Free video website Hulu plans to soon begin charging customers and is looking to expand its content to consumer devices like the Xbox and iPad, according to two sources, as the site's media owners experiment with platforms beyond an ad-supported TV model.
Those sources and another with knowledge of the matter said that Hulu, the website for TV viewing owned by News Corp, General Electric's NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co, was developing a subscription service to be rolled out on multiple devices in the next month or two. It was not clear if that service would be offered before Hulu is available on devices.
One of those devices is expected to be Microsoft Corp's Xbox, which also features Netflix Inc's movie streaming service, one of the sources said on Tuesday. Another one of the sources said Hulu was also working to offer its service on Apple Inc's iPad.
Gradeschool and Highschool for me always required a Librarian to scan the book and then input your name. However, our Librarians knew every student by first and last name. College for me has a photo identification card that needs to be shown (with a magnetic stripe) and the books are linked to whoever is on the photo (you must match the photo).
I dislike the idea of using fingerprints. The government should NOT maintain this information. I can fully understand someones approach to this and why they want to use this, but as this gains popularity, it will become far easier for the governments to say, Hey, lets have a universal id system using fingerprints. Oh, you'll need the fingerprint to check out books, identify yourself for guns, for paying at the gas station, for getting on the city bus, etc. Yes it can create a significant convenience for the consumer, but now the government can track your every move, every purchase. Today's kids are going to be used to handing over every bit of personal information, our government certainly isn't going to protect our rights at this point, we need to protect them ourselves. (How often is the government supposed to be overthrown? Every 200 years?) I realize this article is about a school, but it all starts somewhere, right?
The hardest part of climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom.