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nickconfer commented on Hollywood Is Wrong: Netflix Is the Future of Film   futurism.com/netflix-futu... · Posted by u/simulate
dawnerd · 7 years ago
I’ll keep going to the theater until Netflix can stream disc quality video and audio.
nickconfer · 7 years ago
I doubt there will be enough users who feel the same way to make this a reason why theaters remain. The same argument has been made about sound quality, and overwhelmingly now the sound quality in streaming services has improved, but is no where near perfect.

4k streaming will be more of a norm, and that will likely be enough for most users.

nickconfer commented on Hollywood Is Wrong: Netflix Is the Future of Film   futurism.com/netflix-futu... · Posted by u/simulate
nickconfer · 7 years ago
The issue here is not is the theater still relevant, but can the economics continue to support theaters.

If the trends in ticket sales continue, it seems like theaters by and large could be a thing of the past. It really is not about whether a large group see it as still relevant, its can the theater business maintain a profitable industry if it loses x% of its patrons.

If ticket sales decline, profits shrink or losses grow. Changing the model another way might increase revenues for theaters (say a all-you-care-to-watch pass, which would likely increase food sales), but only if Holywood changes its revenue model as well. If they continue to charge theaters the same rates, that model likely wouldn't work well. Further, if Holywood had to lose revenue, would it be more interested to work with other streaming services first, or create a competing service, versus go to the theaters?

To me the MoviePass subscription company is almost a Trojan Horse. While they continue to burn and lose money, and grow subscribers, they are making their subscribers see their experience as the new norm. If they go out of business, these subscribers now have to chose if they want to pay for each pass again individually (very expensive in comparison). Likewise, if theaters and Hollywood make a deal, it cuts their own revenue significantly. Its almost a lose/lose situation.

All this is just some of whats hurting Hollywood and the theaters. You also have personal politics growing sharper, a Millennial generation that doesn't value these experiences as highly, a fundamental change in how reviews are looked at, no longer being as easily controlled (RottenTomatoes), 3D movies not holding peoples interest, etc..

Its a bumpy road that doesn't seem to be getting much smoother.

nickconfer commented on Hollywood Is Wrong: Netflix Is the Future of Film   futurism.com/netflix-futu... · Posted by u/simulate
gamblor956 · 7 years ago
I laughed pretty hard after reading this blog post.

Netflix movies have been on a horrific downhill trend in quality (though their documentaries have remained great). After the Adam Sandler flicks, Bright, The Cloverfield Parodox, and especially Mute, it's become clear that Netflix's film department has no fucking clue what they're doing. It's getting to the point where people I know who are avid Netflix bingers would literally rather rewatch a show or film they just saw than watch the latest Netflix film.

nickconfer · 7 years ago
This seems like a short-term problem. It would be like saying Netflix doesn't have content worth streaming, besides documentaries. A lot of people originally had this opinion of Netflix streaming services, and over time they fixed it.

Fixing movies is a bit more difficult. It requires in some cases larger and maintained budgets, and possibly even eventual increased subscriptions costs, or new revenue models to sustain it. However, all indications seem to indicate this is a path they are willing to go down.

In terms of quality material though, or gaining knowledge in how to improve it, or updating the interface to highlight bigger must watch films vs smaller films, I don't think this is an unsolvable problem for them.

nickconfer commented on Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing?    · Posted by u/isuckatcoding
nickconfer · 9 years ago
The simple answer is realize your more nervous than the person or group interviewing you. You may not be completely yourself as your nervous, but they are being themselves.

If they act aggitated, aggressive, nervous, rushed, etc... Thats most likely either their true personality or a real problem of their workplace.

When you ask to meet your coworkers are they nervous or friendly. Does their boss say anything nice about them... Etc...

nickconfer commented on The YouTube Contract for Indies   digitalmusicnews.com/perm... · Posted by u/AndrewDucker
nickconfer · 11 years ago
I hope this doesn't happen. With Google weakly policing illegal content, labels really do have a bad situation here.

