http://mikecs.net/prodigeek Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:36:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en …but movie companies certainly don’t see that. Paramount Pictures released its study of the five million IP addresses it tracked who downloaded camcorded copies of Star Trek.  Writing to the FCC, Paramount says: Just five years ago, one had to be computer literate and exceedingly patient to pirate movies. Today, literally ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/11/03/evidence-mounting-that-file-sharing-and-movies-can-live-happily-together/ While many countries continue to roll out faster and cheaper broadband, the U.S. remains locked in simply how to define broadband. For all our claims of technological superiority, our country is falling behind.  So how did Monticello, Minn, a town of less than 12,000, get some of the fastest and ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/10/28/how-monticello-minn-got-fast-and-cheap-internet-before-most-of-the-us/ CDs are dying, but the music industry is growing. Newspapers are dying, but journalism is thriving. DVD sales are dropping, but movie attendance is rising. Yet for all this, article after article says the music, news, and movie industry is dead or dying. These industries are only dying if you classify ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/10/21/one-business-dying-does-not-end-an-industry/ A paper from New York University researchers analyzes the methods used by the content industry to annoy and stop file-sharing on BitTorrent networks.  They found the practices of MediaDefender and other organizations presented no more than a nuisance to downloaders despite costing the content industry millions of dollars. Prithula Dhungel, Di ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/10/16/researchers-verify-you-can%e2%80%99t-stop-file-sharing/ Ars Technica’s Nate Anderson has written an excellent history of how the content industry has fought against pretty much every technological advancement over the past 100 years for fear it would end creative expression forever. As we know this isn’t true. Rather, technology helps increase the market for these creative ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/10/13/fighting-technology-a-history-of-futility/ Musicians in the U.K. have been staking out positions for and against a proposed 3-strikes law where after 3-strikes, file-sharers of copyrighted material would be banned from the internet. Lily Allen (a personal favorite of mine) launched a blog in support of the 3-strikes law, but resulted more in a ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/09/30/how-lily-allen-showed-copyright-affects-more-than-just-artists/ Today I continue my feature on universities, crediting them as a key part of the United States’ economic future. But that future will likely look different from the present. As we are seeing the price of information plummeting for news organizations, information from universities is seeing a similar albeit slower disruption ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/09/28/universities-part-2/ All the manufacturing jobs leave the U.S. for China, India, South America, and eventually Africa, the U.S. will face more economic competition for both products and minds. To remain and be a knowledge leader throughout the next century, the U.S. has one massive industry that cannot be easily copied – ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/09/24/unversities-greatest-us-resource-undergoing-radical-shift-%e2%80%93-part-1/ Hank Williams, author of the blog Why Does Everything Suck, has a cynical view of the recent economic crash claiming that it has more to do with technology making people and their jobs obsolete. But the numbers, and some history, show this to be completely untrue. Williams writes: The problem is that ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/09/21/technology-doesn%e2%80%99t-make-people-obsolete-it-changes-what-we-do/ I began working at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers a few months ago (hence my sparse blogging) and have watched basic economics at work. Two or more people bid against each other, offering more and more money until no one is willing to spend more. In traditional commerce, the goal is not ... http://mikecs.net/prodigeek/2009/09/18/what-auctions-have-taught-me-about-infinite-goods-and-the-price-of-free/