Jeffrey Nonken 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (1260) comment rss

  • On the post: How The Runaway Success Of A Tiny $25 Computer Could Become A Big Problem For Oppressive Regimes

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2012 @ 12:35pm

    Re:

    My first computer (the first one I actually owned) was a KIM-1. OTOH, the first computer I ever programmed was an IBM 1130. But the oldest (earliest production) model computer I've ever programmed is an IBM 1620.

    Pick one.

    My fastest current computer is a Lenovo Thinkpad sporting a triple-core Phenom II P840 at 1.90 GHz, about a year old.

    I have no idea what the performance differential is.

  • On the post: One Cent Friends: Another Attempt To Quantify Social Media's Value

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 01:11pm

    Meh. It's an experiment. Experiments fail all the time. Maybe this one isn't very good, but that's what happens in a wide world of varied people. And smart people learn a lot from failed experiments.

    ...Of course there's always the possibility that somebody is trying an experiment that they know will fail, not to see if it works, but merely to find out things. In that case the experiment succeeds as an experiment because the whole point is collection of knowledge. :)

  • On the post: Would You Rather Be 'Right' Or Realistic?

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2012 @ 03:19pm

    Re: Re:

    Not Mike, Marco.

    It seems to have cleared up, I was able to read it.

    Excellent piece, worth waiting for.

  • On the post: Company That Issued Bogus Takedown Says It Was All A Mistake, Apologizes

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2012 @ 01:26pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Warning: bogus car analogy.

  • On the post: Would You Rather Be 'Right' Or Realistic?

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2012 @ 11:46am

    Can't read it; no response. Tried from two different locations to make sure it wasn't some kind of local blockage.

    Did he get slashdotted?

  • On the post: Elsevier Backs Down, Removes Support For Research Works Act As Elsevier Boycott Grows

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 27 Feb, 2012 @ 05:50pm

    Politicians spouting buzz phrases regarding subjects they don't understand. I'm shocked!

    SHOCKED!

  • On the post: If You Want To Compete With Free, This Is What You Need To Know

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2012 @ 02:01pm

    My sister just sent me 1 credit from her Audible account, which I used to buy the latest Discworld book on audio.

    First I had to create an account. Then I had to download and install two separate programs. (I'm still not sure what they both do. I think one downloads content and the other is a player and database. If I have to have both anyway, why not put both into one program?) Then I was able to download the content, but I had to tell it what format I wanted to use it for. I tried to get something to burn to CD, but I didn't see an obvious way to do that; I guess I need to go through iTunes.

    I tried getting a version for a specific device; they have a long list. The only one I have is a Garmin GPS (which can't compete with the free Google GPS on my T1 -- oops, sorry, different rant), so I brought it in from my car and plugged it in. Oops, I can't hook THAT Garmin GPS up to their program, only specific models.

    So I went online and tried to find how to convert to MP3. Some suggested a multi-step process starting with burning to CD, but I skipped that in favor of a direct conversion program. I tried a few, the one I settled on seemed to work but the free download copy only converts a minute, and they all cost $50 for the full version. So I *ahem* went onto a popular bittorrent site and obtained a try-before-you-buy license.

    Turns out the output skips occasionally. Seems like it uses iTunes to play the track while it captures the output. Well, hell, _I_ could have done that, though it would take a bit more work. But I'd have more control over the process. The possibility is still up in the air.

    So I've grabbed my stash of CD-RWs (why waste a CD-R blank?) and will try the burn-then-rip method.

    In the meantime, two days later I still can't play the damned thing properly on my car stereo. And it would have cost $26 if not for the gift. Plus $50 for a converter that doesn't work, but I wouldn't have found that out until I'd payed for it.

    The $P cost is rising pretty quickly. Between that, the extra $M to buy a good converter/DRM stripper (or to buy a licensed player, e.g. an iPod), and the $Q (quality cost -- it's encoded at something like 32kb/sec, and yes, I can hear it, even at my advanced age ;), I'm inclined to say that Hell Will Freeze Over Before I Actually Spend Money At Audible.

    Sorry, Sis. It was a nice gift but perhaps you should offer the other two to my daughter, who already owns an iPod.

    Around two years ago I bought a legal, licensed, legitimate, dead-dinosaur version of the previous book, Unseen Academicals, at a book store near my parents' house, where I was visiting at the time. It wasn't until later that I discovered that, due to pretty but not very good packaging, the CDs were scratched and not all would play through without skipping. Returning the "book" to the store required a problematical 16-hour round-trip drive, not to mention that I'd gotten the last one in the store. So I cleaned them the best I could and put up with it.

    I love the series and want to buy them all, but the $I cost is skyrocketing every time I do. Oh, not actually. The copy of Monstrous Regiment I was originally given was pretty much unlistenable, so I found a cassette version (new in the box) online, which was pretty inexpensive, and at the time I had a cassette deck in my car, so I could just play them directly. I did digitize them later. They sound pretty good.

    Just for a bit of perspective: despite all the advances in technology, the best experience I've had so far of the books-on-audio that I've purchased was on a 50-year-old format (originally intended for dictation because of the limited quality). Of the formats it's given me the least trouble.

