Take a look at anti-social types like the unabomber, who was anti-technology and lived out in the woods. Many people who choose to withdraw from society, run off into the woods and live hermit like. Now, would someone say, "the woods" is the reason why they are anti social and depressed? Maybe. But it makes more sense to say, these people were anti social to begin with and choose to express it in this way. Same thing with computers.
I notice that I feel at ease working with comptuers because I understand it's behavior. I can get it to do what I want when I want it, and yeah, sometimes it crashes or does things I can't control / predict, but I can always reboot and start from scratch. It's a very safe, predictable environment once you spend a lot of time there.
And I do think if you spend a lot of time in this environment, people begin to seem comparatively, irrational, hard to predict, hard to control, and no, you can't just hit the reset button when they start acting up.
So, I think your last sentence is a bit of both: many people ARE morons (or, as I would say, irrational and hard to predict / control / work with), but most people don't notice. And one can't really make that obseration unless one doesn't interact with other people all the time.
Good points, but... I don't think most people are buying PDAs for use as ebook readers (like you). They buy them as PDAs and if they read on them occasionally that's an added value type thing. Personally, I can't imagine trying to read on such a tiny screen, especially something the length of a book. But that's just me, and I doubt I'm alone. Now as for publishers getting on the band wagon, well, take a look at how hard it's been to get major music lables to put stuff out in MP3. The public totally wants it, but the labels are in the middle of a war, trying to get out of it. It's like dragging a kid to the dentist to get a tooth pulled. I can't see the publishers going along with eBooks anytime soon, especailly not in the realm of what you suggest. They are watching the music industry as an example for them, and getting the wrong message. Lastly, I disagree with saying a cheap good quality scanner and OCR makes it easy to pirate a print book. Yes it takes patience, but that's a LOT of patience. Have you ever tried to scan in a whole book? 500 pages worth? Try it sometime and see if you would do it on a regular basis. Ripping mp3s from cd is no comparison.
Obviously Baen is going to use this strategy for it's authors, authors that the average person has never heard of and would never run across anything by them at their local bookstore. But take JK Rowling for example. She has absolutely no need for additional publicity through free eBooks. It's pointless. Her copies will sell easily, so there's simply no point in giving copies away for free... might as well get every penny you can from every copy. Most big name authors from big publishers (Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, etc) simply have no use for this kind of promotion.
The screen technology you're talking about is eInk. No reader has come to market using that technology... it's too new. As for the readers themselves, the rocket ebook, Gemstar ebook recently shut down. Microsoft reader is trying to position the Tablet PC as a reading device. Other than them, a lot of people read on their Palms or Pocket PC. I think if there's a leader in this market, it's gonna be Microsoft (once again) and people will read on lighter laptop / tablet PCs or Pocket PCs........
1. people don't like reading long books on a computer. You may be the exception, but most people don't. A lot of this might have to do with the fact that voracious book readers on the average, don't spend a lot of time on computers period. 2. Fear of piracy. publishers put their content out there in digital form, it gets cracked, stuff gets sent all over the place.
in order for this to become widespread:
1. the pirated eBook needs to be reasonably close to the original in form, function. mp3s sound pretty close to the original cd recordings... close enough that people don't care about the slight loss in quality. pirated eBooks have to be the same way. Just getting the text isn't enough. You'll have to remember, the pictures, the fonts, the layout, the "feel" of a book... all this is important.
2. ease of piracy. The programs for mp3 ripping are so simple a kid can do it. Pirating a book, currently, is a pain in the butt. Scanning in all the pages? Pain. So the length of most books, plus this barrier to entry converting a physical book into digital form is holding the pirates back.
3. piracy format "openness". Whatever format the book ends up in has got to be transparent enough that people can get the data in and out and do with as they please, easily. It's easy to convert an mp3 to any other audio format without too much trouble. Now compare that to an eBook format that's in pdf... more painful. You can get the raw text out, but the images / layout? Harder. Or you have to have an Adobe program. Or, say you have all the pages of your pirated eBook in image form. How do you get the raw text out? Run it through an OCR program? Then go back and fix all the inevitable mistakes? Hard.
