Spaceman Spiff’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: UK Injunction Process Revised To Better Fit The Realities Of Internet Communication

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 25 May, 2011 @ 08:39am

ROFLMAO

Great post, and even better comments! I doff my hat to you all! :-)

On the post: The Only Eight Senators Who Think Extending The Patriot Act Deserves More Discussion

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 08:38am

We get what we deserve

Well, we elected them. We are getting what we deserve. If we want representatives who have our interests forefront in their minds and efforts, then we need to elect new ones that will do that! Caveat voter!

On the post: An Open Letter To Sony CEO Howard Stringer

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 23 May, 2011 @ 11:53am

Sony's lost vision

Once upon a time, Sony was truly a visionary company. Their products were, like Apple's today, far ahead of the competition, and in many cases simply had no competition. Unfortunately, their hubris made them think that this would continue ad-infinitum. Along came the CD root kit fiasco, disabling the "other OS" capabilities of the PS3 that many had come to rely upon, recently the suit of George Hotz (GeoHot) for restoring the "other OS" capabilities that people had paid for already, and now the lack of system and network security that has exposed millions of people to potential identity theft and financial ruin.

Given all this, in my opinion, Sony deserves to go down the drain and fail as a corporate entity. If I had Sony stock, I'd be dumping it right now... Sorry Sony, but you've lost your way, and nothing short of dumping your entire senior and middle management staff and starting over with new people who respect your customers and your customers' rights may be the only way to save yourself from total disaster.

For whatever it's worth, I used to purchase Sony products whenever I could, simply because they were superior. No more. I'll purchase anything BUT Sony. I used to have a Sony TV - no more. I have Sony audio recording and playback equipment, both tape and mini-disc. My next purchases in that area will be anything but Sony. We had a Sony Vaio laptop computer, and just donated it to our granddaughter. When she outgrows that, we'll get her something other than Sony. The list goes on, but as these items age and are replaced, Sony will NOT be on the possible provider list.

As Pete Seeger used to sing, "So long, it's been good to know you."...

On the post: Doing A Google Search For 'Blonde' A Firable Offense For High School Teacher

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 10:54am

Sounds like overkill to me

Isn't blonde also a color of wood? Maybe he was just trying to match some furniture, and had to spend 67 seconds looking at the thumbnails in order to find the ones that were finish (opposed to Finnish) related... :-)

On the post: Fortune Decides To Let Everyone Else Get All The Traffic For Its Story On Secrets Of Apple Culture

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 10 May, 2011 @ 08:02pm

Fortune and the WSJ

Well, since Fortune is part of the Wall Street Journal (as far as I know), then it is part of Rupert Murdock's "news" empire, so should we be surprised at this behavior? I think not!

On the post: Leaked Documents Show How The RIAA Plans To Spend The Limewire Settlement

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 29 Apr, 2011 @ 10:36am

Sad...

The sad thing about this, is that it is too close to the truth! :-(

On the post: FBI Hunting Down World Of Warcraft Gold Farmers?

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2011 @ 08:36am

FBI == Federal Bureau of Idiots (and asshats)

You'd think that the FBI would spend our tax dollar$ on chasing and catching real criminals, who are a material danger to our community. This just shows how media and content "providers" have corrupted the system to their own ends, because their business models suck eggs.

On the post: Atlas Shrugged Movie Leaves Hollywood Scratching Its Head, Because It's Succeeding Without Them

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 22 Apr, 2011 @ 02:27pm

Ebert's review

As usual, it was brilliant! After reading the review, I have absolutely zero interest in seeing this movie! :-) Of course, having read Rand's books in college (1960's), I still wasn't interested...

On the post: Weird Al Denied Permission To Parody Lady Gaga… Releases New Song For Free Anyway [Updated]

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 01:34pm

Gotta love the dude!

Best Weird Al song I've heard in a while! :-) I wonder if Lady Gaga would sue if I started a band named "The Gaga's"?

On the post: New RIAA Evidence Comes To Light: Napster Killed Kerosene Too!

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 21 Apr, 2011 @ 09:38am

Statistics...

There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics... Which explains why politicians, lobbyists, and lawyers (often the same entities, though possibly at different times) cite statistics so often.

On the post: DailyDirt: Ancient Food & Modern Food

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 20 Apr, 2011 @ 05:26pm

Patents anyone?

So, when will we start seeing food preparation patents? I can just see it now - "A means and device for the manufacture and preparation of ratatouille"...

