Tag: bullshit

Categories
Links

On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

[Christopher Buecheler][link] on Penny Arcade’s really sad job posting earlier this week:

>You don’t want that job. There is no upside to taking it. You’ll be worked like a dog and paid like shit while you’re doing it, while Khoo, Krahulik, and Holkins continue cashing their trade show checks.
>
>Robert Khoo is a brilliant businessman, and such businessmen excel by finding the sucker and exploiting him or her.
>
>Don’t be that sucker.

Never be that sucker.

[link]: http://cwbuecheler.tumblr.com/post/68163195864/on-penny-arcade-exploitation-and-the-myth-of-the “Christopher Buecheler — On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star”

Categories
Links

W3C green-lights adding DRM to the Web’s standards

[This is pretty close to the worst possible thing they could’ve done:][link]

>Here’s the bad news: the World Wide Web Consortium is going ahead with its plan to add DRM to HTML5, setting the stage for browsers that are designed to disobey their owners and to keep secrets from them so they can’t be forced to do as they’re told. Here’s the (much) worse news: the decision to go forward with the project of standardizing DRM for the Web came from Tim Berners-Lee himself, who seems to have bought into the lie that Hollywood will abandon the Web and move somewhere else (AOL?) if they don’t get to redesign the open Internet to suit their latest profit-maximization scheme.

[link]: http://boingboing.net/2013/10/02/w3c-green-lights-adding-drm-to.html “W3C green-lights adding DRM to the Web's standards, says it's OK for your browser to say "I can't let you do that, Dave" – Boing Boing”

Categories
Links

Amazon.com’s 1-Click Patent Confirmed Following Re-Exam

[This is just plain terrible news][link]. It’s the software equivalent of someone having a patent on “cash-only.” It’s a technology (and I hesitate to even call it a technology) so completely obvious that it makes the entire patent system look ridiculous by it’s inclusion.

This re-exam sticks us with another 4 years of the [legal][bnn] [strong-arming][appl] of companies and people who try to make internet shopping experiences better.

[link]: http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/03/amazons_1-click_patent_confirmed_following_re-exam.html “Amazon.com’s 1-Click patent confirmed following re-exam”
[bnn]: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-231798.html “Amazon.com sues Barnes and Noble over 1-click”
[appl]: http://news.cnet.com/Apple-licenses-Amazons-1-Click/2100-1017_3-245879.html “Apple Licenses Amazon.com’s 1-click patent”