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It’s FREE!!

One of the problems I found in the Free model was that even though you claim something is free, a lot of times there are hidden costs, so in reality, it’s not.  What a way to lore someone into something, by telling them that it’s free and then charge their credit card.  As I was watching TV, a commercial came on that reminded me of this model.  It was some watch for senior citizens that is basically a GPS so they can find you when you get lost and it can call out I guess to some type of emergency service if something goes wrong.  In the commercial, it says if you are 62 years of age or older, then the watch is free BUT you have to pay a little over a dollar a day for it (the service).  So basically, it’s free but it’s not.  I’d much rather someone be upfront with me and say, “look, you need to pay,” versus someone telling me it’s free and then throwing in a bunch of extra fees.

–Shannon

The Sixth Sense: It’s actually here!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/19/microsoft.skinput/index.html

Seriously, everybody should go read this article…it literally talks about a working prototype Microsoft has developed of “Skinput,” a way to use your hand and arm so it basically becomes an iPhone.  It actually looks EXACTLY like the Sixth Sense video we watched in class; that’s what I thought it was at first.

But there is not one single mention of that video anywhere in this article.  And I have a hard time believing Microsoft could plead ignorance since their new prototype is so similar to the one in that video.  So now I’m wondering if Microsoft stole the idea from whoever it was at TED that came up with the Sixth Sense.

Oh, and just in case you forgot, here’s the original video for comparison:

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Anybody else thinking this might be blatant piracy?

Well, in any case, Dr. Syb was right–the Sixth Sense wasn’t just some crazy, mind-blowing idea that would never catch on.  Skinput was developed by one of today’s most powerful companies, and I can bet you any money they’re not planning to just produce it for a tech-savvy niche market.  It can’t do all the other things the Sixth Sense could do, like shoot pictures or recognize people’s faces, but let me put it this way…it can’t do those things YET.  I’m sure the people at Microsoft are already well on their way to Skinput 2.0.

-Tara-

Thoughts on Free

Is anything really free in this world? I can’t help but this the answer is no. Even if something is advertised as free there is always a catch. Sometimes it’s “free now pay later,’ while other times it’s ‘pay for this get that free.’
Also what about the idea of you get what you pay for? If I paid for nothing and got something can I be upset if that nothing sucks? Still we are a free society to a certian extent. For instance, at my internship last week I was looking up different medical journal sights becuase we will be publishing a new medical journal. I looked at what they costs, how easy it was to get a subscription and what the content was. Nine out of ten publications offered a free issue or subscription. The last one I looked at charge you $70 for a year! That’s insane! It didn’t look any different to me than anything else I had seen! What do they have that the other sites didn’t? Maybe I am ingnorant to the medical world and thier product is worth $70, but to the untrained eye that seems a little much.

Amber

I saw this article and thought of our class!

http://gawker.com/5493259/there-is-literally-no-way-to-make-money-selling-news?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29

Saw this on Gawker the other day, and thought it was pretty interesting. I know this is what we have been talking about all semester, but it seems that everyone else is talking about it too!
Adam