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The porn industry is in a bind

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Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#161

Post by anonbanker »

mindcrime wrote: post #16

Forget about the porn for a minute gang... this is, to me, the key insight in the story: VR and its cousin, “augmented reality,” are controlled by the big corporations. Facebook owns the Oculus Rift. Microsoft built the Hololens. Google does Google Glass. These will treat porn at least like Android treats porn—or maybe even like Glass treated porn when O’Connell unveiled his app. In other words, they won’t allow it t…

Im definitely not the norm, but I have a modded every piece of equipment I own. if it's a black box, I don't buy it. Very vew people are looking to cash in on this niche, though.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#162

Post by WildUtah »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #157
WildUtah wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Senator Fritz Hollings (D-Disney) in 2001 introduced the SSSCA, the bill to take away all the pansy freedom of speech provisions of the DMCA and really lock down computers for the legitimate big business that should control programming. It was Hollings's 35th year as the junior senator from South Carolina and -- as chairman of the Commerce Committee -- he had really decided to crack down. The SSSCA as introduced woul…

> that business so famously unashamed that its own mascot is a rodent That's a line I'll remember!

It's an old Carl Hiaasen line.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#163

Post by vacri »

stonogo wrote: post #152
vacri wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange, I remember going to linux conferences, of which the OLPC talks were heavily attended; competitions to win one were heavily patronised; colleagues going for the G1G1 program. There was a ton of interest in this low-cost, open-source laptop project. I remember the "for the children" argument for why they were partnering with Microsoft. The FLOSS community was pretty vocal in asking please don't do this, but OL…

And I remember being personally involved in the OLPC project, which was not driven by linux conferences. The G1G1 program was a massive albatross that generated almost nothing but bad PR. Nobody 'partnered with' Microsoft. The project never lacked developers (until it began to run aground due to the mismanagement). I not only read the complaints, I made many of them myself. I disparaged noise on blogs as noise on blo…

http://blog.laptop.org/2011/09/01/every-xo-runs-linux/

Uruguay. This blog article clearly states that every OLPC runs linux, and also clearly states that some shipped with windows. Not many - they went to pilot programs and they weren't taken up largely because of that non-performance you hand-wave away - but they were shipped.

> Nobody 'partnered with' Microsoft.

Getting super-cheap licenses and Microsoft to customise their OS for your hardware is 'partnering with' Microsoft.

> the point is that FLOSS was never the point

I knew this, as did a lot of the FLOSS advocates. The point was that MS was still seen as the Evil Empire at the time. The geeks were interested both in the low-cost laptop and the idea of spreading FLOSS instead of MS's stranglehold. And they were naturally excited about OLPC's strong promises. And when OLPC went back on their promises... as I say above, why bother continuing to work on the machine? What other promises will they break?

While you characterise the FLOSS argument by the more frothy fringe's statements of betrayal, what I saw was more "what's the point?". What's the point of doing work we believe in if they're not going to stick to their statements? Especially for the people who were far more interested in the machine than the kids - the concern that if OLPC switched to MS, hardware might be used that wasn't supported by linux.

> Any 'loud promises' you felt betrayed by are merely further examples of the wildly terrible expectations mismanagement perpetrated by the leadership.

What a strange argument. You chide me for having a particular opinion, and then state the same thing that I'm arguing. You should be a spin doctor.

By the way, I was a Windows guy then, working in Windows support until 2009. I wasn't a FLOSS advocate, though I am now. Colleagues were into FLOSS, and I went along to conferences to hang out with them. I personally didn't feel betrayed, I just thought it was a stupid thing to do, and I noticed the buzz in both the tech and mainstream media evaporate with the FLOSS movement's disillusionment (which is a better description of the overall feeling than 'betrayal', I think).

However, it appears that we both agree that from the GP's original comment, it wasn't Apple or Google that crushed OLPC - OLPC crushed itself.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#164

Post by foobarian »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #86
klibertp wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I was a kid you could hardly get any legal software in Poland too True. Poland market was so small (and so far away, relatively - that was before fast Internet connections) that no one gave a "flying fuck" what was happening here. I remember buying pirated CDs in broad daylight at the mall circa '95, no one cared. A few years later I wanted to buy Visual C++ 6.0 (standard edition) and it took me half a year to…

Yeah. I was buying games on CDs in a particular market in my city around '97. Also VC++ 6.0 was my first real programming environment; I got it from a friend of my dad, I have no clue where he did find it, but it was what turned me into a programmer. I still have fond memories towards that environment. Actually, I was on the phone with Microsoft once, applying for internship. I was asked what is my favourite dev soft…

You guys had CDs? I was buying software on floppies by mail order from my friendly neighborhood pirate. My favorite thing about it was that whenever I ordered a program or two, he would include a bunch of other programs and games for free to fill the extra room on the floppies, since the floppies were the expensive part and it didn't cost him any extra. It was like getting a box of chocolates. Ah those were the days.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#165

Post by TeMPOraL »

foobarian wrote: post #164
TeMPOraL wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I was buying games on CDs in a particular market in my city around '97. Also VC++ 6.0 was my first real programming environment; I got it from a friend of my dad, I have no clue where he did find it, but it was what turned me into a programmer. I still have fond memories towards that environment. Actually, I was on the phone with Microsoft once, applying for internship. I was asked what is my favourite dev soft…

You guys had CDs? I was buying software on floppies by mail order from my friendly neighborhood pirate. My favorite thing about it was that whenever I ordered a program or two, he would include a bunch of other programs and games for free to fill the extra room on the floppies, since the floppies were the expensive part and it didn't cost him any extra. It was like getting a box of chocolates. Ah those were the days.

