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BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#152
post #148
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "That's a lot of fancy words to say ‘we're doing this because it makes us more money’ lol" You say that as if they're using lots of words to obfuscate that fact, but the quote you pasted has them saying entirely directly " maximize the network Return on Investment ", which is just normal business terminology (and only one word more than your "it makes us more money"!) Obviously this has no impact on whether that's…

The utilization of an expanded lexicon, replete with polysyllabic and sesquipedalian terminology, engenders an ostensibly enhanced verisimilitude and an amplified capacity for rhetorical suasion in the articulation of one's propositional assertions.

"Return on investment" isn't using uncommon words to try to be hard to interpret, it's a standard business term in English-speaking countries.

The fact that it seemed like its intention was to obfuscate is just a sign that you're not familiar with basic business terminology, nothing more.

(And there's no shame in that, nobody knows the common phrases in every area of society, if you've never taken any business classes nor been involved in running a business there's no reason you should know it - but that doesn't mean people who use those words are trying to hide what they mean.)

Edit: and unsurprisingly it's therefore also frequently seen on HN:

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=return+on+investment

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=ROI

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#153
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in an area that is on the edge of coverage and has lots of hills. On ATSC 1.0, CBS is hard to pick up. Frequently unwatchable - which means unreliable for sports. I picked up an HDHomerun Flex 4K a few years ago. Basically the same week that ATSC 3.0 went live. For a few weeks it was glorious. I had no problem picking up CBS (it was broadcast from the same antenna as ATSC 1.0 - so it was the modulation that wa…

>During severe weather, we often lose Internet and power (which knocks out cable TV too). Requiring working internet to watch TV to monitor the progress of a tornado in your area seems stupid and dangerous. Just listen to radio?

Deaf?

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#154
post #152
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The utilization of an expanded lexicon, replete with polysyllabic and sesquipedalian terminology, engenders an ostensibly enhanced verisimilitude and an amplified capacity for rhetorical suasion in the articulation of one's propositional assertions.

"Return on investment" isn't using uncommon words to try to be hard to interpret, it's a standard business term in English-speaking countries. The fact that it seemed like its intention was to obfuscate is just a sign that you're not familiar with basic business terminology, nothing more. (And there's no shame in that, nobody knows the common phrases in every area of society, if you've never taken any business classe…

In case you're only accidentally missing the point and not just being an asshole: I would expect most people to have heard the term ROI before. I would not expect most people to understand the ways in which a bi-directional data path can turn into money. I definitely wouldn't expect most people to understand that it will involve compromising their privacy to spy on their viewing habits in a way that the last 100 years of broadcast television has no precedent for.

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#155
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is zero relation there. OP is falling about the spec incorporating usage monitoring. 5G was designed with a very public and explicit goal for IoT of allowing many more devices to connect than 4G could, and more conveniently. Nothing unexpected or user-harming, and nothing new as 4G was already used for IoT.

> Nothing unexpected or user-harming, and nothing new as 4G was already used for IoT. https://www.fastcompany.com/90314058/5g-means-youll-have-to-...

This is a clickbait article. More towers mean that existing triangulation somewhat more accurate, and "anyone with access" is the cellular service provider.

5G does not always result in more towers, it just supports closer towers for better performance.

"Anyone with access" to Google or Apple data also knows exactly where you are. "Anyone with access" to knows exactly where you are. "Anyone with access" to police databases know exactly where you drove. "Anyone with access" to VISA/Mastercard data knows exactly where you've shopped. "Anyone with access" to Find my data will know exactly where your phones, headphones, and other trackable items are at any point in time.

This isn't a complaint about 5G, but about cellular anonymity which has never existed.

