Monday, April 23, 2012
Justice Department vs Apple and Publishers
Original Article: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/justice-files-suit-against-apple-and-publishers-over-e-book-pricing/?ref=media
Follow up by Columnist: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/business/media/amazon-low-prices-disguise-a-high-cost.html
Breakdown(have no clue who this is, but was referred to it by several authors and it is a good read): http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-worst-article-about-the-ebooks-anti-trust-suit/
And now my 2 cents.
It is about time. While Amazon was quite likely under pricing that really has to be argued on a case by case basis since we don’t have a scale by which to judge a minimum price. However if you can say that they were then you can definitely say the big 6 are over pricing a great many if not most. I ran into several books that were 20 year old best sellers that they were trying to sell at $20 to $50 dollars.
1) Not a hard back.
2) 20 years old!!!
3) Bite me.
Rather than find a happy medium apple gave them cart blanche because they had no reason to care about the outcome either way as long as they could sell to their customers. And it also made for more friendly considerations. That little Apple back stab to readers allowed them to force price fixing(often over the actual cost of the last printed copy). On top of the fact of contracts being just vague enough to apply to the new medium often preventing an author from self-publishing a re-release or contracting to have it done.
I just hope something GOOD comes out of this because there are a lot of ways things could become much worse.
Another thing while I can't deny that Amazon's ability to under price has a lot to do with not maintaining store fronts I cannot agree this is solely the reason why many are going out of business. The land scape has been changing and would change over time even if we didn't have someone as big as Amazon. Proof is in just how the various markets changed before said Amazon. Book stores long ago move from selling just books to selling other items, adding cafes, to giving incentives like free wifi. I would say in the case of books their biggest limiters have been the publishing comapines themselves. They seemed to forget that they did have a symbosis with brick and morter stores. One that they are effectively choking off.
The other part falls on the stores themselves as it is up to them to provide the value(as I've pointed out they've had to do in the past) to keep them going. Some do, but it is kind of haphazzardly handled. Story readings, lauch events, etc are a short list of things that have proven effective, but are rarely used. Many authors still do signing and such. You can't put up a token effort and expect people to come flocking in or take time out of an already full schedule to come in. Value isn't only it the price of what you sale, but in everything you can give to the customer to shop with you.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Protests about Mass Effect 3 Endings turns into a great charity opportunity.
Like many when I heard the alternate endings of Mass Effect 3 and found that none of them appealed to how I would play the character, I decided to not purchase the game. As well I chose to pass up on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning because it is another EA title. I thought nothing more of it after that. Generally there is no better way to protest a video game. It seems others went above and beyond in protesting the endings however. In what hast to be one of the most positive protests that has to have been seen in years.
Yes, they are talking with their money but not in a traditional sense. They are doing so by giving money to charity. How cool is that. As I said I see it as the most productive protest in a long, long time. It shows that these people are not trying to come from a position of entitlement that often they are disparaged as doing, but a true dissatisfaction with the state of the game.
Now you might ask how can you get involved? The best place is to start here. The community has been keeping on top of this and Bachuck's opening post is kept up to date with really great information.
Addational Links(warning some containt spoilers):
Game Front: 5 Reasons Fans Are Right
Yes, they are talking with their money but not in a traditional sense. They are doing so by giving money to charity. How cool is that. As I said I see it as the most productive protest in a long, long time. It shows that these people are not trying to come from a position of entitlement that often they are disparaged as doing, but a true dissatisfaction with the state of the game.
Now you might ask how can you get involved? The best place is to start here. The community has been keeping on top of this and Bachuck's opening post is kept up to date with really great information.
Addational Links(warning some containt spoilers):
Game Front: 5 Reasons Fans Are Right
Friday, March 16, 2012
In responce
With the announcement of the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 I became aware again of Trent Oster's (of BioWare Fame) blog. Reading down I was faced with a post he made to an issue that as far as I'm aware still isn't dead yet(though I haven't found anything more current than that). That being Lodsys and their attempt to collect on what they claimed was license fees due from Apple App Developers. Which brings me back to his post. While I can agree with where his comments came from I can't agree with what I read as a knee jerk reaction.
