"An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." - Arthur Miller

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Links of the Day

iTunes Tiered Pricing Goes Into Effect - Anytime you hear tiered pricing that should send warning bells. Companies do it for one reason and one reason only...to give the illusion they are offering a deal when they really are not. In this case, iTunes just increased the pricing on their music by 30% but pretend you could save just as much, never mind that the percentage of songs with the cheapest tier is probably only numbered in the hundreds.

Time Warner Expands Tier Pricing - See issue above. In this case, Time Warner’s excuse is high bandwidth users are causing problems so should pay more. Yet they defend their service by saying most of their customers don't use that much bandwidth so why does it matter. Notice the two ideas are not compatible? What it really comes down to is cable companies do not want to upgrade their infrastructure. Why spend money to meet demand when you can simple charge people more forcing them to decrease demand (and have the side effect of making more money). The net result is if you are a Time Warner customer, it is in your best interest to start shopping around as this program will be expanded nationwide.

Blockbuster On Deathbed - Much like Circuit City, the rumblings are coming that Blockbuster is circling the drain as it continues to completely fail to compete in any real way with Netflix. Like Circuit City, the cause was their own greed as during their heyday they kept increasing prices for no reason so that when cheaper alternatives came along, people pounced on them and never returned. It is unfortunate for the thousands that will probably soon lose their jobs but you run a company as if you have no competitors, your only asking for the end (but what matters is the executives go their bonuses).

Two New Terminator Salvation Spots - Click the link to view two more television spots for the upcoming movie. Nothing new is shown. For some reason I just cannot get excited about this movie even though love the franchise (watch Sarah Connor religiously).

CEOs Expect More Job Cuts - Sadly the reports of bottom may not be true as CEOs (always looking at their bonuses which trust me are not going away) expect to continue job cuts for at least the next six months. I hope someone is keeping up as I am betting that the amount of bonuses paid out over the next year will probably be about equal to the combined salary (assuming average of $45k) for all those that get laid off.

Green Lantern First Flight Trailer - Click the link for the next DC Comics animated movie. It looks like it may be pretty good but these things can be hit and miss.

No comments:

Post a Comment