 1980's, went as a group to see 'The Net,' Sandra Bullock's movie.

    We howled out loud, foot-stomping snorting guffaws as Bullock easily accessed a public-terminal at a convention, and went online with warp speed. We were all in the know, tech insiders who knew that kind of warp speed was impossible in a 33.6 world. Fast-forward five years, and I had inexpensive high-speed internet in my own home. So much for being able to see the future in my crystal ball.

  • On the post: Things I Was Wrong About

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2008 @ 03:46pm

    WWW it will last six months, that's all

    Funny. By 1994 I was an online veterano and I was highly offended at the whole world wide web concept. Pictures? Blah. Sound files? Double blah. Pictures and sound were for losers and weaklings. I was as offended by the concept of www as I was with the first modem card I bought that didn't have dip switches.

    I was a Gopher afficionado, and Archie and Veronica were close personal friends of mine. The closest I came to www was my lynx browser. Text, baby. That's where it's at. Pictures and sound are for the losers who subscribe to America Online. This www thing, won't last very long, because real men (and women) use command prompts. A group of fellow techies and I used to get together and make fun of America Online users. Some people make jokes about ethnic minorities. Our jokes were all about AOL users, and how stupid they were.

    I still think AOL subscribers are stupid morons, but other than that, I guess the web is here to stay, you think?

  • On the post: When The Best You Can Do Is Get Fake Facebook Fans, You Know You Have A PR Problem

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2008 @ 01:35pm

    Fan of Ticket Master here

    Several times in recent years, TM online has provided me with the chance to buy the best seats in the house. In my view, TM's online site has leveled the playing field. No longer are the greedy whore ticket brokers able to grab up every single one of the best tickets to a particular concert.

    If you sign up with a non-Ticketmaster fan club of your favorite musician, you can get tipped off to the dates and times that tickets go up for sale online, at least a day before they're available by phone or to the general public.

    None of these best seats in the house were free, but there's a world of difference between paying TM $100 for a concert ticket plus the $8 service fee and the thousands of dollars that greedy whore ticket brokers charge for the same exact tickets.

  • On the post: Artist Creates A Real Where's Waldo Adventure For Online Satellite Imagery

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2008 @ 12:15am

    Oy Vey

    We as Westerners are a people with far too much time on our hands.

  • On the post: Newspaper Guy Worried That Fewer Voices Are Heard Today; Apparently He's Never Been Online

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2008 @ 10:11pm

    RIP Print Newspapers, Travel Agents and Buggy Whip Manufacturers

    I'd bury the traditional newspaper publishers in the same grave with the travel agents. Now I listen to nightly podcasts of CBC news and my Google home page gives me the one-line summaries of major US, Canadian and international newspapers, as well as the BBC, Time and Newsweek stories of the day.

    The worst mistake the Los Angeles Times ever made was selling out to the Tribune Company in Chicago. The page-one content shifted to stories about life in the Midwest, and the essence of what made the Times a great newspaper was gone forever. I cancelled my subscription eight years ago and have no intention of ever starting it up again.

    There is a correlation between the arrogance of newspaper publishers and the you can't live without us attitude of travel agents. It used to be that travelers were at the mercy of the travel agents, snooty b--es who controlled the keys to the kingdom. For more than twelve years now, I've booked and researched my own travel and wouldn't go back to a travel agent any more than I would go back to being a print LA Times subscriber.

  • On the post: Is Selling A CD You Found In The Trash Copyright Infringement?

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2008 @ 11:05am

    Re: death by popcorn

    I also heard a funny on CBC radio about one of your politicians who made fun of gays, and declaring they should all be killed, in a videotape dated back in the early 80's, and someone recently found the tape and now there's some brouhaha about this man's ability to lead, blah blah. Any updates on that story?

  • On the post: Wal-Mart Ditches DRM… And Lots Of Major Label Music With It

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2008 @ 01:51pm

    Re: Re: But you still have to install shit to buy it...

    You don't have to install the Amazon Mp3 app in order to download their music. I've been rotting my teeth and using Pepsi points to download free music from Amazon. The sound quality is better than Itunes and it really is genuinely DRM-free. However not all of Amazon's MP3 songs can be paid for with Pepsi points.

