Apple buying up rights to millions of books...
on
Kindle Versus The iPhone
·
· Score: 2, Informative
...several years ago, there was a credible media report that Apple were/are buying up the rights to a large number of books. Further, the multitouch interface used by the iPhone and iPod Touch would lend itself perfectly to an 'eBook'. No need to use external buttons like the Kindle, simply drag your fingers across the screen to turn the page, or pinch your fingers to zoom in. Not to mention using iTunes to make a purchase and download it. Oh, and most importantly, it won't be the iPhone that allows all this, but an all new device under development by Apple. Where's the iBook laptop? No where. But the trademark still exists. Go figure...
a) The music industry has itself to blame for overcharging. b) When I was a wee lad, we used to use tape cassettes to record of the radio AND copy out buddies original cassettes or vinyl. HOWEVER, and this is the important bit and the cruz of it all, someone had to pay for the original if it was not recorded off the radio (where the DJ would often talk over the intro and/or ending) so everything worked out ok really. Just like people BUY books and lend or give them to friends and family. Greed has and always will be the downfall of any entity. Even Apple's greed is going to hurt their sales of the iPhone in Europe.
You are spot on. Be great if the manufacturers of hardware license Apple's multi-touch interface tech though. Apple license Quicktime & Firewire so hopefully they will do the same with what is without doubt, a stunning and far more intuitive manner in which to interact with ones toys.
1) BBC (once a trusted institution) caught fabricating programming, not to mention what the other broadcasters get up to. 2) Crime massively on the rise, with no police action, they are too busy pulling over the sensible middle class for driving 40 MPH in a 35MPH zone. 3) BBC cutting 2500 staff, mainly in 'Factual Programming'. See item 1). 4) Extremist entities being given more airtime than others who have a more constructive and honest message. 5) General massive dumbing down of our society with a focus on replacing ethics with hard wired technology and business before democracy. Those living in the UK who care will understand what I mean. What is ironic, is that most of the complex illnesses that these hybrids may or may not cure are caused by our lifestyles. Just look at all the cancer causing materias in the typical household cupboard. Not to mention the polutants in our environment, such as PCBs etc. Let's tackle the cause, not spend billions fixing things. IMHO!
Having lived and done biz in Sililcon Valley, I can confirm (as I am sure can many readers of this fine forum) that a large number of large deals, acquisitions etc come about for the following two reasons: a) To prevent a potential competitor from moving first. b) Ego. I won't dwell on b), but if anyone reading this has spent any amount of time with the wealthy or those who may feel in a position of power through wealth, you will know what I am talking about. Of course, there are viable strategic acquisitions, such as licensing or purchasing a patented technology, such as Sony's licensing of Faruja line doubling technology, but a good 50% are an ego trip or item a). If eBay imagined people would call up their trading partner using Skype, they had another thing coming. Why? Because in real life, people interact with multiple buyers/sellers and so cannot possibly chat with everyone. Why? Time zones! The reason email and sending messages (such as using Facebook etc) is is because you don't need to be 'awake' at the time of the communication, something you do need to be with VoYPE. Anyway, personally, I much prefer to just pick up the phone. Better call quality, no lost connections, and I can crash on the sofa while talking...:-)
I have been through TWO Rev A Macbooks. The first one was so unreliable and faulty, our (excellent) dealer (Micro Anvika, London) replaced it a few weeks after purchase. My second one, now a year old, has suffered ongoing problems related to sleep. a) After logging in, it would go back to sleep and be very difficult to wake up using a combination of closing and opening the lid or getting impatient and doing a data losing hard restart. b) The machine would simply not wake up from sleep or wake up with the pointer visible, but no login panel. (I have photo to prove it.) c) Machine waking up on and off during the night, despite the 'wake for network activity' checkbox switched OFF. In addition, my otherwise excellent Apple Bluetooth keyboard does sometimes lose the connection, although that could just be power saving. Anyway, what is interesting is that one of the service techs at Micro Anvika once mentioned they had to replace my Bluetooth module as it had failed while they were fixing something else. And they mentioned this was common. So, it seems all these reports are correct and if it's Bluetooth that's behind all these sleep problems Macbook owners are experiencing, then maybe this will help Apple find out what's the haps and fix it pronto liko before peeps get iGry. Are YOU iGry?
a) How many bombs go off in Chicago? b) How many people are murdered? Just like in the UK, here we have useless technology that only profits manufacture and government yet doing nothing to cure the social ills that are the reason for said murders and general problems facing the US and UK. Hopefully the American people will rise up and stop this madness before the US becomes like the UK, whereby CCTV has done nothing but isolate people and prevent a false sense of security. Remember folks, it really is all about money. Democracy is being replaced by a cold distant mechanised alternative. And unlike the movies, which superhero is going to stop it?
