I've been awaiting e-ink to get to the market for years. The concept of walking around with my entire library at my disposal is one that appeals to me. But there's not a chance that I'll be purchasing SONY's new e-ink reader.
DRM is the one thing holding me back, but moreso is the price. Explain to me how - how, in gods name, I ask - a digital copy of a book costs the same as a hardbound printed copy? Bandwidth is cheap. Storage is cheap. The books are already in a digital format for the print process. What justifies charging the same for a digital copy as for a print copy. If we're eliminating the bookstore, the shippers, the warehouses, the printers, the pulp and paper industry and the lumberjack who chopped down the tree... if we cut it all out save for you, the publisher/distributor and the author... when the tyranny of objects are removed, an ebook shouldn't cost more than a buck or two. Perhaps $5 at most. But come on - $20+ for an e-book?!? Not a chance.
I'm sure the old man with the bad attitude likely recieved a nice letter from the EPA as well. Have you read the text of the letter? "Your advocacy on behalf of your neighbourhood is commendable and I encourage you to contact the ministry . ..to report any further incidents" Sounds like your basic SANBAS (smile and nod, back away slowly) government response.
The woman is a registered activist and has been quoted a number of times as objecting to the developers, not for any safety issues, but because there have been endangered birds spotted on some of the properties that Activa hopes to build on. "If they section off the area like they have been doing, the birds will all die off," Lanteigne said.
I would say that the 'I'm just a lone mom trying to keep my kids safe' angle is just that; an angle. Her latest angle in an ongoing feud with a developer.
Actually, the links appear to be relatively non-evil.
Aside from the branded image on the browser, all the extension does is add a menu option 'MySpeakeasy' right after 'Help'. Under that option it gives you quick links to Speakeasy's service, followed by other fairly useful sites:
Tools & Resources - links to Wikipedia, Distrowatch, Craigs List, Babelfish and a dozen other sites.
News - links to BBC News, the Drudge Report, FARK, Salon, Urban Legends, etc.
Gaming - Gamespot, Frag, PC Gamer Online, etc.
Media - SHOUTcast, IMDB, Livejournal
Comics - PVP, Penny Arcade, Homestar Runner
Shopping - ThinkGeek, eBay, Pricewatch
I don't believe the ads are paid placement, rather sites that the ISP seriously think are worthwhile.
---
As a sidenote, I decided to install the extension just to see for myself what it was like. I'm always very hesitant about such things, but I had confidence that FireFox would let me spit it out if I found it unpalatable.
Sure enough I was able to add and remove the extension and my FireFox is no worse for wear. All my bookmarks are as they should be. FireFox is back to being 'unbranded' and not a single thing detected by AdAware.
I know I wouldn't of trusted IE for installing anything of the sort - even from my own ISP let alone another.
I've posted about my experiences as a BitPass enabled site in anumberofplaces.
One of the unexpected places that BitPass has been a boon to my site has been in terms of donations. I've had several dozen donations ranging from a penny to several dollars. But what is really nice is that nowadays when I recieve a donation, it's an honest to gosh tip and not some begged for handout.
I've made a little money from Google ads, and have had the odd PayPal donation - but let me tell you, none of it is anywhere near as satisfying as when someone hands me a shiny new nickle for the letter 'O' or one of my other short comics.
In the three months or so that I've been on BitPass I've made enough to cover two month's hosting and a cup of coffee. Not very much, I'll admit, but for a little promoted site with daily traffic of maybe a dozen or so - it's certainly better than I could have hoped for otherwise.
1. Make no distinction between science and technology.
2. Do not discern between hardware and software
3. Appearance supersedes function and reality. Or in simple terms, if it looks or sounds funky, it makes sense.
4. Brilliant scientists are universally knowledgeable in all fields of scientific study.
5. Trump out "well-known facts", that no one in existence has in fact ever heard of before this story, which may be presented for the sake of plot explication.
6. Any device improvised or jury-rigged, out of available materials on short notice, will work at least as well as or better than the actual device whose function it is meant to emulate or replace. This principle is also known as "MacGyver's Law", or "The Doohan Principle."