  • On the post: Next Thing To Ban: Walking While Talking On A Mobile Phone

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2008 @ 11:39am

    Re: Re: Re: What happens if they are the cause of an accident?

    You don't live in California, where the illegal excuse me undocumented alien pushing a stolen shopping cart piled high with aluminum cans and recyclables, also stolen, jaywalks across a busy street and is hit by a car. He becomes one rich son of a bitch, even if he's not seriously injured, because the auto insurer of the driver just wants to pay the bum off to make the charges go away.

  • On the post: Are College Lectures Covered By Copyright?

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2008 @ 03:25am

    Re: Can't stand this

    This wouldn't have been allowed in a US college or university, again based on my point that in our Federal legal system, the rights of the protected minority (the disabled or foreign-language speaker) who wants to tape-record the classroom lecture trump the rights of the prof who claims that *his* legal rights are being violated because someone is being paid to 1. take notes for someone else or 2. tape-record the classroom lecture for the benefit of a protected minority.


    (Note that I'm not saying this is right or wrong, and indeed, I believe that our legal system has been weakened by too many diaper-wearing crybabies screaming about violations of their so-called legal rights.)

  • On the post: Are College Lectures Covered By Copyright?

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2008 @ 07:08pm

    ADA is the trump card

    I have an easy legal out for Einstein's Notes. They're providing an essential service for the disabled students who can't take their own notes in class. The right of the student to have full access to higher education will outweigh the professor and the textbook company's whiny claims about copyright infringement. Einstein's Notes is providing an essential service.

    I'm partially deaf and wish I'd had access to a service like this when I was in college.

  • On the post: Author Sues Amazon And eBay For Having Used Copies Of His Books For Sale

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2008 @ 08:20pm

    Re: $250 books on Amazon

    I sell books at a minimum of $50 every single day on Amazon, where I am a used book dealer, and I also sell $250+ books quite often. Some people feed the low end of the market. I feed rich people. In the end, the $50+ book buyer is far more pleasant and agreeable than the .01 cent book buyer.

    This is a phenomena that I have yet to see rationally explained. On both Ebay and Amazon, the lower the price of the merchandise you are selling, the more problems the buyer will bring to you after the sale. Buyers of items costing less than $5 (with shipping included in that total) will bombard a seller with daily email, demanding updates on the status of their order.

    The dollar Dellas are impossible to please and are most likely to find flaws in the book and demand a refund, the email typed all in capital letters, and usually throwing the word fraud around like they're big shots. I fired the low-budget Lolas and two-buck Chucks early on in my career as a bookseller. People who spend $50+ buying used books are entirely different creatures, and it has been an absolute privilege to have them as my customers.

  • On the post: Author Sues Amazon And eBay For Having Used Copies Of His Books For Sale

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2008 @ 03:01pm

    The most wondrous action would be if Amazon and Ebay both blocked the books from being sold or resold by anyone, including the author. 'During the time that this matter is being litigated, Amazon.com's legal department has advised us that we should immediately ban the sale of all books written by this author.'

    Give him what he wants. Ban his books from Ebay and Amazon.

  • On the post: Author Sues Amazon And eBay For Having Used Copies Of His Books For Sale

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2008 @ 02:57pm

    Re: the Countersuit

    I agree with you completely.

  • On the post: Did A Court Really Reject 'Making Available'? Sorta, But Not Quite…

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2008 @ 04:04pm

    Re: how about...

    My own wi-fi network is encrypted with WPA-TKIP, but I also named the network a variant of this_network_not_public. If someone with a little bit too much time on their hands decides to hack into my wi-fi network, at least I've put them on public notice.

    The only reason I did this is because of reading Slashdot and TechDirt blogs and understanding that having an unsecured wi-fi network is just begging for the Feds to nail me for something my neighbors did. In theory I have no problem sharing my wi-fi network with the world, but I realized one day fuck, what am I doing here, I could end up with the FBI or the RIAA breathing down my necks, and then it's up to me to prove that it wasn't me who was using the network to download kiddie porn or pirated music.

