James Stevens's Techdirt Profile

James Stevens

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  • Nov 02, 2012 @ 02:42pm

    Simple. There's really no other viable alternative. Everyone is on Facebook - if you're one of those who aren't, you miss out. Some people are okay with that. I wish there was an open alternative but there isn't right now due to the user base.

    I have two choices - be in the know on facebook with everyone else or be left out.

  • Aug 02, 2011 @ 12:32am

    This guy is on the right track...

    With all the knowledge we have at this point in human progress, it's pretty sad that our education system and our ways of measuring people are both archaic and inefficient, stifling even.

    With all the tools we have available with programmers we should be able to develop a better education system that is more fun to study in and better adjusted to each person individually. IMHO, customization is the name of the game... it's going to be all about how well you can customize your child's education in a way that works best for them. You set your child on a path to end up at a point that is most beneficial to their future as a contributing member of society. That's all you can really do as a good parent, is give your child the best shot. I think there's some way to apply a learning apparatus with these goals to public education.

    As you point out, Michael, it's hard to tell where the solutions will come from. But I can assure you, the solutions (as I expect there will be more than one way) won't come from Washington; it'll come from the minds of great visionaries like 19-year-old, Stanford PhD dropout Andrew Hsu, the dude who had 3 B.S.degrees at 16.

  • Jul 25, 2011 @ 01:51am

    Re: OR could be that this guy's music stinks.

    I saw The Dear Hunter in concert a few weeks back. They put on an excellent live show.

  • Jan 11, 2010 @ 07:23pm

    I don't get it

    I love the new Facebook privacy changes. I finally have the control I've been dreaming of having with my content... I choose exactly what content I want specific people to see and the controls are very robust. Now I may be 22 years old and I may not care too much about people seeing my "google footprints" online, but the privacy controls are great. It's about time Facebook gave us more control over who sees what.

  • Jul 25, 2009 @ 09:19pm

    Games have the opportunity to do Free right

    Free hasn't entirely hit the games industry yet, as most gamers still buy their games off the shelves of brick and mortar stores or through online retailers. Digital distribution is still in its early stages (and Steam is leading the way, here IMO).

    The gaming industry has the opportunity to embrace FREE when it inevitably strikes, unlike the record labels and the film industry... if they embrace Free while the other industries continue to fight, the gaming industry will experience TONS more growth than they already have.

    Now if only the ESA would get the hell out of the way.

  • Jul 02, 2009 @ 07:32am

    Advice version 2.0

    She's got a real shot at this tho, there were problems with the constitutionality as the EFF pointed out a while back.

    Step 1: Get smarter lawyers.

    Step 2: Make sure not to lie about things this time and make sure not to destroy any more evidence.

    Step 3: Eat lunch.

    Step 4: Enlist Larry Lessig to the team. Congress hates him and he needs a big show so everyone can see that changes need to be be made with our oh-so-corrupt US Congress.

    Step 5: Toke on a nice, fat J because it's been a long day.

    Step 6: Download a couple Willie Nelson tracks on her cousin's computer and relax.

  • Mar 30, 2009 @ 03:48am

    Awesome

    This is the shit. I love Kutiman.

  • Mar 02, 2009 @ 05:38pm

    Disgusting...

    What bothers me is that I've seen several news sites spin this story to try and say that P2P is a huge national security threat.

    What these defense contractors need is some IT guys with common sense watching these computers, especially the ones owned by those who can't even protect sensitive data from leaking out from their own computers.

  • Jan 13, 2009 @ 11:58pm

    lol

    ...Carl even used the word quixotic like Mike does... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090112/0220093364.shtml xD

  • Jan 13, 2009 @ 11:35pm

    Whoa

    While reading this article I thought it was written by Masnick. Excellent... Kevin Martin is a douche

  • Jan 10, 2009 @ 07:10pm

    Hulu loses

    Since Hulu can't provide the show in other countries, ppl just torrent it.. it's that simple, they don't try to compete with piracy.

  • Oct 13, 2008 @ 10:17pm

    DoubleTwist

    There is a free app called doubleTwist that unlocks iTunes purchases... still hurts quality a bit tho... that leaves piracy still as the best option... seems like no one can put together a business model that competes with piracy... all they come up with is models that make piracy look more attractive.

  • Oct 02, 2008 @ 05:37pm

    Lmao

    I'd use Google anyway even if Microsoft tried to pay me to use MSN.

    Go to MSN.com and tell me what you see... now go to Google... it seems to me that Google understands that they are first and foremost a search engine. MSN is more of a portal.

    Also, Google understands that they shouldn't piss off their users and they understand the concept of having fans and playing their cards on the side of the mainstream, new age computer user. Until Microsoft shuts up about pirating and persecutes those users (who happen to be the majority these days), people will never see Micro as their kind of company... I believe that's one of Google's biggest advantages; they've got the fans on their side.

  • Sep 26, 2008 @ 11:03pm

    :(

    I really hope Pandora doesn't get shut down... it's an excellent project and it's intuitive... not to mention it plays new, not previously heard music in a genre style that caters to the user. Talk about a great way for bands to gain fans... or gain money, same thing.

    It's too bad they don't even realize this fact...

  • Sep 01, 2008 @ 02:56pm

    Silverlight is ghey...

    I was so pissed about having to download and install Microsoft Silverlight on Firefox just to watch the table tennis events I really wanted to see. Since they didn't get much TV coverage, I had to dload the plugin just to watch it :(

    I hate Microsoft and NBC becuz of stupid moves like this that they tend to make every single time, then they miss the real reason why people chose TV over their site so much... it was so lopsided and NBC is confused and led astray thinking their site was a success :

    So now I go ahead and uninstall Silverlight, but wow I didn't think large well-funded companies like NBC and Microsoft were so stupid when it comes to technology and making viewers happy.

  • Feb 14, 2008 @ 10:38am

    Sony BMG is NOT green

  • Feb 14, 2008 @ 10:37am

    Sony BMG is NOT green

    Sony BMG should receive negative attention for throwing away all these CDs when they should have been recycling them. Way to go green, Sony BMG. Now it is our job to spread the word of this case and how Sony BMG isn't very green. Write in to TV news stations and post like crazy on other sites.

    Judging by this entry, nothing was charged against the man in court that dealt with stealing from a dumpster, so the only problem here is we have a court dishing out a terrible verdict in finding the man guilty of infringement... he had some luck and some common sense, and he put the two together.

  • Aug 17, 2007 @ 11:30pm

    LOL

    Ad blocking is theft? That's retarded... Skipping commercials isn't theft. Downloading music or content illegally isn't even theft, it's copyright infringement.

    I use Firefox and I've tried to get as many ppl to switch, for obvious reasons. If those sites wanna lose customers and viewers let them kill themselves, who cares. I even sport my black FF T shirt... I get some good comments from random techies every once in awhile too, it's pretty interesting.

  • Jun 04, 2007 @ 11:49pm

    why?

    Sad... just sad and wrong.

  • May 15, 2007 @ 06:34pm

    pointless

    People see smoking all the time anyway. Some adults smoke in some public places. Some adults smoke in private places. Kids are bound to see people smoking.

    I wonder why they can't understand that in order to help prevent smoking, you actually have to teach your kids and inform them so they can make their own educated and unbiased decision when they become adults.

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