Right now, conversion from a printed book to a digital form is not super easy. The book industry is not putting books out in a digitally easy to pirate form like an audio cd.
Well, honestly, there's a long list of nature-things that one should include if you're talking about the beauty of the night sky. How about deer, jumping bunnies, wildflowers, the natural beauty of a corn field? An apple orchard? I'd say all are of equal importance as being able to see the night sky and guess what... you can still find this in this nation: go visit rural america. Go to some small town in eastern, upstate or western where-ever-you-are, and you will be able to see all these things and more. My point was, city is city and if you want all the nature stuff, take a long drive. I don't see any benefit in trying to force the city to be like the country just so some people can look at stars.
Yes the night sky is very pretty without the interference of lights. However, in my ordinary day to day existence, driving to work, trying to make a living, I can only imagine the horrible place night would be without artificial light. For one obvious example, driving a car would be impossible without headlights. Second, if you took away artificial light, people would be forced to adapt the work day to the hours of sunlight. Despite daylight savings time, in more northern areas like Washington, it's dark at 9 and dark at 5. So without artificial light, work would have to start at 10 and end at 4. Ain't gonna happen.
So yeah, I agree with you, the night sky sure is pretty, but that ain't worth turning the whole society over. And I do think you'd be able to find a handful of people to go along with a "no light zone" but these are likely going to be the same people who want the cities burned, enjoy weaving pants out of hemp, think a space ship will take them to the next plane, and want men eradicated from the human race etc.
First off, the study they use are women working on the night shift. That says more about people working on a night shift, than light exposure, and even if the increase in cancer rates has to do with light, it doesn't apply to most people because, we go home at night and TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. All this ranting about light in public places, well, that's fine and dandy if you're sleeping under a freaking street light near the stadium downtown, but, uh, last I checked, most people go home and sleep in the dark. At night.
This article would apply to the retarded person who works the night shift under artificial light, and then goes home to sleep during the day and neglects to pull the shades down, however.
Yeah, if the magazines were pdf that would recreate the look of a magazine, but forget about the feel. Have you ever seriously tried to read a pdf magazine on a computer... I don't recommend it. So if these mags are html that would be better for "feel" but they won't look as cool as an ordinary magazine.
I guess my point is, magazines are designed for print from the start. I would dare say this not only covers the layout of a magainze, but the length of articles and the content itself! Articles that read better on the web are likely 1/4 as long as a print article.
The more I think about this service, the less I like it. I think shoehorning print content onto the web... well, the media are so different, it's like trying to cram a feature length film onto a tiny pda screen and fit it into a 1/2 hour sitcom format.
... or some other content provider associated with an ISP (Like Yahoo! DSL)... where they include a whole bunch of "Premium" content with the net access bill. That seems like the only way I'd likely get into the deal. Or, if "micropayment" type stuff showed up on my phone bill every month, that'd be a lot easier to swallow for some reason, than filling out a ton of forms online and sending my CC # everywhere.
So I took a look around the KeepMedia site. It seems you get access to ALL the magazines available for a pretty low price. And there's a huge list of magazines there.
I drilled a little deeper and notices, well, 90% of these magazines I have no interest in reading. There's a handful of titles that look pretty good but there's some serious gaps... I didn't see enough newspapers or tech magazines that I'd like to see.
Finally, it dawned on me, this is not a good idea for me. I seriously doubt these articles have a lot of the PICTURES. It's not going to be as robust as a magazine. Lastly, what's the point of this, when I can just go to the library (as I do, maybe once a week) and just peruse the magazines there? Better selection, actual print copies.
This site basically is running against the problems with eBooks. In addition to paid content, we have the problems of, do people really want to read magazine-length content on a screen? Do people want portability? Do people really want to "own" content that's only online? At least these people got the price point right. But I think they're gonna have to think about some of these other issues, too.
It just seems like, when your business model is competing against the physical library, you got a hard road ahead of you...
