Disqus - Latest Comments for Knownhuman

Re: Big Data Demands Big Context

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:14:32 -0000

What's the basis for declaring Windows 8 a failure? As that's the thesis which predicates the entire article, I think the readers deserve more than an unsupported declaration.

Re: Reasons to Gloat If Your Credit Score Is High

P. Bradley Robb — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 08:50:37 -0000

I don't know if you can really draw strong correlations with a sample size as specific and small as that.

Re: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Book Trailer Released

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:45:22 -0000

I think I'd be more interested in George Lucas doing Shakespeare

Re: Why isn't "Snowden" trending on Twitter?

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 12:58:03 -0000

I believe that logic is based on around change in popularity. Twitter's algo purportedly measures spikes in traffic along with age. So, if Snowden had already trended or only increased popularity by say, less than one standard deviation, it probably wouldn't make the cut if other popular items had jumped multiple standard deviations.

Re: There Are Only Two Types of Venture-Backed Companies

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:16:03 -0000

That's a pretty fun analogy that can be applied to business outside of the startup world. Nice job.

Also, for the record, FBC.

Re: Amtrak station called key to Lancaster's revival

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:38:12 -0000

Danny, you ragging on Richmond's career and education choices? Having lived in both, there's a lot of similarities, with the primary differences being: Lancaster is dominated by a hospital while the primary industries in Richmond are finance and tech.

Also, we have better restaurants.

Re: What Do Readers Owe Authors?

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:40:20 -0000

Wait, are you proposing that authors should build actual, honest relationships with their readers?

HERESY!

Re: Which Social Network Makes Your Customers Buy?

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:34:16 -0000

Niche-communities are a fantastic means for creating real customers for brands. The trick, as you so rightly pointed out, is being an actual contributing member for the community.

The smaller the community, the less people will tolerate a shill.

Re: Reselling Digital Goods is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:24:56 -0000

Glad to see you're the arbiter of flames.

Re: Reselling Digital Goods is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:15:53 -0000

Your dissent into ad hominem attacks has, perhaps blinded you to my actual argument.

1) Computers are copying machines that largely cannot exist with the confines of modern copyright law

2) The government argues, explicitly, that you do not actually have the right to make backup copies. You can argue fair use all you want, and I completely agree with you. But, the government itself says that backups are no bueno.

3) Functional copy section 117 paragraph A section 1
Archival section 117 paragraph A section 2

Re: Reselling Digital Goods is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:58:17 -0000

See, you're leaning on an interpretation of section 117 that has not been held up by either the courts of the government. See, 117 allows for copying under two very specific cases: functioning of a specific program and archival purposes only.

Functional can be argued for dragging, though there have been arguments made that the buffering process used in the defrag creates two simultaneous copies which puts the user in the wrong.

The archival one is where things get funny. See, according to section 117 and associated case law, archival does not mean a backup or additional copy in lay terms, but rather in the library sense, cold storage. This is why the government clearly states that "You are not permitted under section 117 to make a backup copy of [...] copyrighted works that have been downloaded (e.g., music, films)."

So, having a file on your computer and on your ipod at the same time violates 117 as it is two functional copies. To get around this, you don't typically buy an MP3, you lease the right to reproduce up to 7 times (in the case of iTunes.)

Re: Reselling Digital Goods is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:20:29 -0000

Huh, glad to see you're putting your law degree to some amazing use. You might want to check out section 117 of the US Copyright Act. If you're not in the mood to google that, here's the relevant interpretation:

You are not permitted under section 117 to make a backup copy of other material on a computer's hard drive, such as other copyrighted works that have been downloaded (e.g., music, films).

And, if you want to keep reading, here's the link: http://www.copyright.gov/he...

Re: Reselling Digital Goods is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:51:59 -0000

Man, wait until this judge figures out how computers work. By his logic, defragging a drive is copyright infringement. Not to mention how we "download" music in the first place.