  • On the post: Did A Court Really Reject 'Making Available'? Sorta, But Not Quite…

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2008 @ 11:10am

    Subtle difference that most people probably don't

    Friends of mine (and their kids) stash everything in the shared music directories on their computers, even the music they've bought and paid for. I don't think most people know the difference or realize that this music can be accessed by anyone. I understand the difference (and I'm the one they call to fix the problem when the crap their kids has downloaded mucks something up on their PC).

    A basic tenet of American law is that ignorance is no excuse, and on paper, these people are committing a crime, under the wording now approved by the judicial whores, who are the overpaid lap dancers of the RIAA goons.

  • On the post: Craigslist Ransacking Was To Cover Up Burglary

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2008 @ 10:13pm

    Losers

    Thank God there are still dumb crooks out there. What a bunch of losers!

  • On the post: Ringtone Sales Falling As People Realize They Don't Need To Pay Twice

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2008 @ 04:53pm

    Re: With a little help I could???

    Try texting the sound file to yourself using your mobile number. It should be yourmobilenumber@yourcellprovider.com.

    (The only reason I didn't try this with my Verizon mobile phone is that I have text blocked on that account. The first day I started using my new SCH-U740 I was suddenly blitzed with text spam, even though I've had that same mobile phone number for years.)

  • On the post: Ringtone Sales Falling As People Realize They Don't Need To Pay Twice

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2008 @ 04:34pm

    It's fun to hack your own phone and make your own

    There's only one reason I won't pay Verizon for a ringtone. 99 cents is an absolutely fair price to pay BUT they want 99 cents per ringtone chosen plus a monthly subscription fee of $3, AND at the end of 12 months, you have to renew that .99 cent ringtone if you want to keep using it.

    I am not paying $37 a year for the privilege of having a custom ringtone! The current Verizon phone Samsung SCH-u740 that I have requires more hacking skill than previous mobile phones I've owned. But it can be done. I spent more than $37 worth of my time figuring out how to accomplish this task, but I now have the satisfaction of hearing my own preferred ringtone.

    I also don't consider this hacking, as I am not stealing mobile phone service - I pay and have paid $50 a month for a dozen years as a Verizon wireless customer. And I would have been okay with paying one time for the ringtone but not over and over again. In fact, they could have charged me a one-time $5 fee for that ringtone and I would have paid it. I just morally object to being screwed in the ass to the tune of $37 a year for a lousy ringtone.

    Another aside. I'm also a T-Mobile customer, with a PDA that you would have to shoot me dead for if you were a robber. They will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands before I let go. T-Mobile claims that no custom ringtones are available for this device. They won't even try to sell you a ringtone - flat out, no custom ring tones will work.

    It took me all of five minutes to figure out how to crack the legs of that w---e open, and the T-Mobile MDA does indeed also accept custom ringtones. You just have to figure it out, that's all.

  • On the post: It Turns Out Plenty Of People Reply To DoNotReply.com

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2008 @ 07:18pm

    Amazon Prime? It's not rocket science

    I'm puzzled as to the problems with the Amazon Prime free trial membership. Mine is set to expire in two days, and it wasn't a complicated thing to set the option to 'do not auto renew.'

    In fact, here's the text copied from my Amazon buyer page:

    Your membership is set to not upgrade automatically. To continue receiving Amazon Prime benefits without interruption, please click "Upgrade automatically" below.
    Your trial membership will not upgrade to a full membership automatically on March 28, 2008.

    This is not difficult. It might be nice if Amazon sent out a reminder email, warning me that my free trial membership was about to expire.

  • On the post: Apple Trying To Sneak Safari Onto Windows Machines?

    ElijahBlue ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2008 @ 05:12pm

    Re: Sleazy?

    I didn't install it, but I'm a tech. The reason I was leery of the offer at all was because I knew that Safari didn't belong on a PC. (At that moment I didn't know that Safari had been expanded to include IBM-compatibles.) It seemed like such a stupid offer, which was why I thought it had to be a scam, and that some jerk had managed to trick me into downloading some kind of junkware masquerading as an Itunes update.

    Since I presumed the request didn't belong on my PC at all, that was why I preemptively decided to do a virus scan, a dump of all temp files, etc., because I assumed that this was some kind of new trick that virus and malware writers had come up with to dupe unsuspecting nimrods into installing junkware and bloatware on their computers.

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