Posts by Bill Coleman

Shattered teens subsisting on 'junk sleep'

Luddite Army funding junk science now?

Thats a rhetorical question, right? Gotta luv the luddites. You made my laugh.

The Return of iTuneski

@steev re: Business Model

Steev - I agree whole-heartedly with you. Atrists and lables deserve to be paid. If you think the cost is too much, then just don't buy - it doesnt give you the right to steal!!! And to put my money where my mouth is I don't own any illegally gotten music in my modest 30gig collection. But my respect for the artist is not shared and ultimately the free market economics will win out. This thing cannot be stopped, merely postponed. You are right, the entire viability of the music industry as it stands is at stake. But consider this:

1. The music industry as it stands is corrupt to the core (big labels anyway) - they rip the artist off (as I'm sure you are aware, the recording contract money is a loan which must be paid back by the artist and for their trouble they become ill-paid slaves to the label, most artists with levels of debt that they can never afford to pay off). They also rip the consumer off. €15 for a chart CD, really??? Do they deserve to survive in their current form?

2. The business model is now irrelevant. Labels are now effectively middle-men where middle men are no longer needed. Physical publishing is now free and instantaneous and payment for songs is doomed. People will always crave new music. Yet promotion and recording costs still exist as does the need of artists to make a living.

So the race is on as to who can adapt the quickest. CD sales are not the only for of revenue. Concert takings, merchandise, sponsorships and endorsements, appearances etc are quickly becoming the most profitable areas. Labels need to recognise that their new role in the industry is as managers / promoters of music - living from commissions. Music will be free. And all the lawsuits, ISP traffic shaping, morality bashing and general p*ssing and moaning in the world is not going to stop it. This is pure Charles Darwin: Adapt or die.

Google will carpet YouTube with 'overlay' ads

Does anyone _really_ click on adds?

I know I don't. I've been browsing the internet regularly since the mid 90's and I honestly cannot recall a single time I deliberately followed an add - banner, popup, layover or otherwise. (except in the occasional situation where I was searching for something specific and an appropriate add was returned).

I don't think I know anybody who does click on adds unrelated to their task at hand. But yet companies pay for them. Why? I have a feeling there are economics at work here I don't understand. Is they tied into Google's search rankings? Or are there millions of people out there clicking adds and buying products? Can anyone shed light on this? ...been scratching my noggin on this for quite some time.

Yangtze river dolphin is an ex-cetacean

@So What and the others, re. professional trolling

wow, that really was some pretty good trolling. Kudos!

I am worried about china and India though... they are undergoing an industrial revolution of the same intensity of england 150 years ago but at a far accelerated pace and vastly larger scale. Coal burning power stations, completely polluted ground water supply, chemicals and toxic waste. Over population, over-intensive farming methods and an either ignorance of or indifference to the total destruction of their country.

If they were a small Island, I'd say let them to it - but their vast size and their unique biodiversity means that they are in a position to not only kill off the a substantial portion of the bio-heritage of the planet but also contribute significantly to global pollution and the destruction of ecosystems around the globe.

Stem cell fraudster made 'virgin birth' breakthrough

Frozen Zoo

There are people working on creating a genetic library of existing biodiversity that could theoretically be deployed to repopulate species driven to extension in years to come. I think we are a step closer....

...or Pamela Anderson never ages - take your pick!

The terrorists I party with

I thought it and you printed it

fantastic - well written and articulated. It's just what I've always believed but never been able to put into such a choerant form. Kudos!!!

Cut-price laptops coming forth

scamware

Check out the discussion at engaget: http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/25/medison-celebrity-150-of-linux-laptop-for-the-people/2#comments

(read down past the mac flame)

Sounds like this Kem-Erik guy's learned a few tricks from Stephen Coen!!

Spammers dump images, switch to PDF files

Guilty by stupidity

Why stop at jailing spammers? there wouldnt be a problem if it wasnt for idiots running windows 98/2000/mistake edition/ with no firewall or virus protection and clicking on every x-rated flashing banner they find. I say jail the spammers and fine the bot net people... the internet is a shared resource, if you are too stupid/ignorent to use it safely then you should be denied access or at least punished severely!!

...no seriously though, a government public education program combined with state funded virus control freeware would be more effective in the long run then this tit for tat fire fighting.