Tivo takes a swing at Smugmug?

DJ-S1

I was suprised to read this.

Maybe Baldy should trademark the thumbs-up/thimbs-down for online photo ranking purposes.

Andy

DJ-S1 wrote:

I was suprised to read this.

Maybe Baldy should trademark the thumbs-up/thimbs-down for online photo ranking purposes.

Thanks for noticing, and the support!

marlinspike

I wish the trademark office hired better employees. Ever work in a government office? The worst of the worst tend to work in them.
I only wish that rather than say "well, it doesn't actually apply to us so bye bye" you guys would say "we're getting a team of the best lawyers in the country together, enjoy having your trademark declared invalid...oh and we've also hired lawyers to look into all of your business practices"

marlof

marlinspike wrote:

Ever work in a government office? The worst of the worst tend to work in them.

As a matter of fact, I still do, and I like both my job and my colleagues, thank you very much.

marlinspike

marlof wrote:

As a matter of fact, I still do, and I like both my job and my colleagues, thank you very much.

Was it a government office in DC? Obviously blanket statements don't apply to everyone, but I have worked in them as well, and for the most part it's a bunch of inefficient unmotivated people. Also, I've worked for staffing companies, people who can't go other places go to the government.

DoctorIt

I give Tivo two thumbs down.

bwg

DoctorIt wrote:

I give Tivo two thumbs down.

I my tivo

this makes me so very sad. I'm gonna go home and tell my daughter there will be no Dora today. Daddy needs to take a stand.

marlof

marlinspike wrote:

people who can't go other places go to the government.

I always thought they went to study law?

ChrisJ

bigwebguy wrote:

I my tivo

this makes me so very sad.

I agree... I've been a big TiVo fan since before I bought one of the first Series2s (I almost had a Series1). This is disappointing... hopefully this kind of practice isn't the first step to the end of the golden age. I'll know that time has come when my 30-second skip goes away. Then it's off to MythTV!

marlinspike

marlof wrote:

I always thought they went to study law?

But only after majoring in political science first Wait a second That's what I'm doing!:cry

Bodley

marlinspike wrote:

Was it a government office in DC? Obviously blanket statements don't apply to everyone, but I have worked in them as well, and for the most part it's a bunch of inefficient unmotivated people. Also, I've worked for staffing companies, people who can't go other places go to the government.

Your government statement is :bs Maybe you should have stepped up in your government job and helped the situation. I work in a "government" engineering office where the employees are both motivated and as efficient as practical. Some in-efficiencies are the nature of the beast - regs, public, and media are necessary but can restrict efficiency. There are many people within government that work hard and take great pride in there work just as there are some that don't. The private sector is littered with the same personalities.

Khaos

bigwebguy wrote:

I my tivo

this makes me so very sad. I'm gonna go home and tell my daughter there will be no Dora today. Daddy needs to take a stand.

I my Replay TV. The best until the entertainment industry sued them into oblivion for offering true commercial skip, networked units not only on a LAN but via internet. Yep, you were able to share shows between units over the web. You still can on the older models which I have. They also allow 3rd parties to work on programs like DVArchive that allows my PC to act like a Replay TV and I can transfer and store my shows on it. Thus I can utilize the cheap price for hard drives in a raid array to store many shows.

Damn entertainment industry.:boid

marlinspike

Bodley wrote:

Your government statement is :bs

Yeah, I guess so. I've just been to too many places and dealt with too many people who work in government and are all the same way. As far as stepping up, there isn't too much they let a 20 year old do.

thebigsky

I wonder who owns the trademark for 'the bird?' Honestly, what a load of bloody nonsense.

John Mueller

thebigsky wrote:

I wonder who owns the trademark for 'the bird?' Honestly, what a load of bloody nonsense.

I think Harry owns that:D

ginger_55

John Mueller wrote:

I think Harry owns that:D

,

ginger

TylerW

Maybe they should have gone after the Roman Empire, first.

ian408

Too bad

They must really be hurting for cash...

Malte

thebigsky wrote:

I wonder who owns the trademark for 'the bird?' Honestly, what a load of bloody nonsense.

From the comments on Gizmodo:

"I've just trademarked the "middle finger up" but I'll allow all of you to use it to describe your feelings towards TiVo."

Malte

Harryb

marlinspike wrote:

Was it a government office in DC? Obviously blanket statements don't apply to everyone, but I have worked in them as well, and for the most part it's a bunch of inefficient unmotivated people. Also, I've worked for staffing companies, people who can't go other places go to the government.