Below is what my response to his post would be. Since the post is over 10 months old I didn't post this to his comments. It would be pointless to start a discussion on something he posted that long ago. However since I have a blog where I can post my thoughts no matter their source I'm going to post what my response would be any way.
I just found your blog again after having not read it for over a year and I read this old post about the situation with Lodsys. While what you said at the time would be good in theory it didn't look at the other side of the coin. Those people that have the ideas, but are unable to produce them. In your example since a patent is public a company that can produce "it" need only wait the 5 years. They then profit off that persons work without which they may never have been able to create the item.
In many fields the 20 year(at maximum I believe) exclusivity rule works because the item will be either worth the money to buy right to produce it now, be improved to the point waiting to the end of the patent term is worth the money, or be obsolete and therefor not worth anyone's time to produce now or maybe ever. The length of time is generally dependent on those very facts and the impact the type of patent could have for the good.
I'm not saying that any of that stands in this case nor do I agree with what is happening as I know it. I find, by what I've read is happening, their actions totally abhorrent. And as much as I can agree we have major issues with our system and how much it promotes greed/stupidity the core is to protect those that do not have the ability to protect themselves. Sadly on the flip side of what is happening here is the people who do get cheated out of their hard work. Many is the well known that died poorer because of their invention which was then lost to those able to take advantage.
I guess that was all just a long winded way of say it works both ways.
Below is what my response to his post would be. Since the post is over 10 months old I didn't post this to his comments. It would be pointless to start a discussion on something he posted that long ago. However since I have a blog where I can post my thoughts no matter their source I'm going to post what my response would be any way.
I just found your blog again after having not read it for over a year and I read this old post about the situation with Lodsys. While what you said at the time would be good in theory it didn't look at the other side of the coin. Those people that have the ideas, but are unable to produce them. In your example since a patent is public a company that can produce "it" need only wait the 5 years. They then profit off that persons work without which they may never have been able to create the item.
In many fields the 20 year(at maximum I believe) exclusivity rule works because the item will be either worth the money to buy right to produce it now, be improved to the point waiting to the end of the patent term is worth the money, or be obsolete and therefor not worth anyone's time to produce now or maybe ever. The length of time is generally dependent on those very facts and the impact the type of patent could have for the good.
I'm not saying that any of that stands in this case nor do I agree with what is happening as I know it. I find, by what I've read is happening, their actions totally abhorrent. And as much as I can agree we have major issues with our system and how much it promotes greed/stupidity the core is to protect those that do not have the ability to protect themselves. Sadly on the flip side of what is happening here is the people who do get cheated out of their hard work. Many is the well known that died poorer because of their invention which was then lost to those able to take advantage.
I guess that was all just a long winded way of say it works both ways.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Is the Social Media push going too far?
I find it both highly amusing and very sad that with identity theft continually on the rise as well the proof that no matter how secure these web based companies propose to be they still keep pushing "Give us your information".
With the recent changes to Google and their attempts to push everyone to use Google+ (Google's alternative to Facebook) one wonders if they've hit critical mass and all the college degrees are not now collectively bringing down the companies IQ. The aforementioned Facebook for quite a while now quit requiring people to use their real names, phone numbers, and other bits of information that they have had stolen in the past. It isn't a joke. It may not be the end of the world, but the last thing anyone should be doing is putting all their information into one basket.
It becomes even more annoying to hear some of the new things coming out with more ways to push your social media and more ways to reveal both your information and the information of those you know. Windows 8 (because when a person thinks of safety and protection they think windows) is giving you all new ways to share your personal information with both friend (and potentially foe) because it simply isn't easy enough.
I hate to sound like a doom bringer, post apocalyptic survivalist, or the guy at the corner that tells you "The world is ending!" because it isn't. However you can't tell people to put all their information into your database, use their real name, give you all of their contacts phone numbers, and make them believe if they change their passwords every month using the password you rate as strong they are protected. Then watch as database after database is compromised and personal information is stolen. At what point is it then beyond negligence and into a criminal action when these companies do loose people's information? It is one thing to allow people to add their information as it is their choice to enter that information and then should be for the most part on them. Attempting to force people into it because you have a service, product, or suite of products that are so pervasive that most people are loosing any alternatives should mean that they must be required to meet a higher standard or be held more accountable than just a civil suit in which they can pay people off.
