Misanthropist 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Collateral Damage: Viacom's YouTube Takedowns Include Personal Home Videos

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2007 @ 07:41am

    hrmm....

    Isnt there some sort of statute that individuals can use to counter this type of big corporate bully action?

    Last I checked it was illegal for a company to conduct actions such as viacoms and they are required to perform some kind of due diligence before taking legal actions against them. Some part of the RICO statutes perhaps?

    I don't remember exactly, and thats why its a good thing I'm not a lawyer, but if I were one of the thousands of individuals that was innocently getting hit by takedown notices, I would probably be trying to slay the goliath with any tool necessary.

    (again, good thing I'm not a lawyer...)

  • On the post: The Winner At This Year's DEMO: MySpace

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2007 @ 12:47pm

    hrmmm

    As I've pointed out in several other blogs, DAVE looks completely useless.

    Sure it could be a cool replacement for thumbdrives, but the capacity is way too small to be disruptive, and the fact that it requires charging... well.. yeah...

    If its targeted the way they are talking now, the brick will be OEM only; as in your celco (tm) will sell it to you with your phone. No way... A second memory card is far more convenient in cell usage.

    DAVE just reeks of a rotating disk company grasping at straws in an attempt to make rotating disks the "next big thing" when all other inidcations point otherwise. Those product development dollars could have been spent in R&D for rotating disk improvements.

  • On the post: Romanian President Tells Bill Gates How Awesome Pirated Software Is For His Country

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2007 @ 07:23am

    Re: Re: MS is way too overconfident

    bob,
    ScaredOfTheMan clearly has a greater mastery of the english language than you yourself have.

    /sigh....

  • On the post: Romanian President Tells Bill Gates How Awesome Pirated Software Is For His Country

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2007 @ 07:03am

    I'm thankful for it

    Look, we can't be upset at Microsoft for this newfound stance on piracy of their software.

    The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

    Yes, that was a shameless star wars quote. However, its perfectly applicable.

    Everyone knows that Microsoft was able to build its empire thanks in large part to piracy. So if they try to remove piracy, then that will only allow someone else to build an empire with either the benefits fo piracy, or just because they get a new userbase that cannot (yet) afford to properly license windows.

    So I'm thankful that microsoft is trying to alienate all its customers, both the paying and the nonpauing. This action will breed competition, which history has shown, is good for all.

  • On the post: Copy Protection A 'Boom Business', Except When It Isn't

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2007 @ 06:57am

    Sounds about right..

    It wouldnt suprise me in the least to hear that the **AA has spent 6% of the US GDP on lawyers for frivolous lawsuits.

    But just because they are wasting money does not mean they deserve more laws that will allow them to waste more money.

  • On the post: How Many Politicians Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb? California May Find Out

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2007 @ 07:17pm

    Hopefully...

    Hopefully it takes more than what is available.

    They need to improve the flourescents first. They are not suitable for replacing incandescants everywhere just yet.

    A state law mandating eye strain is a little... uh... stupid?

  • On the post: Microsoft Vista Takes Orders From Anyone Who Yells At It

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2007 @ 05:01pm

    WooT

    I think I just invented the next wave of DRM installation. Have the song tell the computer to download it and install it.

    Don't like my drm content? How about a track on a CD taht just lists a whole bunch of websites?

    Nothing like a song singing about yahoo.com. how many browser windows can one song open? It can be like a contest amongst artists!

  • On the post: Is Using 'Up To' Speeds In Your Broadband Promotion False Advertising?

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2007 @ 03:56pm

    Interesting...

    While I might work as a business analyst at one ISP, my home ISP is a competitor (my house is outside the service area of my employer), so I'm not really inclined to mention their name when saying something nice.

    HOWEVER, I often achieve my "up to" speed and far beyond.

    Just like not all used car salesman will rob you blind, not all ISPs will either.

    (and yes, I know how to divide by 8 so I really do know I am getting my advertised speed.)

  • On the post: Does Anyone Really Want Scratch-And-Sniff Newspapers?

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2007 @ 10:34am

    I'll second that.

    Um, no.

  • On the post: Tech Firms To State Dept: Stop Us Before We Help Censor The Internet In China Again

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2007 @ 08:35am

    Re: I'm tired

    Sure, censorship is a bad thing.. but the overall good outweighs the bad here.

    Not only do I disagree, but I strongly disagree. And so do all the people you are tired of hearing complain.

    Secondly, these companies have a duty to their stockholders to increase profits. Expanding into China is a good way to do so.

    Yes and no. It "was" a good way to do so. Lately, however the free press has decided to take a stand against it, and the negative press these companies are recieving is negating their prospective growth opportunities by expanding into that market. Thus we are seeing publicly traded companies backpedaling. They don't want to be associated with this anymore. This "cost of doing business" is too high.

  • On the post: Release Of An Operating System Just Not The Big Deal It Used To Be

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2007 @ 02:07pm

    I have just one question...

    I have just one question...

    Where/when is the local launch party for Leopard?

    I'll see you there.

  • On the post: Mix-Tape SWAT Raid Based On Non-Copyright State Copyright Law

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2007 @ 12:17pm

    Re: Hoods

    Was there a negative in that?

    How can I help us reach that end faster?

  • On the post: Talking On A Cell Phone Isn't The Only Way To Distract A Driver

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 01:52pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: It's the compression..

    We actually agree, sort of.

    I'm not blaming the technology, as much as illustrating a deficiency. And a major point that people dont understand when talking on cell while driving is that it DOES take that much more brain power to talk on a phone than it does to talk to a person next to you.

