Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(Shrug) It's the standard in electronic documents in general. For everything recorded in one of those other formats, there are 5,000.PDFs./didn't seem to sink in the first time, so I'll go for a -1, Redundant
(Shrug) It's the standard in electronic documents in general. For everything recorded in one of those other formats, there are 5,000.PDFs.
Which is a damned good thing, because nobody will use.txt because it isn't sexy and buzzword-compliant, and 50 years from now, you're going to be screwed royally if you need to read a MOBI or PalmDOC document.
Yet more lameness for which Sony or Apple would be cast into outer darkness if they took the same approach with music files. (There's a copy-protect bit in MP3 frame headers, too, remember?)
For actual, serious e-book reading, PDF is an inferior format. Period. What you're doing sounds like it involves reading scanned technical manuals or other documentation. For that purpose, you probably want something with higher resolution, and even better, colour. Either way, Kindle isn't the best choice. I'd suggest something along the lines of a tablet PC.
Yeah, I don't disagree, but then.MP3 isn't the "best" audio format, either. It's just the standard, and if you're building an audio player, you get the basics right before getting fancy. All I'm saying is that the same should be true of the Kindle, especially in its second generation.
I doubt I'll be happy with anything unless/until there's a tablet version of the iPhone with improbably-good battery life.
Finally, someone who knows what he's talking about here
True or false? The Kindle can read.PDFs transferred directly to it, and display them exactly as intended by the author, using either the manufacturer's proprietary transfer application or any of several popular reverse-engineered ones.
If the answer to that is "true," then I apologize, because I'm spreading FUD and working from incorrect information. I don't own a Kindle myself, because the above is my understanding.
Amazon will do whatever format conversion they need to, and then e-mail the docs back to you. You can then copy them to your Kindle via USB, and you didn't get charged a red cent.
Again, if Apple required a process like that, nobody would give them anything but derision.
Well, he does. He can do nothing for the rest of his life if he wants. In fact, his children could probably live comfortably off the Apple ][ inheritance.
Only because it was such a big hit that he literally ended up with more money than he could spend.
Ever see LOST? There is (was) an Apple II in the Swan hatch, acting as a terminal for a larger computer. There was also a 70s-vintage hi-fi system, on which the character in the hatch was heard playing Mama Cass Elliott's "Make Your Own Kind of Music," from 1969.
You can damn well rest assured that whoever owns the rights to Bubblegum, Lemonade, and Something for Mama is still getting a few ducats every time that episode airs, and every time somebody buys the DVD set.
But no love for Apple, huh. What value is Mama Cass adding to the show that the Apple II isn't?
They're both props. One of them has a rightsholder who will still be raking in bucks well into the 21st century. Why is Mama Cass's record company "entitled" to residuals, but not Apple Computer?
Sony's got to be kicking themselves, wondering where they went wrong. When they released a portable digital Walkman without native support for.MP3s, people just laughed at them.
Yet when Amazon releases a portable reader without native support for.PDFs, people trample their own mothers to get in line to buy one.
Can you imagine the derision people would have for Apple if you had to email your.MP3s to convert@apple.com to put them on your iPod or iPhone?
Hmm. On a per-share basis, they actually don't have much cash at all (9E9 shares outstanding, $20E9 in the bank, so their cash value is only about $2/share.)
And Ballmer has shown all the restraint and conservative business acumen of a recent lottery winner. "Gee, I think I'll use the company's entire war chest to, um, buy Yahoo! Yeah, that's it, Yahoo! I can has Yahoo?"
Sounds like a lot of downside, more than their cash reserves can cushion.
I am going to also assume you never read the parts of the New Testament in which Jesus said to be passive and peaceful instead of aggressive and warmongering.
Or the part where He commanded His followers to go short on fashionable outerwear and long on swords?
The faster the disc spins, the stronger the laser has to be. The lasers in DVD burners are already powerful enough to do real damage. There's probably some reluctance on manufacturers' part to hand out class-IV lasers for $29.99 with mail-in rebate.
