Replying to myself to clarify something I just confirmed. Amazon's policies are very clear on this and they do make exceptions for public domain works that bring some additional value:
Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.
They're available for free, and they're also available as non-free ebooks on Amazon as well, from dozens of "authors". That's part of the problem - Amazon is enforcing a double standard, and says that they're attempting to "clean up" the marketplace as regards these kinds of tech ebooks, but they're apparently content to let the PD crowd run wild, and it's just as possible to pay money for a crappy version of a PD work as it is to pay money for a crappy collection of Wikipedia tech articles in their store.
While I'm sure there are exceptions, many of the various editions are something other than a simple reprinting of the public domain materials. Just looking at Frankenstein, you see editions tailored for all sorts of uses. There are study editions that include definitions of words and other commentary. There are simplified versions for younger readers. There are illustrated ones and another that went to Shelley's notes and manuscripts to retell the story as they believe she originally intended. Regardless, I'm sure you're correct (and I said as much in my initial response) that there probably are unnecessary junk versions of the public domain stuff. If Amazon cares about their ecosystem, as they should, this crap should get trimmed away from the active store eventually. That some junk got in before doesn't make it wrong to clamp down on new junk.
That said, the Amazon response is a bit curious given that the free public domain books include this disclaimer right on the Amazon page: "This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web."
Yet they allow sales of works in the public domain such as Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, etc., which are freely available in electronic form on the Internet as well.
Yes, I've "bought" all of those books on Kindle. Of course, you failed to mention that they are available for $0.00. (Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland) To be fair, I would wager you can find non-free versions of these from others but Amazon must be exercising some control or there would thousands of versions of these public domain books in the store. The real issue is not the fact that it can be gotten for free elsewhere - the problem is that Dusty is not obviously the author or copyright owner of the material. Perhaps this case is perfectly innocent and there is no problem with him publishing the material under his name, but if Amazon cares about the quality of their marketplace, they ought to be careful about letting any random person scrape a community-created document from the internet and publish it as an ebook.
This thread actually brings up another point that I've wondered about recently. With the recent reports of ebook sells now outstripping printed books, I have to imagine that the huge number of free ebooks contribute significantly to these "sales" numbers. If I download a free book from Amazon, it is treated like a purchased item. Google does the same on their Play store. I've purchased about 40 Kindle books and spent less than $10.00 because most were free. I would love to see the ebook vs printed book numbers if you exclude all the free ebooks.
I was in the DC metro area recently and took a screenshot of a speedtest because I couldn't believe it. A Samsung SIII on AT&T registered 45M down. Unfortunately, we can't touch that at home because there is no AT&T LTE coverage anywhere in our state.
My issue with the organizations like the NRA is that they tend to promote the toys, but not the well regulated malitia that would stand between the populous and foreign or domestic raiding force. Where is the support of rocketry clubs that could actually provide a real defense against helicopters that would place boots on the ground? Clustering a few E engines in a simple shell could deliver enough reactant to be seriously annoying. But all they talk about is how a few pop guns are going to fend off the tanks and hummers.
Anything more than this gets you a one-way ticket to a federal prison as a domestic terrorist. The US Government and national media successfully turned the notion of a militia into a slur during the Clinton years. Just saying you belonged to a militia meant you were at least a right-wing kook and more likely a dangerous terrorist.
I've met a lot of people in this category while attending music festivals. Most were older couples who retired, sold their home, and bought a really nice RV. They spend the winter in the south and the summer visiting family and festivals.
If the US wanted him extradited, it would be much easier to get him extradited from the UK to the US than from Sweden
Upon what do you base your claim?
This is Sweden that wants him for questioning, and the UK has agreed to extradite him. It's that simple. Don't try to complicate it with conspiracy theories.
Your choice to ignore the many problematic facts in this case does not make them go away for everyone else.
If any country asks for any person to be extradited, the Swedish courts will look at the extradition request that they get, and judge whether it's valid and doesn't contravene Swedish law (Sweden would not, for example, extradite a person to a country with exceedingly harsh punishments, like death penalty or whipping). In order for Sweden to give this assurance without even having received an extradition request, they would have to issue a carte blanc for Julian Assange versus any requests coming from USA, which other people won't get. That does not jive with everyone being equal, nor with Swedish law.