If I am on the phone and want something, I will seek out the best of what there is through research - I will pay NO attention to advertising that TELLS me what I should or should not want. There is a difference between non-intrusive (sometimes entertaining) advertising in (say) print magazines where one gets to learn about something new - perhaps in a field one would not have discovered without the ad - and the opposite of having unwanted information shoved in ones face in a manner that makes assumptions about me. Amazing with all the technology and (supposed) brilliance available in the tech sector that this sort of crap and those annoying small pop up 'ads' that appear over hyperlinked words on websites like GSM Arena that this is all 'we' can come up with. What a waste of mankind! No wonder we're failing to solve the world's problems, our intellectual capital is tied up thinking of pathetic ways to squeeze a tiny more money out of each individuals persona. If you develop a service (such as VoIP) that does its job, then people will pay for it - and you are then answerable to any failings of said service. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. Pay money, get warranty.
- HSDPS for speedy connectivity, like our fantastic wireless broadband laptop cards (way better than 3G)
- 3MP or greater auto focus camera with optical zoom
And the world will like these things....
- A2DP wireless bluetooth because wires are tangly poos
- 10 preset zoom levels for the (Safari) web browser and other zoomable apps (on screen buttons labeled 1 to 10 to jump to your fav zoom level)
- An improved on screen keyboard is not required as it won't be long before a 3rd party produces a wireless or wired external tactile keyboard embedded in a nice case
- I have some other original ideas but may just keep them too myself as they may be to hot to give away...
I have always believed the Mac Mini to the Apple's most important product. Even more so than the iPod that is easier for Sony and others to eventually get right and compete against. With a complex desktop OS, things are different as the barrier to entry is greater. What Apple forgets is people have needs and like choice. If I look for a car from Ford, I can choose form a small compact (Ka, Escort etc) through to the Mondeo or US equivalents. With Apple, there is no small foot print solution unless you buy a Mini and add a small 15" monitor. But when people go shopping and there is a Mac mini on display, it is normally hooked up to a huge 30". The original iMac and the first LCD one were compact (width wise) and the LCD one had that excellent swivel monitor. The base could be positioned anywhere. Same with the Mac Mini. Now, where Apple went wrong is with Apple TV. It is NOT a convergence device. It does not do enough. What they should have done is created two versions of the Mac Mini, one a convergence device full of decent graphics and video hardware and the other, a low cost entry level small business / student machine. Instead, it's currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If the owners of a business don't posess enough common sense and concept of decency to protect their users, then they don't deserve and should not be permitted to run the business - no matter their corporate might! As posted on our news page, all that is required is that web portals finally start putting the well being of their users ahead of their shareholders because the silent majority of people will soon tire of being fodder for generally worthless 'advertising' that often relies upon breaches of our most sacred asset. And another point, with all the amazing technology and intellectual capital out there, isn't it about time that the industry begins to devise alternative methods with which to monotise their services? Thinking never hurt anyone./Rant over. Let the common sense begin!
finally, someone else who says 'peeps'! sweet! You must be Blitish like me!? Anyway, come the always on everywhere (& I mean everywhere) wireless broadband, yes, simply accessing your content remotely is the future. I for one find flickr annoying as it's trying to be cool rather than useful. it's tag system is very limiting.
Agreed. But, people have a choice. Apple are not forcing anyone to buy one, and if they upset people, they will see returns and lawsuits and change their ways. Believe it or not, the only thing I like about the iPhone is the ease of use and photo viewing as it syncs with iPhoto. But then, with the Viewty, you can take the photos on the phone and keep them there, while with the iPhone you take photos with your posh camera, upload them to your Mac or PC and then have to sync them with the iPhone! Confusing really.:-)
Don't get me wrong, am an avid Apple fan when it comes to some of their products, but the lack of flexibility with the iPhone is causing me concern. I have played with an LG Prada, which while lacking the raw power of an iPhone or Nokia N95, for example, does more than people think and has a great GUI. And from the video on this CNET Review it looks like their new 3G equipped Viewty now fixes the flaws in the Prada and does even more, such as the cool slo mo video and a haptic touch screen. The iPhone exists simply as a cash cow for Apple, and it's lack of flexibility could well mean it will only ever occupy the same portion of the market as their other non-iPod hardware while most of the world will purchase devices they can tailor to their requirements with memory expansion and a more open OS. While I do not believe the Viewty has a developer friendly OS, it is equipped with 3G & HSDPA and so will prove ideal for web services that can make up for lack of any more sophisticated on board applications. I want one, and I was going to get an iPhone. Probably not any more. Tell me I'm wrong.
