Posts by Clarke
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@Mark:
Here's a service I would gladly pay for. As a (sometime) audio geek, I find the quality of all MP3s simply appalling, and would happily pay a premium for music encoded with at least a lossless encoder, and preferably completely uncompressed.
In an ideal world, there would be a sliding scale of quality vs price - if I'm prepared to drop some serious money, I could get something that approximates the original digital multitrack in native or SACD or DVD-A format. Accompanied by the high-res cover art, album notes and all the rest.
Nobody offers this. And it seems the only reason non-one's making money off my audio geekery is because of the industry's paranoia about distribution of hi-res music. So at the moment I still buy the physical CDs, then copy them uncompressed to the music server.
And while I'm pie-in-the-sky dreaming, can we please see some recognition from the local industry that the pricing models will have to change - in an online world, trying to pretend that a US$7.99 new release magically becomes 30% more expensive when it arrives in NZ is simply a nonsense.
But for all that, thanks for being one of the few people in the industry that's interested in having these conversations.
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So here's my hack on this dopey piece of legislation.
I have a fibre connection at home (thanks, CityLink!) with a static IP address, and I maintain a mail and web server down in the garage. So I'm going to declare myself an ISP - as far as I can tell, there's nothing special I need to do in the legislation (correct me if I'm wrong) in order to qualify as an ISP. This should effectively give me safe harbour.
I'm then going to write a policy document - copy posted on the website, natch - that explains all copyright breach allegations will be "taken seriously and investigated with rigor", or something like that.
I'll then continue to work Teh Internets the same as usual.
If someone then complains about any of my downloads, I'll "seriously and rigorously" investigate the complaint, and publish a report which - in its short-form version - will largely say "blow me".
Should work.
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I have to say, I am completely bemused and a little bit saddened by the current mood.
What happened to the rational, reasonable Kiwi ethos of giving everyone a fair go, and watching out for your neighbour? Instead there's this shrill, selfish yapping from across the country, and it's racist and short-sighted and blind and ultimately self-defeating. I wish I could tell whether it's a genuine sea-change, or simply the echo-chambers of Your Views and Kiwiblog and talkback radio.
The thing I find most discouraging is that so many people seem blind to their own best interests, yet seem to lack the wit and the inspiration to think their way to a better future.
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Bolger really is the Stateman Moore wished he was.
.... and just about half the statesman Lange was.
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DPF:
Okay Clarke is obviously from the school that if you walk on water he accuses you of being unable to swim. I won't waste my time in future.
My point was solely that the maths provided by Key in the press release and reported in the media was some way short of the real monetary and time investments needed to build a full fibre network to 75% of households. It's a reasonable criticism - after all, Key presumably signed off the press release that was duly reported.
While I'm very supportive of public investment in high speed core networks, it's clear that there are some pretty big numbers involved. If National thinks the funding should come from a 30%-70% mix of public and private money, fine - it's a perfectly valid policy approach.
But implying that it's "only" $1.5 billion and that it can be completed by 2014 - and then expecting the entire text of the speech to be parsed to discover otherwise - smacks of spin. Which is a pity, as I think it's an important policy area and Key should be commended for raising it publicly.
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DPF:
NZI estimates total cost is $4 to $5 billion and Nats are saying $3 to $5 billion. So your criticisms of the costings are based on not having read the speech which makes this clear.
No, I didn't read 100% of the speech - but I did read 100% of the press release, which completely neglects to mention that the $1.5 billion is only a part-payment on a much larger project.
Perhaps it might have been more accurate for the Nats to put out a release headlined "Key Commits Insufficient Money To Get Broadband Job Done; Admits Headline Date Unlikely To Be Met".
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The numbers don't make any sense to me - there are 1.6 million households, so 75% is 1.2 million, scattered all over the country. This means there's $1250 per household to make the connection - and the World Bank reckons US$750 - US$1500 per connection. So Key's costs are at the low end of the spectrum. Not encouraging.
As well, 1.2 million households by 2014 means 1100 per working day for the five years starting in 2009. I'm pretty sure this is well beyond the capabilities of the current incumbents. And I didn't hear Key announcing any new fibre installation vocational training initiatives ....
So I reckon the numbers look pretty flaky.
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While serious crimes are gratefully still rather rare, they do happen. And if one of them did take place in your neighborhood, I bet you'd be taking a lot more attention to it than petrol prices.
Well, I'm prepared to feel the fear and drive to the gas station anyway.
The stats point to falling serious crime rates and rising petrol prices. One of those - the crime - might affect me. The other - petrol prices - does affect me. And on that basis, do I want a PM whose response to the real issues in the country seems to be "Oooh, look over there! Scary monsters under the bed in Manurewa!"
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I'd also like to offer a little advice I got in high school English -- engage with the text on the page, not what you think the author should have written.
OK, fair cop. However it doesn't undermine the key point (pun intended) that his speech didn't exactly deal with the strategic issues of the day.
What's more relevant? The economic and climate change issues that will affect every New Zealander in the next 12 months? Or the antisocial behaviour of 1,000 juvenile thugs? I didn't notice any drive-by shootings in my neighbourhood this morning, but I did pay attention to the petrol price at the gas station.
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I thought Key's performance was exceptionally ordinary. Let's see ... we have our #2 trading partner heading for the biggest recession in a generation, oil prices climbed 50% last year, our currency is gaining strength and pressuring exporters, food prices are on the rise, climate change is happening all around us, and interest rates are the highest they've been in years. Against this background, Key spends all his time talking about ..... taggers?!
That wasn't the State of the Nation speech, it was the State of Manurewa speech. He should have been standing for Sir Barry Curtis's old job, not Helen Clark's.