Apple, Microsoft & Google have got to be getting sick of this - they need to open up their wallets and toss some serious money towards lobbyists to get the patent system changed.
And if they are not getting sick of this: shame on them!
In the linked article he says "...I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail...". Whoever wrote the slashdot headline is the one who said "Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail"
Of course. I think thats great. I often borrow from the library now. At other times I purchase books. The problem with borrowing from the library is that they don't have an unlimited selection. If I want book A, and its on loan, with a 10 person waiting list then I have to wait... Or I could log into the Sony store and rent it right now. So, sure - free when that makes sense, but available for rent when that makes sense.
I don't like the idea of buying digital books for many reasons: 1) I can't pass them on after reading them, 2) its easy to loose your entire library by misplacing one reader, 3) the price difference between a printed book and a digital book seems small (or even non-existent), etc.
I would be likely to buy an eReader (Nook/Kindle,etc) if they offered a rental service. $1/day or $5/week (per book) or something like that. I don't see any point in actually buying eBooks - but I would like to rent them.
I think thats the model that will make these things take off.
I think the eBook people are totally missing the ball on what business model to choose. I'd buy one if they used a rental system rather than a purchase system. It makes no sense to me to buy a book on a reader. I loose too much "book" functionality. But if I could rent one for a dollar a day - sign me up - I'd be spending $365 a year on books. DRM the hell out of it - I don't care: I'm just renting it. I don't want to keep it on my shelf. I don't want to lend it to anyone. I just want to read the thing. If its a "keeper", then I'll go out and buy a dead-tree edition.
Find the right business model and eBooks will work. They haven't found it yet...
According to arstechnica's keynote LiveBlog, Steve said:
Retina display has 326 pixels per inch... It turns out there's a "magic number" right around 300 pixels per inch. When you hold something about 10-12 inches away from your eye, there's a limit in the human retina to differentiate the pixels... at 326 pixels, we are comfortably over that limit
I think they are using the wrong model with ebooks. I think they should be using the rental model. I'd happily pay a few bucks a week for a book. If I don't have time to finish it, charge me a couple bucks more to renew. If in a few years I want to read it again, I'd happily pay that again to have it "instantly" at my fingertips. Probably there are some books I would think about purchasing in ebook format - but in most cases, renting would be fine with me. (And of course, there are still some books that I would like to own hard copies of). I think music, video and books all need slightly different business models in the internet world.
I saw Avitar a couple of weeks ago in 3D and it looked great. I specifically arrived at the theater to catch that showing. If I were to see it again, I'd probably try to catch it in 3d again if it was convent. I didn't mind paying the extra few buck and wearing the stoopid glasses.
Then about a week later, I went and saw Up in the Air. It was a great movie too. However, if it had optionally been offered in 3d, theres no way in the world I would have made a special trip or paid a penny more to see it in 3d.
Probably for 95% of what I watch on tv, 3d is of no interest to me. Even if Avitar where to come out in 3d at home. I am not sure the 3d would really be the same on a home screen. Even a 50 or 60 inch screen. And certainly not something under 40 inches.
I can see a lot of push back from consumers on this.
Microsoft wants you to use your own copies of Word, Excel, Exchange server and the rest, so that you do not have to trust in cloud computing. They want to sell you (or rent to you) software that allows you control your own data. They may be hedging their bets with some of their latest cloud offerings... but really - they'd prefer to rent you software that allows you to save your data on your own network and your own hard disk.
"Before finalizing your decision to move away from MS Office to an online service, perhaps you should review some of the hazards of trusting your data to others. There has been some recent events that might cause you to want to hold onto your own data"
Hehehe... just kidding - I am sure there is nothing underhanded about the whole thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple, Microsoft & Google have got to be getting sick of this - they need to open up their wallets and toss some serious money towards lobbyists to get the patent system changed.
And if they are not getting sick of this: shame on them!
Just sayin...
"I'm looking to build a family tree for a holiday gift."
Real men wait until the 24th before tossing together mom's gift.
In the linked article he says "...I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail...". Whoever wrote the slashdot headline is the one who said "Michael Moore Posts Julian Assange's Bail"
Arstechnica just posted a nice companion piece to this: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/42-german-p2p-fine-stark-contrast-to-seven-figure-us-judgments.ars
Of course. I think thats great. I often borrow from the library now. At other times I purchase books. The problem with borrowing from the library is that they don't have an unlimited selection. If I want book A, and its on loan, with a 10 person waiting list then I have to wait... Or I could log into the Sony store and rent it right now. So, sure - free when that makes sense, but available for rent when that makes sense.