So Swedish law would prohibit them from extraditing a person to a country with the death penalty, but Swedish law also prevents Sweden from assuring us that they will follow this law? What?
If Sweden merely wants to question Assange about the claimed rape, why not do it in the UK?
With that said, that excuse is several years old now. Look at now... 2012... and the balance sheet of the country...When are people going to realize how much in perpetual debt service (i.e. interest-only payments FOREVER) was added during these four years that could've been going towards that "building a positive image, making new discoveries...", but will now going into international bankers' coffers? If Obama would've taken even a half-hearted swing and curbing the annual, national deficits, I'd listen, but his administration (and Congress) are not taking them seriously...If Obama is re-elected, and we go thorugh four more years of trillions more added to the debt, and still no long-term fixes to Social Security, Medicare, etc. is he going to still blame Bush and ask for a 3rd term - perhaps because that's what FDR needed? "Make no mistake... By 2020, I'll have the American economy evolving back into the superpower that it once was. China, India, and Brazil will once again fear our economic might... "
Fair enough, but what's the alternative? Are you assuming that Romney and Ryan will improve this situation? No politician who is willing to fix this has a prayer at getting elected in America.
Want to talk about some crazy fingers, watch a banjo player. Bela Fleck is considered one of the world's premier banjo players, spanning genres as diverse as traditional bluegrass, jazz, classical, and pop. As a kid, he practiced 8+ hours a day, every day. He attended New York City's High School of Music and Art. FFS, his parents named him Béla Anton Leo Fleck, after composers Béla Bartók, Anton Dvorak, and Leo Janáek.
It worked for me the one time I tried it. The hard drive was knocking like a fiend and the computer wouldn't boot. I wrapped the drive in plastic wrap before freezing it then unwrapped it right before plugging it in. I had no condensation problems and I was able to recover the data needed.
My sister-in-law is the office manager at a small business and their computer died a few years ago without a recent backup. When they powered it up, the hard drive just knocked repeatedly and the machine wouldn't boot. I was able to recover everything they needed from the drive by placing it in the freezer then installing it back in the computer. The first time or two it booted but quickly failed again. I believe it was on the third try that it continued working long enough for me to copy the files they needed.
The process may not be dependable or optimal, but "No" is not the absolute answer.
Not everyone that disagrees with you is dishonest or bought and paid for.
Absolutely, but Florian is. I'm sorry if you are somehow completely unaware of Florian's status as a paid shill who is terrible at his supposed job. That doesn't mean everything he says is wrong, but his well-funded bias makes him a worthless source of actual information. It is public information that he is paid by Microsoft and Oracle. It is relatively simple to read his blog for any amount of time and see that his opinions driving his analysis do not square with his claimed support of FOSS and opposition to software patents. You can review his history and see that he moved from marketing and PR to a well-placed position as an analyst and blogger in the software patent world.
Because Florian is one of the best and most prolific law bloggers on the web today.
Florian is not a lawyer, not a patent expert, and not a good law blogger. He is a paid shill and prolific blogger. I avoid his site these days but I've read a lot of his stuff over the past few years and it is generally trash. During the Google v. Oracle case, he routinely misrepresented what was said by the judge, the attorneys, and the witnesses. His analysis was obviously shoddy to anyone not relying on FOSSpatents for 100% of their reporting. His predictions did not pan out. He is a shill paid by Microsoft and Oracle. He is an enemy of FOSS and a proponent of software patent abuse, exactly counter to what he claims. His background is in software marketing, not legal, and it shows.
Anyone quoting him or linking to his blog is demonstrating their ignorance of who he is and what he represents.
According to TFA, this is the data sent to the Russian servers when you use it to make a "purchase":
-restriction level of app -id of app -id of version -guid of your idevice -quantity of in-app purchase -offer name of in-app purchase -language you are using -identifier of application -version of application -your locale
Since I have no mod points I'll add that I agree with you completely. I never used the search button and prefer the contextual menu button. I would much rather let the app display a menu button when there is an actual menu available rather than have a dedicated button that often does nothing when you press it. And, I've found the multitasking button is used more than any other button. I love it. And while I came to hate the stiff buttons on my OG Droid and Droid X, I find myself accidentally touching the home "button" on my GN while trying to hit the space bar. My SMS or email message just went away and I'm back to the desktop. Thankfully I can just hit the multitasking button and go right back to where I was.
