Posts by Vladimir Plouzhnikov

Robotics pioneer: Intelligent machines are 'scary for a lot of people'

I, for one, don't want to speak to the bloody ATM in any language. I just want to press a few buttons and get the cash...

Son of ACTA pours fuel on IP trade fire

Re: Yo EU!

Yes. And neither the US, nor Russia, nor China are usually in the mood for compromises when they feel you're in a weak position...

Re: I guess the UK would have to have a law prohibiting fracked gas from export to get low prices

The UK has a well-developed and liquid wholesale nat gas market (with futures traded on ICE and physical delivery through the NBP mechanism), which actually acts as one of the international benchmarks. The Interconnector pipeline provides the connection with the continental markets and ensures the price link through arbitrage in the event there are local distortions on either side.

Yo EU!

You ain't gonna be dependent on big bad Putin for your gas supply no more! You're gonna be dependent on good ole Uncle Sam! He'll be nice, though, he'll give you gas - if you do as he says, of course...

JJ Abrams and Star Wars: I've got a bad feeling about this

Re: mod up...

"Better if Kirk stayed dead for a bit..."

I don't know, I was counting seconds as it was, watching In The Dark, as one can only be clinically dead for so long before brain damage occurs...

Re: If only it had been Nolan

"It's like telling you father Christmas and the tooth fairy don't exist when you are aged 5."

LOL, I never understood why is this considered such a big deal :-) Somebody tried to tell me about Father Christmas bringing presents and stuff when I was 5 - I had to tell them to please stop pulling my leg.

Similarly, I initially found the whole mystical "force" thing distracting and had to rationalise it for myself. So, the Me-di-chlorines (hmm, MeCl₂ - bivalent metal salts of hydrochloric acid?) or whatever were never an issue for me...

"At least ewoks died."

Yeah, they did. But not nearly enough of them...

I said many times - a lot of the protests and negative reaction to SW 1-3 and also to the latest ST movies comes from the fact that the critics are comparing them not to the original films but to their childhood memories of the original films.

Having the benefit of not seeing any of the originals in my childhood I can say that a lot of criticism of the new movies is misplaced, while the praise for the old ones is ridiculously excessive.

As for SW 7 - I am not concerned about JJ Abrams but Disney's involvement scares me...

E-cigarettes help you quit – but may not keep you alive

Re: Nike

Not sure about tobacco being class-A drug but I totally agree with the OP and Sir Spoon - if you are trying to quit on your own then - a) you must make a firm decision (you won't be able to make it without wanting it very hard) and b) do it all or nothing (no chance of success if you will try to do it gradually).

In my experience the hardest was the month #3, after that it became a done deal for me...

Re: 2nd hand vapours?

Well, to be honest, 2nd hand breath isn't just water either...

Apple, Beats and fools with money who trust celeb endorsements

Re: Hard to know what to buy

Actually, you can buy sr60i on Amazon for GBP 80 + delivery, new (it says only 2 left in stock, but that is probably not accurate).

OK, most people who listen to recorded music (music means music and not just any assortment of rhythmic noise and shouted expletives) at home.

"And why "should" it matter?" - because quality should matter in general. Quality of food, drink, life, you know.

"I've heard live music, and I've heard recorded music, and the main difference is the latter is generally too loud "

You have heard of volume controls, haven't you? Usually, but not always, it's a big round knob on the amplifier...

"I wonder whether it's the same for 'audiophiles' - actually they like small amounts of distortion and it doesn't 'sound right' if they aren't there."

It's not that simple. There are always distortions in any audio system. The whole thing is one total distortion because it is trying to do the impossible, which is to reproduce accurately a complex 3D acoustic field using only 2 (for stereo) small point-based sources.

Inevitably, some parts of the original sound are discarded in the process, some are distorted beyond recognition and the reproduction (imitation?) of the rest requires compromises.

In addition, we still don't know enough about psychoacoustics to say precisely which of the discarded bits and which of the compromises really matter and to predict how the combination of these limitations and the acoustics of the place where the audio will be reproduced will affect the subjective sound of the system.

