xmichaelx 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: 11th Circuit Strips Immunity From Cop Who Shot And Killed Dog That Had Already Been Neutralized By A Taser

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2024 @ 12:57pm

    Reading comprehension fail. I'd like to see this cop in prison for killing a dog, but sadly this is only a civil matter. However, that fact didn't prevent me from also seeing the obvious flaw in Cushing's "logic" regarding the ownership of the dog or the property, though.

  • On the post: Big Telecom Still Pushing Hard For Broadband Tax On Big Tech

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2024 @ 11:29am

    Not so sure

    If Trump wins the Presidency, I think there’s an extremely good chance the FCC finally makes the telecom tax on big tech come true.
    I'm no not sure about this, given that Trump's been meeting with tech execs for fundraising lately. Trump is very easily bought, as we know by his "change of heart" on the T-Mobile merger after they spent a few hundred thousand at his hotel.

  • On the post: This Will Certainly End Well: Retailers Are Equipping Employees With Body Cameras To Limit Theft

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2024 @ 03:39pm

    This isn't about shoplifters

    I worked in retail for years, including management. The majority of retail theft is from employees, not shoplifters. These cameras have nothing at all to do with shoplifting, and are just a way to let employees know that they're being watched. It's a pretty obvious ploy, and will likely actually work. It's still wrong, but I suspect it'll be effective.

  • On the post: Former Politico Owner Launches New Journalism Finishing School To Try And Fix All The ‘Wokeness’

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2024 @ 09:57am

    Literally anyone who doesn't slobber Trump's knob is considered "woke," "liberal," and "a democrat" to you. As a real-life conservative, it's revoltingly anti-intellectual. Facts exist, but anyone with evidence-based beliefs is immediatley dismissed by people like yourself and Allbritton.

  • On the post: Donald Trump, Who Initially Pushed To Ban TikTok, Now Campaigning On TikTok

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Jun, 2024 @ 12:26pm

    It was a trap

    Trump inadvertently (because he's too dumb to do smart things on purpose) set a trap for Biden, and Biden idiotically jumped into it by signing the blatantly unconstitutional TikTok ban. Sometimes stupidity has consequences, and in this case, while nobody's going to vote for Trump because he magically changed his mind on TikTok, it's possible that some young people -- particularly those with very large, loyal, young audiences whose livelihoods Biden chose to shit on -- will refuse to vote for Biden over this.

  • On the post: Trump Threatens To Sue ProPublica For Reporting On Payouts To Witnesses In His Various Cases

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Jun, 2024 @ 12:15pm

    Propublica has literally been making up slur campaigns out of thin air against various SCOTUS justices.
    And yet you can't link to any examples. Nice.

  • On the post: Trump Threatens To Sue ProPublica For Reporting On Payouts To Witnesses In His Various Cases

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 04 Jun, 2024 @ 12:13pm

    They are questionable actions no matter the circumstances. And Trump's people could have clarified those circumstances to make them less questionable, but chose instead to threaten a lawsuit. If you have trouble understanding why these actions are a potentially serious problem, maybe you could try imagining your reaction if they came from Biden instead of Trump. This might be a useful exercise to temper all your bootlicking tendencies.

  • On the post: Grandma’s Retweets: How Suburban Seniors Spread Disinformation

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 03 Jun, 2024 @ 02:48pm

    "Fake news" is whining about the only 2 examples you can think of (one of which wasn't at all fake) instead of reading the fucking study you're commenting on.

  • On the post: iFixit Cancels Partnership With Samsung Over Shitty Repair Practices

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 31 May, 2024 @ 11:32am

    Some random dude claimed that Samsung has instructed repair-shops to destroy aftermarket parts, I’ve yet seen any evidence that is actually happening.
    The random dude was quoting 404 Media as well as SAMSUNG'S OWN FUCKING CONTRACT, which you can also view on 404 Media: https://www.404media.co/samsung-requires-independent-repair-shops-to-share-customer-data-snitch-on-people-who-use-aftermarket-parts-leaked-contract-shows/ Learn to fucking google, Rocky.

  • On the post: NFL Inks Deal With Netflix To Stream A Handful Of Xmas Day Games Only

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 22 May, 2024 @ 12:00pm

    Truth. I'd happily pay for a service that showed me every game played by the team I want to watch, but there is no such service. So instead I just pirate them. In 10 years, I've never come across a sporting event I couldn't find a perfect HD stream for.

