Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Many Factors Leading to Decline (Score 1) 1029

There are a lot of factors why the cinemas and the film makers are having a hard time. First is the experience in the theater itself:
  • The movies used to be a reasonably affordable night out for the family. It no longer is. High ticket prices and even higher snack prices easily drive a night out for a family of 4 to $60 - $80 or more. For a movie? Less expensive matinees at least get into the realm of reasonableness.
  • The experience inside the theater is usually less than pleasant. The move starts 20 minutes after they say it will to bombard you with add. Many folks, all of which think they are the center of the universe, talk or text on their phones during the movie, ruining the experience. Again, matinees help since there are usually fewer people, but still.

Second is the home entertainment experience.

  • It's more and more common place for people to have large, flat screens in their house. It's not a cinematic experience, but it's close enough that it outweighs the aggravation of the theater.
  • It used to take a year or more for movies to finally hit the movie channels and then to DVD. Now they're available in a few months on the movie channels or NetFlix or other provider. Heck, you can reserve movies on NetFlix while they're still in the theater. And you KNOW that summer blockbuster (or stinker) will be readily available in time for your Holiday shopping. You wait, at most, a few months before you can see anyway.

What has evaporated is the incentive to actually see it in the theater. The experience.

Comment Re:Bad parenting (Score 1) 283

Not necessarily "bad" parenting, but certainly lazy parenting. It is completely the parent's responsibility to monitor what their children are doing. Blaming Apple for your kids running up your credit card is like blaming Glock when you shoot someone. It's YOUR responsibility. I have young child who has an iPod Touch and we set up an account for him with no credit card attached to it and only we know the password. If he wants to purchase anything he has to come to us, he pays us with his allowance and we purchase it for him. This serves several purposes:
  • 1) It allows us to monitor what he's playing/using and veto power if we don't think the content is appropriate.
  • 2) He learns the value of money, since he's spending his own.
  • 3) There's interaction between us regarding this device, and he asks plenty of questions.

Can Apple (or other software vendors) do a better job with parental controls, ease of use and understanding of this technology? Of course, but it'll never be perfect and every kid and family is different. It's no different than any other product - if you don't understand it, feel it's dangerous or not appropriate, don't like the company's policies or history, etc. - you don't buy the product.

This "poor me, it's not MY fault" attitude just boils my blood.

YOU bought the product. YOU allow your kid to use it. It's YOUR responsibility.

It's not an electronic babysitter. It's a device that can be used for good or evil - there needs to be guidance.

Windows

Submission + - Michael Dell: Windows 7 will make you love PCs (gigaom.com)

ruphus13 writes: In a recent talk at the Churchill Club, Michael Dell addressed several topics, including the fact that Windows 7 is poised to take advantage of the upgrade cycle. Dell has always been a strong MS OEM ally and it is now hoping to cash in again from the impending upgrades. From the post, "Dell made plain several times that he sees the installed base of technology as very old, and sees a coming “refresh cycle,” for which he has high hopes. "The latest generation of chips from Intel is strong, particularly Nehalem," he said, adding, "and Windows 7 is on its way." (The operating system arrives Oct. 22nd, although Microsoft's large-volume licensees are already getting it.) He pointed out that many business are running Windows XP, which is eight years old. "I've been using Windows 7 for a long time now," he said, "and if you get the latest processor technology and Office 2010 with it, you will love your PC again. It's a dramatic improvement""

Slashdot Top Deals

Almost anything derogatory you could say about today's software design would be accurate. -- K.E. Iverson

Working...