Soapbox

In the US cable systems are required by law to reserve a certain number of channels for so-called public-access and community programs. Think crazy old cat lady ranting and raving, or cronies of local politicians, usually the left-wing fringe, pushing whatever bizarre agenda they have, whether it is nimbyism, conspiracy theories or advocacy of positions so extreme they don’t find other outlets. I passed by the offices of one of San Francisco’s public access channels on Market Street, and they certainly seem quite posh.

Reusing those channels for Internet access would serve the ostensible purpose of those programs, public participation, far better than giving a bunch of lunatics a non-interactive, one-to-many broadcast soapbox.

Even cardinal virtues can become vices when pushed to extremes. Justice untempered with mercy becomes draconian and oppressive. Courage without justice leads to the likes of Otto Skorzeny. Temperance without humility leads to self-righteousness.

It’s called Adobe Flash 10.

According to this article in IEEE Spectrum, SMS revenue alone dwarfs the entire music, film and game “industries” combined. Just another example of how Big Content occupies a disproportionate place on the public policy stage and needs to be cut down to size.

When you design remote controls, make them rubberized. The extra revenue you make from selling replacements (when the hard brittle plastic kind inevitably break) does not come close to compensating for the loss of goodwill and the sheer inventory management costs of keeping all those back models in stock.