You see our insignia everywhere you go. It is on your clothes, on your television screen, on the walls of every street, in the pages of every magazine. It is branded upon your mind. You see it a thousand times more frequently than you see your nation’s flag; you see it at least as often as you see you mother’s face.
We don’t invest in communication to inform you about our products; we aim to promote ourselves. That’s why we give you slogans and symbols instead of facts. We are not sharing information so much as we are spreading mystification. We are the deities of the new age; you accept us as all-powerful and all-knowing because you see our power and our presence everywhere. Your friends work for us, your smaller companies are owned by us, your politicians answer to us, everything is sponsored by or dictated by us. We seem to control everything, to stand over humanity like eternal gods.
When you purchase our products, it’s not tennis shoes or jeans or soft drinks you are really after; it’s the aura of power. To children in the ghetto of the United States, Nike represents the wealth and status they long for. To shoppers in Italy (who have a heritage of much healthier and tastier food), McDonald’s symbolizes the modern age they so desperately want to participate in. We rule over you because we have persuaded you that we are Divine.
But all gods have a secret vulnerability: we cease to exist when people no longer believe in us. We seem to be invulnerable, but we could be dispelled as absolutely as the gods of ancient Greece if you recognized us for the phantoms that we are. We work around the clock, filling the world with our temples and our images, because we know that one day humanity is bound to wake up from this long nightmare.*
*I did not write this.
I read an article in the Freakanomics Blog on the New York Times website about South North Carolina citizens who have responded to a drought by cutting their water usage by almost a third. In response, the utility company in Charlotte has raised water prices. So by being responsible and doing what’s best for everyone and for the environment, these people earned themselves a hefty utility bill. The water company says they had to raise prices to cover their budget, but it’s not like you can just decide not to buy water anymore.So where’s the breakdown here? Is it that capitalism doesn’t correctly handle natural resources? Does our economy fail to promote certain values? Maybe this is related to the American tendency to spend in advance and hope you can make the payment later.::EDIT:: I get 10 dumb American points and -5 Attention-to-detail points for not realizing that Charlotte is in North, not South Carolina.
“We know that Apple has destroyed the music business — in terms of pricing — and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side.” -Jeff Zucker
I just read about this dude’s statements at Apple Insider. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time feeling like huge media corporations are getting screwed. The iTunes Store has its own issues and faults, but I don’t think screwing NBC is one of them.
- Cost of season 1 of Heroes if episodes are purchased individually: $45.77
- Cost of full Season: $42.99
- Cost of full season on DVD on Amazon: $39.99 (they also sell episode downloads for $1.99)
- Cost of 9 months (to cover the running length of season 1) subscription to Insight Cable: ~$270.00
- Cost of 9 months of Tivo: $152.55 + $99 for the box
- Cost of 9 months of standard TV broadcast (which is legal to record for personal use): Uh…how much power does your TV draw?
So, first observation: Unless you’re dedicated to following seven different cable TV series, maybe you should rethink that cable subscription.
Now, NBC got fussy when Apple wouldn’t let them double the cost per episode. Apple has been extremely strict about iTS pricing and would not even let NBC charge a one dollar increase for episodes of one series – Zucker used Heroes as an example. So, if you already have the equipment for it, you can watch Heroes for free and record it on your computer, VCR, or DVR.
Or if you want better quality and no commercials and can wait until the end of the season, you can shell out $40 (probably less if you do a little searching) and have a nice boxed set to keep on your shelf.
$40 also gets you the episode within a day or so of it airing, but with a slight sacrifice of quality.
Or, if NBC got their way, you could pay $80 for the more popular shows because they know they can get away with it.
The NBC guy cited other reasons for his displeasure such as Apple not sharing hardware profits with NBC and said that the popularity of the FREE episode streaming service on NBC.com should prove the demand for online TV content…
To me, this is just one more example of media content owners throwing the blame around for their inability to keep a strangle-hold on a changing market while displeasing their customers.
NBC has decided not to renew their contract with the iTunes Store next year, but since their agreement would end in the middle of the season, Apple isn’t selling new NBC shows from this season.
PS – This may be up for debate, but I believe it is still legal to download shows through Bit Torrent as long as you’re getting a broadcast recording and not a DVD rip.
Microsoft has released a new mobile internet technology called Deepfish. Deepfish is an interface for web content on mobile phones and internet devices (read: mobile browser). The app loads full screen thumbnails of webpages and allows users to select an area of the webpage to view in detail. Websites do not have to be ported into a mobile format. The application reportedly utilizes such revolutionary technolgy as:
- A familiar look and feel of web pages on mobile as seen on desktop.
- Bandwidth optimized rendering for faster content delivery.
- Address bar web navigation.
- Intuitive zooming, panning and cue map for quick navigation and browsing.
- Support for simple link navigation and form submission.
So…in other words it’s a browser with a zoom function…
This sounds familiar… where have I heard about this before?
Oh right. Apple’s iPhone (announced in early January) features its Safari web browser which allows users to zoom an pan around websites with the touch of a finger
The main differences? We don’t have full specs since neither have seen a full release (Deepfish is available in a limited beta version) but we know a few things. Deepfish currently require you to navigate with a joystick and keypad while iPhone uses Apple’s touch interface. Deepfish is also missing support for ActiveX controls, AJAX, cookies, Javascript, and HTTP POST. Apple says that the iPhone uses their Safari browser, but isn’t clear about what features will be included. They have already said that the iPhone will probably not run Java because it’s bulky and not as widely used in web sites.
The most important difference in my mind is that Microsoft’s Deepfish can be downloaded onto Windows Mobile devices whereas right now, Apple’s mobile software is only available on their $500-$600 phone which will only be available with the purchase of a 2-year contract from Cingular (AT&T) and will not accept third-party software.
This all feels familiar. When the Macintosh and Windows were first introduced, Apple lost out big time because, although they arguably had a better product, it was a proprietary system. You had to get everything from Apple and everything you got from Apple could only run with other Apple products. Microsoft basically made a copy of the Mac OS (which was only a GUI facade that ran over DOS rather than an operating system) and beat Apple to the market with a more widely available and compatible system.
Getting the picture? Right now the iPhone is doing exactly what the original Macintosh did. It’s really cool, but you’ve got to do things the Apple way in order to own one. Apple has a good chance of loosing this one if they don’t at least make the iPhone available through other carriers.
Bush plans to tackle petrol price (BBC News)
Bush is getting a grasp on our energy problems and manages to dip his finger into global warming at the same time. His plan: Let's make it cheaper for people to buy gasoline by letting refiners skip out on some of the measures they take to reduce pollution. Meanwhile he strongly urges that someone should do something about our country's oil use.
What!!?? Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else? We're going to start having a massive fuel crisis just about the time it starts getting very very warm out (and I'm not refering to the summer weather).
Look at him. All smug in front of his farmland/renewable fuel graphic.