Way back when I was in college I was doing some desktop publishing for a company and this older manager guy wanted me to show him how to use the computer... he was so computer illiterate he could hardly use the mouse to "click and drag".
I remember trying to get him to select a certain menu item, and he was like, "Where is it?" I said, "Right here... " and pointed at the monitor, practically touching it to make sure he knew exactly where it was. He said, "Oh, I get it!" and started touching the screen with his finger. It then dawned on me, he thought the monitor was a touch-sensitive one, I guess like on an ATM.
Just like how DX-7s and putting huge amounts of reverb on your Linn drum machine were in vogue during the eighties, I think this phase will play itself out. Right now the recording style seems to be centered around, compress everything, auto-tune the vocals, and master it so every track, it feels like the guitars and drums are burrowing into your eardrums. This too may pass. And besides, if people get sick of the excessive mastering trends of today, the record companies can just go back to the master tapes and re-re-master everything, and get everyone to buy all new cds.
Eh.... I think certain politicians (Grey Davis comes to mind) are more concerned with winning re-election first, and then representing voters. And I hate to say it, but's in that case alone, it's quite possible he'll win the election because there's no decent democrat alternative. When what he really should be doing, is resign. The system ain't working as it should, because so many voters are apathetic, and the choices, frankly, suck.
Maybe some of these people can afford to work for nothing in politics, because they have a rich mommy and daddy "helping out" with expenses. I'm thinking these might be the same mommy and daddy helping pay for the law school tuition. Gotta keep the family name up to speed, with a nice degree from Harvard Law, and a nice internship or two to prime Junior's path to running for public office...
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Take a look at anti-social types like the unabomber, who was anti-technology and lived out in the woods. Many people who choose to withdraw from society, run off into the woods and live hermit like. Now, would someone say, "the woods" is the reason why they are anti social and depressed? Maybe. But it makes more sense to say, these people were anti social to begin with and choose to express it in this way. Same thing with computers.
I notice that I feel at ease working with comptuers because I understand it's behavior. I can get it to do what I want when I want it, and yeah, sometimes it crashes or does things I can't control / predict, but I can always reboot and start from scratch. It's a very safe, predictable environment once you spend a lot of time there.
And I do think if you spend a lot of time in this environment, people begin to seem comparatively, irrational, hard to predict, hard to control, and no, you can't just hit the reset button when they start acting up.
So, I think your last sentence is a bit of both: many people ARE morons (or, as I would say, irrational and hard to predict / control / work with), but most people don't notice. And one can't really make that obseration unless one doesn't interact with other people all the time.
I've been in places with much less artifical light, and it's fine for a few days, but after about three days, I miss basic things like... net access.
Good points, but ... I don't think most people are buying PDAs for use as ebook readers (like you). They buy them as PDAs and if they read on them occasionally that's an added value type thing. Personally, I can't imagine trying to read on such a tiny screen, especially something the length of a book. But that's just me, and I doubt I'm alone. Now as for publishers getting on the band wagon, well, take a look at how hard it's been to get major music lables to put stuff out in MP3. The public totally wants it, but the labels are in the middle of a war, trying to get out of it. It's like dragging a kid to the dentist to get a tooth pulled. I can't see the publishers going along with eBooks anytime soon, especailly not in the realm of what you suggest. They are watching the music industry as an example for them, and getting the wrong message. Lastly, I disagree with saying a cheap good quality scanner and OCR makes it easy to pirate a print book. Yes it takes patience, but that's a LOT of patience. Have you ever tried to scan in a whole book? 500 pages worth? Try it sometime and see if you would do it on a regular basis. Ripping mp3s from cd is no comparison.
well, I can say this, I have never heard of David Weber or Lois McMaster Bujold. So take that for what it's worth.
Obviously Baen is going to use this strategy for it's authors, authors that the average person has never heard of and would never run across anything by them at their local bookstore. But take JK Rowling for example. She has absolutely no need for additional publicity through free eBooks. It's pointless. Her copies will sell easily, so there's simply no point in giving copies away for free ... might as well get every penny you can from every copy. Most big name authors from big publishers (Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, etc) simply have no use for this kind of promotion.
