Vidiot 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Yet Another Study Shows How Copyright Can Hinder The Spread Of Knowledge

    Vidiot ( profile ), 10 Aug, 2010 @ 12:15pm

    Re: Re: Re: What is this

    Sadly, I think they CAN continue to overcharge and all the rest. True, it's nowhere near as steep as the paper version, but e-texts I've seen have still been unreasonably priced, saddled with DRM schemes that make them almost unusable, and worst of all, time-limited... no going back and looking up formulas and facts next semester. Reinforces the notion that bad business models transcend delivery media.

  • On the post: From Magazines To Restaurants… Conde Nast Licensing Magazine Names For Restaurants

    Vidiot ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2010 @ 04:55am

    Re: Techdirt Cafe?

    If we're doing alliteration, how about Techdirt Taqueria?

  • On the post: Well That Should Fix Things: Goldman Sachs Implements Email Filter To Ban Swear Words

    Vidiot ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2010 @ 08:07am

    Re:

    Needs the Hollywood version... "God, what a {shoddy} deal..."
    How many times did the cleaned-up Sopranos substitute "Forget you..." for the real thing?

  • On the post: Forget Vinyl, Now Cassette Tapes Are Making A Comeback?

    Vidiot ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2010 @ 09:36am

    Warm and fuzzy

    "Tapes are great because they have a really nice warm and fuzzy sound."
    Can't help but think of a friend, a famous video engineer, working on a private HD broadcast of a Trailblazers away game for Paul Allen (in the days before HD was standardized). A local Portland video installer, viewing the HD feed, complimented the pictures, but noted that since all the coax was brand new, the picture would be much sweeter after some number of hours or days, once all the copper got "broken in". Seems he thought that annoying crispness would be "rounded off" and softer once the cables were older.
    Bet he was also a Monster Cable dealer...

  • On the post: Aren't There More Important Things For Congress To Focus On Than The iPhone's Crappy Antenna?

    Vidiot ( profile ), 16 Jul, 2010 @ 06:38am

    Grandtstanding...

    ... that's all it is, grandstanding. Like giving a bile-laden speech during Special Orders, when the House chamber is empty and even the CSPAN techs are napping. Showboating, and with absolutely no chance of changing anything.
    At least once a week, fill in the blanks: "Aren't There More Important Things For Congress To Focus On Than [CURRENT HOT TOPIC HERE]"

  • On the post: Class Action Lawsuit Launched Against Google, Because Some Woman Didn't Secure Her Own WiFi

    Vidiot ( profile ), 20 May, 2010 @ 11:42am

    Monitoring is not criminal

    Long ago, before cellphones, the RBOC's offered what was called "mobile" telephone service, based on analog VHF radio transmissions. Listening on a public service band VHF radio, you'd be able to hear the conversation, which was not necessarily illegal under FCC law; the problem would arise when you acted upon what you'd heard. I believe there are parallels here... if you chose to have insecure communications on that phone, you risked a small chance that it might be intercepted. Ditto unsecured wi-fi... wonder if analog-radio FCC law creates precedence here? And I'd disagree that sniffed packet datagrams are always "secret", as the complaint alleges; decoded from hex to ascii -- no secret there -- html formats and even unencrypted e-mail passwords are plainly visible. Once again, failure to take personal responsibility for one's own dopey actions.

  • On the post: Driving While Yakking Laws Looking More And More Like 'Help The Gov't Make Money' Laws

    Vidiot ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2010 @ 10:42am

    Re: Re: Less about talking, more about goofy laws---Flying Licenses Versus Driving Licenses.

    Kyleigh's Law takes effect on May 1, which is probably why searches don't show the 60 hour figure yet, but it's true; and along with 30 hours of (usually free) classroom training, that entitles a 16-year old to receive a learner's permit. It's complex -- the classroom portion is only required for the young-driver track; a 17-year-old can simply take a written test and receive a learner's permit. The flowchart of requirements, tracks and ages would make your head spin.
    And I know exactly which ticket 20 hours of flight training earns you. If you're suggesting that learning the theory, laws and motor coordination skills required for driving a car is remotely equivalent to learning the physics, meteorology, navigation, volumes of FAR's and all the motor coordination of stick and rudder, whether Commercial or Sport, well, I'd have to disagree.

  • On the post: Driving While Yakking Laws Looking More And More Like 'Help The Gov't Make Money' Laws

    Vidiot ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2010 @ 05:46am

    Less about talking, more about goofy laws

    I think Mike's point is less about phones, and more about the incredibly intrusive laws drivers are getting hit with.


    Here in NJ, we just added a doozy... "Kyleigh's Law", which seeks to protect teens from themselves. For starters, attaching the name of an expired young girl to a law very nearly guarantees passage... who could vote against that? But the law does two primary things: adds a "scarlet letter" for teen drivers -- stickers which must be applied to license plates when first-year drivers are at the wheel; and severely restricts young drivers' hours, now down to 11PM from 12.

    Let's leave out the number of kids who won't be able to keep their waitress jobs or perform in school plays. And never mind that the red warning stickers have to be peeled off when I'm driving instead of my kids, or that we must drive to one of only a few state agency locations to purchase "official" stickers. The best part is that poor Kyleigh wasn't out too late... it was the middle of the afternoon; she wasn't an inexperienced driver -- she was a 16-year-old passenger, too young to be licensed in NJ; and she was one of 4 kids packed into a two-seater Audi TT. Plenty of causes, and none addressed by this law.


    And then there's the expensive part: the law increases the requirement for 6 hours of training with a paid, commercial instructor - TO 60 HOURS. Amazing... the FAA will issue a pilot's license after only 20 hours of instruction.

