Apparently, Philips is getting into the business of building time machines…beautiful boxes that can transport us back to the days of television before the remote control.
CNET’s Candice Lombardi recently highlighted Philip’s new television that would force viewers to watch the commercials that go with the programming, or opt out of the commercials by paying a fee.
Ingenius…if it were the 1950s and they were competing with Zenith’s revolutionary “Lazy Bones” technology that would put the dial in the viewer’s hand.
While we already see plenty of such models working in the online space, I have a hard time believing that consumers will be pleased with this new technology. After experiencing an age of newfound freedoms, the industries are realizing that the revenues to create content have to come from somewhere. The only problem is, it’s pretty difficult to implement a system that would limit the consumer experience after they’ve had the whole enchilada for too long already.
If history tells us anything, cracks will be developed, people will find a way around the system and mediocre advertising will still go unnoticed. Or of course, people will just go buy any other TV on the market that doesn’t come with archaic technology or determines what you can and can’t do.
You can build a new bottle for the TV watching genie, but at the end of the day, the TV watching genie will decide whether or not to crawl on in.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tackling Symptoms…
Overall, I’m seldom surprised these days when I see regulations developing to address symptoms but no efforts put forth to cure the disease.
In the UK, they’ve decided that wireless “poaching” or “piggy backing”, being the act of using someone else’s unprotected wireless connection without their permission, is in fact illegal. Moreover, they’ve also announced that their first two “criminals” have been caught, fined 500 pounds apiece and let go with a 12-month conditional discharge. Wow!
Just a few months ago, I was racing the clock to file something before a midnight deadline and little did I know that my DSL connection was going to be my major hurdle.
With a downed connection, I knew I at least had the option of using a dial-up connection, which my ISP is generous enough to offer in addition to the DSL connection. The more unfortunate side of the story is that I had completely forgotten how slow a dial-up connection can be and how it doesn’t address the capacity needs of today’s Internet. After 90 minutes attempting to complete a 5 minute task, it was obvious that the answering was sitting right there in front of me…the wireless connection on my laptop.
So I jumped in the car, drove around the neighbourhood, block-to-block, seeking out a connection. Wow, there is a ton of people on wireless these days, but too many smart ones with secured networks. Nevertheless, I eventually found that golden unsecured connection for which I was seeking. I logged on, sent my documents and the day was saved. Little did my neighbour know he was my midnight hero! But hold on, we followed the same foolish lawmaking as the UK did, I would have committed a criminal act, been fined roughly $1,200 and carried with me a regular meeting with a parole officer.
With all the potential for “real” criminal activity and identify theft, it’s easy to understand why the UK watchdogs are tackling this issue, but it puzzles me to think why they went to the end of the line instead of starting closer to the source. I’d probably be equally upset if the UK required wireless users to protect their connections, but at least it would make more sense.
And of course, I have to wonder if the 500-pound fines will go toward educating the public or if it will just fund a special unit to catch those big criminals driving around the UK just looking to take advantage of an unprotected wireless network?
I say tackle the cold, not the cough.
In the UK, they’ve decided that wireless “poaching” or “piggy backing”, being the act of using someone else’s unprotected wireless connection without their permission, is in fact illegal. Moreover, they’ve also announced that their first two “criminals” have been caught, fined 500 pounds apiece and let go with a 12-month conditional discharge. Wow!
Just a few months ago, I was racing the clock to file something before a midnight deadline and little did I know that my DSL connection was going to be my major hurdle.
With a downed connection, I knew I at least had the option of using a dial-up connection, which my ISP is generous enough to offer in addition to the DSL connection. The more unfortunate side of the story is that I had completely forgotten how slow a dial-up connection can be and how it doesn’t address the capacity needs of today’s Internet. After 90 minutes attempting to complete a 5 minute task, it was obvious that the answering was sitting right there in front of me…the wireless connection on my laptop.
So I jumped in the car, drove around the neighbourhood, block-to-block, seeking out a connection. Wow, there is a ton of people on wireless these days, but too many smart ones with secured networks. Nevertheless, I eventually found that golden unsecured connection for which I was seeking. I logged on, sent my documents and the day was saved. Little did my neighbour know he was my midnight hero! But hold on, we followed the same foolish lawmaking as the UK did, I would have committed a criminal act, been fined roughly $1,200 and carried with me a regular meeting with a parole officer.
With all the potential for “real” criminal activity and identify theft, it’s easy to understand why the UK watchdogs are tackling this issue, but it puzzles me to think why they went to the end of the line instead of starting closer to the source. I’d probably be equally upset if the UK required wireless users to protect their connections, but at least it would make more sense.
And of course, I have to wonder if the 500-pound fines will go toward educating the public or if it will just fund a special unit to catch those big criminals driving around the UK just looking to take advantage of an unprotected wireless network?
I say tackle the cold, not the cough.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Out of the Debate...
There is a fine line between incubation and procrastination. Where the line is drawn is really something only you can determine. Of course, you avoid drawing that line by stepping out of the debate altogether.
From here on out, I’ll be posting my ramblings, opinions, perspectives and insights on this blog I’ve entitled “Polling Ranc”…
Enjoy the flow and be sure to add on to anything you find appealing, especially if you disagree!
From here on out, I’ll be posting my ramblings, opinions, perspectives and insights on this blog I’ve entitled “Polling Ranc”…
Enjoy the flow and be sure to add on to anything you find appealing, especially if you disagree!
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