Allow people to be as responsible as they choose don't force irresponsible behavior on them. Quit crossing these lines of telling people how to be secure and then push people into options that are not the most safety oriented ideas. Allow people that wish to protect their identity by that very anonymity that the internet provides people. If your luck is anything like mine that ability is important, because you are just as likely one of those people that has gotten some of their information stolen.
I should say I'm wholly against these lawsuits that win in court that amount to "I was stupid so you should pay for it", but that is a discussion for another time. I'm also more against putting your information on the web after having it sold by shady practices that skirt the law by a technicality or change the way they handle your information so that it is suddenly public. (Thank you Classmates and LinkedIn.)
With the recent changes to Google and their attempts to push everyone to use Google+ (Google's alternative to Facebook) one wonders if they've hit critical mass and all the college degrees are not now collectively bringing down the companies IQ. The aforementioned Facebook for quite a while now quit requiring people to use their real names, phone numbers, and other bits of information that they have had stolen in the past. It isn't a joke. It may not be the end of the world, but the last thing anyone should be doing is putting all their information into one basket.
It becomes even more annoying to hear some of the new things coming out with more ways to push your social media and more ways to reveal both your information and the information of those you know. Windows 8 (because when a person thinks of safety and protection they think windows) is giving you all new ways to share your personal information with both friend (and potentially foe) because it simply isn't easy enough.
I hate to sound like a doom bringer, post apocalyptic survivalist, or the guy at the corner that tells you "The world is ending!" because it isn't. However you can't tell people to put all their information into your database, use their real name, give you all of their contacts phone numbers, and make them believe if they change their passwords every month using the password you rate as strong they are protected. Then watch as database after database is compromised and personal information is stolen. At what point is it then beyond negligence and into a criminal action when these companies do loose people's information? It is one thing to allow people to add their information as it is their choice to enter that information and then should be for the most part on them. Attempting to force people into it because you have a service, product, or suite of products that are so pervasive that most people are loosing any alternatives should mean that they must be required to meet a higher standard or be held more accountable than just a civil suit in which they can pay people off.
Allow people to be as responsible as they choose don't force irresponsible behavior on them. Quit crossing these lines of telling people how to be secure and then push people into options that are not the most safety oriented ideas. Allow people that wish to protect their identity by that very anonymity that the internet provides people. If your luck is anything like mine that ability is important, because you are just as likely one of those people that has gotten some of their information stolen.
I should say I'm wholly against these lawsuits that win in court that amount to "I was stupid so you should pay for it", but that is a discussion for another time. I'm also more against putting your information on the web after having it sold by shady practices that skirt the law by a technicality or change the way they handle your information so that it is suddenly public. (Thank you Classmates and LinkedIn.)
Friday, September 30, 2011
Window 7 and Sony Bravia
So I had a problem. I hadn't hooked up my Sony Bravia(KDL-46Z4100/B) as a monitor since I setup Windows 7. Lo and behold when I hooked it up....it didn't quite work. It used the generic drivers which for me don't do a 1920x1080 resolution. Google search and NVIDIA forum were not helpful. Then I suddenly remembered once before I had been able to set a resolution, which actually didn't work for me, in XP. I found it in the NVIDIA control panel under display and change resolution. I selected customize and voila 1920x1080.
Not really a big deal, but I decide to post this little tidbit for those that find themselves in a similar situation with no help in sight. Or if I forget how to do it again. ;)
Not really a big deal, but I decide to post this little tidbit for those that find themselves in a similar situation with no help in sight. Or if I forget how to do it again. ;)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
GelaSkins
It isn't like this has been a state secret, but I just found these and the inner geek in me wants some for his devices. GelaSkins is a company that makes skins for various electronic devices. I was rather surprised to find out that many people didn't know what a skin is. To quickly explain a skin, in simplest terms, is a large sticker for your device. They have actually been around for years. Cell phones where the fist I saw them for and then they started appearing for consoles like the X-Box and the PS2.
