The internet: parting fools from their money since... forever

PaulC and I had a conversation about some shadiness on the part of Zynga, the developer of Farmville. He sent me this article from techcrunch. Read it first or I don't care what you think.

Okay. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong, with the exception of the author of this article, who is an asshole. I have personally been fooled into spending money on several of these offers, and I can say with no doubt that every dollar I gave them was because I was stupid, not because I was tricked. Every offer (exactly like those on Farmville) said exactly how much the subscription or service would cost if I didn't cancel it within the trial period.

This guy did no research except to look at the links in the Farmville game client, which link to the actual offers, which ALL state clearly what will happen when you input your credit card information. He's inventing a conspiracy where none exists. If you're stupid enough to give the internet your credit card and/or phone number, you deserve to have your money taken away from you. I am right. I have no sympathy for people who claim to have been "scammed" because they are stupid. That being said, it has happened to me. I paid for a two-month subscription to Blockbuster and a three-month subscription to Stamp.com to get a free iPod. But I didn't get it. Did I cry about it? no. I said "well, that was stupid," and didn't do it again when they offered a free XBox.

This is nothing new. It's probably the oldest "scam" (I put "scam" in "quotes" because a friend of mine in high school actually did get a free xbox. Twice.) on the internet. This isn't going to be the end of the world that this fear-monger is predicting. It's not going to mutate or evolve into... anything. It's making oodles of money for a few people. If they get greedy and try to make more money off it, it won't work anymore. Just like that guy who was skimming a nickel a month from every account at some bank. Then he got greedy and started skimming a dime a month. Then people started asking questions and he got caught.

Again, I'm not saying anybody is doing anything wrong, except the fear-monger who wrote this article. I'm just saying I have no problem with somebody who's smart enough to separate a fool from his money, having been the fool on at least one occasion.

I get that it's "wrong" that Zynga takes money from "shady" advertising firms. But the bottom line is people give out their credit card info and phone numbers when they should know better, and when they are plainly told what will happen. Nobody gets mad at the guy who invented the pet rock. They think he's a genius because he thought of a way to get people to give him money and give them nothing in return.

Anybody reading this have leather seats in their car? How much extra did you pay for them? People don't like car dealers in general, but you don't get mad when you pay extra for leather seats, which do nothing useful and unless you're naked feel the same as cloth seats. If you are naked, they feel great. Until you shift in your seat the slightest bit. Then you get your skin ripped off. While it may be obvious how I feel from the tone of this post, I am not saying anybody (other than the asshole who wrote the above-linked article) is right or wrong. Just stupid. And while I won't say that Zynga is without blame, this article is an obvious and shameless smear attempt, behind which is almost no research and even less relevance.

Whenever I hear somebody complain about someone making money off other people's stupidity, I want to punch them in the boob. There are scams and there are scams. Lying to someone to got their money is a scam. Making the title of your advertisement make people want to give you money is called "marketing." I don't care what the link text was. If you don't read the website before submitting... No. If you click a link on a website and give them your credit card info, you are a retard and you deserve to have your money taken away from you for your own protection.

PS I just noticed that there is a later post explaining that Zynga has "admitted" that one third of their revenue comes from "lead gen and other offers." A third post says they have committed to cleaning up those offers. This is not an admission of guilt. It's a choice by Zynga to avoid a PR disaster. Just wanted to pre-empt that argument.

The etymology of piracy

This was the second half of my reply to PaulC’s comment on my previous Pirate Bay post, but I thought it was an interesting enough thought to warrant it’s own post instead.

Taking something that doesn't belong to you is called theft. Thieves can be sympathetic individuals with all kinds of potential motivation. They could be nice guys with no job and eight kids. Stealing bread makes me a thief, because I took your stuff.