I'm the same way. Every time I log into Amazon now I have a whole page of "This item's price has changed" notices. But I can deal with that versus some of the other changes I've noticed recently.
Amazon apparently changed the algorithm for deciding which item gets returned when you search for something that has multiple listings. If I search for some SD cards, the one returned is never the cheapest and often isn't even the real Amazon listing but some random storefront. And where I used to find that Amazon sold it, now there are 40 storefronts that sell it but Amazon doesn't. So there are fewer and fewer items qualifying for free shipping. And those that use Amazon for order fulfillment set their prices to be one cent less than the cheapest competitor plus their shipping costs. So you no longer save by using a store that fulfills via Amazon.
There's also a huge number of items listed on Amazon stores that are insanely expensive. For example, I needed new filters for my pool pump. They were listed by several stores on Amazon, all at an extremely high price. The manufacturer sells the filter for about 1/3 of the cost directly from their web site.
Like the OP, I've used eBay more and more recently because Amazon is turning into a cesspool.
Which has shit all to do with this thread. Calling the Times a "yellow DNC mouthpiece" completely ignores what happened there less than 10 years ago. I don't disagree with their reputation problem, but making it a partisan issue is wrong.
Glad it worked out for you. My laptop RMA story went much worse. They somehow lost the laptop after receiving it, then lied and said they didn't get it. I spent two months dealing with lying customer support people before finally reversing the charges and swearing to never deal with those crooks again.
Slashdot Mirror
Replying to myself to clarify something I just confirmed. Amazon's policies are very clear on this and they do make exceptions for public domain works that bring some additional value:
Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.
They're available for free, and they're also available as non-free ebooks on Amazon as well, from dozens of "authors". That's part of the problem - Amazon is enforcing a double standard, and says that they're attempting to "clean up" the marketplace as regards these kinds of tech ebooks, but they're apparently content to let the PD crowd run wild, and it's just as possible to pay money for a crappy version of a PD work as it is to pay money for a crappy collection of Wikipedia tech articles in their store.
While I'm sure there are exceptions, many of the various editions are something other than a simple reprinting of the public domain materials. Just looking at Frankenstein, you see editions tailored for all sorts of uses. There are study editions that include definitions of words and other commentary. There are simplified versions for younger readers. There are illustrated ones and another that went to Shelley's notes and manuscripts to retell the story as they believe she originally intended. Regardless, I'm sure you're correct (and I said as much in my initial response) that there probably are unnecessary junk versions of the public domain stuff. If Amazon cares about their ecosystem, as they should, this crap should get trimmed away from the active store eventually. That some junk got in before doesn't make it wrong to clamp down on new junk.
That said, the Amazon response is a bit curious given that the free public domain books include this disclaimer right on the Amazon page: "This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web."
Yet they allow sales of works in the public domain such as Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, etc., which are freely available in electronic form on the Internet as well.
Yes, I've "bought" all of those books on Kindle. Of course, you failed to mention that they are available for $0.00. (Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland) To be fair, I would wager you can find non-free versions of these from others but Amazon must be exercising some control or there would thousands of versions of these public domain books in the store. The real issue is not the fact that it can be gotten for free elsewhere - the problem is that Dusty is not obviously the author or copyright owner of the material. Perhaps this case is perfectly innocent and there is no problem with him publishing the material under his name, but if Amazon cares about the quality of their marketplace, they ought to be careful about letting any random person scrape a community-created document from the internet and publish it as an ebook.
This thread actually brings up another point that I've wondered about recently. With the recent reports of ebook sells now outstripping printed books, I have to imagine that the huge number of free ebooks contribute significantly to these "sales" numbers. If I download a free book from Amazon, it is treated like a purchased item. Google does the same on their Play store. I've purchased about 40 Kindle books and spent less than $10.00 because most were free. I would love to see the ebook vs printed book numbers if you exclude all the free ebooks.