With so much uncertainty and such great differences between the original sound field and what the system is producing it is to be expected that opinions will differ. It also explains why, in search for the elusive perfection, some people may chase rainbows and let themselves be seduced by scammers.

However, it should not be the binary choice between being a total nutcase and being a nihilist audio-punk for whom the quality in audio reproduction is "destroying the musicality" - for most sane people the quality should and does matter and it can be achieved without them having to throw themselves into spending excesses.

Re: Hard to know what to buy

What's with the downvote? You don't like Grado cans? - OK, grow a pair and say so (and say why, while you're at that)...

Re: Hard to know what to buy

Try a pair of Grados...

SR-60 if you want to listen to portables, '80 or '125 for a home system.

Re: Delicately put

"What happens with "Directional" speaker cables if you wire them *the wrong way round* ??"

Don't you know? Your speakers will become microphones and the transduced signal will go towards the amplifier, clash with the output signal and produce jitter and voltaic unbalanced fluctuations of periodic impedance and your power amp will explode.

Creepy Facebook urges users to pester friends about their SEX LIVES

Hmmm

What is that Face Book everyone is talking about? Is there a Kindle edition?

Jupiter's Great Red Spot becoming mere pimple

Heat and food + wind to stir it up

With all that energy and organic stuff sloshing about I think Jupiter must be the one place in the outer Solar System where life is the likeliest to have appeared...

Bitcoin blockchain allegedly infected by ancient 'Stoned' virus

Re: Bitcoin Bomb?

Maybe it was a typo and he simply meat "Siri"?

Welcome to Heathrow Terminal, er, Samsung Galaxy S5

Thales Square?? Where is it? Is it off Raytheon Street?

A long time ago...

in Samsung Galaxy far, far away...

This is straight

out of the Fifth Element...

Mozilla agrees to add DRM support to Firefox – under protest

Re: @h4rm0ny

I'll just try to summarise once again the relevant points:

a) DRM cannot possibly be a response to piracy because in order to be affected by DRM you must legitimately obtain the product in the first place. If you download a pirated version - it's free from DRM. There are no known DRM-ed products that haven't been made available in DRM-free "pirated" version somewhere by someone.

If the industry spends millions on developing and spreading their DRMs, that can only mean one of two things - either they are complete morons and are wasting their shareholders' money on something that cannot possibly work or they are doing it for a different reason.

I humbly suggest it's the latter.

b) The reason they are using DRM is to prevent their legitimate customers from using their product in a non-authorised way. This includes prevention of format-shifting, skipping commercials, secondary sales etc. None of that is piracy. In fact, these restrictions represent abuse of customer rights and the reason the industry is getting away with it is simply because they have more lobbying resources than the pro-consumer groups.

If the customers (including potential customers) are dissatisfied with the imposed restrictions (as many are and have full moral rights to be) they have no other choice but to resort to using pirated copies. This is how DRM directly causes piracy.

c) "Piracy" - which is an unapproved distribution of copyrighted material - is a natural market response to restrictions imposed by rights management.

A subset of that - "Digital" Rights Management or DRM - is responsible for some of the piracy that exists today. Prior to the media becoming digital, other rights management practices were responsible for the piracy existing then (some of that is still continuing today).

d) Judging by the fact that the media industry as a whole (if you combine together film, TV, music, games) is still doing very well, the overall impact of piracy is either negligible or positive. That means that pirated distribution is not displacing sales and a case can be made that some of it actually increases sales.

e) Not all piracy results in displacement of legitimate sales - where a pirated copy is obtained to replace a legitimately purchased DRMed copy in order to avoid the restrictions, for example, or where the downloader would not have been able/willing to purchase a legitimate copy, or where an unauthorised copy is shared between friends as a way of viral promotion. I will call the piracy which directly displaces equivalent sales "parasitic" for ease of reference.

f) There is evidence that reduction in the use of aggressive DRM (in combination with increase in legitimate availability) reduces parasitic piracy.

g) Regarding your last quote - thanks, that looks much better in bold :-)

@h4rm0ny

OK, this is a casual discussion forum, not a courtroom - so if I left something implied or did not explain every minute detail of it and didn't cover each and every possible angle and qualified each statement I still don't feel like I committed perjury or perverted the course of justice or something... :-)

Now, the original article is talking about DRM (clue: D stands for "digital") on streaming and downloadable contents distributed over the Internet. That excludes VHS and vinyl home taping (not digital) and CDs (not originally on the Internet - remember, I mentioned bandwidth?). You, however, insist on lumping it all together and throwing the kitchen sink in it too, for good measure. But OK, let's do that.

