The Seinfeld Ad Microsoft Paid Millions For: Pro and Con Opinions (21)
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Marshall Kirkpatrick (925)
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Microsoft ran its first commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld on NBC this afternoon, to mixed reviews. Seinfeld will reportedly take home $10 million for his part of the $300 million "Windows Not Walls" ad campaign. Does that seem like money well spent so far? Below you'll find the commercial and two opposing opinions about it from members of the ReadWriteWeb team. Con: This Was an Arrogant Waste Marshall Kirkpatrick: The Windows Not Walls ...
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Joe said:
Whatever the pro's and con's I just don't get the point of this commercial. It really is vague and it's not going to raise any awareness or bring down any walls!
Don't Share That Law! It's Copyrighted (20)
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timothy (590)
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3 days, 7 hours
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Nathan Halverson writes "California claims copyright to its laws, and warns people not to share them. And that's not sitting right with Internet gadfly, and open-access hero, Carl Malamud. He has spent the last couple months scanning tens of thousands of pages containing city, county and state laws — think building codes, banking laws, etc. Malamud wants California to sue him, which is almost a given if the state wants to continue claiming copyright. He ...
On Second Thought, Perhaps Stephenie Meyer Doesn't Get Online Fans (2)
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Michael Masnick (345)
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3 days, 21 hours
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It really was just a month ago that we were writing about how super successful fiction author Stephenie Meyer was showing exactly how to embrace online fans, giving them free reign to build on her works and do more with them to build up her own popularity. As I was writing that post, I have to admit, in the back of my head, I wondered if I would later be writing a post about an ...
Wal-Mart gaming blog holds 'green gaming summit' (Joystiq) (1)
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6 days, 9 hours
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Filed under: Business We couldn't help but feel a little guilty as we read about a recent "green gaming summit" held by Wal-Mart's gaming blog, Check Out. Perhaps it was the revelation that our consoles, which we constantly leave running in case of emergencies, waste as much energy in a year as six refrigerators. Perhaps it was the knowledge that our towering stack of plastic game cases released more greenhouse emissions during their creation than ...
Personally, I Preferred Airlock As A VP Choice [Political Science (fiction)] (46)
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Graeme McMillan (218)
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io9 (833)
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Yes, yes, we get it already: the Republican Prez/Veep ticket looks just like Colonel Tigh and President Roslin from Battlestar Galactica. In what is either a sign that BSG has achieved cultural critical mass or that at least one of the two Republican nominees to office is actually an alcoholic robot, the similarities between the two pairs seemed to be one of the most common commentaries about McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President ...
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Gangles said:
Tigh/Roslin? How 'bout Obama/Adama.
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aaron said:
I just registered tighroslin08.com ;-)
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Stolee said:
This is rather LOL-worthy. I love being a nerd.
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Matt Pierson said:
hahahahahaha
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Michaelk said:
Actually, if McCain's a Cylon that really explains a lot.
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Alexander Williams said:
You know, if Palin's the Roslin of the ticket, that might mean some bad guys'll go out the airlock and she's willing to connive and manipulate without limit. I might back this after all.
US No Longer the World's Internet Hub (19)
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Soulskill (277)
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museumpeace brings us a New York Times story about how internet traffic is increasingly flowing around the US as web-based industries catch up in other parts of the world. Other issues, such as the Patriot Act, have made foreign companies wary about having their data on US servers. From the NYTimes: "Internet industry executives and government officials have acknowledged that Internet traffic passing through the switching equipment of companies based in the United States has ...
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Tometheus said:
Another interesting repercussion of the War on Terror. (Most of the world would probably argue that this is a Good Thing though.)
US No Longer the World's Internet Hub (5)
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Soulskill (277)
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museumpeace brings us a New York Times story about how internet traffic is increasingly flowing around the US as web-based industries catch up in other parts of the world. Other issues, such as the Patriot Act, have made foreign companies wary about having their data on US servers. From the NYTimes: "Internet industry executives and government officials have acknowledged that Internet traffic passing through the switching equipment of companies based in the United States has ...
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Tometheus said:
Another interesting repercussion of the War on Terror. (Most of the world would probably argue that this is a Good Thing though.)
Earn your bandwidth black belt (10)
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Seth Rosenblatt (17)
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1 week, 1 day
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Comcast has thrown down the bandwidth gauntlet. Starting in October, Comcast broadband users will be restricted to 250GB worth of downloads per month. When asked whether the cable company was planning on offering a bandwidth meter to customers, a Comcast representative stated that it hopes to, eventually, but until then Google would be a nice place to find one. So, I've come up with a list of free bandwidth monitoring software for Windows and Mac ...
RIAA’s Anti-Piracy Trade Agreement Wishlist (3)
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Ernesto (311)
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TorrentFreak (485)
1 week, 4 days
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It might not come as a surprise when we tell you that the RIAA wants to turn the Internet into a virtual police state. Still, it’s quite scary to see what their “future Internet” would look like. Let’s take a closer look at the RIAA’s suggestions for the Anti-Piracy Trade Agreement Wishlist (ACTA). ACTA is a big deal, and the entertainment industry is doing all it can to get it implemented as soon as possible. ...
RIAA’s Anti-Piracy Trade Agreement Wishlist (12)
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Ernesto (311)
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1 week, 4 days
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It might not come as a surprise when we tell you that the RIAA wants to turn the Internet into a virtual police state. Still, it’s quite scary to see what their “future Internet” would look like. Let’s take a closer look at the RIAA’s suggestions for the Anti-Piracy Trade Agreement Wishlist (ACTA). ACTA is a big deal, and the entertainment industry is doing all it can to get it implemented as soon as possible. ...
