Rosedale’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Massachusetts Wants GPS Driving Tax, Too

Rosedale ( profile ), 18 Feb, 2009 @ 08:02am

Boston Media

The media here in Boston has done a pretty good job trying to paint this in the best possible light. I am not convinced. I just moved to the state and it just goes beyond what I am comfortable with. It is a sad state of affairs here in MA especially with huge deficits. I think a big reason why people get the more gas efficient cars is because it saves them money, if this is to combat the lack of gas tax than it kind of defeats the purpose in buying gas efficient cars, but the state tries to bill itself as a green progressive state...maybe it is just a little too progressive for my blood.

On the post: Using Twitter For Participatory Politics

Rosedale ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2009 @ 08:20am

Twitter is a great tool

I have been using Twitter for a while now and love it. I think its best use is for celebs to connect with fans. @coldpay is on it and the person giving updates will often let you know of the latest news or just what is going on. You also have funny celebs that use it to give 140 character funny notes. The potential is endless. On my end I don't have fans to connect to, but I find common interests with other people so it becomes a conversation of sorts.

I really like the medium and see a lot of potential. Just the other day I tweeted about using twitter for more than just status updates http://twitter.com/mark_rosedale/statuses/1195798678

On the post: BART WiFi — Is It Different Than Muni WiFi?

Rosedale ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2009 @ 08:09am

Boston T

The Boston T is starting to do this as well, though I don't think plans have been finalized. Unfortunately for me it is only for the Commuter Rail at the moment. I would like this because especially in Cambridge there are a few spots where you don't get any cell reception, but I would be happy on wifi. I hope it works out.

On the post: Universal Music Group Slapped Down (Again) In Case Against Veoh

Rosedale ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2009 @ 07:40am

Go after the investors to put pressure on the company

It is likely Universal is just trying to put pressure on the investors to make the company crack and give in. Also if they sue the investors (even though it didn't go through) it has a ripple effect discouraging any other investors. So as absurd as it is my guess is Universal knows that it is absurd, but is just trying to send a message. Not that any of this isn't obvious, I just felt the need to state.

On the post: Dispensing With Some Myths About The Poor Poor Songwriters Decimated By Piracy

Rosedale ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2009 @ 10:11am

Love the ending

Oh that is a good ending, FTW!!!!! You strike back with a little bit of venom. So good.

The quote: "I find their suggestions are unbelievably arrogant and self-serving." I just have to say he seems like an incredible arrogant and self-serving SOB imo.

On the post: Performance Rights Society Calls Small Businesses & Threatens Them Over Music Heard In The Background

Rosedale ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2009 @ 09:55am

Beyond unbelievable

Wow this is unbelievable, beyond that. Crazy, how do they expect their music to spread and be loved by anyone if they are this draconian. This makes me want to get a loud speaker just to spite them.

On the post: Some Thoughts On Saving The Economy

Rosedale ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2009 @ 09:46am

Buy American

Read this on my morning commute http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7866900.stm Retaliation for sure, and in short order.

On the post: Companies Disabling 'Reply-All' Button, Rather Than Dealing With Inane Email Threads

Rosedale ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2009 @ 09:34am

Reply All is essential to work

I work in IT, but even if I didn't there are many times (and I mean many) where reply all is essential to work. I think the problem would be when people reply all to a distribution list that includes most, if not all, of the workers for that organization. This is simple to fix you make the list private and those using it include it in the BC and have their own address in the to. Then if someone replies all it will go to the original sender. Beyond that it is well within an organizations rights to send out memo or require user training to avert such behavior.

I would be annoyed when someone cc's a bunch of people who will all want the reply and I have to hand enter every email address. Clearly this company is only looking at the problem and forgetting that the solution may be worse than the initial problem. You would think someone in their IT department would tell them a better way or of the values of reply all.

On the post: Why Is It So Difficult To Opt-Out Of Copyright?

Rosedale ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2009 @ 08:40am

Plus it gets your cause out there

Leaving the sites up also gets your voice heard to more people. Even if they don't know it is you or don't ever come to this site at least they have been presented with the ideals embodied here. And that is also a positive outcome. Readers of the fake sites will be informed of all the issues you are so passionate about.

On the post: Latest Pointless Law: Requiring Cameraphones To Click When Taking Photos

Rosedale ( profile ), 27 Jan, 2009 @ 09:03am

Reason to turn off the sound

I had a digital camera back in college that made a clicking sound by default. The problem was that I tend not to use the flash so if you were indoors (not low light) the shutter speed would increase, meaning that the people posing for the picture needed to stand still longer. The problem was that when they would hear the artificial click they instinctively broke the pose leading to blurry pictures. My solution to the problem was to take off the click altogether rather than try to explain to them why they need to stand still longer.

So yea there is a perfectly legitimate reason why I would want to turn off the click. Dumb law thought up by dumb people.

On the post: EZPass Toll System Saves Tons Of Money… So Maryland Wants To Charge People For It

Rosedale ( profile ), 15 Jan, 2009 @ 01:26pm

convenience fee

When I first moved out on my own I started paying all of my bills via credit card for simplicity sake. Most bills would allow me to pay online via a credit card so that is what I did. Well there was one, the power bill, that charged you a couple of bucks to pay with your credit card. They called it a convenience fee. I flipped, and refused to use that method to pay my bill (I eventually switched to online banking).