You lot have always been quick to call everything that people may do with your stuff without asking for your approval as "piracy". For you, a student making a music compilation for his GF or copying his vinyl LP to a tape was piracy. People lending their CDs to friends - piracy. Now, the format shifting is piracy. Buying a DVD from a different region - piracy. Downloading a TV show from a different country - piracy. Kids sending their friends links to their favourite music clips on Youtube - piracy.

Any new form of use that someone, somewhere may find for your stuff is automatically branded "piracy" and is claimed as justification for DRMs.

For normal people none of that is piracy - only reasonable use and free promotion for the artists.

For normal and reasonable people there are only two kinds of piracy - A) when a copy is made and distributed commercially without approval of the rights-holder (the white van-driving pirate John, or what's-his-name, from the old FACT scary videos) or B) a distribution which *displaces* the legitimate sales - i.e. when people who would otherwise be ready to pay for legitimate product resort to obtaining an illegal copy.

Case "A" is a simple fraud, was always there and will always be there in some shape or form and your industry is not the only one that is affected. DRM or any other RM has no impact on it whatsoever.

Case "B", though, is the one which is a consequence of DRM and, generally speaking, of any abusive rights management.

Why is it a consequence and not a cause? Firstly and most obviously - DRM only exists on legitimate products and only affects the paying customer. The "pirated" copies are free from DRM. It does not affect them at all. So, at the very least, DRM is neutral to piracy - not a deterrent at all.

Secondly, and most importantly - people would rather buy a widely available, easy to use, reasonably priced, unrestricted product legitimately than look for an illegal copy. However, by imposing rights management and DRM you are either making the legitimate product unavailable, or difficult/impossible to use or you abuse your monopoly position to make your product too expensive comparing to its perceived value. Hence, people are pushed to look for a better alternative and resort to piracy.

The causality here is intuitively obvious: DRM=restrictions -> search for alternatives=piracy.

You can find the real life examples easily - like the fact that the most heavily DRMed computer games are consistently the most "pirated" etc.

Music industry had the sense to abandon DRMs and adopt unrestricted distribution formats - this not only didn't kill them but probably saved them from total disaster. Even they now admit that with increasing legitimate availability the piracy levels are going down.

The movie industry, however, is still clinging on to their hope of finding the mother of all DRM that will finally bring them to their Utopia - where "play" button will become "pay" button. They are deluded.

Other minor points from your last post:

You did not seem to understand what I was saying about Allofmp3s and people buying files from them. I'm explaining: this goes to prove that people would happily buy DRM-free content if it is reasonably priced, conveniently accessed and of good quality. The reason why people were buying from Allofmp3 was that there was no legitimate alternative. The reason people were using Napster was because there was no legitimate alternative.

""people who normally buy DVDs". At a stroke, you exclude all the pirates who do so without intent to purchase the DVDs." - exactly, that was my point. Because if they do not intend to buy the product, whether they do or not get a free copy is irrelevant. However, if they want to buy but are deterred from it - that should be a problem for you.

"Hilarious ennobling of pirates there. They are too poor to afford it." - if they are too poor to afford it then them getting it for free (and at no cost to you, which is important) does not affect you at all. It is not a lost sale, an opportunity cost or anything else that you can complain about.

Finally, a message to the industry - stop claiming entitlement to something that is not yours, abandon DRM, relax and enjoy the sales...

Re: @Keith While people moan about "Net Neutrality"...

"If there were no piracy then there would be no reason to invest very large sums of money in counters to it."

This is a (very common) misconception - DRMs are not meant to prevent "piracy" (as in unauthorised copying and commercial distribution on the 'net). They are used to prevent unapproved use of legitimately obtained content, such as format-shifting, juke-boxing etc. A byproduct of it is "piracy" - because the "pirated" product is superior to the licensed one.

