Linked by David Adams on Sun 11th Jul 2010 18:54 UTC
There's an article today at abc.com that looks at recent trends around net-based pay-for services and the smattering of paywalls from News Corp to the NYT that are up or threatening to be put up, and speculating that this could be the beginning of a trend. Of course, a YouTube video rental site and a few large publishers putting up paywalls will make zero difference to the "free internet" on their own. But if they're successful, it could spark emulation. But could this be a trend that could snowball enough to change the nature of the net?
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Member since:2006-01-10
Whole-heartedly agree on this. Some people say money is a new invention, which it is, but compensation is as old as the primordial ooze that we crawled from. Even in the animal kingdom work is rewarded for value attained -- lions that protect the den become alpha, etc. The leech mentality of people these days is rather depressing, because it devalues those around them.
Pay it back, pay it forward, it doesn't matter, work needs to be compensated in some way else we wouldn't do it. The dollar, euro, peso, etc, are all just standardizations of barter compensation, and refusing to pay dollars or euros or pesos or whatever simply shows that the leech consumer holds no value in work.
To those others reading this: If you don't value the news feeds then don't read them. If you do value them, then pay them what they're worth. If you don't want to pay $10/month for their news because it's not worth it to you then don't read their stories, read somewhere else. Hell, someone might setup a pay-per-article site that might suit you more.
Member since:2009-08-26
Was 50 cents the right price for Deep Throat? Are Tarantino and Antonioni to be judged by $8 ballot stubs, $10 with popcorn? The media gives us life, and we owe it our own life-force, which is, again, our money.
They also gave us Rathergate and an endless list of cases where information was withheld from the public or distorted to push an ideology. This pattern of deception is well documented and I find it sad that so many still support these monolithic outlets that clearly have no regard for objective reporting.
I don't owe them a damn thing. I never thought the paper was worth 50 cents given how often journalists would insult my intelligence with their skewed coverage. Or how about the silly "two sides debate" coverage where one side is clearly inept and only exists to give the appearance of debate.
The best paper I ever bought was used as campfire fuel. If anything journalists owe us an apology for pushing so much bullshit onto the public.
Member since:2006-01-10
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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Member since:
2009-03-27
It's about time that WSJ and NYT started charging! It is a bold statement that pierces the unreality of an economy based on advertising, a statement that says "We stand by our goods with the only measure that means anything anymore: cash." I fully support this move, and I look forward to paying.
Lumping all media outlets that charge for content into one group isn't fair, and newspapers are not AOL. Groups that create content should not only have the right to charge, but they have an ethical imperative to do so. Bravo for getting some spine.
And for the record, it's really sad that we talk about newspapers or anyone else as "content providers". Such a life-sucking, soulless, corporate-bland term should only be reserved for the likes of Yahoo et al. Or that we judge the media by such absurd metrics as "value for money". I mean, what does that even mean? Was 50 cents the right price for Deep Throat? Are Tarantino and Antonioni to be judged by $8 ballot stubs, $10 with popcorn? The media gives us life, and we owe it our own life-force, which is, again, our money.
Edited 2010-07-12 05:55 UTC