Workers were happy to collaborate, and effectively work for free, in order to clear the market.

But then Panos got [...]]]> I recently read a post named Pay Enough…Or Don’t Pay At All that shows how no good deed will go unpunished. Panos was using slave labor for a research project and everyone was happy.

Workers were happy to collaborate, and effectively work for free, in order to clear the market.

But then Panos got a little chedder to spread around.

And then, I received some minimal funding for the project ($1,000 to be exact). At that point, I thought that it would be a nice gesture to actually start paying the workers…They were doing the work for free before; now they would not only help clean the market, but they would also get paid for this!

What a nice guy. The slave labor must have been soo happy.

The result…a big backslash: “You, fat cat academic, with all the grants, you want us to work for peanuts?”…I was shocked. What happened? I tried to remind the workers that they were doing the same task for free before, but it did not really make a difference. Actually, it made things worse.

Funny. I believe that if the slave labor had been paid the wage at the beginning they would have been happy. Isn’t it interesting that the timing of a reward can affect the reaction to the reward?

The article explains some of the strange decisions Hulu has been making recently (Hulu Plus, the addition of minutes of extra commercial interruptions, etc.). Apparently, there has been a lot of disagreement [...]]]> The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article today in the Technology section regarding Hulu’s evolution over the past few years.

The article explains some of the strange decisions Hulu has been making recently (Hulu Plus, the addition of minutes of extra commercial interruptions, etc.). Apparently, there has been a lot of disagreement between ABC/FOX (major stakeholders in Hulu) and management at the online video site. Management wants to keep content free (with limited advertisement financing) and expand selection, while the broadcasters see online tv as stealing ad revenue and limiting the saleability of DVD and other reselling opportunities such as syndication.

As a person that cut the cable cord well over a year ago we have been heavy consumers of Hulu, which supplements our Netflix subscription, ESPN3 access, and over-the air network television. We have more tv than we can watch without the $60+ monthly bill. With a dedicated computer hooked to our TV via an HDMI cord we have all the benefits of a TV along with all the bells and whistles that the internet adds. Hulu management seems to understand what consumers like my family want…but the networks hate providing the content for free online.

They better get with the program. All of their content is already available in HD for free online with no commercial via Bit Torrent. If the content isn’t available online…or has too many commercials, then many people will just opt for to circumvent the networks and download the content for free.

It was sad to read that:

…at the end of June. News Corp. named Chase Carey to be its new president and chief operating officer. Mr. Carey had a very different vision for Hulu, according to people familiar with the matter. The former head of satellite operator DirecTV, Mr. Carey was a big believer in the subscription-TV business. He worried that online video would train a generation of people to expect entertainment for free with advertising. He thought Hulu should be supported by both subscriptions and ads, those people said. The strategy conflicted with Hulu’s initial business model.

Mr. Casey will kill Hulu if he is able to turn Hulu into a paid-subscription based service WITH commercials. What kind of idiot does he think we are? People that watch TV content online are savvy enough to know that paying for commercials when a free, high quality, and commercial-free option is one click…ONE CLICK…away. People don’t want to steal content, but they will if there is no sane legal way to obtain what they want.

The prior head of Netflix, Mr. Kilar, understood how to grow the business and keep the online consumer happy:

While Mr. Kilar had talked about adding subscriptions since Hulu’s launch, people close to him say he thought the best way to build the business was to increase the audience by keeping much of the content free, supported by advertising.

As long as the advertisements are limited and reasonable people will sit through them. Lately that has not been the case at Hulu. Commercial breaks are nearing 2 minutes in length 3-4 time per 30 minute episode…This is more interruption then over the air. I can record Community on my computers DVR and fast forward through all of the commercials or be forced to watch almost 8 minutes of advertisement on Hulu. No thank you.

I hope sanity prevails at Hulu. If it doesn’t I wont lose any sleep…there is a million other ways to watch tv. The TV networks better study what happened to the record industry.

There’s a Facebook group for that…who knew?

Sooo annoying…the towels, not the Facebook group.

After adjusting the salaries they earn for the state & local [...]]]> After marveling at the potential salary differentials that results from where a professional athlete decides to play, I found the latest NFL Player salary data available as of today. The top 25 top earning NFL players are listed in the sheet below.

After adjusting the salaries they earn for the state & local tax paid in their based on their home teams location the top 25 NFL player salaries become the following…

It is interesting to note that the top four players are still the highest paid and ranked the same after the adjustment. Vernon Carey (Miami Dolphins) and Derrick Harvey (Jacksonville Jaguars) both move up 4 spots on the salary rankings when we account for state and local tax burdens. We would expect this knowing that there are no state or local taxes levied on either players salary (while playing at home…but that is another wacky issue). Terrell Suggs (Baltimore Ravens) drops the most spots after adjusting for taxes. Terrell moves from 11th to 15th on the 25 highest NFL player salary list. Now don’t get me wrong…these guys are still making tons of money…but Terrell Suggs is paying $1.4 million dollars in taxes he wouldn’t have to pay if played in Texas, Florida, Tennessee or Washington State! That is on top of the $5.3 million he already pays to the Feds in taxes (35% * his salary). If the guy took a million a year less to play in Seattle he would be almost half-a-million dollars a year better off than his current situation.

Below are the State and local taxes that the 25 top paid NFL players paid in 2009…remember this is on top of the 35% they all pay to the federal government (which is between $9 million and $4.5 million dollars for each man). After looking at these numbers it is pretty clear that these guys should be talking to their CPA whenever their agent brings them multiple offers to play in various places, because the highest salary may not result in the most $’s in his pocket.

Source of salaries
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