18305586
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Recently word leaked out about Amazon removing titles containing fictional incest. Surprisingly that ban didn't extend to the 10 titles of Science Fiction Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein that incorporate various themes of incest and pedophilia. Now, it seems that the censorship is expanding to m/m gay fiction if it contains the magic word "rape" in the title. Just how far is this going to be allowed to proceed in relative silence, and who is pushing these sudden decisions on Amazon's part?
18022308
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Back in April of 2009, with no notice or stated policy, a large swath of LGBT titles suddenly disappeared from Amazon.com. The ensuing uproar soon got them restored with Amazon claiming it was all some sort of never well described, but very selective, glitch. Then in July 2009 Amazon suddenly removed purchased books from customer's Kindles citing a copyright cock-up. Amazon's next trick earlier this year was to remove titles with suggestive covers from their All Departments default search, which is blatant censorship since that is the only search many Amazon customers know how to use. They may have been spooked by this hit piece in Slate. And while those titles seemed to still be available if you know where to drill down in your search, removing then from the most commonly used All Departments default search was blatant censorship in the digital age. You'd almost be tempted to think that Amazon didn't want to be in the book sales business. Now Amazon seems to be at it again regarding adult material – fictional incest stories among others. It is also under discussion on the Amazon forum – for now. With no warning to authors, publishers, or their customers, titles have suddenly disappeared over the weekend, including reports of yanking existing sold books from Kindle via the subterfuge of corrupting the downloaded book, offering a refund, and then refusing the ability to repurchase the title with the refund. These are titles that obviously have a market, some of them doing quite well on the bestseller lists for their genre. So just what is The World's Biggest Bookstore up to now and why are they being so quiet about it? Is it time to celebrate Google Books as the freer Amazon alternative?
17227888
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
SLASHDOT POLL
Should there be a Harry Potter #8?
Yes, Harry Potter and the Battle for Hogwarts.
Yes, other (see comments).
No, 7 are just right/more than enough.
No, Warner Brothers has already made enough money.
No, J. K. Rowling is already richer than the Queen.
No, the actors are too old.
Who is Harry Potter?
16929266
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
It seems that Amazon has embarked on a new policy of quiet bookcover censorship. It's possible that they were spooked by this hit piece in Slate, or there may be some other reason, but bookcovers featuring even tasteful nudity have been removed from the "All Departments" general search. Of course they never made this a public announcement; books just started disappearing from their general search without notice. Authors and publishers are being left with two choices: 1) Redo the cover to remove the nudity. 2) Have your title relegated to only Erotica searches for now. Their alleged excuse is that some minor might accidentally stumble upon an offending cover, but this seems to overlook the obvious fact that even with the cover changed Amazon is still selling the same unaltered content to that, or any other, purchaser. And is this only the first step for them? So far this hasn't apparently spread to other eTailers such as Fictionwise, making it possible to compare erotic titles on the two sites and see the Amazon required censorship in the changed cover art. So how do you feel about Amazon setting these rules for everyone?
12663022
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Yes Fake Steve Jobs (aka Dan Lyons) is dumping his unreliable AT&T/iPhone for Verizon/Android. Among the factors he cites in his decision include the HTC Incredible phone itself, the highly-regarded Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, and too many dropped calls on his current network. Who wudda thunk?
12662970
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Yes Fake Steve Jobs (aka Dan Lyons) ishttp://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2010/05/20/sayonara-iphone-why-i-m-switching-to-android.aspx">dumping his unreliable AT&T/iPhone for Verizon/Android. Among the factors he cites in his decision include the HTC Incredible phone itself, the highly-regarded Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, and too many dropped calls on his current network. Who wudda thunk?
12224520
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Sharp Aquos brand televisions are making a big deal about their Quattron technology of adding a 4th yellow pixel to their RGB sets. While you can read a glowing review of it here, the engineer in me is skeptical because of how all the source material for this set is produced in 3-color RGB. I also know how just making a picture brighter and saturating the colors a bit can make it more appealing to many viewers over a more accurate rendition – so much for side-by-side comparisons. And I laugh at how you are supposed to see the advantages of 4-color technology in ads on your 3-color sets at home as you watch their commercials. It sounds more like hype to extract a higher profit margin than the next great advance in home television. So is it real?