I was in the DC metro area recently and took a screenshot of a speedtest because I couldn't believe it. A Samsung SIII on AT&T registered 45M down. Unfortunately, we can't touch that at home because there is no AT&T LTE coverage anywhere in our state.
My issue with the organizations like the NRA is that they tend to promote the toys, but not the well regulated malitia that would stand between the populous and foreign or domestic raiding force. Where is the support of rocketry clubs that could actually provide a real defense against helicopters that would place boots on the ground? Clustering a few E engines in a simple shell could deliver enough reactant to be seriously annoying. But all they talk about is how a few pop guns are going to fend off the tanks and hummers.
Anything more than this gets you a one-way ticket to a federal prison as a domestic terrorist. The US Government and national media successfully turned the notion of a militia into a slur during the Clinton years. Just saying you belonged to a militia meant you were at least a right-wing kook and more likely a dangerous terrorist.
I've met a lot of people in this category while attending music festivals. Most were older couples who retired, sold their home, and bought a really nice RV. They spend the winter in the south and the summer visiting family and festivals.
If the US wanted him extradited, it would be much easier to get him extradited from the UK to the US than from Sweden
Upon what do you base your claim?
This is Sweden that wants him for questioning, and the UK has agreed to extradite him. It's that simple. Don't try to complicate it with conspiracy theories.
Your choice to ignore the many problematic facts in this case does not make them go away for everyone else.
If any country asks for any person to be extradited, the Swedish courts will look at the extradition request that they get, and judge whether it's valid and doesn't contravene Swedish law (Sweden would not, for example, extradite a person to a country with exceedingly harsh punishments, like death penalty or whipping). In order for Sweden to give this assurance without even having received an extradition request, they would have to issue a carte blanc for Julian Assange versus any requests coming from USA, which other people won't get. That does not jive with everyone being equal, nor with Swedish law.
So Swedish law would prohibit them from extraditing a person to a country with the death penalty, but Swedish law also prevents Sweden from assuring us that they will follow this law? What?
If Sweden merely wants to question Assange about the claimed rape, why not do it in the UK?
And you'd get no bonus points for standing up to Microsoft.
Absolutely! Right up until they caved to a Microsoft "investment" of over $600 million. Ask Nokia how their Microsoft partnership is working out.
With that said, that excuse is several years old now. Look at now... 2012... and the balance sheet of the country...When are people going to realize how much in perpetual debt service (i.e. interest-only payments FOREVER) was added during these four years that could've been going towards that "building a positive image, making new discoveries...", but will now going into international bankers' coffers? If Obama would've taken even a half-hearted swing and curbing the annual, national deficits, I'd listen, but his administration (and Congress) are not taking them seriously...If Obama is re-elected, and we go thorugh four more years of trillions more added to the debt, and still no long-term fixes to Social Security, Medicare, etc. is he going to still blame Bush and ask for a 3rd term - perhaps because that's what FDR needed? "Make no mistake... By 2020, I'll have the American economy evolving back into the superpower that it once was. China, India, and Brazil will once again fear our economic might... "
Fair enough, but what's the alternative? Are you assuming that Romney and Ryan will improve this situation? No politician who is willing to fix this has a prayer at getting elected in America.
Want to talk about some crazy fingers, watch a banjo player. Bela Fleck is considered one of the world's premier banjo players, spanning genres as diverse as traditional bluegrass, jazz, classical, and pop. As a kid, he practiced 8+ hours a day, every day. He attended New York City's High School of Music and Art. FFS, his parents named him Béla Anton Leo Fleck, after composers Béla Bartók, Anton Dvorak, and Leo Janáek.
It worked for me the one time I tried it. The hard drive was knocking like a fiend and the computer wouldn't boot. I wrapped the drive in plastic wrap before freezing it then unwrapped it right before plugging it in. I had no condensation problems and I was able to recover the data needed.
My sister-in-law is the office manager at a small business and their computer died a few years ago without a recent backup. When they powered it up, the hard drive just knocked repeatedly and the machine wouldn't boot. I was able to recover everything they needed from the drive by placing it in the freezer then installing it back in the computer. The first time or two it booted but quickly failed again. I believe it was on the third try that it continued working long enough for me to copy the files they needed.
