greg.fenton 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Bad Ideas: Trying To Build Patent Marketplaces

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2009 @ 08:00am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Again, the Prius is not an invention. Thanks for playing.

    So you believe that without patents that Toyota would not have created this automobile?

    How much of that $1B went towards the patents of which you discuss, versus how much actually goes towards just putting together the pieces and the marketing and the project management and the financing and the yada-yada-yada...

    These "inventions" were so fantastically unique that no one else could have the knowledge? Wonder how this happened then?

    Oh, and that "2000" patents is actually "...more than 2,000 patent applications filed across the world", not just in one jurisdiction.

  • On the post: Bad Ideas: Trying To Build Patent Marketplaces

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 22 Sep, 2009 @ 06:43am

    Re: Re:

    Most patented ideas (and, in fact, most inventions) do not take "5 years and $100 million dollars". I'd challenge you to name a SINGLE idea/patent that took that long. One, just a single one.

    The Toyota Prius is not an invention but a massive collection of very small ideas only a minor fraction of which are patented...and I guarantee that a bunch of those patents are "obvious to anyone knowledge in the arts". Guaranteed.

  • On the post: Win A Copy Of Kevin Smith's New Book

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2009 @ 12:49pm

    Re: Father

    You mean Walter Gretzky?

  • On the post: Want Healthcare Reform That Works? Get Rid Of Patents

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2009 @ 10:31am

    Re: Re: Re: What's that saying? Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics!

    No, screwing your customers is one approach to trying to win market share. This isn't any more true than a company that takes the long-term view of better quality, more openness. Customers will pick the winner in the end. If lower price but closed and locked in is what they want, fine. However, if they value openness (or whatever) the other will win.

    Of course, both competitors can win too. It is just that many crony capitalists don't believe they have "won" until there is just them left standing...

  • On the post: Sprint Offers Palm Pre For $100 For A Month, Maybe Two… Then, Oops, Not At All

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2009 @ 07:27pm

    Re: Re: Complicated

    I had this EXACT SAME conversation with #RogersSUX in Canada for a trip I made to the US. They quoted me ".006 cents/kb" and I was charged ".006 $/kb". When talking it through, I worked up 3 levels and in the end all three reps/supervisors told me that I don't understand "math" and that the two values are the same thing.

    I plain gave up. I ended up paying $4 for each of the 4 digital pictures I emailed home because it simply wasn't worth the hassle.

  • On the post: UK Inventor To Lord Mandelson: Make Patent Infringement A Criminal Offense

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2009 @ 12:17pm

    Re: Re: Database of patent thefts?

    So the answer then is "no", you do not have a public database of "patent thefts". Meaning there is no independently way of verifying the damages that the activities you are tracking actually incur.

  • On the post: UK Inventor To Lord Mandelson: Make Patent Infringement A Criminal Offense

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2009 @ 02:07pm

    Database of patent thefts?

    It comes to mind that it would be in RJR's best interest (and that of other pro-patent folk) to come up with a database of cases involving actual patent "thefts". They could then use that database as proof of the damage done by these thieves.

    I would think that anyone with the breadth of reach of the organisations RJR commands, he would easily be able to develop such a database. It is a simple online application to build and host. Open it to the public and a simple review process to vet out any spammers.

    The power of clarifying the air between patent-theft and simultaneous-invention would completely win public appeal for stronger patent regulation...that is, if such a database could actually show significant damages beyond the converse.

    I wonder why that has not been thought of before??

    (I wonder if anyone has a patent on such a database...)

  • On the post: NPR Recognizes It Makes Business Sense To Give Up Content Cash Cow And Go Free

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2009 @ 01:57pm

    Re: Problems with their approach

    "In the United States, the top 50 Web sites accounted for more than 90 percent of the revenue from online ads in the first half of 2007. The top 10 sites accounted for 70 percent of the revenue."
    And how much online ad revenue is there. According to the above, 10% still exists for all other sites. If the amount is large enough (and it is pretty large...just look at Google), then a small portion of 10% of a very large portion is likely enough to run a decent business.

    "traffic that can be monetized with sponsorship". That is basically saying they are going to put ads online

    No, not at all. It means they recognize they have an audience and that means an opportunity to sell. Build a community and people will have pride in being a part of that community (pay for "badges", t-shirts, mugs (yes, mugs), tickets to events (why not lunch with Big Bird, or with Ira Glass??), and MANY other possibilities).

    In sales, we'd call these opportunities qualified leads meaning "they came to us for something, now let's upsell them".