Declaring the unjustness of the government and saying "we're not English anymore" is called rebellion (not revolution). A rebel can also be sympathetic, depending on his motivation. A rebellion can be started "because taxation without representation isn't fair" or because a bunch of guys who want to be the new aristocracy want to stir up the public to make it happen (hmmmmm...). Saying "I don't live by your rules anymore" makes me a rebel.

The dissemination of intellectual property without compensation to its originator is not called "theft." It's not called "rebellion." It's called "piracy." Pirate = bad. There's no ambiguity. Pirates are drunkards and rapists who take what they want and will probably kill you to get it. They are motivated by greed 100% of the time. Making a backup copy of a movie to which I have bought the right to view makes me a pirate. Removing the copy protection from a computer game so I don't have to swap CDs every ten minutes makes me a pirate.

So because I'm guilty of what ought to be considered a "white-collar" crime (but I'm not taking anyone's money, no one’s life is being ruined because of me, and I don't drive a Porsche), I'm the same as those guys who hi-jacked that boat a couple months ago. I guess that makes sense, since they killed a bunch of people and stole a bunch of stuff, and I... killed a lot of... time. And I stole... umm... nothing. And I hurt... nobody. But because the government is a slave to the MAFIAA (their real name), who wants me to shell out fifty bucks every time I scratch a disc, I'm a pirate. I guess I should feel lucky they're not calling me an "intellectual property rapist."

Steve Jobs’ Magical Time-Freezing Machine

This was a conversation from Facebook that I thought I could blog about, and it’s been far too long since I last blogged. Just so there’s no confusion, I’m not calling anyone stupid until they comment, even those of you who are mentioned in this post (and don’t read my blog anyway). So here we go.

My Dad asked me if Newegg sells Apple laptops (they don’t). So I looked at him like it was 1999 and said “Umm. Who cares?” Apparently, a friend of my sister wants to buy an Apple computer, to which my immediate response is always “you really don’t.”

So I sent of a Facebook message explaining exactly why. An Apple computer is different from a PC in that it has an Apple logo on it and costs twice as much. They use Intel CPUs (which are already over-priced), ATI graphics cards, and all other parts that are the same as you can get in a non-Apple PC for roughly half the price.

It used to be that Apple had better hardware, better software developers and more innovative software. In short, Apples were better computers and were priced as such. Now they’re the same computers with mildly different (and in no way better) software and they’re still priced as though they were better all-around.

The response she sent me said that her boyfriend had his eye on a particular machine and she’s sure he’s done his research and if Apples and iPods aren’t as good as their competitors, why are they still so popular?

Macs are popular because they're pretty. Just like ipods. Neither is any better than their competitors. They just look nicer (I guess). Neither of them are bad. They're just overpriced. When you buy an apple product, half of your purchase price goes to putting the Apple logo on it.

Just to be clear: there is nothing wrong with Apple. They just charge more than everybody else does for exactly the same thing because they can because people will pay it because apple = chic.

It's mostly because they used to be the rebel alliance to IBM's evil empire. But that was ten years ago. Ten years ago (five years ago, for that matter), Apple was better and cost more. They had more powerful hardware, better software developers and easier-to-use, more innovative, more powerful software.

None of that is true any longer. IBM is virtually non-existent in the realm of home computing, and Microsoft has come of age and really is not the evil empire they once were. Apple has become the establishment. When iPods first came out, they were pretty cool. By late-nineties standards, they’re still pretty cool. I have one device that I plug into my computer that links up with one application on my desktop and plays all my media. Ten years ago, that was more than anyone could ask for. Now, it’s exactly what I want to get away from. iTunes, while once the cutting edge of a consumer interface, now feels a lot like Big Brother.

In Apple’s defense, it’s not iTunes that changed (and to their great shame, neither has the iPod). It’s me. I don’t want to go to one website anymore to get all my music and movies. I want to get lossless audio from musicishere.com and rip my movies from my own DVDs. I don’t want DRM, I don’t want MP3’s, and I want to play my media wherever and whenever I want, not only on devices that Apple says are okay for me to use.

