I could also add that In response to the growing concern over global warming, a number of tech companies have taken steps to burnish their “green” image. A lot of these efforts are mainly about generating press, but if they mean that the companies operate in a more efficient and less wasteful manner, there’s nothing wrong with it. This upcoming Sunday is Earth Day, so it’s a natural opportunity for companies to announce new initiatives. Dell, for one, has announced an expansion of its “Plant a Tree for Me” program, which gives customers the opportunity to add an extra $2 to their computer purchases, which will go to planting a tree. There’s just one problem: they’re expanding the program into Second Life. Yes, this Sunday, in honor of Earth Day, the company will hand out free trees inside the virtual world. Participants will even get to program the trees, dictating how fast they grow and what they look like. Of course, planting a tree inside Second Life does absolutely zilch for the environment, so for the company to try to connect the stunt with Earth Day seems pretty ludicrous. We’ve seen companies make some pretty ridiculous attempts to gain credibility by doing something in Second Life, but this one has to take the cake. I heard a rumour turkey Rescinds YouTube Ban Earlier in the week, a Turkish court ordered the country’s ISPs to block YouTube because users had uploaded videos insulting the country and its founder, which is against Turkish law. The order has now been lifted, but there seems to be some debate over what actually happened to the videos. The order to block the site came in spite of YouTube’s apparent offer to remove the video in question, though it would now appear it was removed by the user who uploaded it, but it’s still not clear. This whole incident was spawned by an ongoing video flame war between some Turks and Greeks about which country was more gay, and it’s pretty unlikely that it’s anywhere near over. The ridiculousness of the flame war, and the question over who actually removed the video, still cover the bigger issue: Turkey’s laws restricting free expression. And, just to prove the point that these sorts of blocks don’t really work, here’s a list of ways around the ban, should it happen again. This information might be a better choice what A Concept: Make It Enjoyable To Go To The Movie Theater For many years, plenty of folks have been trying to explain that it’s not “piracy” that’s a threat to the movie industry, but the fact that the movie-going experience sucks. The movie industry has always really provided a service, that of “entertaining people,” and that has nothing to do with copyrights. If people want to enjoy a night out, they are more than willing to pay for the experience. Of course, rather than make the experience better, many in the movie industry have instead latched onto the “piracy” excuse to actually make the movie-going experience that much worse. They don’t do a good job of policing troublemakers and they treat their customers like criminals to ward off this bogus “piracy” threat. In the end, that just makes it worse. If you know that you’re going to be forced to hand over your cell phone because it has a camera in it before you go to the movies, you’re less likely to bother. Luckily some theaters, mostly independent ones, have started figuring this out and worked to improve the movie going experience and actually provide positive incentives to get people to go out to theaters.
Alex Billington writes in to point out his own analysis of Mark Cuban’s attempt to make going to the movies an enjoyable experience again. Cuban’s turning the latest theaters in the Landmark theater chain he owns into places adults want to go. No noisy arcades filled with kids, but nice upscale bars and lounges. He’s also offering the ability to include food and snacks (higher end snacks) in the price of the ticket itself to avoid viewers feeling gouged when they see that they’re paying $6 for $0.10 worth of popcorn. Finally, he’s making the viewing experience even better — putting in more comfortable and unique seating, including couches and even bean bags. The idea is to make it more like the home theater that so many people now claim is a better experience — but doing so in a way that most people are unable to do with a home theater (bigger screen, better sound system, etc.). With so many examples of entrepreneurs making the movie experience better, why is it that the big studios and big movie chains still insist this is impossible?.Did you know that Theater means a building, room, or outdoor structure for the presentation of plays, films, or other dramatic performances. wow… this is such a great idea
Reuters - Microsoft Corp. said on