The process may not be dependable or optimal, but "No" is not the absolute answer.
Not everyone that disagrees with you is dishonest or bought and paid for.
Absolutely, but Florian is. I'm sorry if you are somehow completely unaware of Florian's status as a paid shill who is terrible at his supposed job. That doesn't mean everything he says is wrong, but his well-funded bias makes him a worthless source of actual information. It is public information that he is paid by Microsoft and Oracle. It is relatively simple to read his blog for any amount of time and see that his opinions driving his analysis do not square with his claimed support of FOSS and opposition to software patents. You can review his history and see that he moved from marketing and PR to a well-placed position as an analyst and blogger in the software patent world.
Because Florian is one of the best and most prolific law bloggers on the web today.
Florian is not a lawyer, not a patent expert, and not a good law blogger. He is a paid shill and prolific blogger. I avoid his site these days but I've read a lot of his stuff over the past few years and it is generally trash. During the Google v. Oracle case, he routinely misrepresented what was said by the judge, the attorneys, and the witnesses. His analysis was obviously shoddy to anyone not relying on FOSSpatents for 100% of their reporting. His predictions did not pan out. He is a shill paid by Microsoft and Oracle. He is an enemy of FOSS and a proponent of software patent abuse, exactly counter to what he claims. His background is in software marketing, not legal, and it shows.
Anyone quoting him or linking to his blog is demonstrating their ignorance of who he is and what he represents.
According to TFA, this is the data sent to the Russian servers when you use it to make a "purchase":
-restriction level of app
-id of app
-id of version
-guid of your idevice
-quantity of in-app purchase
-offer name of in-app purchase
-language you are using
-identifier of application
-version of application
-your locale
Oh that's a rich. A Microsoft troll account accusing Google of smearing Microsoft. Good stuff!
This might have been feeding a troll...
Let's see. Brand new account, other posts are pro-Microsoft, and he worked a slam on Google into a post about Iceland and Wikileaks. We have a winner!
Since I have no mod points I'll add that I agree with you completely. I never used the search button and prefer the contextual menu button. I would much rather let the app display a menu button when there is an actual menu available rather than have a dedicated button that often does nothing when you press it. And, I've found the multitasking button is used more than any other button. I love it. And while I came to hate the stiff buttons on my OG Droid and Droid X, I find myself accidentally touching the home "button" on my GN while trying to hit the space bar. My SMS or email message just went away and I'm back to the desktop. Thankfully I can just hit the multitasking button and go right back to where I was.
I'm the same way. Every time I log into Amazon now I have a whole page of "This item's price has changed" notices. But I can deal with that versus some of the other changes I've noticed recently.
Amazon apparently changed the algorithm for deciding which item gets returned when you search for something that has multiple listings. If I search for some SD cards, the one returned is never the cheapest and often isn't even the real Amazon listing but some random storefront. And where I used to find that Amazon sold it, now there are 40 storefronts that sell it but Amazon doesn't. So there are fewer and fewer items qualifying for free shipping. And those that use Amazon for order fulfillment set their prices to be one cent less than the cheapest competitor plus their shipping costs. So you no longer save by using a store that fulfills via Amazon.
There's also a huge number of items listed on Amazon stores that are insanely expensive. For example, I needed new filters for my pool pump. They were listed by several stores on Amazon, all at an extremely high price. The manufacturer sells the filter for about 1/3 of the cost directly from their web site.
Like the OP, I've used eBay more and more recently because Amazon is turning into a cesspool.
Which has shit all to do with this thread. Calling the Times a "yellow DNC mouthpiece" completely ignores what happened there less than 10 years ago. I don't disagree with their reputation problem, but making it a partisan issue is wrong.
Indeed. All that DNC work that Judith Miller and the Times did in the lead up to the Iraq invasion was something. /sarcasm
Glad it worked out for you. My laptop RMA story went much worse. They somehow lost the laptop after receiving it, then lied and said they didn't get it. I spent two months dealing with lying customer support people before finally reversing the charges and swearing to never deal with those crooks again.
Just hope you never have a problem because their customer service has gone down the toilet.