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rmassie

50 karma · joined June 27, 2008

Educational Technologist from Orlando, Florida
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rmassie··on Battle.net authentication misconceptions
It was one day. Get over it. The game has worked very well since.
rmassie··on Space Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship
Can anyone tell me why lobbying is inherently bad?
rmassie··on Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas
The thing about replacing e-mail is that is isn't just a todo list, for many people it's just a receipt box - the thing I keep all my notifications that I bought stuff from amazon. For others, it's still the primary means of business communication.

My work e-mail is largely about communications, with a todo element to it and unfortunately some file storage too. My "home" e-mail is completely different. It's where I get my monthly statements for banks and investments and where my notifications go. When replacing e-mail you would need to service all these components of what e-mail is.

The thing that originally made e-mail so important was it's identity factor. That seems to have withered away as other services have replaced some components of what e-mail was for.

I would argue that e-mail needs to not be replaced, just reclaimed. My e-mail client (web or otherwise) should know that an e-mail in this case is actually just a twitter DM notification and be smart about how it presents that to me. It should know that something from Bank of America is probably something I want to keep, but something else from Bank of America is just marketing junk.

I haven't seen anything that is smart enough to do that on it's own. I don't want to have to deal with creating filters - it should just know. I would totally switch from gmail if this were out there.

rmassie··on Final design of VLC 2.0 for Mac
I agree in part, but is it too hard to prevent the entire player from crashing when it encounters bad data? I'd much prefer a frown-face icon like chrome for a crashed plug-in to a crash of the entire player.

VLC is easily my #1 crasher on OSX.

rmassie··on Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?
It says no.
rmassie··on Techmeme redesign
There is something wrong with it. I can't really describe what though. I think the best designed news site out there right now is The Verge, but I'm sure there are other examples of what is right.
rmassie··on The White House's Response to SOPA
I posted this in the comments on the FastCompany article, but it applies here too.

"the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders"

New legal tools aren't needed in the US. If you're going to stop international piracy, you need to encourage other countries to pass DMCA style laws, not anything more draconian like 3-strikes laws. The DMCA has allowed innovation in technology to happen while still providing a method for take-down that results in a judge seeing it if it is contested.

I understand they're trying to find middle ground, but there really is no middle ground to be had. I also contest the idea that it's actually harming jobs. During the economic downturn the media industries have been doing just fine, much better than the rest of the economy. Combating piracy with SOPA and PIPA style laws will not result in an increase in revenue and will almost certainly result in a decrease. It shows a lack of understanding on the part of the White House.

rmassie··on Remain Diligent: SOPA and PIPA Must Be Squashed, Not Changed
The White House today responded to the two petitions related to SOPA and PIPA.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/combating-o...

"the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders"

New legal tools aren't needed in the US. If you're going to stop international piracy, you need to encourage other countries to pass DMCA style laws, not anything more draconian like 3-strikes laws. The DMCA has allowed innovation in technology to happen while still providing a method for take-down that results in a judge seeing it if it is contested.

I understand they're trying to find middle ground, but there really is no middle ground to be had. I also contest the idea that it's actually harming jobs. During the economic downturn the media industries have been doing just fine, much better than the rest of the economy. Combating piracy with SOPA and PIPA style laws will not result in an increase in revenue and will almost certainly result in a decrease. It shows a lack of understanding on the part of the White House.

rmassie··on Evernote: Company of the Year
I would gladly pay four times the amount I pay now for their service. It's one of those things that has integrated itself so much into my life that I don't know what I'd replace it with if I ever had to.
rmassie··on Parents of overweight children don't know their children are overweight
I see so frequently that when a child is overweight, their parents are overweight as well. I wonder what their perception of their own weight is.
rmassie··on Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It’s Worse than Ever
Based on market cap Google is about four times the size of News Corp.
rmassie··on Are you a programmer with chronic headaches? If so please read
I had headaches usually about three or so days per week. Sodas and tea were my sources of caffeine. One day I decided to quit. I had three days of headache and a week of jaw soreness (another symptom of withdrawal). Since then I have been mostly headache free now. I missed chai tea, but I found a decaf mix the other day so I'm set.
rmassie··on Windows 8 Developer Preview is Live
It works on it, but it doesn't seem to span both monitors. You have to choose one or the other. It's a bit disappointing.