7. Alien races will virtually mirror humankind, in appearance and culture, with only one or two notable exceptions to set them apart.
8. Any form of mysterious or unknown form of energy (like, oh say, nuclear radiation) has the power to give previously-existing lifeforms bizarre powers, increase their size, or bring them back from the dead.
9. Technology introduced at the start of the story always causes everyone's problems, while technology introduced in the middle or at the end of the story always solves everyone's problems.
10. All previously-known scientific laws and principles are open to reinterpretation, revision, or just being ignored, for the sake of the story or the above-mentioned laws.
Afraid it doesn't work that way. Sure, you may have paid your ISP - but your ISP has neglected to forward any money on to the sites you're visiting. Just because you paid for the bus ride to the shopping plazza doesn't entitle you to any of the merchandise.
When you pay an admission fee at an art gallery - you take away nothing tangible. When you pay to see a theatrical performance - you take away nothing tangible. When you go to the movies - nothing tangible.
People only bitch about these things when the value for the money is not there. Charge $10 admission and give them a hurried look at two paintings before shoving them out the door and people will complain. Charge $7 for a piece of drek like Battlefield Earth, and people will complain.
Give me a wallpaper by you and merekat for a dime - I'm a happy camper. Give me a year's worth of megatokyo archive for a quarter - I'm a satisfied customer. Give me a daily Megatokyo of the same length and quality as you've been providing and I'll pay a penny per strip very, very gladly.
I have to humbly disagree with you, Fred, that it's the readers that make Megatokyo special. Those same readers are at a half dozen other webcomics and not one of those other comics gives me the same satisfaction as one of your strips. YOU are the reason behind the success. YOUR work is the reason behind the success. If you sucked - trust me Fred - me and the other readers would be elsewhere.
While we, the readers of Megatokyo, appreciate your generosity in providing it free of charge - it is still your work. If you suddenly decided to charge for it, those of us who truly like it would be cueing up to buy it and the only ones to be grumbling would be the leaches who never appreciated your generosity in the first place.
Why pay when there are free comics?
Because content isn't interchangable. Little 12 year old Billy's Dragonball Z wannabe comic is not the same as Scott McCloud's 'Right Number'. Billy's drek being free doesn't make it more worthwhile than Scott's which is a quarter.
Comic creators can just ask for donations or sell merchandise or adspace - Megatokyo does.
So comics are just a vehicle for pushing merchandise? What if the type of story you're telling doesn't lend itself well to easily marketed chareacters or advertising tie-ins - like Keeping Two or Nowhere Girl? Should the artists adjust their tales so that can accomodate the merchandising? Maybe add some cute, wise-cracking animal sidekicks the way Disney does?
If I was getting something I could keep I might do it. But I don't pay for non-tangible items.
So you've never paid to go to a concert or the theatre. You've never paid admission at a gallery or exhibit. You don't go to the movies. You have no cable tv.
So long as prices are reasonable, I'm willing to pay for an experience. In this case it's the experience of reading a comic. And a quarter for a full-size comic is definitely worth it.
I don't want to pay for something that I don't know will be good
So don't pay. No one's forcing you to.
Unless the person had previous work as proof of their competency or offer some sort of a preview (as subscription site ModernTales does), then they won't be getting money from me unless I see some damn good reviews. If artists are smart, they'd offer the past several strips free and just charge for the archives - until their name is enough of a draw that they can justify charging cash upfront (as is the case with McCloud's comic).
Yar - pirates
If someone wants to rip off the artist - the artist can't really stop 'em. But as McCloud mentioned in his comic on the subject, it requires someone to use their resources and time. If the artists are charging a reasonable rate - I'm willing to assume that most people would ante up the quarter as opposed to hunting for a pirated copy or sharing a pirated copy themselves.
It's about 60 panels in length and takes maybe five-ten minutes to read. I'd guestimate it to be about the size of a typical comic. It was definitely worth the quarter. I look forward to the next two chapters.