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#156
post #154
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Return on investment" isn't using uncommon words to try to be hard to interpret, it's a standard business term in English-speaking countries. The fact that it seemed like its intention was to obfuscate is just a sign that you're not familiar with basic business terminology, nothing more. (And there's no shame in that, nobody knows the common phrases in every area of society, if you've never taken any business classe…

In case you're only accidentally missing the point and not just being an asshole: I would expect most people to have heard the term ROI before. I would not expect most people to understand the ways in which a bi-directional data path can turn into money. I definitely wouldn't expect most people to understand that it will involve compromising their privacy to spy on their viewing habits in a way that the last 100 year…

My apologies for failing to guess that when you complained they used too many fancy words to hide that the reason is to make more money, you actually weren't objecting to their use of a simple phrase acknowledging their goal of making more money and you were actually thinking about everything else they said rather than that.

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like anyone's gonna ask them. Networks will just label this as ${network name}'s HYPER NEXT GEN 10G TV EXPERIENCE (HNG TV), market the shit out of it, and offer free ESPN on it, tack on some Paramount HBO Supermax Plus for $0.99/year and throw in a half-decent Smart TV as a sign-on bonus, and adoption will skyrocket. TV networks in the US are a living proof that, with enough marketing spend and a pinch of co…

> TV networks in the US are a living proof that, with enough marketing spend and a pinch of confusion in the offer structure, you can sell people on anything. Half the time you can just offer sportsball access and people will switch. The cratering market values say otherwise. Few people under 40 even care about “TV”, and live sports distribution contracts (and the associated gambling) are the only thing holding it up…

I too used to think TV is dead and no one is paying for cable anymore, but every now and then I keep hearing it's still alive and well, and that's always in association with some big sportsball events; I can believe that their customers nowadays are almost entirely sports fans, but then the pull they have with that segment is still strong. In my mind, the term "ESPN" registers as "something to dangle in front of US customers to get them to buy some TV plan".

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#158
post #125
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you can't innovate, financialize.

But what even is the business case here? I get the idea of encrypting pay TV, but isn't the entire point of free broadcast TV that it's... free? It would be a different story if the DRM were available ubiquitously, e.g. in the way that arguably Widevine is for online streaming (but certainly not broadcast TV). Are rightholders that afraid of unauthorized out-of-market rebroadcasts that they'd rather obliterate their…

Yeah, if I squint and think back to the reasoning from previous generations of tech like this it’s that they don’t want people to be able to make bit-perfect recordings to save and share. By putting DRM on the broadcast stream they’re trying to make sure that it’s only usable as a one-time broadcast.

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#159
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think that the expectation is for the common option to be IP backhaul based on embedded LTE/5G modems. Having a separate communication scheme is probably more of a hedge for super rural areas that don't have LTE/5G or other IP coverage, especially as that is where broadcast TV will have more staying power.

This is my understanding as well. You can see the usage-reporting scheme and data structure here: https://www.atsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/A333-2024-04... “The fundamental record that captures consumption information is called a Consumption Data Unit (CDU). For a streaming A/V channel, each CDU identifies a reporting interval during which a service is accessed. Such a CDU includes the service identifier, the t…

> 5 – Alternate IP delivery (content component is delivered via intermediary)

Ok, this is entirely paranoid conspiracy theory rumblings at this point, but why does this sound like a way to catch unlicensed rebroadcasters?

Re: BPS is a GPS alternative that nobody's heard of

#160
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is US ATSC 3.0 so bad? It is nearly a decade since it was South Korea have it deployed and operational. The standard itself is no longer "next gen". Brazil's TV 3.0, also uses ATSC 3.0 is so much better in every aspect. Even if someone mandate it as requirement for TV sold next year all the tech inside are at least 10 years old ( HEVC ? ) . Not to mention the roll out time. Do Americans only watch Cables and Netf…

Broadcast TV modernisation is trapped between a load of enemies. To the north, competition from a huge installed base of last-gen technology, which is mostly good enough. To the south, streaming services, youtube and cable. These let people watch whenever they want (nobody has VCRs any more) and they've offered 4k for over a decade. To the east, the industry's dumb decision to build the 'next gen' technology atop a p…

Nitpick: ATSC 1.0 only offers broadcast in 720p or 1080i... of course with overscan and all, nobody actually notices the resolution of TV.
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