This is not a unique idea, we at O'WONDER have been offering people in the UK 33% of our £295 lifetime membership fee to rep our directory at gonumber.com. Note, we are a directory, not a search engine, so our results are more succinct. We're initially just covering a few areas of London, but working to expand once we improve the service later in the year. Want to rep for us? Drop us a line to owonder.com/contact. Our price is high as membership is for life and we don't resell our data.
As per oil, the US economy runs on anything that can be re-sold at a decent profit, no matter it's effect on the environment or individual. While this comment is no attack on the American people (I am a Brit who lived in California for 10 years), the current anti-American feeling world-wide is not really due to the war in Iraq, but the rise of the Internet and therefore the ability for people to learn how the world and their bodies work - with no nefarious industry or government interference, means we're all seeing the light now.
With those LCD digital photoframes coming down in price, just about everyone online and more people owning devices that can display images and documents at a higher resolution, why do we need printers any more? At our company we have survived without printers for over a year now and just as we long ago dumped our fax which has been replaced by email, we do all our invoicing online using a PDF generator. What the recipients of our invoices do is up to them, but we have saved a fortune in money and trees! There is one exception, we use a sweet Canon CP-330 photo printer for marketing. But that printer is honest - you buy enough paper and ink rolls for 128 photos and you get 128 photos! Each print uses the exact same quantity of ink 'ribbon' to lay down the 4 colours on the paper. So folks, reduce your dead tree foot print and chuck your printer where it belongs, in the recycling bin!
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Spacecard - powered by gonumber.com. Boring, like a toaster, but it works - for some.
...several years ago, there was a credible media report that Apple were/are buying up the rights to a large number of books. Further, the multitouch interface used by the iPhone and iPod Touch would lend itself perfectly to an 'eBook'. No need to use external buttons like the Kindle, simply drag your fingers across the screen to turn the page, or pinch your fingers to zoom in. Not to mention using iTunes to make a purchase and download it. Oh, and most importantly, it won't be the iPhone that allows all this, but an all new device under development by Apple. Where's the iBook laptop? No where. But the trademark still exists. Go figure...
Typical, I write a great piece, but because I have been down the pub, it's full of typsos! Sorry folks! I'm not as think as you drunk I am !
a) The music industry has itself to blame for overcharging. b) When I was a wee lad, we used to use tape cassettes to record of the radio AND copy out buddies original cassettes or vinyl. HOWEVER, and this is the important bit and the cruz of it all, someone had to pay for the original if it was not recorded off the radio (where the DJ would often talk over the intro and/or ending) so everything worked out ok really. Just like people BUY books and lend or give them to friends and family. Greed has and always will be the downfall of any entity. Even Apple's greed is going to hurt their sales of the iPhone in Europe.
...to be kept informed, hit owonder.com/contact and submit the form.
Hmm?
You are spot on. Be great if the manufacturers of hardware license Apple's multi-touch interface tech though. Apple license Quicktime & Firewire so hopefully they will do the same with what is without doubt, a stunning and far more intuitive manner in which to interact with ones toys.
1) BBC (once a trusted institution) caught fabricating programming, not to mention what the other broadcasters get up to. 2) Crime massively on the rise, with no police action, they are too busy pulling over the sensible middle class for driving 40 MPH in a 35MPH zone. 3) BBC cutting 2500 staff, mainly in 'Factual Programming'. See item 1). 4) Extremist entities being given more airtime than others who have a more constructive and honest message. 5) General massive dumbing down of our society with a focus on replacing ethics with hard wired technology and business before democracy. Those living in the UK who care will understand what I mean. What is ironic, is that most of the complex illnesses that these hybrids may or may not cure are caused by our lifestyles. Just look at all the cancer causing materias in the typical household cupboard. Not to mention the polutants in our environment, such as PCBs etc. Let's tackle the cause, not spend billions fixing things. IMHO!