:pissed I worked for the federal government for 27 years and you don't have a clue. I found my co-workers to be much more motivated than my co-workers in the private sector.

Justiceiro

Bodley wrote:

Your government statement is :bs

:soapbox

The government is like the private sector, except without being pulled toward efficiency by the profitmotive, nor driven towards it by fear of punishment for incompetence, asininity, or carelessness. As far as I can tell, most of them are accountable to no one, except their union. I don't think the union exerts any real discipline on them either.

The government is just like the private sector, except there are no rewards, and no accountability.

Just 3 weeks ago, while attempting to secure an ADIT# for my wife's passport (so she could travel despite the fact that the government seems to have lost her greencard after recalling it, 5 months ago, to fix a typo that they made) a local representative of the INS in Newark told us that the standard procedure was to mail the passport to the office in Hosuton to get the ADIT#, but that was a bad idea, and here I am quoting her, because "If you mail your passport to the Houston [INS office] you will never see it again."

The only time I have ever had satisfactory service with government officials is when I got travel papers from the Embassy in Paris, which they charged me $165 for. So I don't really consider this a big favor, as I was under the impression that the US allowed its citizens and residents freedom of movement.


BTW, my wife's greencard is still somewhere in the ether.

So I would tread lightly when taking offense that people view the government as lazy and or incompetent. I am sure there are gov't workers who have integrity. I can't recall meeting any, however.

I exclude, of course, the armed forces. The darwinism of the armed forces is more efficient even than the private sector.

Bodley

Justiceiro wrote:

:soapbox

So I would tread lightly when taking offense that people view the government as lazy and or incompetent. I am sure there are gov't workers who have integrity. I can't recall meeting any, however.

Just curious - greencard - why does your wife need one if your a citizen? (not trying to be a SA - genuinely curious)

Tread lightly - no thank you. I take offense to people who have a bad experience and want to paint an entire sector with a broad brush.

Government is not a business nor can it be run like a business under our laws nor do you want it to be run like a business. Business is profit driven where government is service driven. In government it you find a better way or cheaper way it is generally blocked buy regulations. Who sets up these regulations? You do the voting public. Government is just a reflection of you. That is what makes this country great, the public decides how we operate via election day.

Peoples interaction with government is also different. Most times when people deal with government it is something they resent doing anyway - taxes, fines, developments, building etc... - so they enter with a bad attitude. I'm no different, I resent dealing with the government myself but I also understand it is a necessary evil.

When dealing with a business it's generally more fun because it is something they choose to do like buy a camera or car.

I dare say it's the system that pisses people off not the employees that are just trying to do their job - no better no worse than the private sector!!!

Jeffro

What's this thread about again :uhoh

dragon300zx

Bodley wrote:

Who sets up these regulations? You do the voting public. Government is just a reflection of you.

:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs

Seeing as a large sum of amiercans are to lazy to go vote I do not beleive the goverment is truly a representation of the true majority of the american public. And this goverment is most deffinatley not a reflection of me. I'm from a blue state, and voted blue. But then again what can you expect from a country thats citizens consider Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson people to be respected and emulated. This goverment spends money like it's going out of style, it is corrupt, slow, and in general idiotic. There is more fiction in the press releases that come out of the white house than in the fiction section at borders (WMD's eh). A reflection of me? Hell no. After all I wouldn't make fun of someone wearing sunglasses without knowing that person to know whether or not they were wearing them for a medical condition.

marlinspike

Jeffro wrote:

What's this thread about again :uhoh

About how it is ridiculous that someone could patent the thumbs up/down voting system, yet the USPTO allowed it to happen.

I probably should have noted that my dad works for the government, and I hold him in the highest regard, and he holds the vast majority of the people he has worked with in high regard as well, but some of the people they get to fill in for a few days for instance are not so good. Many of the people who work in other departments also fall into the not so good category, as are some of the people who utilize his department.

Malte

dragon300zx wrote:

:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs:bigbs

Seeing as a large sum of amiercans are to lazy to go vote I do not beleive the goverment is truly a representation of the true majority of the american public. And this goverment is most deffinatley not a reflection of me. I'm from a blue state, and voted blue. But then again what can you expect from a country thats citizens consider Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson people to be respected and emulated. This goverment spends money like it's going out of style, it is corrupt, slow, and in general idiotic. There is more fiction in the press releases that come out of the white house than in the fiction section at borders (WMD's eh). A reflection of me? Hell no.