11965336
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
I was informed by my publisher this week that they would have to raise my eBook prices because they planned to sell them through the Apple iBooks store. How could this happen? A lot of my individual stories sell in the $1 to $3 range, which is well within the impulse purchase amount for many people. In this price range a 50 cent price difference may well be the difference between a purchase and a pass. Meanwhile Apple is touting their new "Agency Model" whereby the publishers set the prices. However, it seems that Apple requires books sold in their iBook store have prices ending in .99 – nothing else. Furthermore, Apple requires that if you sell books through them that you absolutely cannot sell them for less through anyone else. To my understanding Amazon also requires this, so Apple and Amazon prices should be identical in the future, but Amazon doesn't force prices to end in .99. What this means is that an eBook that the author was quite happy to sell for $2.29 or $2.49 is now going to cost you $2.99 from everybody. While that sounds like only a few extra cents, it adds up over time and can lead to resentment against author for charging higher prices, even though they have little real control over pricing. I, for one, do not understand why Apple computers only understand numbers ending in .99, or just how Apple is making it better for the consumer this way.
10212752
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
I'm wondering if it is possible to pre-erase my SDHC card for my camera for better performance? At the moment in continuous shooting mode I can shoot 3 fps for the first 3 seconds in raw mode (9 images total) after which the rate drops to 1/fps until the SanDisk Extreme III goes full, or my battery goes empty. Can I improve my write speed by pre-erasing the card so that the flash memory doesn't need to perform a block erase before writing, and if so, then how? I don't believe that the Format command in the camera does this because it competes very quickly each time I use it. I'm surprised that more isn't said about erasing flash memory on file deletions for better write performance later.
9414434
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
For Ask Slashdot: Where are the 4G phones? I'm overdue for a subsidized upgrade with Verizon, who claims that they'll have their 4G (LTE) rollout in 20-25 cities by September. Even if my city isn't on the initial list I still don't want to get locked into a 3G phone for the next 2 years with 4G so close — but I can't find a single 4G phone on offer and Verizon tech support refuses to discuss them under order from above. My wife wants to upgrade soon (okay, yesterday after they screwed up her RAZR) and wants us to go far a 2-for-1 deal. Fine, but where is the phone that I want to own for the next 2 years from any carrier?
5358419
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
I received notice today that Amazon has cut their Kindle 2 price to $299. Why would they do this when Barnes & Nobel's Plastic Logic eBook reader is at least 6 months out and any threat from an Apple iTablet is likely at least a year away. I can suggest the following reasons: 1: Amazon just announced a relatively bad quarter and wants to goose sales so as not to disappoint two quarters in a row. 2: Falling hardware prices due to mass manufacturing allow them to do this at no real cost to themselves. 3: It's the start of the back-to-school selling season and Amazon hopes that every student will carry a Kindle this year for their text books. 4: They want to gain as much market share now while they're still the only big
player in the game to try and become the unstoppable iPod of eBooks. 5: Lower prices put the squeeze on new eBook readers that might come to market because now they have to compete at a lower price point. This could even cause some manufacturers to reconsider introducing a product at all, or cut features to cut prices from an existing product rendering it less competitive. 6: Kindles are no longer in short supply and the low-hanging fruit has already been plucked. 7: Since Amazon will likely offer a Kindle app for the iTablet as they do for iPhone/iPod Touch, it will tie readers back to the Kindle eco-system when the iTablet finally arrives negating the impact of the iTablet on Amazon and sharing books with the existing Kindle. 8: Amazon's Business Intelligence people saw something coming and are taking this proactive step now to mitigate its effect. Am I missing anything here?
