Go5 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: The History Of The (Fake) 'Free Public WiFi' You Always See At Airports

    Go5 ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2010 @ 10:56am

    worth noting

    Hard to believe I'm defending (sort of) Microsoft, but as mentioned in the article, this is an old bug.

    It was fixed with XP Service Pack 3. If I had an XP computer that was last updated two years ago, it would be safe from this one.

    Not that it's any palliative, but people running around with Windows computers that out of date likely have way bigger problems than the ad-hoc exploit.

    Some of those computers will be so compromised and laden with adware, download accelerators and toolbars that they can barely get online at all. Others will be the same machines flinging shit at those aware enough to keep their computers reasonably protected, if not avoid Windows altogether.

  • On the post: Warner Bros. Claims That Annoying Customers With 28-Day Rental Delay Is Working

    Go5 ( profile ), 06 Oct, 2010 @ 02:53pm

    sound

    Streaming is alright sometimes, but I'm rather fond of our 5.1 surround system with real speakers. Until they find a way to jam good audio down the tubes, I'm stickin' to the plastic discs.

    Netflix *says* 5.1 streaming is coming. We'll see how it compressed it is, or if Comcast mangles it.

    Then again, maybe that's just what the business-types want: a choice between great sound and watching at home. If so, that will be the day movies die for me.

  • On the post: Once Again, Social Mores Come To Play In Spat Between SNL & Adult Swim Over Tiny Hats Sketches

    Go5 ( profile ), 29 Sep, 2010 @ 06:46pm

    I'm wondering *why* the Adult Swim folks would feel that SNL was anything other than *possibly* inspired by the idea of tiny hats.

    Can the same trope not appear in two different jokes? A priest and a rabbi? Two guys walk into a bar? Besides, as mentioned, the jokes aren't even remotely similar. One is about fashion and one-upping, the other is about... Well... Spoofing commercials?

    Today I saw a poster for another movie with a spaceship in it! And heard a second song about heartbreak!

    Social mores are a two-way street, and for me they backfire on Adult Swim here. My read is that Adult Swim's comedians are kind of douchey for even bringing this up.

  • On the post: Microsoft Back To Trying To Bribe People To Use Bing

    Go5 ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2010 @ 08:26pm

    Re: News flash: Microsoft monetizes "free", Mike complains

    They're bringin' the value alright.

    My studio uses Bing regularly, but with Microsoft choosing to provide incentives only for Windows/IE users (not to mention forcing a toolbar), they won't have to suffer the burden of our search traffic any longer.

  • On the post: Microsoft Back To Trying To Bribe People To Use Bing

    Go5 ( profile ), 27 Sep, 2010 @ 08:03pm

    Re: IE Only

    People must first install the Bing Bar toolbar, have a Windows Live ID, be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer. No Chrome or Firefox, no Macs.

    Sounds like a plan to get Bing users to switch to IE and Windows.

  • On the post: State AGs Now Targeting Backpage After Forcing Craigslist To Stop Helping Them Pursue Lawbreakers

    Go5 ( profile ), 21 Sep, 2010 @ 10:36pm

    This is hypothetical, but...

    Wouldn't it be interesting if there was some concrete accountability?

    For example, Craigslist could counter-sue the AGs for restraint of trade, misuse of authority, or somesuch when, after a two-year test period, there's no reduction in the specific crime at issue.

    With the crime rate is unchanged, or even increased, the Attorneys General would have to reimburse the company for the revenue it lost (with interest), as well as repaying the state treasuries for the money spent on both sets of lawsuits.

    Yeah, there would have to be trustworthy, independent statistics – a complete impossibility in this situation. But it's hypothetical. The point is there's no accountability, plus the perpetrators control the statistics.

    If Craigslist et al have truly committed crimes, just charge them as such and let juries sort it out. Of course we all know that would morph into the AGs pushing state legislatures for new laws moving the goalposts. But maybe the whole thing would come to a quick end once a state was held liable for false or malicious prosecution.

  • On the post: BP Photoshopping Goes From Bad To Ridiculously Bad

    Go5 ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2010 @ 12:55pm

    Re:

    Agreed – this is so crappy that it's hard to believe it's not deliberate.

    The retoucher or filetech can't very well watermark the images with "Photoshopped," but s/he can still make sure they can be outed as fakes.

  • On the post: Time To Get Rid Of No Fly List Altogether?

    Go5 ( profile ), 22 Jul, 2010 @ 12:26pm

    charade

    The No-Fly List isn't about security.

    "Security" is just the sales pitch.

  • On the post: Financial Columnist Stands By Her Claim That Kids Giving Away Lemonade Are Destroying America

    Go5 ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2010 @ 01:05pm

    As a kid, my brother and I did something similar -- not voluntarily but as punishment for something outrageously selfish and inconsiderate we had done.

    Maybe supercilious know-it-all Terry Savage interfered with otherwise very effective parenting.

    (And as I recall, our "punishment" turned out to be pretty fun and we ended up doing it a few more times on our own. Of course Savage would probably just use that as proof of how our lesson in generosity fueled my later support for health care reform.)

  • On the post: Financial Times Looks To Put Its Blogs Behind Paywalls Too

    Go5 ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2010 @ 11:14am

    Hey lots of people see Twitter as an advertising/marketing platform. Lots of people see email that way too. We call them spammers.

    If all this guy does is tweet links to paywalled stories, he'll probably shed followers real quick. On the other hand, he could tweet stuff that makes people WANT to pay for his content.

    The problem with most paywalls isn't the paywall itself, it's the attitude that built it -- "Pay to see our awesome shit" -- without any compelling reason to pay instead of going to one of many free alternatives.