"If piracy were a response to DRM then it wouldn't predate DRM in the form of home copied VHS tapes, music cassette tapes and all those CDs which didn't have those anti-ripping measures"

I don't want to talk about the analogue formats and even about the CDs which appeared long before the Internet and especially, before mortal people's connections achieved bandwidths making it possible to exchange anything more than text and static pictures.

On the Internet though - it is the rights management (firstly, the original form of rights management - denial of availability) that have pushed people to use MP3.COM, Napster, Allofmp3 (remember, people happily paid for their MP3s on Allofmp3?) etc. Your DVDs example - people who normally buy DVDs only resort to pirate copies for something that is caused by rights management, like staggered releases etc.

Yes there will always be people copying stuff to avoid paying for it (maybe because they cannot afford it, maybe because they don't value the content they are copying, maybe out of some principle) - this is a fraction of "piracy" that have parallels with the old analogue times - your home taping (did it kill the music in the end?). DRM did not cause it, nor does DRM affect it - it was there and will always be there.

Re: @Keith While people moan about "Net Neutrality"...

"DRM is an inevitable response to piracy."

You've got it totally arse over tit - piracy is a response to DRMs, not the other way round.

"If it's such a moral issue for you pirates, why don't you buy a DVD copy?"

Speak for yourself. I am buying DVDs, because CSS is easy to remove if need be and most players can be fixed to disregard the region restrictions.

And I am ready to buy movie downloads but only if they would be available at a decent quality and totally DRM-free (like MP3s).

I will not, under any circumstances, buy streaming video but that's because of the inevitably crappy quality and inconvenience...

Re: @Keith While people moan about "Net Neutrality"...

"No, it's not fine. It's illegal. It's called breaking copyright and that is an offence."

Yeah, black markets are called "black" because they are illegal. But they exist when the "white" market becomes distorted for some reason - the reason may be something fundamental like a big war and a u-boat blockade, or something criminal, like a copyright cartel, or something stupid, like an unreasonable tax.

With war, you cannot correct the situation except by ending the war ASAP, which may be difficult. With criminality or stupidity - the fix is very easy. You want the black market to disappear? - make sure you clean up the "white" one...

Notice to rights holders

There is nothing that you have that is worth me paying for if you put DRM* on it.

_{*) - OK, I will exempt DRMs like CSS etc which can be removed with but a trivial amount of effort}

Re: @Keith While people moan about "Net Neutrality"...

"If you do not agree to the terms of the offer being made by the content creators, then simply don't pay for it and watch it."

No, you're wrong, Keith. I Sainsbury's refuse to sell me tomatoes I can go to Waitrose. In the case with DRM it's not like that - because there is only one "legitimate" owner. This is where the problem lies. The only alternative is to bypass the "legitimate" owner and go to the black market.

And you know what? If that's the deal - OK, fine.

Activist investors try forcing Google to pay more taxes

That's not wrong. That's called public ownership and that means you can't stop any odd nutcase from buying a share in a company and do something stupid with it.

Oh, sorry, you actually mean that you approve of what these shareholders are doing? In that case both you and them are barking up the wrong tree - you want a company to pay more tax than they currently legally do? Address your complaint to the lawmakers.

Of course, you will find that the lawmakers will not be very keen on being too hard on these companies as that would possibly lead to the lawmakers' own companies having to pay more tax...

Boffins debunk red wine miracle antioxidant myth

Flawed experiment?

Perhaps they should have tested for gran reservatrol?

Boeing shows off 7-4-heaven SPACEPLANE-for-tourists concept

Re: Whaaaat??

I think they are about the right size for beer kegs.

Re: Eh?

I think that's the Captain's seat...

BEAK DRONE: 1080p HD Wi-Fi quad-copter by Parrot takes to skies

Re: Wot, no gimbal?

Yes, don't you hate those rigid thoughts, only going in one direction and on, and on, and on...

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

;-)

Spy sat launch wannabe SpaceX fails to stop rival gobbling Russian rockets

I think it's the opposite - Russia clearly takes the US dealing with Ukraine pretty seriously...

