jsl4980 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (126) comment rss

  • On the post: Netflix: We're Sorry About The Huge Price Increase, So, Uh… Qwikster!

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 20 Sep, 2011 @ 06:07am

    I think Netflix is doing the right thing, split out the streaming from DVD service. Let the DVD service keep itself alive as long as it can, but they know it's going to die. It's a good business move.

    However this letter from Reed Hastings was the dumbest part of the split. He thinks people are mad about the price increase because it wasn't communicated to them. It was covered in every form of media for a few weeks. Writing a letter a few weeks too late and confirming that you're jacking up prices isn't going to make fans happier. People are pissed over a 60% price hike, not the fact that the CEO didn't write me an e-mail.

  • On the post: Italy Proposes Law That Will Ban People From The Internet Based On Single Accusation Of Infringement From Anyone

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 19 Sep, 2011 @ 01:23pm

    The patent portion is the most interesting to me. With the Apple vs the world patent lawsuits (sorry to pick on Apple) it looks like every single smartphone, tablet, and probably laptop is infringing one patent or another. This law could ban almost every portable device from accessing the internet. Definitely the way to promote the progress of art and science...

  • On the post: BART Bosses Say Phone Shutoff Will Only Be Used In 'Extreme Situations' Going Forward

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2011 @ 12:42pm

    If there's ever immediate danger I sure hope the cell phone networks work so you can call 911... What if there had been an accident or injury after they chose to shut off the cell service? It seems like shutting of cell service puts people at a greater safety risk than a bunch of protesters marching around.

  • On the post: Yet Another 'Rogue Site' List Proposed, This Time With YouTube Right On Top

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2011 @ 11:43am

    Re:

    That "1,000,000 notices" assumes that those are all legitimate cases of infringement. How many of that million are taking down fair use content or content that the filer doesn't actually have the rights to?

    To me the number says there were 1,000,000 cases of censorship on YouTube alone in a year. Each one of those filings should be scrutinized to ensure that the filer has the rights to take down the content and that the content isn't covered under fair use.

  • On the post: Planet Money Continues To Show How Damaging Software Patents Are To Innovation

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2011 @ 06:11pm

    My costs

    I've seen a big cost in time money and productivity due to software patents. I've been on patent review teams at my old company where we spend a few days with mountains of patents printed out and go over them one by one to see if they impacted our company. The best thing to happen to patents however is Google's patent search, that saved countless paper cuts. I've lost weeks of my life to weak and phony patents and I'll never get that time back.

  • On the post: New Missouri Law May Make It Illegal To Friend Your Former Teachers On Facebook

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 10:01am

    Wow that's a crazy over reaching law. I was friends with a teacher who helped mentor and support many current and former students. She gladly helped by writing recommendations and to give advice. Another former teacher of mine is in a good local band and he's friends with a ton of former students who go to his shows.

    It's easy to see the thought process behind this law, but as always there will be unintended consequences for teachers and students. They're going to destroy so many good productive and helpful relationships because the good teachers will be worried about the new law. And the bad/predatory teachers obviously don't care about breaking one extra law if they're already planning on breaking much more serious laws.

  • On the post: TSA Agrees To Take The Naked Out Of Naked Scanners

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 21 Jul, 2011 @ 08:26am

    I heard that they were changing the images and this just makes me worry even more. This implies that the images are useless - if the users are just as effective seeing an actual scan as they are seeing a stick figure then how useful are the images and users? Why display the images at all and why hire people to stare at the screens? Can't they all be replaced by a light bulb that lights up when the system detects something like they have in metal detectors?

    The news of this update seems to confirm that these systems are huge wastes of money. The x-ray images are as effective as a drawing of a stick figure, it's time to get a refund.

  • On the post: You Don't Own What You Thought You Bought: Verizon Breaks Phones; Turns Off Feature

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 12 Jul, 2011 @ 10:54am

    Chilling Effects?

    I'm wondering why Google will put takedown requests on Chilling Effects when they're asked to remove search results. Now when Google removes or blocks apps like hotspots or game emulators from the Android store I don't see the internal takedown requests or documentation.