The problem with Dawkins is that he is simply intolerant of any other viewpoint.
How tolerant would you be of the Flat-Earth movement if they began to make serious inroads into your legislature and educational institutions? Denial of evolution by natural selection is an absurdity on the same level, at this point in time.
No one should be any more tolerant of publicly-sanctioned religious stupidity than they would be of racism, sexism, or anything else that threatens the underpinnings of civil society.
I'm not saying UDF is encumbered; I have no idea if it is. I'm saying the fact that it's got an ISO/IEC number does not mean it's not encumbered. Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression from your earlier comment.
The objections raised here, however, aren't really accurate. Plus you're watering down the real issues (DRM, lock-in) with horseshit issues.
Again with the insults. Why was it "horseshit," by universal agreement, to be forced to use Sony's proprietary transcoding program on.MP3 files, while it's perfectly cromulent to be forced to email.PDFs to Amazon?
My understanding is that no, there's no conversion app that you can run yourself to put.PDFs on your Kindle. If this is incorrect, then my bad. If true, then I stand by my assertion that it's stupid to release an e-reader that won't read a more-or-less open, universally standardized document format. It makes no more sense than releasing a portable music player that can't handle.MP3 files natively.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll be interested in hearing why the First Amendment suddenly does not apply to regulation of the press in Utah.
"Score 1, Offtopic." As usual: the stupid, it burns.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(Shrug) It's the standard in electronic documents in general. For everything recorded in one of those other formats, there are 5,000 .PDFs. /didn't seem to sink in the first time, so I'll go for a -1, Redundant
(Shrug) It's the standard in electronic documents in general. For everything recorded in one of those other formats, there are 5,000 .PDFs.
Which is a damned good thing, because nobody will use .txt because it isn't sexy and buzzword-compliant, and 50 years from now, you're going to be screwed royally if you need to read a MOBI or PalmDOC document.
Yet more lameness for which Sony or Apple would be cast into outer darkness if they took the same approach with music files. (There's a copy-protect bit in MP3 frame headers, too, remember?)
For actual, serious e-book reading, PDF is an inferior format. Period. What you're doing sounds like it involves reading scanned technical manuals or other documentation. For that purpose, you probably want something with higher resolution, and even better, colour. Either way, Kindle isn't the best choice. I'd suggest something along the lines of a tablet PC.
Yeah, I don't disagree, but then .MP3 isn't the "best" audio format, either. It's just the standard, and if you're building an audio player, you get the basics right before getting fancy. All I'm saying is that the same should be true of the Kindle, especially in its second generation.
I doubt I'll be happy with anything unless/until there's a tablet version of the iPhone with improbably-good battery life.
'course, who would want to direct render a PDF on a device like the Kindle in the first place?
Someone with a metric assload of scanned documents, with formatting that needs to be preserved. That would be me.
Finally, someone who knows what he's talking about here
True or false? The Kindle can read .PDFs transferred directly to it, and display them exactly as intended by the author, using either the manufacturer's proprietary transfer application or any of several popular reverse-engineered ones.
If the answer to that is "true," then I apologize, because I'm spreading FUD and working from incorrect information. I don't own a Kindle myself, because the above is my understanding.
Amazon will do whatever format conversion they need to, and then e-mail the docs back to you. You can then copy them to your Kindle via USB, and you didn't get charged a red cent.
Again, if Apple required a process like that, nobody would give them anything but derision.
Well, he does. He can do nothing for the rest of his life if he wants. In fact, his children could probably live comfortably off the Apple ][ inheritance.
Only because it was such a big hit that he literally ended up with more money than he could spend.
Ever see LOST? There is (was) an Apple II in the Swan hatch, acting as a terminal for a larger computer. There was also a 70s-vintage hi-fi system, on which the character in the hatch was heard playing Mama Cass Elliott's "Make Your Own Kind of Music," from 1969.
