Siteseeing: Bits and Pieces

There are a few tech-related stories I’ve been wanting to share but have put on the back-burner lately.

Hulu model in flux

It appears that there is talk of changing Hulu’s current model. Instead of free-for-all streaming of content, they may be moving toward having viewers use their cable subscription credentials for authentication. In other words, Hulu will still be free if you have a cable subscription.

This is an obvious swipe at cord cutters, who immediately reference Hulu and Netflix when discussing how they get occasional television content. The idea is that by withholding Hulu from those who are not paying for cable, it will discourage future cord cutters and possibly persuade previous cord cutters to return to the fold. It’s not a bad plan in the long run. Without Hulu, how else are cord cutters going to watch Community? That’s what NBC Universal, owned by Comcast, is expecting.

Consoles may become a thing of the past

Check out this article on ITProPortal: http://www.itproportal.com/2012/03/13/the-consoles-are-dying-says-developer/

Looking at the current trend, it’s hard to disagree. The mainstream consumer is definitely less likely to pick up an Xbox 360, PS3, Wii or (3)DS for casual gaming if Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies can be downloaded onto a device that has functionality beyond gaming. Not to mention the fact that the games each cost less than the average console title and will likely be supported over the course of several device upgrades. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo cannot boast that sort of longevity for their $50+ games.

Watch out for the entertainment industry’s future protective acts in the name of copyright

The least honest, most selfish, things a person can say these days are that information “wants” to be free and that online piracy does more good than harm as it concerns copyrighted material. These are items we most definitely want to believe are true but exist just outside that realm of possibility. Information in and of itself has aims that are as clear and discernible as the aims rocks have, and the biggest contribution of online piracy is the option of bringing to awareness, through experience, a consumer’s actual opinion of a copyrighted item – which, mind you, does not necessarily translate into sales.

It is time to stop romanticizing our free love for free access to products and look at this more objectively. Consumers who pirate copyrighted goods are not bastions of a future free world. By and large they are parasites on the system of consumer goods. This is a horrible position to be in because these are entertainment goods, far from necessities. The drive to obtain these items is based on want. That want is actually created by the entertainment industry itself through their marketing departments.

It is no wonder that the entertainment industry is so upset by the state of digital piracy today. It’s no wonder that they created SOPA and PIPA to tighten the reigns on what can be posted online. Granted, their response to the situation is pretty horrible. Claiming that the bills were shot down as a result of a grassroots misinformation from the “copyleft” is a far cry from the reality – a strong reaction to a bill that gave an already powerful industry more control in the ill-defined but currently open world of the internet.

To an extent, though, the entertainment industry is right.

There’s money to be made from headphones now

iPod users drop tiny earbuds for better sounding headphones | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

The main point of this article is right here:

“Not only did we want to have the best sound, we wanted to have the best-looking earbud, and we want it to come in flavors,” [P. Diddy] said when his line came out.

Louis CK takes matters into his own hands

What Louis CK knows that most media companies don’t — Tech News and Analysis.

This is the opening salvo for which I’ve been waiting. The war on traditional media distribution has begun, and content creators finally have someone to prop up as an example of success. By the time this post is released, Louis CK has made over $500,000 on his stand up act. It must be noted that he offered it to consumers for $5 in a DRM-free digital format. He has claimed over $200,000 of that for himself. The rest goes to the website, production, etc. The whole venture was a gamble that paid off.

Ultraviolet concerns

UltraViolet was mentioned here well over a year ago before it seemingly became a non-entity. In all honesty, I thought the idea had been dropped due to all sorts of concerns that should have been raised by consumer groups. Color me surprised to find that the service has launched with the releases of The Green Lantern and Horrible Bosses to home media. An additional surprise is that they launched the service with two movies that were generally dismissed by critics and failed to find a strong audience. I’m sure this bodes well for the service.

To clarify, I was being completely sarcastic.

What hidden clauses reveal…

Ironically, I had to accept a TOS change on Photobucket in order to post this. Don't worry, I actually read it.

It all started back in April when AT&T stopped a consumer from joining a class-action lawsuit via a clause in their contract. Consumers aware of the incident wondered how long until other companies started following suit, and the answer was five months. Both Sony and Electronic Arts have recently changed their terms of service contracts to restrict users from joining class-action lawsuits. The only way to opt out is to send a letter specifically requesting to not waive your rights.

It is hard to believe that this practice is legal. Opting to waive away your rights is written into the contracts that people don’t read, and opting out of the clause requires snail mail that may or may not be received. Why not highlight the clause and let people electronically respond? Because the companies cannot feign ignorance and say, “It got lost in the mail.”

But what this practice really tells us, now that we know about it, is that these companies do not stand behind their products and their practices. If they did, they wouldn’t have to create legal loopholes to stop consumers from suing them. AT&T does not want people suing them for lying. Sony does not want people suing them for the their faulty network security. EA does not want people to capitalize on how horrible their products usually are.

And now we are all educated consumers. The first thing you need to do is contact the companies in question if you start using their products. Or, better yet, don’t use their products. To be honest, I know that my protests mean nothing because I will ultimately be forced to by a blu-ray player just to keep purchasing movies. Instead of getting a standalone player, I was going to get the PS3. Now that I know Sony does not stand behind its products, I’m not going to bother. How can I stand behind such a purchase when they can’t be bothered to stand behind their efforts?

Netflix reveals people’s first-world problems

Read Netflix’s blog post about the change in their service rates!

It has only been a day, but there is a large outcry over the fact that Netflix plans to introduce new subscriptions and change the rates of their old subscriptions. The biggest news is that people have the choice of having only one DVD out at a time for $8 or just stream online for $8. To combine the two plans is roughly $16 a month. That currently costs about $10 a month, so I guess there’s a little room for complaint.

Building Cult Status

I'm not giving anything away about next year's top pick...

The idea of a cult classic film or television series has been bothering me lately. If one really thinks about it, it’s more of a marketing term than anything else. According to Wikipedia, a cult film is one that ” that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans.” By that definition alone, almost any film (or piece of art) can technically acquire cult status so long as two people really like it. The article goes on to say that not everything goes on to acquire cult status for a multitude of reasons. To this I have to ask Why? Why are lesser known films that a handful of people like not automatically cult classics? The answer is recognition.