  • On the post: Major US ISPs Agree To Five Strikes Plan, Rather Than Three

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 07 Jul, 2011 @ 12:28pm

    Re:

    There's nothing deceiving about this article. An ISP can disconnect you based on accusations. It was true before this agreement and it's still true today. That is not deceptive. However it is a terrible policy that certainly won't lead to more sales of CDs, DVDs, MP3s or Blurays. It may lead to more customers for the few small ISPs out there that haven't been bullied into playing cop.

  • On the post: Capcom's Resident Evil DRM Is Evil: You Get To Play The Game Once And That's It

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 11:55am

    It sounds like their plan to destroy the second hand market is to make such a shitty product no one would buy it first hand. Now that's a great business model.

  • On the post: Console Manufacturers Pressure Google Into Pulling Emulators From The Android Market

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 02 Jun, 2011 @ 06:04am

    There's still a major problem with Google's ability to communicate. They could have ended all of the speculation immediately if they communicated a reason for ending the developer's account.

  • On the post: Google Won't Let You Rent Movies If You Root Your Device

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 05:49am

    That's sad. I root my phone because Verizon has no plans to update my phone so I'm stuck with a version of Android that has known bugs and less features. So now people get to choose between having security fixes or renting movies...

  • On the post: Winklevii Lose Again: Only Choice Now Is Supreme Court Appeal… Or Accept 'Just' $160 Million

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 05:56am

    You can't blame them. They're just gambling other people's money. If they gamble 1 or 2 million dollars on lawyers it could turn into hundreds of millions. I don't think that what they're doing is right, but it makes sense financially.

  • On the post: Google's Internal Collision Course: Chrome vs. Android

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 13 May, 2011 @ 08:19am

    Run chrome on android...

    Not sure why you'd think that Android and Chrome are so different. They could eventually merge the two and have Chrome run on an Android platform.

  • On the post: Righthaven Hires 'Star' Copyright Maximalist Lawyer To Try To Dig Itself Out Of The Deep Hole It's In

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 06 May, 2011 @ 07:43am

    I'm not a Righthaven defender, but if they actually do win a single case and get some high amount in damages they can be much more persuasive when they try to extort the rest of their victims. So it sounds like they're betting big on this lawyer to win them a single high paying case so they can more efficiently shake down victims in the future.

  • On the post: Utah Legislators Want Extra Tax For Owners Of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 04 May, 2011 @ 10:24am

    Gasoline taxes are supposed to go toward road maintenance, they're not a punishment for pollution. That's one of the reasons state governments are looking to tax you on your mileage which will probably be in addition to the gas tax; doubt they'd ever get rid of a tax.

  • On the post: How Else Could The NY Times Have Spent $40 Million?

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2011 @ 01:52pm

    3D

    They should have hired James Cameron to make their website 3D. That got people to overpay to watch a crappy movie at least once.

  • On the post: News Corp. Claims 79,000 Subscribers To Its Paywall For The Times

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2011 @ 06:23am

    So much for 10% will pay

    I probably have my numbers a little incorrect here, but taking the initial 21,000,000 unique visitors per month before the paywall. Then having 79,000 subscribers to the paywall. That would make 0.38% of their readers willing to pay which is pretty far from 10%.

  • On the post: Some Discussion Around Children And Tablet Computing

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2011 @ 06:46am

    Tablets and netbooks will be great

    I'm a parent of a child who is much too young for a tablet or netbook (at least until they're drool proof wink wink ASUS). But I can see these devices being incredibly useful. Put a few cartoons or Netflix on the device plus a few games and our packing for a trip will be a lot lighter than when I was a kid. Packing a single netbook or tablet and not having to pack a Gameboy and multiple board games and movies will be a lot easier. Technology is great' it makes the same old activities more efficient.

  • On the post: Should Everyone Who Uses A Phone Or A Computer As Part Of A Crime Get A Longer Sentence?

    jsl4980 ( profile ), 23 Feb, 2011 @ 12:07pm

    Hey a phone is a computer tell Sony to eff off

    If the courts now believe that phones are computers, then the DMCA exemption for jailbreaking a phone should apply to all computers. Twisting their logic in the other direction, Geohot should be declared innocent for jailbreaking his PS3.

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