Nintendo says sorry, but there will be NO gay marriage in Tomodachi Life ... EVER

Every time something like this happens I find it difficult to say what nauseates me more - the histrionics of the activists, pretending that they care about gay rights but only wishing to score a personal point, or the wave of the homophobic reaction it inevitably provokes...

Earthly astronomers catch best-ever image of MASSIVE solar flare

Enough!

How long can these nuclear war games in space be tolerated? This is a clear violation of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty prohibiting testing, orbiting, and placement of nuclear weapons in space.

I call for immediate imposition of punitive economic sanctions on Egypt and declaring Mr Ra a persona non grata! I also demand a world-wide ban on singing "The Sun Has Got His Hat On"!! All children choirs must from now on start their performances with mandatory rendition of "The Sun Will Never Shine".

Vinyl-fetish hipsters might just have a point

Re: Thats got to be a wind up

But you can always use your finger to speed the turntable up a bit! After all, the label paper you are tracking through is going to ruin you stylus anyway...

"Of course, few people get to hear "original" sound, in a recording studio, and how often have you been to a concert and thought the atmosphere was fantastic, but the audio quality just wasn't as good as the record? You probably blamed it on the accoustic of the hall?"

True. Yesterday I saw Yes at the Royal Albert Hall and I struggled at times to follow the intricacies of Close To The Edge as they were drowned in an overall wall of sound - I guess the sound engineers just turned the volume of everything to eleven and thought that was a good idea. I also think that Chris Squire's setup had a driver blown in one of the speakers... So, even CDs on my system at home sound "better". But, boy, did I enjoy being there!!

Brit chap weaves silver bullet for wireless health scare bollocks

Re: Microwave is non-ionizing radiation.

But it will cook you alright if you stick your head into a microwave oven and disable the safeties...

There are known cases of engineers having been killed while working on radar antennae which weren't switched off and during my military training we were not allowed to switch radars into transmission mode if there were unprotected people around our vehicles.

But that is that - you have to be *very* close to the source and the latter must be *very* powerful for it to affect you.

Re: WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

Yeah, well, all these new scares are nothing but some well forgotten old fears...

Refer to "Waldo" by Heinlein, published in 1942 :-)

Not suitable for iPhone users

As fanboi's todger is a mandatory part of the antenna circuit... ;-)

All men are part of a PURE GENETIC ELITE, says geno-science bloke

Re: WOMEN are less

"and sure noone would want THAT ... not even women xD"

What that great Polish movie - Sexmission - for answers to that :-)

Star Wars Episode VII: The Ancient Fear of, er, a cheese-tastic title?

Re: Past of future history

Moody Blues...

Alien invader plunges tool into virgin 'Windjana', sniffs powders

When will this Vandalism and Defacement of Nature stop???

Iran brands Facebook boss Zuckerberg an 'American Zionist', bans WhatsApp

Did you perhaps mean Torah?

Cold War spy aircraft CRASHED Los Angeles' air traffic control

Simple explanation

They are still using the DOOM engine. The long-awaited upgrade will move it to QUAKE...

Truck-sized asteroid slips silently between Moon and Earth

Re: slips silently...

If you hear them it's already to late to worry.

SpaceX wins court injunction to block US Air Force buying Russian rockets

Re: INSTANT DISQUALIFICATION!

Yeah, it wasn't exactly a treaty - just a "political agreement". I the US can split hairs on their involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, so can (even should) Russia.

Re: national security

"There was a lot going on with TNK-BP. It's always hard to know what's government sponsored and what isn't."

Well, in this particular case I do know

"Certainly it's not safe to rely on equity in the Russian court system under Putin."

Certainly, it isn't.

"And the fact that the killers don't seem to have understood how dangerous the stuff was ..... rather strongly suggests that they weren't the brains behind the operation. Which again suggests that it was a state-organised job."

That's exactly what makes me doubt it was state-organised.

"Finally, everyone involved, including Putin, seems to have been ex-KGB/FSB and all seem to have known each other quite well."

Yes, but half the country is ex-KGB, that doesn't mean that none of them has ever done some private jobs on the side...

As I said, I am doubtful, but I don't disregard anything at this stage.