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Comment: The Industry is Completely Out of Touch (Score 1) 118

by brainbuz (#46257205) Attached to: Music Industry Is Keeping Streaming Services Unprofitable

On the other side I've seen artists complaining that when they do get a lot of play on streaming services they still don't get much in royalties. I would venture (meaning I have better things to do this afternoon than research the real numbers) that in terms of revenue to the independent artist that sells their own music, one customer who purchases a download or buys physical product is equivalent to a much larger number (10? 100?) who play them repeatedly on streaming services. From a label or self marketed artist standpoint the streaming services are successors to the record clubs, what makes them more complex is that they also function as radio stations. From the standpoint of an independent artist getting on the streaming services is important promotion, but then every time someone saves them to their streaming service library instead of going to Itunes or Amazon they are getting a tiny fraction of the income. No surprise that established artists who have control over these things aren't available on these services. Further given that the labels probably also believe they should charge a lot more, I'm surprised that there aren't complaints that the agreements call for forced exposure of their developing artists.

An example that most people miss about the record companies not adjusting to technology is that the record companies aren't shifting to DVD Audio. I still buy most of my music in physical format, in large part because of MP3 quality (unreliable). For customers like me who pay a premium for quality there is no excuse with today's technology to deliver less than 48kbps 20bit. DVD Audio can deliver lossless 96x24 when CD is still limited to 44x16. (As for the alternative SACD format, only about 1% of all CD capable devices can decode SACD as compared to about 50% that are DVD players or ROMs).

Getting back to the main point, the Legacy Recording Conglomerates don't know to deal with anything in the new landscape, historically they've had difficulty with change. In the 1940s a startup called Capital Records changed the rules by sending free copies of records by their big signing (Frank Sinatra) to radio stations, eventually the 2 conglomerates of the time (RCA and Columbia) had to do the same to remain competitive. It is the up and coming independents who will figure out how to navigate the new landscape, all the big labels want is a return to the way it used to be.

Comment: Pick the horse that will keep on running. (Score 1) 227

by brainbuz (#45218153) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose Frameworks That Will Survive?

Catalyst is one of the oldest MVC frameworks and very actively developed. Catalyst is also very stable, a few years ago the Catalyst team implemented the new Moose Object system for Perl and older Catalyst code still generally works. When I upgrade a system running Catalyst or redeploy my applications to a new system the major headache is from missed dependencies, but once I sort them out it is unusual to have to change code, and deprecations are infrequent and get long notice periods. When the new MOP object system (it is based on the Moose Object extension Catalyst already uses) ships in an upcoming Perl release your old Catalyst Code is still going to work, and as each release of Ruby and the path from Python 2 to 3 show, those other languages don't maintain the stability that Perl does.

Comment: Re:Vi yay, Emacs nay. (Score 1) 694

The mechanical typewriter manufacturing lobby will back the move to force vi on the population at large, as 98% of the population will be unable to type anything as soon as the mandate was extended to all wordprocessing (which would be inevitable). The American Psychiatric Association would support an Emacs mandate instead as long as their members didn't have to use it. A truly beneficial mandate would be to require all Text Editing and Wordprocessing software to implement a wordstar compatible control set instead. For those of us who can touch-type the WordStar interface remains the only choice, and JOE is the one true editor!

Comment: Making yourself less employable (Score 2) 309

by brainbuz (#41759467) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Is Going To a Technical College Worth It?

The overall quality of instruction and graduates in many of these tech schools is often pretty low. Technical College not only costs more than Community College, but is an indication that you didn't have the academic chops to get through Community College. I can tell you how I would stack my resume pile if I was hiring and all that hr was providing was a brief summary: Experience+College, Experience (no degree), Self-taught limited experience, College Grad (no experience), Technical Trade School, No apparent Qualifications. Self study, some certifications, and anything you can do to demonstrate competency will put you ahead of the Trade School Graduate and at least equal to the no-experience college grad. Do it on your own or go to a legitimate college that fits your budget.

