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99Frogs

Re:In Defense of Piracy on Sunday October 12, 2008 @01:47AM (#330135)
I think it may settle at illegal and socially acceptable, much like driving faster than the speed limit - punishable in rare cases. And people will feel about as much shame for having done it.

I'm not arguing that piracy should be legal, but that it should be just about as illegal as speeding.

Re:Ask YC: Your thoughts on this micropayments idea? on Saturday October 11, 2008 @10:25PM (#330071)
Idea would probably need to be sold to paypal, or even a credit card company, maybe integrated by google, firefox, or IE to gain mainstream use.

Incentives like "tip over $20/month and enjoy an add-free web experience" for a browser add-on.

People are too lazy to add money to an account in order to tip.

Re:In Defense of Piracy on Saturday October 11, 2008 @10:07PM (#330064)
The statistic that 95% of pirated music would not have been purchased, had piracy not been an option should be mentioned more often. The fact that someone violates copyright by pulling down the complete beach boys does not suggest that he would have purchased a $100 box set. The ease of piracy is the impetus. He would have happily gone without the product.
Re:Earthcomber Cries Patent Infringement Against Loopt on Friday October 03, 2008 @06:41PM (#323159)
“a system and method for locating and notifying a user of a person, place or thing having attributes matching the user’s stated preferences.”

This is an inevitability, not an innovation. They probably have a patent on holographic GPS, or HDTV-smartphone applications too...they just can't get them to work.

Re:"How to Get Rich": an anti-self-help book by Felix Dennis on Saturday August 23, 2008 @11:07AM (#284649)
There's a medium somewhere between "suck at everything" and $100m - he's one of those bombastic Brits like Christopher Hitchens. Good read, good content, but one man's experience. Buffett's got a better personality.

Is this the UK equivalent of Fitty Cent?

Re:The IRS Whistleblower Office? Did you all know about this? on Saturday August 23, 2008 @10:48AM (#284642)
Perhaps, as a recent college grad, I'm just not up with the times. On that note, does anyone have advice or book recommendations on how to file when you generate some income through the web, trading, poker etc. I'd like to report this stuff in the cheapest way possible. I was reading Robert Allen's "Multiple Streams of Income" (2001) - some of his advice seems as if it would get you into trouble.