    Putting aside revenue generated by increased summonses, I can't imagine the police are thrilled with this additional enforcement burden. And I know that the rest of us are near to revolt.

  • On the post: Is A Moron In A Hurry Confused Between Plastic Building Blocks And A Youth Empowerment Charity?

    Vidiot ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2010 @ 10:19am

    Poor word-order choice = infringing acronym

    I was hoping their name had something poignant to do with the Spanish "legos" (the laity) or Greek (to speak or teach); but failing that, sorry, my charitable friends.

  • On the post: Hollywood Seeks To Kill Off 3D Golden Goose With Much Higher Prices

    Vidiot ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2010 @ 10:07am

    I've heard this before...

    "What's this? Smell-o-vision replaces television? - Mr. E. Fudd

  • On the post: Hollywood Seeks To Kill Off 3D Golden Goose With Much Higher Prices

    Vidiot ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2010 @ 10:05am

    I've heard this before...

  • On the post: More Bloggers Suing For Gov't Press Passes

    Vidiot ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2010 @ 06:19am

    Re:

    True... I think we've created two different issues here. A press pass is a static document which, even when issued, doesn't guarantee access to, for instance, the White House. (Or else we'd hear more questions posed by the Podunk Daily Bugle reporter.)The fundamental question is whether bloggers should be able to get that snappy "PRESS" card to stick in the brims of their fedoras (like Jimmy Olsen) and be able to cross police lines to report on a burning building.

  • On the post: Ridiculous Arguments: Net Neutrality Would Mean No iPhones

    Vidiot ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2010 @ 03:41pm

    Re: and todays intellectual award goes to

    Ooops... looks like OP forgot the sarcasm tag... /s

  • On the post: University Of Texas Claims Trademark Over 'Texas'; Wants Useful iPhone App Blocked

    Vidiot ( profile ), 16 Feb, 2010 @ 03:37pm

    Re: Re: There's a "Everything's bigger in Texas" Joke in here somewhere.

    Oooh! Oooh! Good idea... I'll get busy on the New Jersey trademarking, not that anyone necessarily wants to infringe. Actually, fair chance that David Chase locked that up when he did "Sopranos". And for those of you who don't know, ya gotta use the "New"... if you're callin' it "Jersey", you're from outta state.

  • On the post: Rob Glaser Leaving RealNetworks; A Chance To Reflect On How Being Anti-Consumer Fails In The Long Run

    Vidiot ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2010 @ 07:53am

    Great back-end

    The frustrating part was that as nasty as the user-side was, Real had a promising platform underneath... the whole Helix server initiative, open source with an active development community. That was one of the reasons that I still have current, Sony-brand location video production equipment with embedded Helix server capability. (That plus the fact that Sony didn't need to tango with either Apple or Microsoft to license it.)

    Notice how I'm using the past tense... it's been years since Real was requested as a delivery format.

  • On the post: Recession Reporter Laid Off… Denied Chance To Publish Final Piece About Getting Laid Off

    Vidiot ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2009 @ 04:03am

    Tribune's hostile response

    Reporting on your own layoff... sounded familiar. Then I remembered a similar situation last September, when NPR reporter Ketzel Levine's story on layoffs was punctuated with her own firing. A very different response from two very different corporate entities.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/business/media/29levine.html?_r=1

  • On the post: Can A Library Lend A Kindle?

    Vidiot ( profile ), 08 Apr, 2009 @ 10:52am

    Re: STEALING

    "This is STEALING, plain and simple. These folks that are reading this [HARDCOVER BOOK] are less likely to go out and buy one themselves. The libraries are stealing from [BOOK PUBLISHERS]..."

    Errr... ummm... isn't this what libraries have always done? And am I stealing if I lend my paperback to a friend or neighbor? (That's the origin of public libraries, you know... we all get together and contribute toward the purchase of a boatload of books.) If the criterion is "... less likely to go out and buy one...", then lock us up.

  • On the post: Microsoft Kills Off Two Products Bill Gates Thought Would Be Enhanced By The Internet

    Vidiot ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2009 @ 06:41am

    Re: Re: Flight Sim wasnt bad...

    "FS is a fantastic niche product, but a boring mass market product."
    Exactly correct... surprising that a boutique product lasted this long in a megacorporation's catalog. Then again, they bought a boutique product(FS) from subLogic... I owned the pre-MS version. Back in the day, flight simulation was the crown jewel of computing; Silicon Graphics has almost always included a rudimentary-but-gorgeous one in IRIX, its version of UNIX, and Micrsoft may well have bought FS to show off its computing prowess, too.

  • On the post: Family Guy Song Didn't Infringe On Pinocchio Song

    Vidiot ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2009 @ 04:53am

    Re: C'Mon Disney

    Actually, it doesn't belong to Disney, much to their chagrin. In terms of Disney-associated themes, it's "the one that got away"...

  • On the post: Lawyer Sues Citibank For Not Stopping Him From Losing Money In Nigerian Scam

    Vidiot ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2009 @ 11:49am

    It's good to be a lawyer

    The lawyer's natural reaction is to sue someone; not everyone has that option. Most often, this exact scenario plays out for some desperate, unemployed schlump... bank says it's cleared, so they write a check for the rent; then the counterfeit bounces, and the police arrest the poor sucker. Both the police and the courts are unsympathetic, and the victim/scamee spends years in jail, quite literally. When it happens to the lawyer, he not only ducks prosecution, but sues the bank as well.

    And who said it cleared? A $7.00/hr teller?

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