Netflix will have faster access to Google fiber customers because they have chosen to colocate their servers at Google's data centers. This is just another way to prioritize traffic for people who are willing to spend money-- the difference is that they're spending money on servers rather than bribing a cable provider.
It's a much better solution than greasing the palms of the cable companies to be sure. However, it will still have the net effect of favoring established companies who can afford to do colocate servers over startups who probably can't afford this setup.
Landgrab.net has been doing that with Risklike maps online for many years. In addition to both real and fantasy-world maps, they have user-generated ones for things like a coffee cup and a cat's digestive system.
Market value is defined by what investors are willing to pay, not by whether that investment pans out. Even in an irrational market, which the DotComBubble 1.0 certainly was, market value is defined by what people are willing to pay. Investors should be allowed to make bad decisions if they want to.
I don't believe that Goldman misrepresented eToys to investors in any way. It's probably true that Goldman misrepresented the market value to eToys. You can't really blame Goldman for people being stupid.
Republicans may have backed away from SOPA and PIPA, but that won't swing most younger voters toward the Republican party.
Younger voters are heavily driven by social issues, and they tend to be much more liberal in their social outlooks than older voters are. Given the choice between a Republican who is anti-gay/anti-choice and and anti-SOPA, or a Democrat who is pro-equality/pro-choice and pro-SOPA, most young people will choose the Democrat.
A few years ago, eMusic decided to change their plans. Before the change, the price was $19.99 for 90 downloads per month. The new pricing was $19.99 for 75 downloads per month. Other plans had similar drops, but this is the one I remember.
They grandfathered in their existing customers, but tried very hard to get us to switch to the new plan by asking us to "upgrade" our accounts. There was absolutely no value added with the new pricing, and it was purely a downgrade, yet we got fairly heavy pressure to agree to the new pricing.
I canceled my account a while ago, after the genre of music that I prefer got completely overrun by trash masquerading ad substance.
I'm pretty sure it's not clear what people meant when they said they'd bought stuff from spam. My guess is that when they answered, they didn't differentiate between pharma/big-dick scam spam and opt-in marketing email from reputable companies.
When I was 14 or 15 years old, I found myself sitting in the living room with the remote control in my hand, flipping aimlessly between channels. Suddenly I realized how stupid this was, turned the TV off, and haven't looked back. In the intervening years I've probably watched an average of one hour of television per month... and it's been decades since I did this.
When I listen to people talk about keeping up with shows X, Y, and Z, my mind boggles. I can't imagine where I would find time to watch even one!
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This isn't exactly netrual
I applaud Google's move. However...
Netflix will have faster access to Google fiber customers because they have chosen to colocate their servers at Google's data centers. This is just another way to prioritize traffic for people who are willing to spend money-- the difference is that they're spending money on servers rather than bribing a cable provider.
It's a much better solution than greasing the palms of the cable companies to be sure. However, it will still have the net effect of favoring established companies who can afford to do colocate servers over startups who probably can't afford this setup.
Landgrab.net has been doing that with Risklike maps online for many years. In addition to both real and fantasy-world maps, they have user-generated ones for things like a coffee cup and a cat's digestive system.
Market Irrationality
Market value is defined by what investors are willing to pay, not by whether that investment pans out. Even in an irrational market, which the DotComBubble 1.0 certainly was, market value is defined by what people are willing to pay. Investors should be allowed to make bad decisions if they want to.
I don't believe that Goldman misrepresented eToys to investors in any way. It's probably true that Goldman misrepresented the market value to eToys. You can't really blame Goldman for people being stupid.
SOPA/PIPA won't matter that much
Republicans may have backed away from SOPA and PIPA, but that won't swing most younger voters toward the Republican party.
Younger voters are heavily driven by social issues, and they tend to be much more liberal in their social outlooks than older voters are. Given the choice between a Republican who is anti-gay/anti-choice and and anti-SOPA, or a Democrat who is pro-equality/pro-choice and pro-SOPA, most young people will choose the Democrat.
Backgammon
Computers have been playing world-class backgammon for over 15 years: http://www.research.ibm.com/massive/tdl.html
Zynga is eville. That's not news.
No surprise
A few years ago, eMusic decided to change their plans. Before the change, the price was $19.99 for 90 downloads per month. The new pricing was $19.99 for 75 downloads per month. Other plans had similar drops, but this is the one I remember.
They grandfathered in their existing customers, but tried very hard to get us to switch to the new plan by asking us to "upgrade" our accounts. There was absolutely no value added with the new pricing, and it was purely a downgrade, yet we got fairly heavy pressure to agree to the new pricing.
I canceled my account a while ago, after the genre of music that I prefer got completely overrun by trash masquerading ad substance.
Buying from spam
I'm pretty sure it's not clear what people meant when they said they'd bought stuff from spam. My guess is that when they answered, they didn't differentiate between pharma/big-dick scam spam and opt-in marketing email from reputable companies.
The subject line summarizes my life
When I was 14 or 15 years old, I found myself sitting in the living room with the remote control in my hand, flipping aimlessly between channels. Suddenly I realized how stupid this was, turned the TV off, and haven't looked back. In the intervening years I've probably watched an average of one hour of television per month... and it's been decades since I did this.
When I listen to people talk about keeping up with shows X, Y, and Z, my mind boggles. I can't imagine where I would find time to watch even one!