Slashdot Mirror
I did my own take on this in comics form - based in part off a Slashdot comment last year. Enjoy Tragic Lad Theatre: What's Opera
I've been awaiting e-ink to get to the market for years. The concept of walking around with my entire library at my disposal is one that appeals to me. But there's not a chance that I'll be purchasing SONY's new e-ink reader.
... when the tyranny of objects are removed, an ebook shouldn't cost more than a buck or two. Perhaps $5 at most. But come on - $20+ for an e-book?!? Not a chance.
DRM is the one thing holding me back, but moreso is the price. Explain to me how - how, in gods name, I ask - a digital copy of a book costs the same as a hardbound printed copy? Bandwidth is cheap. Storage is cheap. The books are already in a digital format for the print process. What justifies charging the same for a digital copy as for a print copy. If we're eliminating the bookstore, the shippers, the warehouses, the printers, the pulp and paper industry and the lumberjack who chopped down the tree... if we cut it all out save for you, the publisher/distributor and the author
Screenshots can be found on Greg Yardley's blog
I'm sure the old man with the bad attitude likely recieved a nice letter from the EPA as well. Have you read the text of the letter? "Your advocacy on behalf of your neighbourhood is commendable and I encourage you to contact the ministry . . .to report any further incidents" Sounds like your basic SANBAS (smile and nod, back away slowly) government response.
The woman is a registered activist and has been quoted a number of times as objecting to the developers, not for any safety issues, but because there have been endangered birds spotted on some of the properties that Activa hopes to build on. "If they section off the area like they have been doing, the birds will all die off," Lanteigne said.
I would say that the 'I'm just a lone mom trying to keep my kids safe' angle is just that; an angle. Her latest angle in an ongoing feud with a developer.
The branding is changing the little dotted circle at the top left to the Speakeasy logo.
Actually, the links appear to be relatively non-evil.
Aside from the branded image on the browser, all the extension does is add a menu option 'MySpeakeasy' right after 'Help'. Under that option it gives you quick links to Speakeasy's service, followed by other fairly useful sites:
Tools & Resources - links to Wikipedia, Distrowatch, Craigs List, Babelfish and a dozen other sites.
News - links to BBC News, the Drudge Report, FARK, Salon, Urban Legends, etc.
Gaming - Gamespot, Frag, PC Gamer Online, etc.
Media - SHOUTcast, IMDB, Livejournal
Comics - PVP, Penny Arcade, Homestar Runner
Shopping - ThinkGeek, eBay, Pricewatch
I don't believe the ads are paid placement, rather sites that the ISP seriously think are worthwhile.
---
As a sidenote, I decided to install the extension just to see for myself what it was like. I'm always very hesitant about such things, but I had confidence that FireFox would let me spit it out if I found it unpalatable.Sure enough I was able to add and remove the extension and my FireFox is no worse for wear. All my bookmarks are as they should be. FireFox is back to being 'unbranded' and not a single thing detected by AdAware.
I know I wouldn't of trusted IE for installing anything of the sort - even from my own ISP let alone another.
I've posted about my experiences as a BitPass enabled site in a number of places.
One of the unexpected places that BitPass has been a boon to my site has been in terms of donations. I've had several dozen donations ranging from a penny to several dollars. But what is really nice is that nowadays when I recieve a donation, it's an honest to gosh tip and not some begged for handout.
I've made a little money from Google ads, and have had the odd PayPal donation - but let me tell you, none of it is anywhere near as satisfying as when someone hands me a shiny new nickle for the letter 'O' or one of my other short comics.
In the three months or so that I've been on BitPass I've made enough to cover two month's hosting and a cup of coffee. Not very much, I'll admit, but for a little promoted site with daily traffic of maybe a dozen or so - it's certainly better than I could have hoped for otherwise.
1. Make no distinction between science and technology.
2. Do not discern between hardware and software
3. Appearance supersedes function and reality. Or in simple terms, if it looks or sounds funky, it makes sense.
4. Brilliant scientists are universally knowledgeable in all fields of scientific study.
5. Trump out "well-known facts", that no one in existence has in fact ever heard of before this story, which may be presented for the sake of plot explication.