Sure it is a convenience to me, but it is also a major convenience to them as well. I know they probably have to pay a certain amount to the credit card company, but when none of my other bills were charging an amount for credit transactions I figured they were just trying to milk me for money. Anyway this seems like the same idea. We'll try to make the cost low enough that you ignore the price. I have an ezpass, but I don't use it enough to justify even $.50 a month. Sorry not going to happen!

On the post: Lame: Apple Charging $0.30 Per Song To Ditch DRM

Rosedale ( profile ), 07 Jan, 2009 @ 10:43am

FYI not MP3 format

FYI the Apple offering isn't in MP3 format. They will still be using their own AAC format. Not a major deal and without the DRM you can easily encode AAC to MP3 with a click of the button, but industry standard seems to be MP3.

On the post: More Musicians Discover That Online Is The Path To Fame

Rosedale ( profile ), 05 Jan, 2009 @ 03:45pm

I love Bon Iver

Bon Iver FTW. I really enjoy that group and their latest music vid has a nice home feeling to it (as apposed to the overblown pop music). Love it!

On the post: RIAA Caught Lying About Stopping Lawsuits

Rosedale ( profile ), 22 Dec, 2008 @ 08:53am

Ars let me down again

Ars is continually letting me down. They seem to go out of their way to give the RIAA the benefit of the doubt. To me this whole campaign is about bypassing the law and saving money on lawsuits. I don't want to be part of that system, and I would prefer that the RIAA waste money on lawsuits. At least my rights will be protected this way.

On the post: Subsidized Laptops With Locked In Wireless Broadband Contracts

Rosedale ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2008 @ 09:01am

I was writing something up about this very thing

I was in the middle of writing up something on this very topic. http://bfpower.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/subsidized-netbooks/

It just does not make sense to me. There were very good reasons why cell phones were subsidized, but those reasons do not apply here. Tell me what you think

On the post: Student Sues School For Suspending Her Over Facebook Group

Rosedale ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2008 @ 08:34am

cyberbullying and bullying are the same thing

In the comments of the Wired article people were going of that this student deserves everything she got. I don't understand this. The internet doesn't provide new problems. They may change the dynamics, but there really aren't any new problems. Bullying and cyberbullying are the same thing. Schools shouldn't treat them differently and we don't need different laws (perhaps we need to adapt laws, but not new ones). I think the comments showed a spill over from the Megan Merier case. It seems that people think cyberbullying is a huge deal and that any offender, regardless of age, should be thrown to the flames.

But beyond that I don't think she did anything wrong to start with. People make comments like this, and worse, about President Bush all the time. As long as those comments aren't threatening no one would expect the government punish them for those comments. If this girl organized a petition or staged a demonstration would she have been suspended? All of that is the same. FB is used to rally students in an effort against a teacher, only in this case it didn't work. That is exactly how it should have been handled. If it worked than likely the teacher is bad, since it didn't work, truth prevailed. The school would have been better off just to leave it at that.

Further I do see this as an issue of free speech. She should be allowed to have a group or express her opinions as she sees fit. If that is cyberbullying than we live in a scary nation.

On the post: Internet Filtering Appearing On Various Wishlists For Obama

Rosedale ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2008 @ 08:17am

I still get worked up

I still get worked up. I guess I should expect it, but the very notion boils my blood so much that I get worked up. Fortunately I am not worked up about Obama, but I am worried a little since Biden is vp. Will he have more influence than he should?

On the post: Why A Music Tax Is A Bad Idea

Rosedale ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2008 @ 08:43am

disappointed in Ars

I was very disappointed in Ars. Normally they do a good and fair job. It wasn't that they supported the idea, but that they dismissed any disagreement as being a knee-jerk reaction and than went on to support their bias with quotes from everyone that agrees. And they clearly misrepresented techdirt.

It isn't that I expect everyone to agree with me, but at least give fair representation. Ars could have gotten an actual statement from techdirt.

On the post: Warner Music: Where's The Conversation?

Rosedale ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2008 @ 10:43am

Here Here

I say Here Here techdirt. Time for the Labels to understand there are consumers who hold stake in this process. I have long since taken my money elsewhere (by not buying much of the major label crap & mostly listening to indie stuff), but if they decided to engage consumers rather than fight them I might bring some money back to the table.

I agree @Hulser apparently someone is afraid to get their feelings hurt.

On the post: NBC Universal Likes To Keep Its Head In The Sand About People Watching TV Online

Rosedale ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2008 @ 08:07am

Ditching cable

I haven't ditched cable just yet, but I only have basic. The big problem is that high speed internet cost so very much and cable tv costs so much. Combine just those two services and you are paying $100 or more, at least in New England, so if you wanted to save money you could ditch the tv and opt for the internet. The only reason I have basic is because it is free for a year with my cable internet. I looked into it.

Basic: $10 or so
Next level Cable: $50 or so
Don't even want to think about the next level of cable. Too much when almost all of the content is legally online.

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