Well, that's how the commercial film industry works. You write a script, flog it to a producer (for a fee or a cut of profits, or both), the producer finds someone willing to put up the cost of production (executive producer/s and/or studio), cast and crew get paid, and the film gets made. THEN, those who paid for it hope to see a profit through screenings and DVD sales.

If you're a big enough star or an A-level DoP, you can negotiate for a cut of the profits, but if your job is 2nd unit camera assistant, you'll be paid at the union rate.

Copyright is one clause in your contract. Either you agree to sign away all future claims in exchange for being paid the weekly rate for your work (that would be all the "below the line" cast and crew), or your agent negotiates an insane "fee" for your work, and maybe includes a cut of profits.

Those who fund production want their money back, and more. It's worth it (to them) to do whatever's necessary to keep milking those cash cows, e.g. the mouse, for as long as they can. As always, it's the money that talks, not morals. I'd like to see copyright terms set to something reasonable, but what's reasonable when the mouse continues to bring in $BIGNUM every year? We're not going to see copyright reform until people vote in governments with enough spine to stand up to the money.

As for streaming radio, I pay ~USD$70 annually to Live365. I'd happily pay half that again IF the extra went 50/50 to the composers and performers.

Anyone got figures for their digital video camera business?

They're a popular choice for many filmmakers, from hobbyists to indies to professionals (but not this little black duck). They're good cameras, but I won't use them unless there's no other choice - I don't like Sony's ethics^W business practices.

The likes of Red, Canon, Blackmagic, and even GoPro have to be eating into Sony's revenue.

I've had a pretty good run with Toshibas over the last couple of years. Simple to setup, and when it reaches the desktop, delete the bloatware, install my suite of preferred anti-malware, browser, etc, and off to the customer it goes.

Toshiba warranty service has deteriorated a bit (re-install the OS for an un-detected DVD drive....really?), but Asus tech support here in Oz is TERRIBLE. I had a 27" screen that had a fault out of the box. My supplier told me I had to deal direct with Asus, because Asus support have to approve all returns (which is technically illegal here - there's a mandatory 14-day no-arguments return law - if it's faulty and within 14 days of purchase, it MUST be replaced, no questions asked). They made me sign up to their "support group" before I could lodge a fault, then it took over two weeks to get the return approved. Never buying Asus products again.

Hey, thanks! I'll get on to that right aaawwwwaaayyyyyyy zzzzzzzzzzz

Didn't the article state that it was email sent to jeb@jeb.org ?

Doesn't look like a government domain. Admittedly, he's a very public figure, but he took the step of establishing a non-government domain for these emails. Perhaps you should look at the privacy policy of jeb.org to establish whether publishing contact details is OK or not.

Junk!?!?!?

I mean, an emergency wrench for an Apollo mission? That thing would have magical powers x20, but only when wielded by an astronaut. Might be handy in the home toolbox, though.

Who modded this up? You need a reality check, stat.

I'm glad I live in semi-rural Australia, and know all the local cops if not by name, then at least on waving and nodding terms.

On the rare occasion I get pulled over, I say "gidday" and wait for him to say what's on his mind. If it's a random breath test, I follow instructions, and then I'm on my way. If I've been speeding, I 'fess up, and say "You got me, mate, I wasn't paying attention" - that once got me out of a '30km/h over the limit' ticket and fine with a warning. And our cops are armed with pistols and tasers.

Seriously, make an effort to be nice to your local policemen/women - the return on investment can be considerable.

I'd mod you up if I had points today.

I miss using my Mamiya RB67. I really couldn't be bothered with processing and scanning film anymore, although I can "upgrade" to a genuine Mamiya/Leaf digital back - for about AUD $32K - yes, thirty-two thousand dollars.

Motorola Razr HD here. Bought unlocked from Telstra in Australia. They STILL haven't rolled out KitKat for the Razr HD. Been promising it since April last year, and Motorola have announced a rollout for Lollipop.

Seriously, don't buy Telstra. Yes, I know about CM and will be investigating that very soon.

Please tell me, what content - that you have viewed in both 2K and 4K, whether movies, TV or games - have you completely been unable to enjoy in 2K?

I can enjoy, be entertained, and appreciate a well-made movie in standard definition, let alone 2K.

Hint - there's so much more to a movie/TV show/computer game than the level of detail you can see on the screen. Things like acting, direction, plot/story/script, audio/music, and so on. It's possible to make a gripping, suspenseful film with a VHS camera. Detail can be a distraction in some cases, and it speaks of the skill of the director and art department to not let the detail distract from the story. Imagine "Alien" without the dark, hard-to-see corridors, hmmm?

Yep - and you can automate it (partially) with Cryptoprevent from http://www.foolishit.com/

Not connected with them other than as a satisfied user.

I used to use AVG until it became bloatware, then I tried Avira and it seemed to suffer stability problems, switched to Avast which was OK and didn't seem to slow things down, and then removed that when I realised how much FUD the antivirus industry uses to sell its products, and how piss-poor their products are at doing their job.

I've seen malware infections - from trivial all the way up to cryptolocker - manage to get past the "big 3" (norton/symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro), and AVG. The only products who seem to be stable and maintain a small-ish footprint are Eset and Kaspersky.

I leave Windows defender switched on, scan once every few months with free malwarebytes, keep Cryptoprevent updated, and anything else I can remove with Combofix - not that I've had anything in over 2 years, but Combofix is what I use to repair customers' machines, then I leave them with a copy of free malwarebytes, and Cryptoprevent.

The "climate", as you use the term, is a big problem, and it worried me when my kids started school. We chose to send them to a private primary school (neo-humanist), and get involved. I've been a classroom helper with specialised tutoring in IT and making/editing videos, helping out in the cafeteria, etc for 11 years now, and my youngest child has just finished there.

I took a big cut in annual income to be able to work the sort of hours that allowed my participation, but it's brought the benefits. My kids are fit & healthy - the cafeteria doesn't carry junk food, period - it's all freshly made, and although lunches from home are encouraged, they have to meet certain standards - no packs of crisps, no "muesli bars", no packaged sweets, no cup noodles, etc. The kids are allowed bare feet, allowed to climb trees, and swim in the creek at the school. The local public high school teachers that these kids end up with have consistently praised the amount self-reliance and maturity of kids from this school.

I'm also well-known to the teachers, staff & other parents (especially the others that are into participation), and that's a valuable reputation. I've never had problems with parents leaving their children here for sleepovers, and vice versa - I trust my children's friends' parents. The seventh-grade teacher (female) once left me alone in charge of the whole class for an hour while she went home to collect some materials she'd forgotten.

Get involved, people - even it you have to take a pay cut to do it. Change the climate, and start with yourself.

Crux is very useful for navigating at night. From wikipedia:

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross is frequently used for navigation in much the same way that the Pole Star is used in the Northern Hemisphere. Alpha and Gamma (known as Acrux and Gacrux respectively) are commonly used to mark south. Tracing a line from Gacrux to Acrux leads to a point close to the Southern Celestial Pole.[3] Alternatively, if a line is constructed perpendicularly between Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, the point where the above-mentioned line and this line intersect marks the Southern Celestial Pole. Another way to find south, strike line through Gacrux and Acrux, 3 1/2 times the distance between Gacrux and Acrux, directly below that point is south.