Having lived and done biz in Sililcon Valley, I can confirm (as I am sure can many readers of this fine forum) that a large number of large deals, acquisitions etc come about for the following two reasons: a) To prevent a potential competitor from moving first. b) Ego. I won't dwell on b), but if anyone reading this has spent any amount of time with the wealthy or those who may feel in a position of power through wealth, you will know what I am talking about. Of course, there are viable strategic acquisitions, such as licensing or purchasing a patented technology, such as Sony's licensing of Faruja line doubling technology, but a good 50% are an ego trip or item a). If eBay imagined people would call up their trading partner using Skype, they had another thing coming. Why? Because in real life, people interact with multiple buyers/sellers and so cannot possibly chat with everyone. Why? Time zones! The reason email and sending messages (such as using Facebook etc) is is because you don't need to be 'awake' at the time of the communication, something you do need to be with VoYPE. Anyway, personally, I much prefer to just pick up the phone. Better call quality, no lost connections, and I can crash on the sofa while talking... :-)
I have been through TWO Rev A Macbooks. The first one was so unreliable and faulty, our (excellent) dealer (Micro Anvika, London) replaced it a few weeks after purchase. My second one, now a year old, has suffered ongoing problems related to sleep. a) After logging in, it would go back to sleep and be very difficult to wake up using a combination of closing and opening the lid or getting impatient and doing a data losing hard restart. b) The machine would simply not wake up from sleep or wake up with the pointer visible, but no login panel. (I have photo to prove it.) c) Machine waking up on and off during the night, despite the 'wake for network activity' checkbox switched OFF. In addition, my otherwise excellent Apple Bluetooth keyboard does sometimes lose the connection, although that could just be power saving. Anyway, what is interesting is that one of the service techs at Micro Anvika once mentioned they had to replace my Bluetooth module as it had failed while they were fixing something else. And they mentioned this was common. So, it seems all these reports are correct and if it's Bluetooth that's behind all these sleep problems Macbook owners are experiencing, then maybe this will help Apple find out what's the haps and fix it pronto liko before peeps get iGry. Are YOU iGry?
a) How many bombs go off in Chicago? b) How many people are murdered? Just like in the UK, here we have useless technology that only profits manufacture and government yet doing nothing to cure the social ills that are the reason for said murders and general problems facing the US and UK. Hopefully the American people will rise up and stop this madness before the US becomes like the UK, whereby CCTV has done nothing but isolate people and prevent a false sense of security. Remember folks, it really is all about money. Democracy is being replaced by a cold distant mechanised alternative. And unlike the movies, which superhero is going to stop it?
If I am on the phone and want something, I will seek out the best of what there is through research - I will pay NO attention to advertising that TELLS me what I should or should not want. There is a difference between non-intrusive (sometimes entertaining) advertising in (say) print magazines where one gets to learn about something new - perhaps in a field one would not have discovered without the ad - and the opposite of having unwanted information shoved in ones face in a manner that makes assumptions about me. Amazing with all the technology and (supposed) brilliance available in the tech sector that this sort of crap and those annoying small pop up 'ads' that appear over hyperlinked words on websites like GSM Arena that this is all 'we' can come up with. What a waste of mankind! No wonder we're failing to solve the world's problems, our intellectual capital is tied up thinking of pathetic ways to squeeze a tiny more money out of each individuals persona. If you develop a service (such as VoIP) that does its job, then people will pay for it - and you are then answerable to any failings of said service. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. Pay money, get warranty.
With some Steve Steve software.
My bad. Dreaming of an iMac Touch. Now that would be hot.
- HSDPS for speedy connectivity, like our fantastic wireless broadband laptop cards (way better than 3G) - 3MP or greater auto focus camera with optical zoom And the world will like these things.... - A2DP wireless bluetooth because wires are tangly poos - 10 preset zoom levels for the (Safari) web browser and other zoomable apps (on screen buttons labeled 1 to 10 to jump to your fav zoom level) - An improved on screen keyboard is not required as it won't be long before a 3rd party produces a wireless or wired external tactile keyboard embedded in a nice case - I have some other original ideas but may just keep them too myself as they may be to hot to give away...