In late 90s/early 2000s (around 1997-2005) the standard practice was to go to a specific marketplace in the city to get games and software for $6 - $7 (around 25 PLN); this was a standard price for a CD of anything, the content didn't really matter. I was a kid at that time, so I don't remember how it was before. Maybe we had a floppy market as well; someone older would have to chime in.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#166

Post by TeMPOraL »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #135
imglorp wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the next big thing after VR will be sexbots, as in, per Philip K Dick, "your basic pleasure model." The pieces are almost all on the shelf and coming together. The hard part of course will be the software, with the motivation of making it an increasingly realistic companion. The Dark Matter series placed an interesting spin on it, where the "entertainment android", in addition to sex, is also specialized for…

I don't think so. Google Glass proved that tech, fashion and social cues are all deeply related. I think the same people who wore glass around in public and didn't get why people called them assholes would be the same people who buy sexbots and don't get why people call them perverts. A few dorks with calf-high white socks with birkenstocks would go nuts for them, and most of the rest of the world would look on with…

> I don't think so. Google Glass proved that tech, fashion and social cues are all deeply related.

That's very true.

> I think the same people who wore glass around in public and didn't get why people called them assholes would be the same people who buy sexbots and don't get why people call them perverts. A few dorks with calf-high white socks with birkenstocks would go nuts for them, and most of the rest of the world would look on with a mixture of disdain, amusement and repulsion.

It's interesting how this polarizes people. Because you see, I consider everyone who called Google glass wearer 'glasshole' to be a total dick. I understand the reason for their hate and I think they're stupid and they should get over themselves and their jealousy and fear of technology. It doesn't warrant hostile behaviour to another human being.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#167

Post by kragen »

cm2187 wrote: post #85
kragen wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple was usually pretty bad (though remember, the Apple I and Apple ][ were demonstrated at Homebrew before Apple even existed as a company), but in my experience, Google is a whole different level of omerta . Don't get me wrong, there are great things about both Apple and Google, but I think the secrecy thing is super corrosive. (I guess I should confess that my objectivity can probably be called into question here…

Didn't Apple want to force all softwares to be signed by them to run on MacOS at one point?

If they haven't gotten there yet, they will soon.

Re: The porn industry is in a bind

#168

Post by mahranch »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #160
mahranch wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it also means people here have access to those designs as well as tools and expertise to iterate on them, tweak them and repurpose them. I don't see how that's relevant. If they're designed elsewhere, then who is going to be tweaking and re-purposing? The Chinese slave labor? Anyone who matters will be back in their home country, doing the work there. Anyone overseeing manufacturing operations in China literall…

Oh this is very relevant. You need to see things that are happening here in Shenzhen. Western companies may bankroll some interesting designs, but they are not innovative wrt. applying technology to life. Not compared to "the Chinese slave labor". And honestly, who "matters" is a matter of a point of view. Big tech companies try to lock you in to maximize their profits out of devices they sell. Meanwhile in Shenzhen,…

> Meanwhile in Shenzhen, nobody gives a fuck and you can get any permutation of electronics you can imagine for fraction of the western price, and it's often user-servicable.

And this is exactly why China is on the road to nowhere. With a lack of IP protection, blatant IP theft and rampant piracy, nobody (big businesses) will invest the time and money into China. In fact, those that have, have pulled out (see: Microsoft, Google, etc). It's why despite having over a billion people, nobody really seriously considers China a potential client.

And yet, despite having over a billion citizens, their innovation and technological breakthroughs are non-existent. They are simply not a technological innovative country. Nearly every article you find on google will back this up. Just do a quick google search. Again, see the link I included above.

> Check out the links at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10397138; you'll see where the innovation really happens.

I'm sorry, but the data and reality shows otherwise. You're not going to find anyone saying "innovation happens in China". Quite the opposite in fact. The only way they've been keeping up with the rest of the world has been through theft and buying the technology from those who created it.

And that's the problem. Since they're so used to stealing and buying their technology, they don't have a foundation in which to create their own. That's what China hasn't grasped yet -- the process of creating new technology and being innovative (the discovery) is itself just as important as the end result because it's a foundation that allows you to move forward onto the next breakthrough. China doesn't have that. And they're getting left further and further behind.

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