It seems while I wasn't looking GelaSkins(and possibly other companies) upped the ante and offer them for just about any type of electronic gadget your little heart desires. Phones, consoles, controllers, laptops(not mice though), Ebook Readers, and whole host of other devices.
This almost has me trading in my first generation Kindle(K1) for a K3.
Geekness aside they are a bit on the pricey side at about $15 - $30US. The upside however is that you can also upload your own pictures for a custom skin on your favorite device. You can position, stretch, and rotate the picture(even multiple pictures) to fit any device they have a template for.
Reviews over on Amazon are generally positive. Most people seem to be able to apply the skin with little to no difficultly. Though once they are on they are on or off and not on and off. It seems while the skin does protect from scratches well and is easy to remove it is also easily damaged when removing. So the price is doubly hefty if you are thinking to switch these out to fit your mood.
So if you are interested you can check them out here: http://www.gelaskins.com/
(Don't worry I don't get anything for you clicking.)
It seems while I wasn't looking GelaSkins(and possibly other companies) upped the ante and offer them for just about any type of electronic gadget your little heart desires. Phones, consoles, controllers, laptops(not mice though), Ebook Readers, and whole host of other devices.
Geekness aside they are a bit on the pricey side at about $15 - $30US. The upside however is that you can also upload your own pictures for a custom skin on your favorite device. You can position, stretch, and rotate the picture(even multiple pictures) to fit any device they have a template for.
Reviews over on Amazon are generally positive. Most people seem to be able to apply the skin with little to no difficultly. Though once they are on they are on or off and not on and off. It seems while the skin does protect from scratches well and is easy to remove it is also easily damaged when removing. So the price is doubly hefty if you are thinking to switch these out to fit your mood.
So if you are interested you can check them out here: http://www.gelaskins.com/
(Don't worry I don't get anything for you clicking.)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Kindle vs. NOOKcolor?
There are probably many of us that are seeing this since Barnes & Noble announced NOOKcolor, which is people clamoring to get it and saying Kindle is behind the times. A huge fact they are missing, and that Barnes & Noble is conveniently hiding under the table, is that the screen is no longer E-Ink. Being back-light it is more than likely simply an LCD screen. There is where the problem comes in and in the rush to have "the best gadget" people need to be aware of. The number one reason some many move to E-Ink in the first place is how much less eye strain it causes.
From simple personal experience I can say that when I have the time I can read for hours on end with needing to "rest my eyes" or getting tension headaches that same amount of reading done on an LCD would cause. To most that have tried eReaders the difference can be felt almost immediately when moving for looking at the LCD screen on their desk to going to their favorite eReader. It truly is like reading a book and while it is inconvenient to not have the back-light at times that back-light it part of the problem. That is the thing while in the title I might say Kindle vs. NOOKcolor this is more about E-Ink vs. LCD. If you really like nook better then buy it, but buy the E-Ink version while it is still available. Your eye will truly thank you for the difference.
Since I know I might not be the most persuasive voice out there here are two very good links that might help you understand all of this a little better. First is Amazon's explanation of E-Ink which can be found half way down on their Kindle product page titled "E-Ink 101: Compare Kindle's Screen to Traditional LCDs". The second is a microscopic comparison of E-Ink and LCD(http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2722).
From simple personal experience I can say that when I have the time I can read for hours on end with needing to "rest my eyes" or getting tension headaches that same amount of reading done on an LCD would cause. To most that have tried eReaders the difference can be felt almost immediately when moving for looking at the LCD screen on their desk to going to their favorite eReader. It truly is like reading a book and while it is inconvenient to not have the back-light at times that back-light it part of the problem. That is the thing while in the title I might say Kindle vs. NOOKcolor this is more about E-Ink vs. LCD. If you really like nook better then buy it, but buy the E-Ink version while it is still available. Your eye will truly thank you for the difference.
Since I know I might not be the most persuasive voice out there here are two very good links that might help you understand all of this a little better. First is Amazon's explanation of E-Ink which can be found half way down on their Kindle product page titled "E-Ink 101: Compare Kindle's Screen to Traditional LCDs". The second is a microscopic comparison of E-Ink and LCD(http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2722).
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