  • On the post: AI Gun Detection Company Pitching Its Tech To Schools Sure Seems To Be The Sole Beneficiary Of A Lot Of Similarly-Crafted Legislation

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 17 May, 2024 @ 11:28am

    False positives

    If this is anything like the system New York wants to use for its subways, it has an 85% false positive rate (and given that, its false negative rate is also very suspect).

  • On the post: Utah Locals Are Getting Cheap 10 Gbps Fiber Thanks To Local Governments

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 16 May, 2024 @ 08:27am

    I suggest you pay attention to Iowa next time there are caucuses there. Every Republican running will promise farmers endless subsidies and taxpayer handouts, and the one who promises the most will get the votes. "Conservatives" across the country love socialism, just not for black people and non-white immigrants.

  • On the post: Stream Subscription Hopping Is Here; Can Live Sports Tamp It Down?

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 16 May, 2024 @ 08:15am

    I have yet to come across a live sporting event I wanted to watch that didn't have a perfect HD stream avialable via a simple google search and a little common sense.

  • On the post: Report: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Immediately Killed Wireless Price Competition In U.S.

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 16 May, 2024 @ 08:10am

    Ah - you didn't leave it out. But it still deserves more focus, given that it's 100% of the reason the merger was allowed to happen.

  • On the post: Report: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Immediately Killed Wireless Price Competition In U.S.

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 16 May, 2024 @ 08:09am

    Obvious bribery is obvious

    You left out the part where Trump was very much against the deal before Legere spent $200K at the Trump hotel in DC.

  • On the post: Bluesky Is Building The Decentralized Social Media Jack Dorsey Wants, Even If He Doesn’t Realize It

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 13 May, 2024 @ 01:48pm

    Bluesky and Mastodon are worthless for real-time anything, because there’s no use base
    That should have said, "Bluesky and Mastodon are worthless for real-time anything, because there’s no DIVERSE user base [...] large enough to make them useful." There are plenty of techies and journalists there; there are very few real people there. That makes a massive difference.

  • On the post: Bluesky Is Building The Decentralized Social Media Jack Dorsey Wants, Even If He Doesn’t Realize It

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 13 May, 2024 @ 01:45pm

    It's dead, Jim

    The value of Twitter (to me) was real-time news and commentary, whether for sporting events or for breaking news. It's no longer valuable for that even a little bit. In 2017, Twitter was invaluable when the October 1 shooting in Las Vegas happened. In 2023, Twitter was filled with nothing but porn spam and Nazi conspiracy theories when the December 6 UNLV shooting happened. Sadly, nothing will every replace it. Bluesky and Mastodon are worthless for real-time anything, because there's no use base, and no impetus to ever build a user base large enough to make them useful. What made Twitter useful was entirely an accident: The tool was created, and enough interesting people used it to make it interesting and useful. Trying to capture that lightning in a bottle again won't work, and every wannabe-Twitter proves that every day. Yes, Bluesky and Mastodon are marginally useful as glorified RSS readers. But they'll never have the user base to replace the once-great (now dead) Twitter. At this point, it's all just beating a dead horse.

  • On the post: Colorado Passes Its Third ‘Right To Repair’ Bill

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 09 May, 2024 @ 10:21am

    Legislators have regulatory authority, genius.

  • On the post: TikTok Dances Into Court, Slams Ban As Unconstitutional

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 08 May, 2024 @ 09:12am

    I’m personally not installing any Chinese or Russian apps on my phone
    You mean your phone that was MADE in China? lol Fortunately you have a right as an American to not put Chinese-made apps on your phone. Others also have the right to put Chinese apps on their phone if they want. Except TikTok, for ... reasons. And for the other who think this ban makes even a little bit of sense, are we now expecting Congress to make a new law everytime a Chinese (or whatever) app gets popular? Because that's dumb.

  • On the post: Logitech Launches An “AI” Mouse That’s Just A 2022 Mouse With A Mappable Button

    xmichaelx ( profile ), 06 May, 2024 @ 11:22am

    I blame the tech press

    If the tech press didn't give seemingly endless hype to any and every utterance of any manufacturer (or wannabe manufacturer) of every "new" tech, none of this would be an issue. I'd argue that Logitech, Humane, and even Apple with their relatively half-baked Vision Pro aren't really doing anything wrong here; they're just throwing mediocre, alpha, over-priced products at the wall to see what sticks. The tech press hype machine, otoh, can't help themselves but gush about every possible product in a desperate attempt to bring in eyeballs, even when they know that a product is shit (Humane pin), or not ready (Vision Pro), or just a minor evolution (5G). Bode is criticizing the wrong people here. Companies should be expected to hype their new products, because that's what companies have literally always done. We should expect more of the press.

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