On the post: DailyDirt: I Believe That Robots Are The Future. Teach Them Well, And Let Them Lead The Way…

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 16 Apr, 2011 @ 03:39pm

Re. Racing helmet

Neat video, and I do love to watch CNC machines make stuff out of dross; however, it would have been neat to see someone doff the resulting helmet, if only to see if the visor really would drop down over the face! Otherwise, its a nice sculpture, but not a functional helmet... :-)

On the post: Lionsgate Claims That Reviewing A Fake Script Is Copyright Infringement

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 13 Apr, 2011 @ 09:01am

The reason why...

I only buy movie DVDs from the remainder (bare-assed cheap) bins, or download ripped copies from the internet. If these pinheads weren't so egregiously avaricious, and intent upon pwning their viewers, I would be more inclined to financially support them. Lionsgate, the producer/distributor of all those really stupid, but great, action videos of JCVD et al, deserves to be "ripped" off for this sort of shiat.

On the post: Sony Settles PS3 Jailbreaking Lawsuit Against Geohot

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 11 Apr, 2011 @ 10:32pm

Makes sense, but is still fubar!

Sony was losing tonnes of $$ selling PS3's for non-gaming use. They were figuring on making a profit by selling games, so all those systems sold to those who wanted to use them for other purposes (personal supercomputers, US Navy and Air Force, for example), were at a significant loss. As a result, they did the "deed" to stop such sales cold. As a business person, I understand their rationale. As a consumer, it is unacceptable for a vendor to change the rules AFTER I have purchased their product! So, another nail in Sony's coffin. I do not spend a penny that will end up in their pockets, if there is any way I can avoid it... Rootkits, breaking advertised functionality, dishonest business practices all. So, I encourage all consumers to boycott Sony. Let us all vote with our pocketbooks, and put them on notice that no matter how "kewl" their technology is and products are, others are competitive, and don't abuse our trust to quite such an extent!

On the post: Professor Gets Tenure With The Help Of His Wikipedia Contributions

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 07 Apr, 2011 @ 08:23pm

Cruft on Wikipedia

There is plenty of cruft and crap on Wikipedia, but one could say that about the Encyclopedia Britannica as well! What is true, is that there is a LOT of well written, well thought out, and topical stuff there. My BS detector is a lot less active when reading articles on the Wikipedia than a lot of more "established" venues. As said, never take one source as gospel. Look around, and form your own conclusions!

On the post: Putting Up A Paywall Just To Have Advertisers Pay To Take It Down?

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 05 Apr, 2011 @ 06:42am

(mis)quoting Forest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does".

I say, TD should put up a paywall only for those who are stupid enough to subscribe to the NYT paywall. Those folks have already illustrated two things, that a) they have the $$ to waste, and b) that they are gullible enough to pay for what should be freely available...

On the post: Questions Asked About EU Appointing IFPI Lobbyist To Copyright Role

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2011 @ 10:34am

At least...

At least some of the EU Parliament members are asking this question. Here in the USofA, not so much. Our revolving door is much more "catholic".

On the post: TSA Boss: Naked Scanners Are Great At Stopping The Last Attack; Don't Ask About The Next One

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2011 @ 10:24am

Time travel

My guess is that the TSA is going to invent a time machine so they can install these pieces of sh!t before the attack(s) happened... And if you believe that, I have some futures on a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

On the post: How Else Could The NY Times Have Spent $40 Million?

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2011 @ 06:25pm

Re: (Not so) easily spent

I've worked with the design team as one of the 3 principal architects and Lead/Principal Engineer that designed and built a 10M loc system that runs most of the semiconductor, flat panel display, and disc drive fabs in the world today. It took about 3 years, but the cost was far under the supposed $40M USD that The Times spent for their paywall. If that is indeed what it cost them, they were robbed. I think we figured our developments costs at around $10M-$15M USD for the initial release that actually ran a 300mm fab, including the time value contributed by the semiconductor manufacturers' staff that worked with us during the design process.

On the post: Crossing Paths: Published Author Goes Self-Published, As Self-Published Author Considers Big Publishing Deal

Spaceman Spiff ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2011 @ 08:52am

Catch-22

Getting a big publishing contract like this is dependent upon the author already being a successful author... She would not have attracted the attention of the big publishing houses as an unpublished author, no matter how good her work might have been. After establishing a reader-base by self-publishing, she is now of interest to those same publishers that previously would not have given her the time of day... It's a sad cycle, and I'm disappointed that she is seeming to go toward "the dark side" for a quick payday, but that's her choice.

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