Tag: technology

One more try

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m going to give Disqus another try. We’ll see how it goes; if it turns out to be more annoying than CoComment, we’ll simply go back to that.

UPDATE: No way. Disqus is far more annoying than CoComment can manage at its most quixotic. All the new comment systems require a move to the newer Blogger interface to work properly, which significantly reduces one’s ability to control the layout of the blog.

UPDATE 2: Part of that may have been my fault. I may give it another whirl later. But it’s not promising that the Disqus Appearance Settings page gives you two options: Preview and Cancel… the SAVE option is conspicuously lacking.

A lesson in unintended consequences

Charles Stross explains how insisting on DRM caused publishers to leap from the frying pan right into the fire:

DRM on ebooks gives Amazon a great tool for locking ebook customers into the Kindle platform. If you buy a book that you can only read on the Kindle, you’re naturally going to be reluctant to move to other ebook platforms that can’t read those locked Kindle ebooks — and even more reluctant to buy ebooks from rival stores that use incompatible DRM. Amazon acquired an early lead in the ebook field (by selling below cost in the early days, and subsidizing the Kindle hardware price to consumers), and customers are locked into the platform by their existing purchases. Which is pretty much how they gained their 80% market share.

An 80% share of a tiny market slice worth maybe 1% of the publishing sector was of no concern to the big six, back in 2008. But today, with it rising towards 40%, it’s another matter entirely.

As ebook sales mushroom, the Big Six’s insistence on DRM has proven to be a hideous mistake. Rather than reducing piracy[*], it has locked customers in Amazon’s walled garden, which in turn increases Amazon’s leverage over publishers. And unlike pirated copies (which don’t automatically represent lost sales) Amazon is a direct revenue threat because Amazon are have no qualms about squeezing their suppliers — or trying to poach authors for their “direct” publishing channel by offering initially favourable terms. (Which will doubtless get a lot less favourable once the monopoly is secured …)

If the big six began selling ebooks without DRM, readers would at least be able to buy from other retailers and read their ebooks on whatever platform they wanted, thus eroding Amazon’s monopoly position. But it’s not clear that the folks in the boardrooms are agile enough to recognize the tar pit they’ve fallen into …

I avoid walled gardens like the plague. I use Kobo and Aldiko as my eReaders and will not even look at any ebook that is not in EPUB format. And while my publishers publish in Amazon’s KZW format, I always urge them to be sure that an EPUB version is also available.

Steve Jobs is dead

It seems appropriate somehow, that he should die as his creation stands towering over the cratered ashes of the tech boom. It feels like a metaphor of sorts, but what precisely, I cannot say. As for me, I loved my Apple II and I loathed his lovely technofascistic vision.

Review: Kobo eReader Touch

This may be going a bit far afield, but since most Black GateVox Popoli readers are, well, readers, I suspect it will be of interest to many here. While I am a big advocate of eReaders and digital books, I have avoided eReading devices in the past because they haven’t offered any significant upgrade over reading on my smartphone, at least not without imposing significant costs. I started with reading .pdb books on various Palm Treos, then enjoyed a significant graphical upgrade to reading .epub books on an Android phone. This works quite well and I still do the vast majority of my reading that way since whether I am out and about or at home, my phone is always handy. And, since it emits light, it permits reading in the dark, which is an advantage for anyone who customarily goes to sleep later than the bed’s other occupant.

Read the rest at the Black Gate.

Addio, Mr. Apple

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO:

In a resignation letter to the board, Mr Jobs, who has fought a long-running battle with cancer, wrote: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know.

“Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

I have an admire-hate perspective on Steve Jobs. I hate his technofascistic vision, but I love his passion for design perfection even when it falls short. I hate OS/X, I hate Macintosh computers, I hate Apple attitude, and I especially hate Macintossers, but I loved my Apple II and I still have some affection for my original Macintosh. I hate Apple’s cynical and dishonest marketing even as I am amazed by its sheer effectiveness. I especially hated the Jeff Goldblum commercial for the iMacs; I blame him and Steve Jobs for the opening of the Internet to the technologically pig-ignorant.

But Jobs had a hugely influential run during an exciting time for technology and even an inveterate Mac-hater couldn’t possibly deny it. Here is hoping he will enjoy the time he has left to him.

Fukushima in Nebraska?

Don’t look at me for any explanations. I don’t know anything about it, someone just shot me a link about a reported news blackout concerning reported flood-related problems at a nuclear plant in Nebraska earlier this month.

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.

According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.

Given the way in which the Japanese government and nuclear agency blatantly and unapologetically lied about the full extent of the damage to the Fukushima reactors, I tend to doubt the US government is going to be any more inclined to give out accurate information of what happened or did not happen at Fort Calhoun. But at least we can safely assume that whatever the problems might actually be, they are less catastrophic than what happened in Japan unless Nebraska also experienced an earthquake and subsequent tidal wave.

Yes, Apple really is technofascist

Even the Macintossers are beginning to admit the obvious:

IPHONE users may soon be stopped from filming at concerts — as a result of new Apple technology. The leading computer company plans to build a system that will sense when people are trying to video live events — and turn off their cameras. A patent application filed by Apple revealed how the technology would work.

If an iPhone were held up and used to film during a concert infra-red sensors would detect it. These sensors would then contact the iPhone and automatically disable its camera function.

As El Borak has already noted, there will no doubt be a version 2.0 containing a Law Enforcement switch that will turn off the iPhone cameras whenever police badges are detected nearby. Apple may make good products, but if you’re still buying them, you’re just not getting it.

The religion of Apple

You weren’t just imagining the cult-like behavior of the average Macintosser:

Apple devotees are notorious for their steadfast dedication to the computer and gadget manufacturer, standing in line for hours and sometimes days just to be the first to try out a new piece of hardware. According to a new study, the areas of the brain which produce that tenacity in Apple fans are the same spots that fuel religious fervor.

Scientists using an magnetic resonance imagine (MRI) machine presented Apple fans with images of the company’s popular gadgets. Upon doing so, they found brain activity that mirrors how a religious person’s brain reacts when presented with a picture of their chosen deity.

As Chesterton once said, when people cease to believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything. Including, apparently, Steve Jobs.

No worries

It appears Blogger is having serious technical difficulties. One can only presume Facebook is behind it. Normal posting will resume at the earliest opportunity.

A semblance of sanity

IP addresses are not people. And in related news, routers will not be permitted to vote in the 2012 election:

A possible landmark ruling in one of the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the US may spell the end of the ‘pay-up-or-else-schemes’ that have targeted over 100,000 Internet users in the last year. District Court Judge Harold Baker has denied a copyright holder the right to subpoena the ISPs of alleged copyright infringers, because an IP-address does not equal a person.

I’ve never understood the idea that an Internet connection can reasonably be pinned to a single individual. Even if there is only one computer connected to the local area network, who is to say that a different individual was not on the machine? But, given the 40-year war on common sense being waged by the U.S. judicial system, I suppose any semblance of sanity is to be celebrated.