Just recently I came across this enlightening piece from gizmodo [1], an op-ed from a British comedian who freely admits to consuming rich media services across a wide variety of sources (both legal and infringing). This is exactly the type of poor end consumer experience I’ve been bemoaning for years. Copyright holders in their (lack of) infinite wisdom can’t seem to do anything right when it could be so much easier.
These moronic geographic restrictions (for example regional accounts and restrictions for online services) just feed legitimate consumers towards less legitimate sources. Anyway.. one day they might wake up to the crap that they force legitimate consumers to go through, but it’ going to be a while. In the meantime suing their consumers seems to be the default plan of attack..
Anyways, in other news.. Airlines – the best of the best [3].
SkyTrax is a prestigious air travel advisory group that ranks carriers on a scale of one to five stars. Currently only six airlines meet the group’s strict criteria for five-star status, awarded only to those "at the forefront of product and service delivery excellence, often setting trends to be followed by other airlines." They are, alphabetically:
- Asiana Airlines (Korea)
- Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
- Kingfisher Airlines (India)
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
Dropping down a notch, 29 carriers manage to hit four-star status. This is where you’ll find most of the mainstay Asians and Europeans, plus a few surprises. The list includes Air France, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, JAL, Korean, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Swiss, Thai, Turkish and South African Airways. The sole U.S. finisher is JetBlue.
This is a great website for airline related news and info – salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/
[1] http://gizmodo.com/5539417/why-i-steal-movies-even-ones-im-in
[2] http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/
[3] http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/05/06/worlds_biggest_best_worst_airlines/index.html