    CDs may have higher bandwidth and dynamic range, but cassettes don't skip. Ponder that.

  • On the post: Westlaw And Lexis-Nexis Sued AGAIN Over Claims That They're Infringing On Copyrights Of Legal Filings Themselves

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2012 @ 01:03pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: A few problems...

    Yeah, big whoop. I don't think we're creating works of art here. Copy/paste means less work, which means fewer billable hours, and it means that two substantially similar filings don't have to be substantially different in how they're written. (It also means fewer lawsuits over accidental infringement. Oh look, more lawsuits, so more work for the lawyers. Nice vicious circle you've got going there.)

    It sounds like you're deliberately going out of your way to advocate giving lawyers more work, thus more money, to the benefit of... nobody except the lawyers. And to the detriment of everybody else in the universe.

    Tell me again how spending more on lawyer fees benefits society? And please, avoid the broken window fallacy.

  • On the post: No Honor Among Thieves: Woman Scams Nigerian Scammers Out Of $33k

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2012 @ 12:25pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Wasn't censorship to begin with.

  • On the post: No Honor Among Thieves: Woman Scams Nigerian Scammers Out Of $33k

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2012 @ 12:24pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    And you STILL missed the point that the comment is still viewable. As evidenced by the fact that there's a reply thread.

    P.S. I don't think that word means what you think it means.

  • On the post: New Rules To Block 'Distracted Driving' Will Likely Make Things Worse, Not Better

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2012 @ 01:29pm

    Re:

    If you make calling in a car much harder, if make it so that the car's automation system don't help you to do distracting things (like send text messages), then many more people will just not do them.

    [citation needed]

    People will find ways to do things they want to do. Pass laws against texting? They'll hide it. Disable your bluetooth connection? People will use headsets, or the built-in speakerphones, or just hold the phones up to their ears. (You know, like they're doing now.) GPS disabled while you're driving? (Really? F'ing REALLY? I have to pull over to zoom in on a tricky upcoming turn? Will having to pull over several lanes to the side and then merge back into high-speed traffic while trying to navigate in unfamiliar territory really make me safer?) People will eschew the built-in GPS and buy a n?vi.

    It isn't what the truly stupid people will do, nor is it about what the very smart people won't do. It's what the large segment in the middle will do, present with the possiblity.

    It takes a super-genius to buy a Jawbone, I've noticed that.

    Somewhere, somehow, somebody has duck-taped his cellphone to his headrest and proudly dubbed it "hands-free".

  • On the post: Economist Notices That The US Is Getting Buried Under Costly, Useless Over-Regulation

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2012 @ 10:29am

    That would last until the Sunset laws expired, at which point they wouldn't be renewed. For any of a dozen different excuses.

  • On the post: Polish Prime Minister Steps Up His Anti-ACTA Efforts After Hosting 7-Hour Open Q&A Via IRC

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 22 Feb, 2012 @ 04:17pm

    O Boże, nie! That could lead to rampant democracy.

  • On the post: Portuguese Artists Association Struggled To Get Even 100 Members On List In Favor Of Exorbitant New Private Copying Levies

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2012 @ 05:51pm

    Re: Re: Pirate tax

    Not to mention that when they get the taxes levied on the media, they STILL claim the pirates are killing them.

    OK, we got a 10,000% tax on all digital media. OMG look! Those dirty pirates are stealing from us, we can't make a profit, our industry is dying!

  • On the post: Directors Guild Boss Insists That Everyone Against SOPA/PIPA Was Duped

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2012 @ 05:25pm

    Re: Re: Re: Ok.. enough is enough

    ...Which you didn't call him.

  • On the post: Directors Guild Boss Insists That Everyone Against SOPA/PIPA Was Duped

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2012 @ 02:45pm

    Re: Re:

    Sounds like Big Media reasoning to me. Potential for copyright violation? Take down the entire commercial infrastructure, just to make sure.

  • On the post: Directors Guild Boss Insists That Everyone Against SOPA/PIPA Was Duped

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2012 @ 02:38pm

    Re:

    Your penis.

    That's a different group entirely.

  • On the post: IFPI & Other Lobbyists Tell Parliament That ACTA Protests Silence The Democratic Process

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2012 @ 09:47am

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

  • On the post: French Court Fails Digital Economics; Claims Free Google Maps Is Illegal

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 14 Feb, 2012 @ 09:22am

    You can't compete with free. You just CAN'T. It's absolutely impossible.

    That's why everybody is ignoring all the pay-for online games and playing Minesweeper and Solitaire. Microsoft has single-handedly wiped out the entire computer games industry.

    Speaking of maps, this n?vi that appeared on my dashboard last month? Ignore it, it can't possibly exist, because I already have Google Maps (with turn-by-turn navigation assist) on my Google Phone. And as we all know, you can't compete with free.

  • On the post: Oh No! Car Dealers Might Have To Deal With Informed Customers! That Must Be Illegal!

    Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2012 @ 01:26pm

    "Others, including Honda..." Time to find out who those others are, and cross them ALL off the list.

Next >>