fruey - Slashdot User

Submission + - Overestimates of the cost of illegal downloading (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by

fruey

on Monday June 08, 2009 @04:51AM

fruey writes: "Ben Goldacre, well known for lambasting bad science, looks at figures from a recent article in Britain's most read daily newspaper, the Sun.
MORE than 7 million Brits use illegal downloading sites that cost the economy billions of pounds, government advisers said today. Researchers found more than a million people using a download site in ONE day and estimated that in a year they would use £120bn worth of material

If you make up grossly exaggerated figures — "that's £175 a week or £8,750 a year potentially not being spent by millions of people. Is this really lost revenue for the economy?" — how can you then be taken seriously about the impact of illegal downloading? And when will people just accept that you can't put a price on lost revenue for intangible goods?"

Submission + - The Long Tail isn't longer than it was before (newscientist.com)

Submitted by

fruey

on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @09:31AM

fruey writes: "Apparently the Long Tail theory does not hold up to statistical analysis of internet buying.
The tail is indeed getting longer, but isn't growing fat with choice. Instead it is getting both flatter and thinner, filled with ever more products that sell few or no copies.

You are still likely to download and to buy what your peers are into, because of the Harry Potter effect."

Submission + - Bobby Kennedy Not Killed by lone Shooter (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by

fruey

on Sunday February 24, 2008 @09:14AM

fruey writes: "Bobby Kennedy was shot on the 5th June, 1968 allegedly by a lone gunman called Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian refugee.

New evidence from audio recorded at the scene suggests two different acoustic profiles for the gunshots, more shots fired than the rounds in a full Iver Johnson Cadet 55 revolver that Sirhan carried, and other forensic evidence which just doesn't add up. JFK is not the only Kennedy to have died in less than convincing "official" circumstances."

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