Video stores, union reps rally against buck-a-night DVD kiosks like Redbox

Yahoo! Tech News ^ | 9/8/2009 | Yahoo!

[Rebelbase]

Refrigeration killed the Ice House industry.

[Alex Murphy]

....its $1-a-night rental rate is "generating less revenue" for Hollywood studios than the $3-$5/night prices charged by the average video store, according to Video Business.

The unions must hate my local library then. I haven't paid for a DVD/Blu-Ray rental in years!

[VRWCmember]

Please. I have never been to a union video store. I'd be surprised if anyone else has either.

Even if you didn't click the link to read the whole article, this little nugget was available right there in the excerpt:

>Also on the attack against DVD kiosks: Gary Cook of UA Local 87, the union that represents movie studio plumbers: "It's going to kill the industry," Cook warned the Times.

The STUDIO PLUMBERS' union is against this because the empowerment of consumers might cut back on the big studios so much that they don't buy as many lavish bathrooms, thus putting the squeeze on the poor plumbers.

[Liberty Valance]

Thread hijack in progress ....



HOLLYWOOD SIGN MELTDOWN LINKED TO GLOBAL WARMING
An inconvenient truth found in the Hollywood Hills

April 1, 2008 - Hollywood Hills, CA - Citizens and tourists alike noticed a disturbing change over the last few days in the landmark sign. Portions of the letters are melting off and dripping down the mountainside. Fans have always tolerated the crooked baseline (due in part to seismic activity) but the dripping letters have caused widespread alarm among tourists, actors, scientists and local officials. Font experts at the Ascender Typographic Preservation Institute (ATyPI) were on the scene analyzing the Hollywood sign to determine the cause of the dramatic changes.

"We use proprietary algorithms in our hinting software to accommodate increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These algorithms enhance the legibility by optimizing the placement of letters on the physical grids used to hold billboard fonts" said Thomas Rickner, world-renowned font software specialist best known for his work on the Verdana, Tahoma and Georgia fonts for Microsoft. "But the velocity of pixelation modification in the Hollywood sign is both perplexing and alarming. I've never seen anything like this before." he added.

The National Commission on Historic Typefaces has engaged Charles Bigelow, the distinguished Melbert B. Cary Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, to conduct a study on the impact of global warming on fonts exposed to the environment. "We will be analyzing everything from gas pumps to ancient Greek inscriptions chiseled onto buildings that aren't there anymore, to see how fonts will change over time," said professor Bigelow. "As Le Corbusier once said, 'Fonts of the future are usually fonts of the past.' The only thing we won't be studying is outdoor signage on bank buildings, since most financial institutions are now adopting Comic Sans as their corporate font, to better celebrate their recent achievements. We need to wait until the paint dries before doing further analysis."

Meanwhile, as the famous Hollywood sign continues its decay, the Institute will attempt to collect portions of letters which have melted and fallen to prevent them from being sold on EBay.

Get more information on this story.

The enclosed photo was supplied by Dr. Matt Stevenson of the Ascender Typographic Preservation Institute. No rights reserved.

[RobinOfKingston]

... Redbox ]is] as a threat to the film industry as we know it.

What would be the downside to that, in the mind of the normal, average, descent American.

[Huebolt]

The Michael Moron Hollywood movie about killing capitalism will arrive just in time to save Hollywood capitalists... Did I actually say that???

[Drew68]

Gotta admit I love Redbox. It's a block away, I can order whatever movie I want from the website and it's there in a day, and they're a buck a night.

Between Redbox and their equally priced competition, Movie Butler, I haven't used my Blockbuster card in over a year and I tend to rent 1-3 movies a week.

Blockbuster is finished. Their only advantage over kiosks is that they have older films and more copies of newer ones but eventually kiosks will be so common that getting new releases will be fairly easy.

[John Will]

Steam is massacring Retail PC game sales.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

What you are doing is highly illegal (and immoral).

Thanks for telling me!

Do you have any other criticisms or observations you would like to make?

I'd be highly interested in hearing them!

[politicalamity]

I love Redbox, a lot of times I will browse verizon fios on-demand movies from the comfort of my living room to see if there are any new movies out I am interested in. Then, double-check online to see if it is available. After a quick visit to FReepdom I hit the local Walgreen’s Redbox where I can also pick up popcorn and candy.