    Oh, but he has super-extra-special content, with unicorns and rainbows and a cherry on top? Great! All 37 people who agree can pay for it.

    The paywall topic has become tiresome. Death is natural, paywalls are just another way of dying.

    Business come and go, and change their prices every day. Of course paywalling content that's widely available for free is simple-minded and self-defeating, but everyone is free to be simple-minded and self-defeating.

    Locking big media behind paywalls gives rise to new sites that make money by other means. Some will succeed, some won't; we call that evolution.

  • On the post: Andrew Cuomo Grandstanding Again: Threatens To Sue Social Networking Site Over Actions Of Its Users

    Go5 ( profile ), 13 Jun, 2010 @ 10:19am

    Let's solve this once and for all

    Whenever these grandstanders want to sue or prosecute a community or network for members' activities, let's sue or prosecute the politician for the activities of their voters. Maybe contributors too.

  • On the post: If Astronomers Can Happily Share The Business With Amateurs, Why Do Some Journalists Get So Upset?

    Go5 ( profile ), 04 Jun, 2010 @ 12:29am

    Participatory journalism wouldn't be succeeding if there wasn't a need.

    If my local newspaper wants me to get my news from them, all they have to do is start reporting it.

  • On the post: AT&T No Longer Offering Unlimited Data Plan To New Customers

    Go5 ( profile ), 02 Jun, 2010 @ 09:02am

    What they DIDN'T say

    "Some [other] customers, up until now, have [not]
    been hesitant to sign up for a $30 monthly data plan"
    for unlimited access
    In fact, "unlimited" data is why quite a few customers became AT&T customers in the first place.

    Shedding customers is certainly one way to address over-capacity problems.

  • On the post: Michigan Politician Proposes Bill To Regulate Journalists So He Can Tell You Which Reporters To Trust

    Go5 ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2010 @ 09:10pm

    Another politician who doesn't understand The Constitution.

    Ignorance of our country's foundation seems to be a prerequisite for public office these days.

  • On the post: Newspaper Edits Politicians Out Of Bill Signing Photograph; Doesn't Get Why People Think That's Bad

    Go5 ( profile ), 20 May, 2010 @ 09:27pm

    this is the photographic equivalent of a reporter making up quotes

    Speaking as a photographer, this sort of fakery is absolutely unconscionable. If the only photo the newspaper could get is one that violates its policy, then they can either bend the policy or not run the photo.

    Vague disclaimer notwithstanding, the photo has been doctored to misrepresent reality. While sometimes acceptable in feature/entertainment photography, that sort of deception is a career-ending offense in photojournalism.

    And the policy is meaningless if enforced by subterfuge.

  • On the post: If It's May It's Time For The Press To Parrot Bogus Stats Announcement From The BSA

    Go5 ( profile ), 13 May, 2010 @ 10:07am

    Stop expecting corporate media to be objective

    So, really, you would think that the mainstream press would at least put up some semblance of skepticism in seeing these same bogus numbers released yet again...
    What? And undermine their advertisers? No way.

  • On the post: Middle School Principal Tells Parents To Ban Facebook And Spy On Text Messages

    Go5 ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2010 @ 02:19pm

    Re:

    I was thinking the principal must've found some kid's post, "Mr Orsini has dog breath" or something like that, on SpaceBook.

  • On the post: Rupert Murdoch Doesn't Recognize That There's Competition Online

    Go5 ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2010 @ 05:25pm

    Build baby build!

    If a paywall is such a great idea, why is Murdoch always threatening but never implementing?

    Maybe he's is more interested in the publicity he gets from talking about a paywall than he is in actually building one.

    Do it Rupert -- isolate your content, prove us wrong.

  • On the post: Why We Need Better Metrics For Measuring User-Generated Content

    Go5 ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2010 @ 04:22am

    "... ignoring the problem and living off anecdotes" pretty well sums up the entire American intellect these days.

  • On the post: If Amateur Photographers Are As Good As Professionals, Then We Can All Be Professional Photographers

    Go5 ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2010 @ 06:42pm

    The challenge to "professional" photographers is to educate people on the quality we can bring to an assignment. Some of my colleagues would punch me for saying this, but there are times where Uncle Joe with the cheap DSLR is plenty good enough.

    What the rise of the amateur has done to pro photography is to expand the market stratification that was there all along -- exponentially, which hurts sometimes, but that's really the only difference. By and large, for both society in general and for photographers specifically, this is a good thing. The more the janky crap proliferates, the more people appreciate the difference between utility photographers and skilled craftspeople.

    Sometimes amateurs are GOOD for business. One of the less gear-dazzled locals recommends me when he encounters a project that's out of his league. Occasionally a client will mention the awful results they got from using Uncle Joe, Jim from Shipping, etc. But the most common complaint I hear about amateurs isn't about their photography, it's about the experience of working with them -- they're slow, they're late, they're too serious, they're too casual, it goes on.

    I've had a few instances of people asking me to explain my rates, especially when their hobbyist relative (sometimes with equipment every bit as good as mine) has offered to do the job. Hey, depending on the project, Uncle Joe might be a better choice; stuff like liability insurance, off-site backups, etc doesn't matter to everyone. My rates are average in my market, adjusted to overprice what I'd rather not work on, and I defend them by just showing my work and explaining that customers aren't buying my camera, they're buying my time and attention. I try not to be arrogant, but whether this is worth their money is entirely up to them.

    Laypeople and (some) amateur photographers often define success by the equipment and not the results -- as if an expensive hammer built a better house or a "pro" oven baked a better cake. But the gear is the easy part...

    There's more to being a pro photographer than being a good photographer, it's also about being a good professional. They still don't sell that at BestBuy.

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