Scumbag Lifesavers

by Matt | Mar 2, 2013 | Aggravation

Scumbag Lifesavers. Come on!!!

Always On

by Matt | Feb 6, 2013 | Aggravation

I’m becoming increasingly aggravated by the tactics used by both the entertainment and telecom industries to pigeon hole the internet into both a necessity and, at the same time, “luxury”. It can’t be both. It’s either a phone line, or it’s a Rolls Royce.

Case in point. This week, in response to the impending announcement of the PS4 in two weeks, rumors are circulating about the next Xbox as well. While its being touted for it’s increased performance, a switch to BluRay and larger memory cache, the new Xbox is alleged to require an always on internet connection. There will be nothing to do “off line” anymore. The console will need to be connected and signed into XBL, which may or maynot be included with the console (my money is on ‘not’) just to log into the machine. Games will be sold as downloads or as one-time-use install disks with activation codes. Single player games, and campaign modes in multiplayer games will still require you to be connected, not just signed in. Before, the “sign in” process was local to the machine you were on. Now it’s rumored to be internet only. The implications of which are that you’d be “signed out” and the game would either pause or save/exit and be locally cached until the connection resumes.

I can’t possibly imagine how this is going to benefit gamers. In fact, I’ve personally chosen not to buy any games, PC or console, that are either activated on a single machine only, or that require constant internet connections to function. I didn’t purchase Diablo 3 for exactly this reason. Diablo, an traditionally single player dungeon crawling treasure hunt, paused and/or crashed completely in the event you were disconnected not from the internet, but just from Blizzards servers. On the same token, I’m not buying the new SimCity for the same reason. You can’t honestly tell me I need to be connected to build a goddamn city!

So, if the machine needs to be “always on”, and you lose/disconnect/discontinue internet service/move/change services, the games you BOUGHT are unplayable, completely and totally, until a new connection is established? What exactly did I buy? The privilege of playing temporarily? No, the law would actually disagree with this one. Since a game is a “thing” and you’re purchasing it with the expectation that it will work, the law actually says it’s required to do so. Not only in certain circumstances either. Google “reasonable expectation” under “contract law, and, also see “First Sale Doctrine” in regards to “ownership rights” . Common law states that a customer has the right to expect that the goods or services they’re purchasing will work. Any EULA you read or sign will NEVER mention this, but those common tenets supersede all those quasi-legal agreements in court. The main reason companies keep using them is because, quite frankly, they have more lawyers than you do. It would be a bitch to fight, and prove, and would cost you considerable time and money, and they know that.

But, this isn’t about the games, this is about the internet.

As we, the people, let more and more companies get away with this “always on” bullshit, the strain on internet connections becomes more and more apparent. What’s worse is that American broadband continues to escalate in price while speeds remain flat. A good portion of the country is without reliable broadband in general. So, to the child of a farmer in very rural Idaho, who’s parents saved all year for the new Xbox for him, but who don’t have the money for a pricy internet connection… yeah, guess who just bought a $400 brick? The kicker is that for years the telecom industry has asked for billions of dollar to improve the internet infrastructure across the country, and while speeds have generally increased over the last decade, the majority of the money was used to improve backbones and datacenters (not that that’s a bad thing). People looking for a boost to the “end of the street” speeds in their own neighborhoods are still waiting.

I blame the FCC mostly. In 2002 the FCC declared broadband to be an “information technology” and not a “telecommunication technology”. Meaning, the internet, in general, was more like a service (like AOL) than it was like a phone line, or (and here’s the kicker) a way to communicate. Phone companies have to compete for your business even though the lines are the same: aka a utility. Internet providers don’t. Here you have two choices, cable TV providers sending internet traffic over cable lines, or phone companies, sending traffic over old voice lines. (Sure, there are fiber connections out there, and various other things, but we’re talking in general terms) If it was classified as a utility, like power or phone, the companies that own the infrastructure would be required, by law, to resell that access on the wholesale market. Meaning independent internet providers could flourish and compete.

To make matters worse, we’re falling behind. This year, in South Korea, people will have access to Internet speeds that are roughly 200x faster than our standard broadband AND for roughly $27 USD. Arguments could be made that countries like that are “smaller” and easier to network, but population density would bring it’s own problems, like network congestion, yet they seem to be able to overcome these easily. Think it’s only small Asian countries? Finland made it a legal right of the people to have a broadband connection, three years ago in 2010!!! They expect to increase the speed of it to 15mb, per citizen, by 2015.