The screen technology you're talking about is eInk. No reader has come to market using that technology ... it's too new. As for the readers themselves, the rocket ebook, Gemstar ebook recently shut down. Microsoft reader is trying to position the Tablet PC as a reading device. Other than them, a lot of people read on their Palms or Pocket PC. I think if there's a leader in this market, it's gonna be Microsoft (once again) and people will read on lighter laptop / tablet PCs or Pocket PCs........
1. people don't like reading long books on a computer. You may be the exception, but most people don't. A lot of this might have to do with the fact that voracious book readers on the average, don't spend a lot of time on computers period. 2. Fear of piracy. publishers put their content out there in digital form, it gets cracked, stuff gets sent all over the place.
in order for this to become widespread: 1. the pirated eBook needs to be reasonably close to the original in form, function. mp3s sound pretty close to the original cd recordings ... close enough that people don't care about the slight loss in quality. pirated eBooks have to be the same way. Just getting the text isn't enough. You'll have to remember, the pictures, the fonts, the layout, the "feel" of a book ... all this is important.
2. ease of piracy. The programs for mp3 ripping are so simple a kid can do it. Pirating a book, currently, is a pain in the butt. Scanning in all the pages? Pain. So the length of most books, plus this barrier to entry converting a physical book into digital form is holding the pirates back.
3. piracy format "openness". Whatever format the book ends up in has got to be transparent enough that people can get the data in and out and do with as they please, easily. It's easy to convert an mp3 to any other audio format without too much trouble. Now compare that to an eBook format that's in pdf ... more painful. You can get the raw text out, but the images / layout? Harder. Or you have to have an Adobe program. Or, say you have all the pages of your pirated eBook in image form. How do you get the raw text out? Run it through an OCR program? Then go back and fix all the inevitable mistakes? Hard.
Right now, conversion from a printed book to a digital form is not super easy. The book industry is not putting books out in a digitally easy to pirate form like an audio cd.
Well, honestly, there's a long list of nature-things that one should include if you're talking about the beauty of the night sky. How about deer, jumping bunnies, wildflowers, the natural beauty of a corn field? An apple orchard? I'd say all are of equal importance as being able to see the night sky and guess what... you can still find this in this nation: go visit rural america. Go to some small town in eastern, upstate or western where-ever-you-are, and you will be able to see all these things and more. My point was, city is city and if you want all the nature stuff, take a long drive. I don't see any benefit in trying to force the city to be like the country just so some people can look at stars.
The happy medium already exists, it's called: drive a couple hours away from your city and there you have it.
Yes the night sky is very pretty without the interference of lights. However, in my ordinary day to day existence, driving to work, trying to make a living, I can only imagine the horrible place night would be without artificial light. For one obvious example, driving a car would be impossible without headlights. Second, if you took away artificial light, people would be forced to adapt the work day to the hours of sunlight. Despite daylight savings time, in more northern areas like Washington, it's dark at 9 and dark at 5. So without artificial light, work would have to start at 10 and end at 4. Ain't gonna happen.
So yeah, I agree with you, the night sky sure is pretty, but that ain't worth turning the whole society over. And I do think you'd be able to find a handful of people to go along with a "no light zone" but these are likely going to be the same people who want the cities burned, enjoy weaving pants out of hemp, think a space ship will take them to the next plane, and want men eradicated from the human race etc.
For example, if electric light hadn't been invented, this article would instead be about the damaging effects reading by candlelight has on eyesight.
First off, the study they use are women working on the night shift. That says more about people working on a night shift, than light exposure, and even if the increase in cancer rates has to do with light, it doesn't apply to most people because, we go home at night and TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. All this ranting about light in public places, well, that's fine and dandy if you're sleeping under a freaking street light near the stadium downtown, but, uh, last I checked, most people go home and sleep in the dark. At night.