    I don't think there is a business model that is going to do much for NPR or anyone else.

    Your issue is that you limit the possibilities of the upsell. No one has the perfect model now, no one ever has in the past either. Marketing and sales is a constantly changing game, but the economic basics remain the same.

    People will come up with ways to monetize well beyond the t-shirt and lunch-with approaches. But you need to have an audience to upsell to. Upsetting and losing that audience today will not help you upsell tomorrow. Upsell what you can now, and your customers will tell you how to upsell them!

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 04:48pm

    Re: Notes from the conversation at 5:00.

    Was that 5pm EST or PST?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:25pm

    Re: simple, dude

    Huh. Whereas every PhD I've worked with (8 in total now) seem to have achieved what they want in their careers, some being execs, some being directors, and two sitting in a corner happily chugging out incredible products, analysis and other materials.

    "Lose 5-6 years" is an obscenely abstract statement. What is it that these PhDs have "lost"? Was there something they were promised ahead of time, or that they would have achieved by not having more studies? If there is, then why on earth did they go study?

    In my view, those who go study end up with a PhD and a rich understanding of the information they were studying. What exactly is lost there?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:14pm

    Re: Re: Re: They wont necessarily be competing - just working for less

    OMG, I sure hope you aren't bringing any children into the world and affecting *my* costs.

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:12pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Yes, because they leave to become competition. If they stay, they will grow the national economy. You don't see a problem with them simply leaving, un-encouraged (not discouraged) to stay?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:10pm

    Re:

    Right, and as Mike has pointed out, that line of thinking leads to stronger foreign competitors and thereby taking SUBSTANTIALLY more away from US companies.

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:07pm

    Re:

    Care to reference ANY credible source that matches your xenophobic description of foreign student programs?

    Can you reference a SINGLE incident of a capable US citizen that was denied entrance to a post secondary program because foreign students had "filled the slots"?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 01:05pm

    Re: Re: How about a swap

    the person who played a major role in pushing for government-run health care now acknowledges that the system is falling apart, and is trying to push for increases in privatized health care.

    And just who would this "person who played a major role" be? Are you referring to Tommy Douglas (died 1961)? Or are you referring to players in the newer CanadaHealth Act (adopted in 1984)?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 10:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    Then Business Darwin is doing its job. The poor choices of management are driving the company into the ground and customer dollars are going elsewhere.

    Still don't see how the "foreigners stealing ideas" concept comes out of that. Seems like "foreigners" are the current scapegoat. After Lou Dobbs gets them all run out, what is the next innocent thing to be blamed?

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 07:33am

    Re: Blech

    But "illegals" is a different thing from foreign students coming to study and, hopefully, settling down in the US.

    This isn't about doing "shitty jobs". It is about a talented individual deciding to do what they are going to do in the US rather than elsewhere. That talent leads to more jobs around them, most of which are available to US citizens.

    Otherwise that talent goes elsewhere and creates jobs around them for the citizens of that other place.

    And I agree with you on the protections front.

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 07:26am

    Re: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    So, what you are saying is that the American management of that company is stupid, lacks foresight and are not noticing or quite accepting that they are building an inferior product?

    This "foreigner" who comes to "steal ideas" must have worked that black magic voodoo on the American immigration staff, the company they come to work for, their co-workers and their neighbors to be able to get away with this.

    If a $80,000 job can be done by someone for $50,000 then why should ANYONE be paid more to do it? As a customer, why would I want to pay more for an equivalent product that could be produced cheaper?

    And if the product ends up being poor, I'll take my business elsewhere.

    So I'm at a loss as to why you vent your anger at these foreigners coming and "stealing". It seems that if that's what is actually happening, a lot of organizations and people are complicit in it.

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 07:16am

    Re: Re:

    Yes, that's it. The majority of foreign students come to the US to build up huge debts and then abandon them.

    I think your thoughts on this subject show way more about you than it does your understanding of foreigners.

  • On the post: Fewer Foreigners Coming To US Grad Schools: This Is A Problem

    greg.fenton ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 07:13am

    Re: Re: Re:

    First, I take complete exception to the "white people suck at math". The majority of my B.Math class of 500 was "white".

    Second, you switch from a generalization of "whites" to a generalization of "americans", leading people to believe you view "americans" == "white".

    There is a palpable anxiety over anything hard when you have not trained yourself to be disciplined. The problem in many first-world countries is that discipline for the youth has slipped drastically, hard work is discouraged, and over-rewarding is now the expectation.

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