Comment: Re:Color me surprised. Or not. (Score 1) 577

by brainbuz (#39640309) Attached to: Santorum Suspends Presidential Campaign

Gary Johnson is even better than Ron Paul.
Former Governor, many similar views -- low spending, anti-war, consistent over time and a two term Governor to boot. He will be the Libertarian Party Nominee this year. Maybe the Republicans have finally marginalized themselves to the point where people are ready to pay attention to the Libertarian Party.

Comment: I cancelled Netflix BluRay (Score 1) 1162

by brainbuz (#35877050) Attached to: Why Has Blu-ray Failed To Catch Hold?

All of the copy protection nonsense the industry was doing with blu-ray really sours the customer experience. When a movie comes in from netflix I want it to just play. I don't want to perform a firmware or software update, I don't want to have to rip it to break the encryption (which most consumers aren't tech savvy enough to do anyway). Meanwhile I have a cheap multiregion DVD player and on my computer I have about 10 different programs that play DVDs pretty reliably.

A well mastered DVD looks pretty spectacular on my 27" 720P device, and while some BluRays do look even better, you need a larger 1080 device to really see a benefit from the higher resolutions.

I have 6 computers, and a dvd player that can play DVDs, but only 1 computer than can play BluRay, so there is a big convenience factor,

When I first bought my BluRay player I signed up for Netflix BluRay. Over time I realized that most of my titles were DVD only, and I was watching a lot on streaming, so I cancelled the BluRay option.


What's Wrong With the American University System 828

Posted by Soulskill
from the not-enough-belushi dept.


Posted by samzenpus
from the blameless-travel dept.

Comment: USB sticks this is an old vulnerability! (Score 1) 214

by brainbuz (#33024404) Attached to: Malware Targets Shortcut Flaw In Windows, SCADA

Several of the USB sticks I've purchased came with pre-installed malware which Windows dutifully executes when the stick is inserted. A few months ago I made a presentation and stuck one of these in someone else's machine, and their anti-virus actually detected the stick as containing a trojan, about effing time. Given that MS continues to support vendors including viruses (claiming them to be drivers or other necessary software) and executing them, I'm really surprised that a lot more malware hasn't spread this way. I'm also a little surprised that more malware authors have not broken MS Code Signing. As for the target systems it looks like they are living with their heads in the sand, it was just a matter of time for them to be targeted.


Alberta Scientists Discover Largest-Ever Cache of Dinosaur Bones 154

Posted by Soulskill
from the dino-mother-lode dept.
Open Source

Linux Kernel 2.6.32 Released 195

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the download-compile-reboot-repeat dept.
Input Devices

Brain-Control Gaming Headset Launching Dec. 21 112

Posted by Soulskill
from the oh-hey-it's-real dept.

Comment: Re:Bide your time (Score 1) 1006

by brainbuz (#30092358) Attached to: Software Piracy At the Workplace?

If you have another job lined up and haven't been at this job long, resign your position and drop a dime to the BSA for the reward. Even if you don't have a job lined up, you can resign a job because you've been asked to perform illegal activities and still be eligible for unemployment, but you'll need to document it, so you'll need to tactfully put your concerns in writing and maintain a file before dropping the dime. Leaving a job on bad terms can have repercussions for your career, so if not having this job on your resume leaves a big hole, you need to figure out how you'll compensate, one tactic is maintaining ties to other employees you can use as a reference -- most HR departments will only confirm employment and as soon as your gone you can have a friend at another company send a reference check to see what HR says. Even if you can leave this job off your resume, be prepared to answer questions about the job if you are subject to a background investigation for a future job.

Comment: I vote for the WordStar Interface (Score 1) 617

by brainbuz (#28966765) Attached to: Preview the Office 2007 Ribbon-Like UI Floated For OpenOffice.Org

As someone marginally capable of touch typing (and old enough to remember), WordStar had the best interface of a Word Processing Program. I find Word 2007's Ribbon bar absolutely perplexing. Wordstar had home row key-bindings. OpenOffice is a GPL project, so hopefully as a backlash some outraged developers will build a version that supports WordStar keybindings.


'Vanish' Makes Sensitive Data Self-Destruct 171

Posted by Soulskill
from the also-doesn't-appear-to-be-a-fire-hazard dept.
