Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 16 Jan 2001
From: Craig Shore
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: French Tax

If the French government go ahead and start taxing NZ$300 on
each HD to cover copying music & movies, and various other
amounts on other recording & storage devices, does that mean
you have paid for the right to copy whatever you want?

Of course it won't, but I bet a lot of people will see it
that way or at least use it as a reason to justify what they
are doing.




From: Bernhard Pfahringer
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: various topics raised today

thought I'd mention a few points. First, Whispertech will
have to face huge competition from fuel-cell based designs.
Less moving parts, more silent, dramatically less pollution
and probable better efficiency, but can only use LPG or
natural gas (or maybe methanol). And it is already
available, e.g. from Plugpower (http://www.plugpower.com/,
backed by General Electric).

Second, I'd appreciate a (reasonable) levy on discs, if the
logical consequence is legalisation of unlimited
non-commercial copying (which it is in Germany and Austria,
kind of, as a consequence of a levy applied on blank audio
and video tapes).



From: Sam
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: i4free

Read your article on i4free a week or 2 ago. I have not
found it hard to connect to i4free since then, but think
today I found the reason why...

I don't know if you've already covered this in Aardvark,
but although I've been easily able to connect thru them,
I've had no POP access nor ICQ connection, so have quickly
redialed thru another ISP.

However today I opened a browser and upon entering the
Aardvark URL, I was redirected to i4free's web site(!) The
same when I attempted to retrieve the hotmail login page.
Of course the i4free page is heavily pushing the pay
(slingshot) service.

So it would seem that there is *no* free service now with
i4free, as from my experience over the last week there is
at least no POP, http nor ICQ access available through
them. This is despite their claim that the free service
continues, albeit with frequent busy signals(I've had none)
and other annoyances.




From: Jack
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Chatrooms rock!

Ive been addicted to IRC for 18 months or so now ... I agree
if you're a bit of a recluse like me chat rooms are a good
way to make friends. I find I can talk about things more
easily online (even to people who I've never chatted to
before) than I can in RL. and I haven;t kept count of how
many hours Ive just sat watching the world scroll by when I
havent been able to think of anything to say but havent had
anything better to do. Chatting gets two big thumbs up from
me :o)

I like watching TV from time to time as it makes a change
from sitting in front of the computer, but given the choice
of having a TV or being connected to the Net with IRC and
ICQ running, well you can guess which I'd choose ;)

I wish I had as many RL friends as I had online ... that
would be really neat. Mind u, I have had a few adventures
meeting some of the ppl Ive become friends with online, and
I'm definitly planning to meet more if I get the opportunity
:+). And occaisionally I give someone I know well from
online a surprise phone call too, hehehe great fun ...

the  net will never fully replace TV cause TV *is* so
mindless, I can just turn it on and watch whatever rubbish
the TV meisters think we should be watching - handy for when
I'm in a bit of a mood or something and dont feel like
chatting. and chatrooms aren;t any good for romance IMO
cause the only chatroom romonce Ive heard of thats worked
out when theyve met in RL was a lady who left her kids and
hubby and moved to another country to live with this guy ...
so I've promised myself not to look for romance online,
(even though there was (is? not sure) a girl who had (has) a
crush on me after she saw my apparently 'cute' photo LOL).
And I enjoy talking to my RL friends as much as my online
friends :+)

Long live chatrooms! But dont just forget about RL :\
Now Have Your Say