They either take the deal Google has given them which is bad, or say no, and risk getting removed from YouTube and having their music uploaded by fans as lower quality streams. In other words, they take less money, or possibly lose everything while paying huge fees to send YouTube take down notices.

This is bad for the consumer in my opinion. I want indie musicians and labels to be able to make more money, not less. This further incentives musicians to look for another path of work.

Its disappointing that while technology is making it easier than ever to record and produce music, its becoming tougher and tougher to make a living off it.

nickconfer commented on Show HN: Turn an email to a web page   mailp.in/c8cN1BEb... · Posted by u/mailpin
mailpin · 11 years ago
If you put your link to public places like hacker news, then google will find it.

If you simply create a post page and keep it to yourself or share in a closed social network (e.g., IM, facebook private group ...) that cannot be indexed by google, then you are good.

That said, you decide to what degree you want to share your page.

nickconfer · 11 years ago
This is not correct. With Google now having Chrome and other tools, there are many ways for Google to find out a URL exists.

You may want to send a follow up email with a quick link for the user to add a noindex meta tag to the page, or even password protect it.

nickconfer commented on The next version of DuckDuckGo   next.duckduckgo.com... · Posted by u/vgnanand
yegg · 11 years ago
Hi all, thanks for checking it out and we're looking forward to your feedback! This next version of DuckDuckGo is in public beta. Here's the post about it I just made: https://duck.co/forum/thread/5726/duckduckgo-reimagined-and-...

There are still a lot known issues that we're still working through before we can make the transition. I'm sure this thread will uncover more :)

nickconfer · 11 years ago
Hi Yegg. Very interesting update. Two suggestions for places..

1) If I search "self storage columbia mo" I get place results but if I "search self storage 65203" I do not get place results. I noticed this does work for food using a more familiar zipcode like 90210.. but maybe still a little zip code work to be done.

2) What about when I search "thai" or "self storage" in general. DuckDuckGo is known for not tracking the user, but if I search something that with location information would most likely provide place results, shouldn't I be given some type of indicator that with just a zipcode or city name I could be given better results? That way you are educating new users while still providing them the results they need and the privacy DuckDuckGo is known for.

nickconfer commented on Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service   technichi.com/... · Posted by u/charlieirish
dman · 11 years ago
In your opinion what is the difference between leasing a computer and leasing a car?
nickconfer · 11 years ago
One business model has worked for a long time and the other has failed a lot. Haha, maybe that statement itself is not very correct though considering the car industries recent history.

I think you've started a very interesting discussion here with you're comment. The 10x cost reference was a good point, but computers not dropping value over time also seems more feasible.

nickconfer commented on Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service   technichi.com/... · Posted by u/charlieirish
jareds · 11 years ago
Am I the only one who thought April fools? I could actually see this being useful if I was considering buying a new Mac as a way to test out different models for an extended period of time assuming I could get a one month lease.
nickconfer · 11 years ago
ha, could be :)
nickconfer commented on Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service   technichi.com/... · Posted by u/charlieirish
nickconfer · 11 years ago
This seems like a difficult business to execute on.

1) You need capital to buy the machines to give out and slowly collect $60 on. Once the capital runs out, more is needed, but without getting capital quick enough, new customers have to be turned down, growth slows, and capital becomes even more difficult to acquire.

2) Since the tech and product can be easily purchased by anyone, there is room for other businesses to enter the space quickly and drive a pricing war. If large chains got involved they could offer a lower price and push local same day service.

3) Machines break. Without a hassle-free return / warranty, customers will likely get frustrated, refuse to pay, and make collections very difficult.

Not to say it can't be done, the leasing industry is fairly large, but I'd thought I'd share my thoughts on the problems that might arise. Reminds me of when they did PCs for 19.95 a month plus internet for a contract term.

u/nickconfer

KarmaCake day245February 21, 2011View Original