So, the media companies have convinced us that the internet is a necessity, that it needs to be on, that it needs to be a part of our lives. The service providers however, convince us that it’s “really expensive” and “really hard” to get everyone a highspeed connection. If only they had more time, if only they had more money.

We’re quickly approaching the tipping point. The average price for broadband in the US is $40. My own personal connection is $60. If costs continue to rise, and we have limited choices (and in some parts of the country, no choices) for providers, there’s nothing stopping the cost and the speed from falling right over the edge. $120 a month for basic service? Don’t think it could happen? Hmmm. How much do you pay for TV at the moment? How many cable providers do you have in your area? Yeah. I thought so. It’s coming. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

Still alive

by Matt | Jan 3, 2013 | Aggravation

I’ve just come down with this years flu. What an awesome trend. Two years running. Good times, good times…

Private Video

by Matt | Oct 25, 2012 | Aggravation

I got a good laugh out of this this morning. I had THREE emails in my inbox telling me that my video, a bunch of clips of my old gaming team playing, contained “content” from Warner Music, EMI Music, and IODA. The punchline: it’s a private video. Always has been.

So, just remember kids, when you’re enjoying your life, having fun with your friends and you happen to be listening to music, you’re breaking the law. Even if you do it in private! Because, clearly, faceless corporations have a copyright claim on your private things too.

Dear WMG, EMI and IODA,

GET FUCKING BENT.

Sincerely,

Me.

In your Face…book

by Matt | Oct 19, 2012 | Aggravation

Dear every major brand, product, company, website, celebrity, news organization and publication,

Please, I beg of you, stop using Facebook. Also, please stop assuming everyone is on Facebook in the first place. I’m not on Facebook. My friends are constantly amazed by that fact. They say, “but aren’t you a web guy?” and they’re correct. I simply can’t support the policies, systems and clear invasions of privacy (edit: for advertising purposes) that Facebook entails. You, however, you major brands of the world, have so embraced the desperation to be a part of people’s lives that you’ve forgone the opportunities to connect to your customers on your own terms. You’re in a walled garden and you’ve assumed everyone has accepted an invitation to the party.

Major motion pictures screening exclusive trailers only for their “facebook likers”. My local news broadcast, wanting “my” reaction to their top stories, not on their own website, but on their Facebook page. ESPN radio hosts, telling me to visit their Facebook page instead of ESPN.com. Hundreds of thousands of websites using “Login via Facebook” options as the ONLY option to leave a comment on their site. If I hear the phrase “please visit our Facebook page” one more time, I’m literally going to scream.

If you had told any marketing director 10 years ago that they would be ignoring their own brand’s websites and directing people to facebook.com/whatever, they would have laughed you right out of the boardroom. What’s changed? Are your web developers so inept that they can’t handle posting relevant information as needed? Have they not been trained to maximize your sites for search engine efficiency. Do they not work really hard to create often stunning and unique experiences for your users? What is it then?

It’s the millions of users isn’t it? You have a captive audience. You don’t have to “heard the sheep” to your website, you can get in their faces (pun intended) without leaving Facebook. They can be your “friends” and you can promote the number of “likes” your worthless content gets. Guess what it’s getting you? Nothing. Show me the data that shows that Facebook has significantly increased your brand power. People still buy Nike, still visit Disneyland, still drink Coke and still watch their local sports teams in roughly the same exact percentages they did before Facebook. Facebook has done nothing to help you reach fans you didn’t already have. The only thing it’s done is put their URL first, and yours second. You think Facebook is helping you? Really? Are you getting a cut of the massive amount of ad revenue generated by your pages? No. I didn’t think so.

So, please, stop using Facebook. If you make Facebook the only login option, the only information source and the only interaction you’re having with your client base, you’re diminishing your brand and pushing people out of a walled garden that isn’t even yours. You’re just renting the garden for a while. I’ve lived my life just fine without seeing the latest “exclusive” movie trailer, or by talking to real people, in person, about the election, or about my local sports team. You can too. Be strong. Dump the book, and build your own brand.