5216717
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Apparently, as detailed in this article, traditional book publishers are having trouble coming to grips with the new paradigm of eBooks selling alongside hardcover print volumes--especially now that the de facto eBook price ceiling for even new bestsellers is a very user friendly $9.99. Like the record companies uneasy alliance with iTunes and individual music track sales, the big publishing companies and former gatekeepers of our literary heritage are finding that their greed is an impediment to this new publishing medium. All this despite the likelihood that eBook purchasers aren't hardcover purchasers and vice versa. And it's not just the publishers. The article notes some authors who are saying "No" so far to eBook versions of their works. One is rather reminded of JRR Tolkien's initial strong aversion to the paperback versions of LotR that eventually made him rich and famous. The only part of the article that I take issue with is the claim that eBooks only represent 1 to 2 percent of the market. Even if true, I don't expect that to last for long. And in eBook's favor, I personally know of many books only available in that format so far from major eBooksellers including: Amazon, Fictionwise, Mobipocket, Smashwords, BookStrand and others.
5057549
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
AVG anti-virus just dropped a new "feature" on my Firefox browser today. They've already been annoying enough with their AVG Toolbar that I am unable to permanently disable. Every couple of weeks it "helpfully" pops itself back in at the top of my browsing window complete with competing Yahoo search window (I use Google) in case I've forgotten about it. Why don't I want it? Vertical screen real estate is precious (are you listening Microsoft with your stupid Ribbons?) and I don't need to waste it on features I simply don't use. Now, in addition to that annoyance, the AVG Toolbar was updated through their update mechanism and when I open a new Firefox tab it every so "helpfully" brings up a Yahoo search box instead of an empty tab. How strongly can I say that I Don't Want This Behavior? Furthermore, not only can't I disable this "feature" because the instructions to disable it simply don't work, I can't even uninstall the AVG add-ins from Firefox. There is a Disable button, but the Uninstall is greyed out. I had thought by now that companies knew that pissing off your customers is never a good idea. As of now I've stopped recommending AVG as an acceptable anti-virus solution.
4945475
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
Today Kodak announced the end of Kodachrome film production after 74 years, citing the difficulty and expense of production of a film only developed by one remaining lab and constituting less than 1 percent of their still film sales. So say goodbye to those nice bright colors. The geeky aspects of this are that: 1) Is there any film photographer who never shot a roll of Kodachrome in his/her life? 2) Kodachrome produced all those lovely reference colors from what was essentially a black & white film. The dyes were all added during the complicated developing process.
4161457
submission
Nom du Keyboard writes:
What you see with Netflix is definitely not what you get. Or to put it more precisely, what you see with their streaming Watch Instantly service is not what you get when you get the DVD version in the bright red envelope. Not only is the quality far less than the DVD version (a known feature of their streaming that only got worse with their new optional player that they try to trick you into installing), but it's not even the same movie! An example: I wanted to enjoy one more time "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" because I've found it to be the funniest pseudo rockumentary since "This is Spinal Tap". Rather than give up my one DVD rental slot I was pleased to find it available for streaming, even if it would have to watch it on my computer. There's music in the movie not on the soundtrack album. With no warning from Netflix that I would be streaming a censored version it was left to me to discover missing pieces throughout the movie. Called Netflix to complain and was told that they have to stream the version provided by the studio, which may be different than the DVD version that they'll mail to you. But they don't warn you when this happens. Now I don't want to use their streaming service at all because I don't trust it to deliver me the same movie experience. And it wasn't just removal of some sex and/or nudity. What they left in was far more challenging than what was clipped out. And don't tell me this is part of the DRM scheme to avoid theft. Copying a DVD is as cheap and much easier than stealing Netflix's low-quality stream. In short, there is no logical reason for this to happen — and especially no reason for it to be kept secret that the streaming version isn't the DVD version. In an ideal world, in addition to the Watch Instantly option and the mail me a DVD option, Netflix should offer a third Download Complete Full Resolution Version To Watch Much Sooner Than Waiting For It To Be Delivered By Mail option. And they should be much more upfront about the differences between their DVD and streaming versions. Otherwise they'll never be able to convince us to eventually abandon physical delivery of DVD's in favor of Internet delivery. Anyone else suspect that they've had this same experience yet?