As for the iPod itself, aside from the ability to play videos, nothing has been added to its functionality since generation one. The only thing I see is cosmetic surgery. The current iPod classic sure does look nice. But for $250, does it do anything all of its predecessors didn’t? Not that I know of.

Now it's Google's turn to play Princess Leia to Apple's Darth Vader.

But enough history lesson. Bottom line: apple is popular because they retain the momentum of five years ago. There are enough people who still see Microsoft and IBM as the evil empire and will buy Apple just to spite them, and enough people who still think iPods and iPhones are competitive products. That momentum might carry them another five years, but I really doubt it. Then apple is over, unless they go back to their old mantra, "think different." When buying Apple meant thinking different and having something cool that not everybody else on the block even knew about, they were the best thing in the world. Now everybody has an iPod, and my PC eats your Mac with cheese and a nice chianti.

iPod = overpriced junk. It’s a poor-man’s music player that’s priced to include all the features it will never have (support for multiple lossless audio formats, an intuitive software interface and developer and community support, to name the biggies).

iPhone = Blackberry wannabe. Looks like a Blackberry. Tastes like a Blackberry. Priced like a Blackberry. No GPS (does the new one have GPS?), no developer support (thus, no developer community), no consumer-centric mentality, and no DIY anything. Nothing is free in the land of the iPhone. Okay. The SDK is free. But to use it, you have to be running an Intel-powered Mac with Safari. So even if I wanted to, I couldn’t develop for the iPhone.

Mac Computers = Dells with Mac OS. Just as an exercise, I went to store.apple.com and customized a MacPro. I then went to Newegg.com and built an identical machine (different monitor and different case), just to see what the price difference would be. When I say identical, I mean it. Same over-priced Intel CPU, same ATI video card. Of course with things like RAM, motherboard and hard drive, I just had to pick something that was the same thing with a different name on the box, since I don’t know what brands Apple uses. Here’s the breakdown:

MacPro

Configuration

• 1 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon CPU
• 6GB (3x2GB) RAM
• 1 Mac Pro RAID Card
• 2 1-TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s internal hard disks
• 1 ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB Video Card
• 1 18x SuperDrive DVD/CD burner
• 1 Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse (still with just one button)
• 1 Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) and User's Guide (with no numeric keypad)
• 1 24” “LED” monitor
• 1 Stand-alone USB numeric keypad (from Newegg)

MacPro Killer

Configuration

• Intel Core i7 920 “Nehalem” 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPU
• 6GB (3-channel DIY kit) DDR3 1066 Crucial RAM
• 2 Western Digital Caviar Black 1-TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 7200-rpm internal hard disks
• 1 Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB Video Card
• 1 Sony Optiarc Black 20x DVD+R, etc.
• 1 Logitech RX650 Black 3-button USB cordless optical 1000-dpi mouse
• 1 Sony Vaio Silver 104-key USB wireless slim keyboard
• 1 NEC Black 24” LCD monitor
• 1 Foxconn FlamingBlade Intel LGA 1366 ATX Motherboard
• 1 Apevia X-Alien Black Steel ATX full tower case with 500-watt power supply
• 1 Copy Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition w/ free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate

Before I reveal unto ye the total costliness, let me explain the discrepencies. Obviously I didn’t have to buy a case, motherboard or OS for the MacPro, since those are all part of the package. I chose what I did for those parts on the MacPro Killer because they were the perfect fit for the components that match the MacPro internals. In order to get a wireless keyboard with the MacPro, you have to lose the numeric keypad. Since such a thing is unheard of in the real world (and since I couldn’t buy a keyboard like that for the PC), I tacked on a USB keypad from Newegg. For the non-Apple PC, I bought the most expensive version of Windows Vista. I bought a Sapphire video card because ATI doesn’t make their own cards anymore and Sapphire is a brand I trust. I couldn’t find a DVD burner with specs as poor as the one offered on the MacPro, so I bought basically the lowest-end one I could get. I did not buy a RAID card for the MPK because the motherboard has on-board RAID capability. Honestly, I had never heard of a RAID card before today. I don’t know why you would ever buy a board that won’t RAID all by itself.