This article would apply to the retarded person who works the night shift under artificial light, and then goes home to sleep during the day and neglects to pull the shades down, however.
Yeah, if the magazines were pdf that would recreate the look of a magazine, but forget about the feel. Have you ever seriously tried to read a pdf magazine on a computer ... I don't recommend it. So if these mags are html that would be better for "feel" but they won't look as cool as an ordinary magazine.
I guess my point is, magazines are designed for print from the start. I would dare say this not only covers the layout of a magainze, but the length of articles and the content itself! Articles that read better on the web are likely 1/4 as long as a print article.
The more I think about this service, the less I like it. I think shoehorning print content onto the web ... well, the media are so different, it's like trying to cram a feature length film onto a tiny pda screen and fit it into a 1/2 hour sitcom format.
I agree. You mention two things I might consider paying a subscription for online: Flash content, video clips. I'd toss software in there as well.
... or some other content provider associated with an ISP (Like Yahoo! DSL) ... where they include a whole bunch of "Premium" content with the net access bill. That seems like the only way I'd likely get into the deal. Or, if "micropayment" type stuff showed up on my phone bill every month, that'd be a lot easier to swallow for some reason, than filling out a ton of forms online and sending my CC # everywhere.
So I took a look around the KeepMedia site. It seems you get access to ALL the magazines available for a pretty low price. And there's a huge list of magazines there.
I drilled a little deeper and notices, well, 90% of these magazines I have no interest in reading. There's a handful of titles that look pretty good but there's some serious gaps ... I didn't see enough newspapers or tech magazines that I'd like to see.
Finally, it dawned on me, this is not a good idea for me. I seriously doubt these articles have a lot of the PICTURES. It's not going to be as robust as a magazine. Lastly, what's the point of this, when I can just go to the library (as I do, maybe once a week) and just peruse the magazines there? Better selection, actual print copies.
This site basically is running against the problems with eBooks. In addition to paid content, we have the problems of, do people really want to read magazine-length content on a screen? Do people want portability? Do people really want to "own" content that's only online? At least these people got the price point right. But I think they're gonna have to think about some of these other issues, too.
It just seems like, when your business model is competing against the physical library, you got a hard road ahead of you...
Way back when I was in college I was doing some desktop publishing for a company and this older manager guy wanted me to show him how to use the computer ... he was so computer illiterate he could hardly use the mouse to "click and drag".
I remember trying to get him to select a certain menu item, and he was like, "Where is it?" I said, "Right here ... " and pointed at the monitor, practically touching it to make sure he knew exactly where it was. He said, "Oh, I get it!" and started touching the screen with his finger. It then dawned on me, he thought the monitor was a touch-sensitive one, I guess like on an ATM.
Groan.
Haven't you noticed, though, getting really tired after one or two levels, and you have to stop?
Just like how DX-7s and putting huge amounts of reverb on your Linn drum machine were in vogue during the eighties, I think this phase will play itself out. Right now the recording style seems to be centered around, compress everything, auto-tune the vocals, and master it so every track, it feels like the guitars and drums are burrowing into your eardrums. This too may pass. And besides, if people get sick of the excessive mastering trends of today, the record companies can just go back to the master tapes and re-re-master everything, and get everyone to buy all new cds.
I think I've played that game. My only complaint is, it's kind of repetitive.
How about borrowing CDs? You can borrow 'em from the library.
Eh.... I think certain politicians (Grey Davis comes to mind) are more concerned with winning re-election first, and then representing voters. And I hate to say it, but's in that case alone, it's quite possible he'll win the election because there's no decent democrat alternative. When what he really should be doing, is resign. The system ain't working as it should, because so many voters are apathetic, and the choices, frankly, suck.
Maybe some of these people can afford to work for nothing in politics, because they have a rich mommy and daddy "helping out" with expenses. I'm thinking these might be the same mommy and daddy helping pay for the law school tuition. Gotta keep the family name up to speed, with a nice degree from Harvard Law, and a nice internship or two to prime Junior's path to running for public office...