Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

Universal hates digital distribution (and customers)

(via The Consumerist)

I will admit to being in love with the “Company X hates blah” general title, but it just seems so many companies don’t want customers, or don’t want customers to have a good experience.  This latest is based on the news that Universal pictures is going to offer movies for download starting next month.  That doesn’t sound bad, until you look in to pricing.  The first movie available will be King Kong, for the amazing price of $35.  The same movie I can get from Amazon.com for $15 and rip to digital format myself using free tools, I can download in a Digital Restriction Mangled (DRM) format for only $35.  I can’t decide if Universal is doing this to show how much they hate consumers, to show the market how “selling downloadable movies doesn’t work,” or if the executives in charge of this just have no clue how this works.  I’m pretty sure those are the only three choices, but I’m willing to entertain other options if my readers have other thoughts. Continue reading “Universal hates digital distribution (and customers)”

Wired – best accidental discoveries

The 10 greatest accidental discoveries, according to Wired magazine.

1. Viagra
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron.

4. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes – and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it. All hail sloppy lab work!

[tags]Accidental discoveries[/tags]

Surprisingly, 42 may indeed be the answer

(via Slashdot)

Very interesting article over at the Seed magazine web site.  It’s a great discussion of number theory, placement of primes, the relationship between heavy elements’ energy patterns and prime number locations, the Riemann Hypothesis.

There is an important sequence of numbers called “the moments of the Riemann zeta function.” Although we know abstractly how to define it, mathematicians have had great difficulty explicitly calculating the numbers in the sequence. We have known since the 1920s that the first two numbers are 1 and 2, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that mathematicians conjectured that the third number in the sequence may be 42—a figure greatly significant to those well-versed in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

It would also prove to be significant in confirming the connection between primes and quantum physics. Using the connection, Keating and Snaith not only explained why the answer to life, the universe and the third moment of the Riemann zeta function should be 42, but also provided a formula to predict all the numbers in the sequence. Prior to this breakthrough, the evidence for a connection between quantum physics and the primes was based solely on interesting statistical comparisons. But mathematicians are very suspicious of statistics. We like things to be exact. Keating and Snaith had used physics to make a very precise prediction that left no room for the power of statistics to see patterns where there are none.

But I have to admit, I’m not certain I believe that solving the Riemann Hypothesis will allow one to crack Internet encryption (bad reference to TV show involving math).

[tags]42, H^2G^2, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Riemann Hypothesis, 42[/tags]

Half-Life 2: Episode 1 delayed

OK, is anyone surprised?  I mean, we are talking about Valve, after all.  And speaking of Valve, has anyone seen Team Fortress 2 yet?   🙂

Half-Life 2: Episode One is now due out on May 31st according to Valve, although it’ll still launch simultaneously on Steam and at retail, priced $19.99.

Speaking to Game Informer at GDC last week, marketing director Doug Lombardi confirmed the slip – Valve had previously been targeting an April 24th launch.

[tags]Half-Life 2, HL2, Valve[/tags]

Pac-Man split-level TShirt

I’ve been watching the show “The IT Crowd” lately.  In the fourth episode, Roy is wearing a shirt with the final, split-screen level from Pac-Man on it.  I’ve been trying to track down one by searching around on the Internet, but I can’t find one.  Can anyone help me track down this shirt?  I don’t even have a photo of the shirt, but anyone familiar with Pac-Man should know what the shirt is like.

[tags]Pac-Man[/tags]

Bell South hates Katrina victims

(via The Consumerist)

Well, that title may be a bit strong, but I like how it sounds.  After the Katrina disaster, the city of New Orleans instituted a free Wi-Fi service to help get businesses and individuals going again on the telecommunication side of a recovery.  Lobbyists from Bell South are working to get this service shut down because it violates a law restricting the government from competing with telecommunication companies.  Legally speaking, the company is correct, and the city is exceeding its legal allowed offering.  On the other hand, this is no way to build goodwill with customers.  Not that goodwill matters when you have a government assured monopoly.  But it still stinks.

One of the surprising acts of compassion and competency that came out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was that the city began providing a free WiFi service to business owners and residents whose phone service had been wiped out. The 512 kbps service allowed many business owners to begin struggling back to their feet and corporate sponsors like Yahoo and Google were in discussion to expand the service in the coming months.

Well, no longer. Telecommunication lobbyists from Bell South have put the lean on New Orleans, demanding that the free service be outlawed. Apparently, it violates a law that prevents the public sector from competing with the telecommunication sector. By law, then, cities can provide no more than a 128 kbps service to citizens.

Again – legally, Bell South wins.  Morally, meh, it stinks.  Why don’t these massive companies do more to help people insetad of screwing consumers whenever given the chance?  Oh, that’s right – they don’t have to.  The monopolies never do.

[tags]New Orleans, Free Wi-Fi[/tags]

Make your heart stop sooner

(via Tingilinde)

If you think you’ve found all the bad-for-you eats you can stand, be sure to check out this new taste treat highlighted at candyaddict.com – Chocolate-covered pork rinds. If your previous snack session included chocolate and pork rinds, but just didn’t seem complete, now you can mix the two together.

My life is now complete since I have found chocolate-covered pork rinds! Seriously, who comes up with these ideas? They come in milk, dark, and white chocolate, but the most amazing thing about it is that the chocolate is sugar-free. If you are going to dip pork rinds in chocolate, why not go all out? Why make it sugar-free?

If you just have to try these out, you can get them at Amazon.com. Search for “pork rinds” to find them. They’re listed in the gourmet foods section.

[tags]pork rinds[/tags]

Download or stream Lessig’s “Free Culture”

You can now get the audiobook version of Lawrence Lessig’s “Free Culture” at lessig.org.  Unlike so many other providers of downloadable content, this is not protected by draconian DRM restrictions.  Get the streaming version or download the complete audiobook and put it on your preferred MP3 player.

[tags]Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture, Free audiobook[/tags]