I'll have to raise a BS flag myself here I think.

If a large sum of americans are lazy, and the government is not a representation of the american public, are you saying that the american government is productive?

Bodley said that the government is a reflection of the voting public, so he may very well agree with you that the government is not a reflection of people who are too lazy to vote.

Malte

cwphotos

Tivo gets two fingers up from me....and they aint my thumbs !!!!

dragon300zx

Malte wrote:

Bodley said that the government is a reflection of the voting public, so he may very well agree with you that the government is not a reflection of people who are too lazy to vote.

Malte

Ahh but I am a member of the voting public, and this goverment is not a representation of me. That is way to big of a generalization.

DavidTO

dragon300zx wrote:

Ahh but I am a member of the voting public, and this goverment is not a representation of me. That is way to big of a generalization.

Of course it doesn't represent you. To think that it should be a represention of you, a tiny drop in the ocean of humanity, is a little ridiculous, IMO.

Justiceiro

All foreign nationals married to US citizens need green cards (permanent residence permits).

I have been married to a foreigner since 1998, and it has been a ceaselss struggle to do even simple things. Liek file your taxes while abroad, get travel docs for the spouse, etc.

Every interaction with every government agency I have ever had (most of these have been with the INS, mind you) has been characterized by sloth and inefficiency coupled with contempt for the public. Witht he exception of the state department, who charge for their services (basically you pay one branch of the government to temporarily make up for the failure of the other). It is impossible to motivate a government agency without one of the following things-

1- an enormous amount of cash with which to influence a senator or congessman to bring heat on them, which may not work even then.

2- a congressman who actually takes care of their constituents. (good luck)

3- an enormous amount of cash for a bribe (in Newark this invloves paying immigration lawyers around $3000 to expidite a visa, which arrives quite quickly as they know the folks at the office and, I have no doubt, share the wealth- if you refuse to pay for something that is yours by right, as I did, it takes about 18 months and the intervention of a congressman.)

4- possibly a writ of mandamus, but I don't have the money to engage the lawyers to get one.

Do you know why the public hates government workers? I mean, really hates them? Because every time they deal with the government it involves pain and humiliation. Thank god, at least, I am a citizen. You should see the way they treat folks who aren't.

As for government policy being determoned by voters, I am afraid that is a rather naive view. Even elected rperesentatives have difficulty dealing with entrenched beaureaucratic practices and culture, much less those such as the average citizen. An average citizen has no chance to punish government officials who abuse them. There is no mechanismwhereby members of agencies can be disciplined.

If I am wrong, tell me how. How do I go about getting the folks in Houston fired or disciplined when the telephone operater at the INS can't/won't give me even a telephone number down there, or speak to her supervisor?

You say that "government is service driven." I am hoping that this statement is some sort of deeply sub rosa satire- as the government is certainly not service oriented, and by no means driven about anything.

This thread was originally about the patent office. I haven't had the pleasure to deal with those folks. I have no reason to believe they are any different, however.

There was one time the government helped me out though, I have to admit. When I was in poland in 1993 I really had to take care of a bodily function, and I couldn't find an available bathroom. I happened to be across the street from the embassy, so I told the marine that I needed to use the facilities. the desk folks resisted, but I told them "I am an American citizen, this is American soil, and I am about to American Soil myself- so let me use your bathroom. They relented, I suppose remembering their consular duty to "help american citizens abroad with emergencies." So they are good for that, at least- a place to take a **** in a foreign land.

dragon300zx

DavidTO wrote:

Of course it doesn't represent you. To think that it should be a represention of you, a tiny drop in the ocean of humanity, is a little ridiculous, IMO.

Ahh but so is any generalization. Thats the point. To generalize all goverment workers are lazy is ridiculous, to generalize that the american goverment represents the best of american citizens is ridiculous, to generalize all african american's use drugs is ridiculous, to generalize all asians are brilliant is ridiculous.

Generalizations are ridiculous, but then again so is Tivo thinking they can patent thumbs up and down. The only thing that will happen is some attorney is going to make tons of money off a mistake made by someone at the patent office. The crew over at smug doesn't seem worried about it from what I have read. So why are we? More importantly why are educated people who we all like fighting over something like the goverment. We all know the goverment does good things, and we all know they do really stupid things. This is just another example of a goverment employee who shouldn't be there. Just like my office manager in the private sector.

Everyone just needs to chill.