I have always believed the Mac Mini to the Apple's most important product. Even more so than the iPod that is easier for Sony and others to eventually get right and compete against. With a complex desktop OS, things are different as the barrier to entry is greater. What Apple forgets is people have needs and like choice. If I look for a car from Ford, I can choose form a small compact (Ka, Escort etc) through to the Mondeo or US equivalents. With Apple, there is no small foot print solution unless you buy a Mini and add a small 15" monitor. But when people go shopping and there is a Mac mini on display, it is normally hooked up to a huge 30". The original iMac and the first LCD one were compact (width wise) and the LCD one had that excellent swivel monitor. The base could be positioned anywhere. Same with the Mac Mini. Now, where Apple went wrong is with Apple TV. It is NOT a convergence device. It does not do enough. What they should have done is created two versions of the Mac Mini, one a convergence device full of decent graphics and video hardware and the other, a low cost entry level small business / student machine. Instead, it's currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If the owners of a business don't posess enough common sense and concept of decency to protect their users, then they don't deserve and should not be permitted to run the business - no matter their corporate might! As posted on our news page, all that is required is that web portals finally start putting the well being of their users ahead of their shareholders because the silent majority of people will soon tire of being fodder for generally worthless 'advertising' that often relies upon breaches of our most sacred asset. And another point, with all the amazing technology and intellectual capital out there, isn't it about time that the industry begins to devise alternative methods with which to monotise their services? Thinking never hurt anyone. /Rant over. Let the common sense begin!
finally, someone else who says 'peeps'! sweet! You must be Blitish like me!? Anyway, come the always on everywhere (& I mean everywhere) wireless broadband, yes, simply accessing your content remotely is the future. I for one find flickr annoying as it's trying to be cool rather than useful. it's tag system is very limiting.
Agreed. But, people have a choice. Apple are not forcing anyone to buy one, and if they upset people, they will see returns and lawsuits and change their ways. Believe it or not, the only thing I like about the iPhone is the ease of use and photo viewing as it syncs with iPhoto. But then, with the Viewty, you can take the photos on the phone and keep them there, while with the iPhone you take photos with your posh camera, upload them to your Mac or PC and then have to sync them with the iPhone! Confusing really. :-)
Don't get me wrong, am an avid Apple fan when it comes to some of their products, but the lack of flexibility with the iPhone is causing me concern. I have played with an LG Prada, which while lacking the raw power of an iPhone or Nokia N95, for example, does more than people think and has a great GUI. And from the video on this CNET Review it looks like their new 3G equipped Viewty now fixes the flaws in the Prada and does even more, such as the cool slo mo video and a haptic touch screen. The iPhone exists simply as a cash cow for Apple, and it's lack of flexibility could well mean it will only ever occupy the same portion of the market as their other non-iPod hardware while most of the world will purchase devices they can tailor to their requirements with memory expansion and a more open OS. While I do not believe the Viewty has a developer friendly OS, it is equipped with 3G & HSDPA and so will prove ideal for web services that can make up for lack of any more sophisticated on board applications. I want one, and I was going to get an iPhone. Probably not any more. Tell me I'm wrong.
This is not a unique idea, we at O'WONDER have been offering people in the UK 33% of our £295 lifetime membership fee to rep our directory at gonumber.com. Note, we are a directory, not a search engine, so our results are more succinct. We're initially just covering a few areas of London, but working to expand once we improve the service later in the year. Want to rep for us? Drop us a line to owonder.com/contact. Our price is high as membership is for life and we don't resell our data.
..earlier. Have written to the WSJ to ensure they get to know this as I can prove it.
As per oil, the US economy runs on anything that can be re-sold at a decent profit, no matter it's effect on the environment or individual. While this comment is no attack on the American people (I am a Brit who lived in California for 10 years), the current anti-American feeling world-wide is not really due to the war in Iraq, but the rise of the Internet and therefore the ability for people to learn how the world and their bodies work - with no nefarious industry or government interference, means we're all seeing the light now.
With those LCD digital photoframes coming down in price, just about everyone online and more people owning devices that can display images and documents at a higher resolution, why do we need printers any more? At our company we have survived without printers for over a year now and just as we long ago dumped our fax which has been replaced by email, we do all our invoicing online using a PDF generator. What the recipients of our invoices do is up to them, but we have saved a fortune in money and trees! There is one exception, we use a sweet Canon CP-330 photo printer for marketing. But that printer is honest - you buy enough paper and ink rolls for 128 photos and you get 128 photos! Each print uses the exact same quantity of ink 'ribbon' to lay down the 4 colours on the paper. So folks, reduce your dead tree foot print and chuck your printer where it belongs, in the recycling bin!