6. Any device improvised or jury-rigged, out of available materials on short notice, will work at least as well as or better than the actual device whose function it is meant to emulate or replace. This principle is also known as "MacGyver's Law", or "The Doohan Principle."
7. Alien races will virtually mirror humankind, in appearance and culture, with only one or two notable exceptions to set them apart.
8. Any form of mysterious or unknown form of energy (like, oh say, nuclear radiation) has the power to give previously-existing lifeforms bizarre powers, increase their size, or bring them back from the dead.
9. Technology introduced at the start of the story always causes everyone's problems, while technology introduced in the middle or at the end of the story always solves everyone's problems.
10. All previously-known scientific laws and principles are open to reinterpretation, revision, or just being ignored, for the sake of the story or the above-mentioned laws.
Afraid it doesn't work that way. Sure, you may have paid your ISP - but your ISP has neglected to forward any money on to the sites you're visiting. Just because you paid for the bus ride to the shopping plazza doesn't entitle you to any of the merchandise.
When you pay an admission fee at an art gallery - you take away nothing tangible. When you pay to see a theatrical performance - you take away nothing tangible. When you go to the movies - nothing tangible.
People only bitch about these things when the value for the money is not there. Charge $10 admission and give them a hurried look at two paintings before shoving them out the door and people will complain. Charge $7 for a piece of drek like Battlefield Earth, and people will complain.
Give me a wallpaper by you and merekat for a dime - I'm a happy camper. Give me a year's worth of megatokyo archive for a quarter - I'm a satisfied customer. Give me a daily Megatokyo of the same length and quality as you've been providing and I'll pay a penny per strip very, very gladly.
I have to humbly disagree with you, Fred, that it's the readers that make Megatokyo special. Those same readers are at a half dozen other webcomics and not one of those other comics gives me the same satisfaction as one of your strips. YOU are the reason behind the success. YOUR work is the reason behind the success. If you sucked - trust me Fred - me and the other readers would be elsewhere.
While we, the readers of Megatokyo, appreciate your generosity in providing it free of charge - it is still your work. If you suddenly decided to charge for it, those of us who truly like it would be cueing up to buy it and the only ones to be grumbling would be the leaches who never appreciated your generosity in the first place.
Why pay when there are free comics?
Because content isn't interchangable. Little 12 year old Billy's Dragonball Z wannabe comic is not the same as Scott McCloud's 'Right Number'. Billy's drek being free doesn't make it more worthwhile than Scott's which is a quarter.
Comic creators can just ask for donations or sell merchandise or adspace - Megatokyo does.
So comics are just a vehicle for pushing merchandise? What if the type of story you're telling doesn't lend itself well to easily marketed chareacters or advertising tie-ins - like Keeping Two or Nowhere Girl? Should the artists adjust their tales so that can accomodate the merchandising? Maybe add some cute, wise-cracking animal sidekicks the way Disney does?
If I was getting something I could keep I might do it. But I don't pay for non-tangible items.
So you've never paid to go to a concert or the theatre. You've never paid admission at a gallery or exhibit. You don't go to the movies. You have no cable tv.
So long as prices are reasonable, I'm willing to pay for an experience. In this case it's the experience of reading a comic. And a quarter for a full-size comic is definitely worth it.
I don't want to pay for something that I don't know will be good
So don't pay. No one's forcing you to.
Unless the person had previous work as proof of their competency or offer some sort of a preview (as subscription site ModernTales does), then they won't be getting money from me unless I see some damn good reviews. If artists are smart, they'd offer the past several strips free and just charge for the archives - until their name is enough of a draw that they can justify charging cash upfront (as is the case with McCloud's comic).
Yar - pirates
If someone wants to rip off the artist - the artist can't really stop 'em. But as McCloud mentioned in his comic on the subject, it requires someone to use their resources and time. If the artists are charging a reasonable rate - I'm willing to assume that most people would ante up the quarter as opposed to hunting for a pirated copy or sharing a pirated copy themselves.
It's about 60 panels in length and takes maybe five-ten minutes to read. I'd guestimate it to be about the size of a typical comic. It was definitely worth the quarter. I look forward to the next two chapters.
--