NBCOlympics Wins Lead Medal: Only $6 Million In Olympic Video Ad Revenue (6)
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Henry Blodget (140)
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Two drawbacks of doing everything possible to protect your broadcast franchise: Infuriate sports fans who want to watch events live. Leave money on the table. NBC only made $6 million in online video ad revenue, estimates eMarketer. This is a far cry from the $23 million CBS is said to have made from this year's March Madness. From NBC's perspective, of course, the online revenue is couch change: The broadcast version of the Olympics generated ...
EMI/Virgin Records Sues Platinum Selling Band For $30 Million... Despite Not Paying Them A Dime In Royalties (18)
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Michael Masnick (345)
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2 weeks, 2 days
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It's always fun to remember stories like the following one the next time you hear some RIAA exec claim that it represents musicians. The RIAA represents the record labels and record labels are continually at odds with musicians -- sometimes to extreme levels. Wired reported that EMI/Virgin Records had sued the band 30 Seconds To Mars for $30 million recently. The band is apparently fronted by movie star Jared Leto, and is considered something of ...
JustHackIt: It’s Like a Dating Site For Hackers (25)
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Erick Schonfeld (1546)
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2 weeks, 3 days
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Got that hacking jones, but can’t find anyone to hack with? Head on over to JustHackIt, a site aimed at developers that launched last night. It is a place for developers to find each other, work on projects, and maybe even start a company. Developers can post projects they want to do and search through postings from other hackers. The site describes itself this way: The idea: Outside of Silicon Valley, lots of hackers are ...
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John said:
Seems potentially interesting....
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eschnou said:
Maybe a good site for those of you who want to build stuff but no time to learn PHP or RoR :-)
JustHackIt: It’s Like a Dating Site For Hackers (23)
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Erick Schonfeld (1546)
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TechCrunch - AideRSS (Good) (26)
2 weeks, 3 days
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Got that hacking jones, but can’t find anyone to hack with? Head on over to JustHackIt, a site aimed at developers that launched last night. It is a place for developers to find each other, work on projects, and maybe even start a company. Developers can post projects they want to do and search through postings from other hackers. The site describes itself this way: The idea: Outside of Silicon Valley, lots of hackers are ...
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John said:
Seems potentially interesting....
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eschnou said:
Maybe a good site for those of you who want to build stuff but no time to learn PHP or RoR :-)
ABC/Disney Memo Shows That Ripping Off Other TV Programs Is Ok... For ABC/Disney (11)
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Michael Masnick (345)
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2 weeks, 4 days
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Of course, we all know that in the long history of Disney, the company has made much of its money by taking the content of others and repurposing it in cute animated stories. Yet, when it comes to anyone else doing things with Disney's stories or characters, its lawyers are rather vicious in response. In fact, it's Disney's heavy handed lobbying that has helped extend copyright to ever longer terms, just to avoid Mickey Mouse ...
Covering Up Any Brand In Beijing That Hasn't Paid To Sponsor The Olympics (24)
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Michael Masnick (345)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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Every time you think that the Olympics' bizarre obsession with extra-ordinary protections on intellectual property took a step beyond ridiculous, you were probably just underestimating the International Olympic Committee, who will just keep going further and further. You may recall the efforts put forth by the IOC to get special trademarks on certain words, like 2010 and Vancouver and 2012 and London, since that's where the next two Olympics will take place. While it seems ...
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sumidiot said:
Ridamndiculous
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Srivatsn said:
this is funny :)
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Rob said:
no really, this is a good thing - who wants to risk buying a non-official toilet? My oh my.
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Db0 said:
The Chinese Olympics are getting more and more ridiculous. IOC founds its perfect mate in the Totalitarian regime of China, which just goes to show what they expect from the rest of the world.
Studies Show Students, Surgeons Can Benefit From Video Games [World Of Warcraft] (1)
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Jim Reilly (0)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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I wish these studies were done back when I was growing up. Oh, if only my mom could have read these after taking away my controllers when I refused to do my homework. "No mom, studies show games are actually beneficial. See, it says so right here!" *sigh* So, a bunch of researchers gathered in Boston to detail a series of studies conducted to see whether or not video games had an adverse affect on ...
Canadian Cablecos Winning High-Speed Game (1)
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Mark Evans (57)
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Mark Evans (46)
2 weeks, 5 days
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Earlier this month, Silicon Valley Insider took a look at how the cable companies and telecos fared during Q2 in the high-speed Internet business. When it came to growth, the cable companies kicked some serious butt by taking 73% of net subscriber adds. To get an idea of what’s happening north of the border, I did the same exercise. I also collected total telephone growth given bundles are such a key part of the marketing ...
More Media Companies Realizing That They Can Profit From 'Pirated' Content On YouTube (7)
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Michael Masnick (345)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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Pretty much every day or so, we end up getting into a debate somewhere in the comments here on Techdirt concerning the rather important distinctions between "theft" and "copyright infringement." While there are a bunch (the lack of a "loss" on the part of the owner being a big one), one important one is that you don't see anyone choosing on purpose to allow theft of their own products in order to boost their business ...
U.S. Elections: Obama and McCain Start Sharing in Google Reader (31)
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Frederic Lardinois (581)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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Google today announced that it has signed up the Obama and McCain campaigns to share blog posts and news items they read on Google Reader. This program, called Power Readers in Politics also includes items shared by a number of high-profile journalists. While neither Google nor the campaigns pretend that the candidates themselves do any of the sharing (McCain doesn't know how to use a computer, after all), this is an interesting experiment and might ...
