There is more to it than not paying.  For Netflix, they are missing out on the market segment that can't run Microsoft Silverlight, namely users who only have linux desktop (although I am able to watch netflix just fine with a special wine emulator hack...on ubuntu: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop).

Apparently, all the major premium video content producers require strong protections on the video stream. Currently Netflix uses Microsoft silverlight browser plugin.  They don't want people copying the raw contents of the compressed video stream (of course you can always screencapure the raw frames of an entire video, but in order to redistriubte the video contents on a torrent for example, it would have to be recompressed so it can download in any reasonable amount of time, which would of course produce many undesirable artifcats.)

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/netflix-coming-to-html5-just-as-soon-as-the-drm-ducks-are-in-a-row/


What do bitcoiners think?  It's DRM, but the fact that the EME is an open API is reassuring (they do say most or all CDMs are likely to be proprietary, unmodifiable code).  It would be great for bitcoiners to sell selective protective access to video/audio and other media content to be easily viewed through a browser in exchange for bitcoin...

Finally someone gets it!

A small room somewhere safe, preferably near the village where the jazz clubs are.

I suppose someone that either has a lot of bitcoin or a lot of USD on mt gox could easily influence this result by swaying to the exchange rate to one side or the other...

2013-04-14 "The Joy of Tech" (Comic) "Champ at the Bitcoin"

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176649.0

http://tapastic.com/episode/3686



I don't know if this belongs in "Press Hits", but I don't know where else to put it.

Here's what Eric Schmidt says: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/google-head-worried-about-privacy-risk-posed-by-civilian-drones/


But what do my fellow bitcoiners think on the matter?

paypal's micro-exchange rate is 5 cents + %5, so that's 10 cents for a 1 dollar transaction.  But if I do a 1-dollar bitcoin transaction and if the transition fee is .0010, then that is worse than the 10-cent paypal fee when the exchange rate is >100 USD/BTC.  Transaction fees for these micro-transactions really need to be significantly lower (like no more than a cent for a dollar) if bitcoin is going to be a competitive micro-payment solution, such as for instant music downloads for $1 in BTC.

Here is an article that argues that it is really wireless & 4G networks that energy-concious people should be concerned about, not bitcoin or datacenters: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/12/what-bitcoin-teaches-us-about-the-internets-energy-use/ (and the corresponding post I just made on the bitcoin forums: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=175429

2013-0412 WashingtonPost.com - What Bitcoin teaches us about the Internet’s energy use

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=175429.0

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/12/what-bitcoin-teaches-us-about-the-internets-energy-use/


Later makes the point that it is really wireless and 4G networks that consume the bulk of energy costs, not datacenters or bitcoin, citing: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/cell-networks-are-energy-hogs/274961/

Sweet!!!

I'd like to know of places to stay in nyc that accept bitcoin.

Actually I do send the *ok* confirmation when blockchain.info sends a callback with 0 confirmations, but still take 1-10minutes (I see this in the log).  Same if I go though the shared wallet (which is protected against doublespending at 0 confirmations).  I have the browser's page be redirected to a page ready2download.php that refreshes every 10 seconds until this 0th confirmation is received, at which point that page turns into an file download.

I'm interested in such a script...  How does it work?  What interface does it use to detect transactions?  How long is the delay between sending money and initiating the download?

I'm interested in instant download...but I notice yours doesn't work right now.

I'm trying to implement the same thin using blockchain.info websockets api to get notification when transaction occurs. 

I currently have it set up to download file after 1-10min delay to get in block chain...you can try example here: http://efjz.in/?d=test.mp3

If anyone has ideas, please let me know.

Here is my band website: http://livingtrio.com
Here is our latest studio album: http://artists.behiprecords.com/LivingSpace/NarrativesVol1/
Here are links to flac recordings of ~30-40 minute live shows that you can download for between ~.002 to ~.003 BTC:

http://efjz.in/?d=20130212_smiths_livingspacetrio_withoteil.flac
http://efjz.in/?d=20130304_theearl_livingspacetrio.flac
http://efjz.in/?d=20130330_elliottst_livingspacetrio.flac
http://efjz.in/?d=20130404_flatshoals_livingspacetrio.flac

I used blockchain.info shared wallet as an intermediary to protect your anonymity, but it takes between 1 to 10 minutes to download.  Try this test link if you want to make sure the code works: http://efjz.in/?d=test.mp3

I am actually trying to implement instant downloads also.  I have investiaged many options, and I beleive the best and freest way involves opening up a websocket to blockchain.info via their api (http://blockchain.info/api/api_websocket) and tell it to listen for notifications for whenever there is a transaction to your address.  Then it is just a matter of providing a secret download link for a particular ip addresses or account.  But again I'm still trying to implement this, so please let me know if you have any ideas or luck.

Currently I am using the blockchain.info Receive API (http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive) but it takes like 10 minutes for blockchain to send confirmation.  I modified their example program...You can try my test link: http://efjz.in/?d=test.mp3