Re: How to Use Temptation to Strengthen Your Willpower

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:39:12 -0000

I think you've missed the mark a bit on the Hedonic Treadmill.

The Hedonic Treadmill revolves around adjusting to stimuli to either create a new normal or return to the previous normal, but the relative difference between the two is largely undetectable to the observer.

The Hedonic Treadmill is how you "get used" to living next to an airport or subway, but visitors are unnerved by it. It's also how, after driving a really nice car, it becomes just a car to you, but your friend's used Toyota is so much worse.

In harnessing the Hedonic Treadmill, to improve work function, the key could be determining a system of retrospection that's tied to something quantifiable and qualitative. This shows the qualitative differences in change - talking less, performing better - while showing that the quantitative differences - the state of normal - seeming the same.

To achieve this in my company, we have weekly retrospective meetings to discuss both the high and low points of the week in a group setting and frequently relate to previous "retros" and compare them.

Re: The Kirtsaeng ruling: What’s your opinion?

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:47:28 -0000

I haven't had a chance to do much but skim the review, but the potential ripple effects of setting a bad precedent made me very, very glad the court ruled in favor of first sale.

Now, hopefully this ruling puts to bed the nonsense introduced by Omega S.A. v Costco Wholesale Corp.

Re: Bombtune: The fallacy of escaping social networks

P. Bradley Robb — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:05:36 -0000

Meh. I left Facebook a few years ago and haven't looked back.

Re: Good cybersecurity means better privacy - opinion

P. Bradley Robb — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:36:40 -0000

Anyone who uses the cyber prefix is trying to scare you or sell you something. This article does not contradict that statement.

Re: DoJ drops charges against Aaron Swartz

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:17:42 -0000

This headline would have been so much awesomer last Thursday.

Re: Real or Fake Challenge: Kickstarter Edition

P. Bradley Robb — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:15:22 -0000

What a low visibility link.

In googling for the answers, all three of those actually got funded.

Re: How Much Should an eBook Cost?

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:26:18 -0000

Yup, but again, that's based on "liking" rather that data-driving pricing models that reflect the value system of the consumer. The plural of anecdote is not data.

Re: Ke$ha Is the Last Great Rock Star - Atlantic Mobile

P. Bradley Robb — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:21:02 -0000

Selection bias? Might want to throw "mainstream" into the title, leave Clear Channel and there's plenty of real rock still out there.

Re: How Much Should an eBook Cost?

P. Bradley Robb — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:03:02 -0000

Another funny conversation where "price" is tied to "value" as perceived by the seller, rather than the buyer. $5 for backlist items is untenable. And paying anything over $9 or so, when the product is a glorified text document, wrapped in DRM and littered with typos, is a slap in the face of the customer.

Re: The dangers of platform lock-in

P. Bradley Robb — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:45:51 -0000

This is one of the things that I hate most about my job - being a producer in a shop that does a lot of iOS work. A closed system that's forced to evolve, by definition, has to change. And that change requires both users and developers to adjust. On one hand, it means plenty of work. On the other, it also means plenty of work.

The logical conclusion seems to be a cloud-based solution. eBooks and webpages already share the same underlying markup. Next stop is a hosted-solution where users are granted access. That way, there's no waste of sending a user 3 files when they'll only use 1.

Re: Gamechangers: Two important announcements at TOC Frankfurt

P. Bradley Robb — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:55:47 -0000

Oh, not for the reverse engineering (that's legalish), it's DRM circumvention that will get BookShout into trouble. Even if both publishers and end users give permission, it's still illegal to circumvent DRM, even for otherwise legal acts. So, BookShout runs into a major issue in that it can only play DRM-free titles.

Granted, O'Reilly titles are naturally exempt for this.

Re: Gamechangers: Two important announcements at TOC Frankfurt

P. Bradley Robb — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:43:17 -0000

My prediction was off by about 6 months - http://www.fictionmatters.c... albeit, lacking the decentralized manner which would allow BookShout to survive DMCA anti-circumvention fussiness.