All told, the Apple MacPro in this configuration would cost a whopping $4927.99. The non-Apple PC, with the exact same specs (or as near as I can make them), weighs in at a belt-tightening $1777.88. That’s roughly one third of the MacPro’s cost.

Just for fun, I also priced out a top-of-the-line, eats the entire interwebs for a light snack, don’t bother getting out of my way because I’ve already crapped you out PC. Bottom line, including monitor, mouse, keyboard, headset and Windows (all what I consider to be the best): $2251.56. That’s inarguably the absolute, most powerful single-CPU computer I could possibly own tomorrow (meaning literally the day after today). It has roughly 150% of the power of the MacPro, for less than 50% of the price. It’s also about what I paid for my top-of-the-line PC that I built about ten years ago and only just got rid of last month.

Okay. Flame on!!

What recession?

I know I’ll get some comments on this, and that’s exactly what I’m hoping for.

What the hell is everybody complaining about? Okay. I can see what the filthy rich have to complain about. They’ve lost money on the stock market, and are still ridiculously wealthy. I can see what big corporations like Wal-Mart and the Home Depot have to complain about. They’ve raised their prices almost not at all, have eliminated almost no jobs, and have lost almost no business (that from my own personal experiences at the depot).

Gas prices seem to be fairly stable, my electric bill has only gone down since I moved out of Troy two (three?) years ago, and I still don’t pay taxes. Okay, this year I’ll be paying taxes, but that’s not the point.

I have two questions here.

1. What the hell is everybody going off the wall about? A couple of companies that had no sense of how to operate in a free market went under. Somebody call the waaaaaa-mbulance. Yeah. I know that cost people jobs, but GM ond… (I’ve already forgotten the other one, that’s how upsetting it is)… didn’t have a lot of factories in this country (correct me if I’m wrong), and the two largest employers in the world (Wal-Mart and Home Depot) are still hugely US-centered, and are HIRING! The Home Depot is desperate for people! The amount of money they’re throwing at their employees, pretty much just for showing up, is extraordinary!

In three years of being officially classified as “poverty” (meaning I paid no income tax), I never once felt the “sting” of our “faltering economy.” In the past year, I’ve bought a 37” LCD television, a blu-ray player, a Nintendo Wii, and most recently, a PC that will eat yours for a light snack. And I saw Star Trek in DLP four times. In short, I’m making “barely enough money to live on,” (a little over 30k between my wife and me) and I’m living like a king. What is everybody whining about?

2. Why don’t I pay any taxes? I’m not saying I want to give somebody my money, but it’s really not fair, is it? It’s not fair that some people give up to thirty-five percent of their paycheck to the federal government and I don’t give them anything. I think the illustrious Sam Seaborn says it best:

Henry, last fall, every time your boss got on the stump and said, "It's time for the rich to pay their fair share," I hid under a couch and changed my name. I left Gage Whitney making $400,000 a year. Which means I paid twenty-seven times the national average in income tax. I paid my fair share. And the fair share of twenty-six other people. And I'm happy to 'cause that's the only way it's gonna work. And it's in my best interest that everybody be able to go to schools and drive on roads. But I don't get twenty-seven votes on Election Day. The fire department doesn't come to my house twenty-seven times faster, and the water doesn't come out of my faucet twenty-seven times hotter. The top one percent of wage earners in this country pay for twenty-two percent of this country. Let's not call them names while they're doing it is all I'm saying.

That was nine years ago and numbers change, but the point is still valid. I dunno. MY first question was the important one. It just led to this one.

So I honestly want to know what’s going on and why I should care. Somebody please comment. And yes, I’ve been reading the news, and I know (roughly) what things are happening on a large scale. I guess my larger concern is “umm… So?”