    Most people aren't stupid, they are simply mi-educated. Correct their knowledge deficiencies and in turn, they will act appropiately. (that and teach insurance companies not to cover wrecks where the driver was ona cell, and we'll have an instant remedy(tm).)

    The reasons behind it are irrelevant, as you imply.

    The average "talk on the phone while driving" driver justifies this act to themselves by saying its no more dangerous. Our friggin brilliant politicians that think that hands free kits will save us all dont understand what makes it dangerous either. Regardless of the fact that every study that compares hands free kids to regular cell usage has found absolutely no reason to use a hands free kit.

  • On the post: Talking On A Cell Phone Isn't The Only Way To Distract A Driver

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 01:15pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: It's the compression...

    Thats alot of words you used.

    The simple thing being illustrated is that the extremely narrow bandwidth that traditional phone communications being is so incredibly narrow that incredibly harsh lossy compression has to be used in order get the signal through the pipes (not a truck), and as such requires much greater processing power from the brain in order to be able to interpret the signal and extract from it the desired human speech.

    This doesnt make the "cellphone" the culprit, rather the PSTN is the culprit. There has been the exact same size "pipe" available to all calls for a very long time. It was adequate way back when, but the entire system needs an overhaul. Its not going to happen, probably not ever. So a disruptive technology will have to usurp the PSTN before we get decent quality telephony.

  • On the post: Talking On A Cell Phone Isn't The Only Way To Distract A Driver

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 12:45pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: It's the compression...

    Compression does not have to be lossy.

    Right.

    But cell phones are NOT using lossless compression. Lossy compression is being used. Extremely lossy compression. which requires the brain to use more resources to process the signal, which removes some resources that could be used to pay attention to... driving.

  • On the post: Talking On A Cell Phone Isn't The Only Way To Distract A Driver

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 12:19pm

    Re: Re: It's the compression...

    One more word is needed for you to understand: Lossy.

    signal clarity is thrown away in the compression.

    The sound you get out after decompression is not as "good" as the sound that went in.

    You can practice this with your favorite MP3 ripping app all day. Rip an MP3 into 2k/s and then into 256k/s. Take note of the quality difference. Then try to guess what chord is being played on a guitar. One is MUCH easier for your brain to figure out.

  • On the post: Talking On A Cell Phone Isn't The Only Way To Distract A Driver

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 12:15pm

    Re: It's the compression...

    Correct. (and thank you for proving there is more than one person in the world who understands this)

    The legislation that will "Fix" the distraction is the legislation that mandates a "minumum voice quality" upon the carriers.

    That's not likely to happen any time soon (if ever), so we'll instead keep hearing news stories about new laws associated with getting consumers to purchase more paraphenilia that lures them into a false sense of security by "freeing their hands". At least they convinced consumers to spend more money in their blind efforts to "save the children". and hey, just look at how much money the accessory markets are making now. That must be great for tax revenue.

    If having your hands free actually helped significantly, then my coffee cup should be whats illegal (as its never in the cupholder), not my phone.

  • On the post: Microsoft Caught Trying To Patent Software Concept It Already Admitted It Had Copied

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 12:06pm

    Re: Re: Better idea..

    Of course noone is a word. Just because its not in a dictionary doesn't make it not a word. My goal here is communicating, and you obviously understood what I was communicating, so why are you nitpicking on irrelevant details? Did it somehow help? Or just make you feel better about yourself? Or maybe you just don't understand the published accepted definition of the word "word". Go ahead, you can look it up, I'll be here waiting. (I won't really)

    The small inventor would not be shut out at all. They would simply have to believe in their invention in order to get the funding to obtain a patent for it. There's nothing wrong with that. Noone ever claimed inventing has to be free as in beer.

    And yes, it would take care fo the submaried patent concept, becuase someone that actually is in the business of knowing would have to certify that the patent was truly inventive. That goes for the submarine patent as well.

    Its not a complex problem, its very simple. What makes it complex is when people try to pile more crap onto crap. Thats not going to work. If its crap, get rid of it and replace it with something better.

    The laws will have to be scrapped to move forward. We cannot continue down the course we are headed now. The "little guy" inventor cannot survive in this system.

    Of course theres going to be a negative impact. But whether or not a solution can be found where the negative impact is lower than the negative impact associated with "staying the course" can be found is up to the politicians to decide. ...Oh right, we're doomed.

  • On the post: Google's China Censorship Non-Apology Apology Really A Swipe At The Press

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 11:34am

    Re: Google IS evil

    You need only think back to the early days when Google was lying to the press about how they would never have adds on their search pages. They were working on GoogleAds at the time.

    No, thats very different. Google said it would never put ads into the search results. (paid search rankings)

    I don't think google ever said it wouldnt put unobtrosuive, non-deceptive ads off to the side.

    I can't think of anyone who felt betrayed or lied to by the appearance of adwords.

  • On the post: Google's China Censorship Non-Apology Apology Really A Swipe At The Press

    Misanthropist ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2007 @ 11:32am

    No, it really is that simple.

    Google has engaged in censoring the internet at the behest of the chinese government.

    They did not do this to liberate the people of China from their oppressors, but to make money off of it. They couldnt make a full fledged entry into the market unless they accepted the terms of the entry. They made their decision. They decided the money they would make by censoring the internet for the government was worth it.

    I don't care what flavor of spin you put on that, its evil.

    The "do no evil" mantra is dead. Now its "please don't report on our evils, or else we will blame our evil blunders on the press".

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