I don't like the idea of buying digital books for many reasons: 1) I can't pass them on after reading them, 2) its easy to loose your entire library by misplacing one reader, 3) the price difference between a printed book and a digital book seems small (or even non-existent), etc.
I would be likely to buy an eReader (Nook/Kindle,etc) if they offered a rental service. $1/day or $5/week (per book) or something like that. I don't see any point in actually buying eBooks - but I would like to rent them.
I think thats the model that will make these things take off.
I am reminded of a saying I heard years ago:
If you owe the bank 100 thousand dollars and you can't pay, then you have a serious problem.
But, if you owe the bank 100 million dollars and you can't pay, then the BANK has a serious problem.
I think the eBook people are totally missing the ball on what business model to choose. I'd buy one if they used a rental system rather than a purchase system. It makes no sense to me to buy a book on a reader. I loose too much "book" functionality. But if I could rent one for a dollar a day - sign me up - I'd be spending $365 a year on books. DRM the hell out of it - I don't care: I'm just renting it. I don't want to keep it on my shelf. I don't want to lend it to anyone. I just want to read the thing. If its a "keeper", then I'll go out and buy a dead-tree edition.
Find the right business model and eBooks will work. They haven't found it yet...
According to arstechnica's keynote LiveBlog, Steve said:
Retina display has 326 pixels per inch ... ...
It turns out there's a "magic number" right around 300 pixels per inch. When you hold something about 10-12 inches away from your eye, there's a limit in the human retina to differentiate the pixels
at 326 pixels, we are comfortably over that limit
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/06/wwdc-keynote-steve-jobs-liveblog.ars
Thats crazy talk!
Unless they reboot the story by placing it in AN ALTERNATE SPACE/TIME CONTINUUM!
...didn't see THAT coming, did ya?
Lame...
Its my theory that thinking "correlation is not causation" causes a person to study statistics.
Jeepers dude - give away the whole story why don't you...
The failure is obviously with the producers of grammar checking software.
That would be sad... but its the same as buggy whip manufacturers, right?
So the library business model must change.
Any law that legalizes DRM could also mandate it in a form that allows "lending" of material for a limited amount of time from authorized agents.
Don't get me wrong: DRM is generally bad IMO... but ebooks don't mean the death of libraries. Or at least they don't have to...
I think they are using the wrong model with ebooks. I think they should be using the rental model. I'd happily pay a few bucks a week for a book. If I don't have time to finish it, charge me a couple bucks more to renew. If in a few years I want to read it again, I'd happily pay that again to have it "instantly" at my fingertips. Probably there are some books I would think about purchasing in ebook format - but in most cases, renting would be fine with me. (And of course, there are still some books that I would like to own hard copies of). I think music, video and books all need slightly different business models in the internet world.
I saw Avitar a couple of weeks ago in 3D and it looked great. I specifically arrived at the theater to catch that showing. If I were to see it again, I'd probably try to catch it in 3d again if it was convent. I didn't mind paying the extra few buck and wearing the stoopid glasses.
Then about a week later, I went and saw Up in the Air. It was a great movie too. However, if it had optionally been offered in 3d, theres no way in the world I would have made a special trip or paid a penny more to see it in 3d.
Probably for 95% of what I watch on tv, 3d is of no interest to me. Even if Avitar where to come out in 3d at home. I am not sure the 3d would really be the same on a home screen. Even a 50 or 60 inch screen. And certainly not something under 40 inches.
I can see a lot of push back from consumers on this.
"If a network is not fully loaded, it's hard to know exactly how much demand is out there"
If only there was an app for that!
This seems fishy to me.
Microsoft wants you to use your own copies of Word, Excel, Exchange server and the rest, so that you do not have to trust in cloud computing. They want to sell you (or rent to you) software that allows you control your own data. They may be hedging their bets with some of their latest cloud offerings... but really - they'd prefer to rent you software that allows you to save your data on your own network and your own hard disk.
"Before finalizing your decision to move away from MS Office to an online service, perhaps you should review some of the hazards of trusting your data to others. There has been some recent events that might cause you to want to hold onto your own data"
Hehehe... just kidding - I am sure there is nothing underhanded about the whole thing.
So aliens may already be living in the tinfoil that I make my hats with!?!?!?!?
ooops - thanks - email me at 23@girlzkick.com
I'd love one thanks.
I've been keeping my systems pretty current with mozilla -- what (if anything) do I loose on the browser side by going with firefox rather than moz?