You can damn well rest assured that whoever owns the rights to Bubblegum, Lemonade, and Something for Mama is still getting a few ducats every time that episode airs, and every time somebody buys the DVD set.
But no love for Apple, huh. What value is Mama Cass adding to the show that the Apple II isn't?
They're both props. One of them has a rightsholder who will still be raking in bucks well into the 21st century. Why is Mama Cass's record company "entitled" to residuals, but not Apple Computer?
Sony's got to be kicking themselves, wondering where they went wrong. When they released a portable digital Walkman without native support for .MP3s, people just laughed at them.
Yet when Amazon releases a portable reader without native support for .PDFs, people trample their own mothers to get in line to buy one.
Can you imagine the derision people would have for Apple if you had to email your .MP3s to convert@apple.com to put them on your iPod or iPhone?
Many great artists only had one or two truly great works in them. Some only created one (such as JD Salinger).
So did Steve Wozniak. Why doesn't he get to milk the Apple ][ for the rest of his life? Just because he's an "engineer" and not an "artist"?
Artists are not the unique and beautiful snowflakes that US copyright law says they are.
Hmm. On a per-share basis, they actually don't have much cash at all (9E9 shares outstanding, $20E9 in the bank, so their cash value is only about $2/share.)
And Ballmer has shown all the restraint and conservative business acumen of a recent lottery winner. "Gee, I think I'll use the company's entire war chest to, um, buy Yahoo! Yeah, that's it, Yahoo! I can has Yahoo?"
Sounds like a lot of downside, more than their cash reserves can cushion.
I am going to also assume you never read the parts of the New Testament in which Jesus said to be passive and peaceful instead of aggressive and warmongering.
Or the part where He commanded His followers to go short on fashionable outerwear and long on swords?
If you're sharing a stage with Harlan Ellison, you'd damn well better crank up your douche factor, or nobody will even notice you're there.
The faster the disc spins, the stronger the laser has to be. The lasers in DVD burners are already powerful enough to do real damage. There's probably some reluctance on manufacturers' part to hand out class-IV lasers for $29.99 with mail-in rebate.
Adults with imaginary friends should be given medical help, not Slashdot accounts.
The problem with Dawkins is that he is simply intolerant of any other viewpoint.
How tolerant would you be of the Flat-Earth movement if they began to make serious inroads into your legislature and educational institutions? Denial of evolution by natural selection is an absurdity on the same level, at this point in time.
No one should be any more tolerant of publicly-sanctioned religious stupidity than they would be of racism, sexism, or anything else that threatens the underpinnings of civil society.
where do you come from, let's give someone the chance to lump you in with your neighbors.
Oklahoma.
And yeah, he's pretty much on target with his observation.
Who's to say that there isn't a god, and he/she/it didn't design evolution?
William of Ockham, for one. When considering a question, you don't introduce entities ("Gods" in this case) for no good reason.
I'm not saying UDF is encumbered; I have no idea if it is. I'm saying the fact that it's got an ISO/IEC number does not mean it's not encumbered. Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression from your earlier comment.
UDF is an ISO/IEC standard, so the format itself is not patent encumbered.
Um, that doesn't mean it's not patent encumbered. MP3 is patent-encumbered all to hell, and it's an ISO/IEC standard.
The carriers can "compete" using their own money. Not with public funds.
Translation: Who wants a patent suit from Digg.com?
The objections raised here, however, aren't really accurate. Plus you're watering down the real issues (DRM, lock-in) with horseshit issues.
Again with the insults. Why was it "horseshit," by universal agreement, to be forced to use Sony's proprietary transcoding program on .MP3 files, while it's perfectly cromulent to be forced to email .PDFs to Amazon?
My understanding is that no, there's no conversion app that you can run yourself to put .PDFs on your Kindle. If this is incorrect, then my bad. If true, then I stand by my assertion that it's stupid to release an e-reader that won't read a more-or-less open, universally standardized document format. It makes no more sense than releasing a portable music player that can't handle .MP3 files natively.