I don't like the way thenTSA operates for security theatre instead of actual security, and then naively, obliviously ignores their own hypocrisy and inconsistencies.
However, let's no one be surprised that the premier outlet of Russian anti-American propaganda-- Pravda-- published an op-Ed by an American criticizing a major American agency and policy.
While this is true in a limited sense of recipes as a list of ingredients, this is not often the case in the context of an entire recipe complete with instructions as found in a cookbook: The description of the recipe, along with the instructions/explanation for prepping the dish, may be covered by copyright. http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
So, death penalty for the old ladies, but only if they're copying out the part that reads something like "be sure to sift the flower slowly to ensure proper blending and smoothness of the dough"
Hey folks, I just took a rock out of my garden and isolated it from the ground, so I'm about to register a patent against it. All you fuckers living on earth, touching the ground, get the hell off! It's all mine, bitches, and you're violating it!
Ditto for kids. My kids is currently isolated from the others (only child, currently at home) Patenting him will make all the kids belong to me... and I'm hungry.
One of my senators (the other didn't respond to my email) thinks that it's because law enforcement needs tools to enforce counterfeit goods restrictions:
from Sen. Lautenberg: "The “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act of 2011” (S. 968) would give law enforcement additional tools to combat the illegal online sale of counterfeit or copyright infringing goods. Specifically, this bill would give the Attorney General the power to serve issued court orders on search engines, payment processors, advertising networks, and Internet service providers. It would allow suit against site operators, but would not allow law enforcement to block access to a site. This bill would also require plaintiffs to sue the owner or registrant of a domain name before bringing suit against a site itself."
The irony is that the one thing he says this bill won't do is "allow law enforcement to block access to a site", which is something that law enforcement (ICE) has already grabbed for itself.
Does anyone know how the Supreme Court has justified its opinions on the current length of copyright? Have they addressed how "secure for a limited time frame to Authors" is in any way upheld when the author in fact never loses it, given the Life+ model?
Yes, that's the point: Apple is saying that apps with content that can be purchased outside of the app itself, for use within the app, must also offer them for sale from within the application as well or risk banishment from the app store.
Certainly the funeral directors are trying to protect their turf-- it is an industry known for such things. I don't even doubt that this may be their only concern. However, that doesn't mean there isn't an actual issue of regulatory concern ensuring that the storage of dead bodies is done in containers that meet certain standards.
Dead bodies are pumped with all sorts of chemicals. If the containers in which they are stored are not properly constructed and sealed then those chemicals will leach out into the soil. I'm not willing to assume, absent further details, that the monks in question built theirs to the proper spec.
My apologies-- here's a properly formatted response:
Answer: Find a High School Kid
There is a difference between an electronic file containing the text of the book and a professionally formatted eBook. It is similar to the difference between a stapled stack of photo copies and a professionally bound book, and presentation will effect your volume of sales.
Also, it takes time, as does OCR followed by proof-reading and editing. This is where "opportunity costs" come in to play. It's an important concept in economics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
In short though, opportunity cost in this case means that time spent prepping, publishing, and managing the sales of an eBook is time that is not spent writing new material, which is the actual scarce product of highest value that the author has for sale.
Publishers provide a division of labor, where the better trained professionals focus on what they do best-- writers write, copy editors proof read, etc.
Honestly, if you have any interest in how the publishing industry works, from the pragmatic concessions made to the irrationalities of historic business practices still in use, take a look at Stross's postings. For your average novel writer, he covers it pretty effectively: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html
You don't have to agree with him, but he's got the insider knowledge on this and he's tech geek himself so he knows his way around these issues from that angle too.
Answer: Find a High School Kid
There is a difference between an electronic file containing the text of the book and a professionally formatted eBook. It is similar to the difference between a stapled stack of photo copies and a professionally bound book, and presentation will effect your volume of sales.
Also, it takes time, as does OCR followed by proof-reading and editing. This is where "opportunity costs" come in to play. It's an important concept in economics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
In short though, opportunity cost in this case means that time spent prepping, publishing, and managing the sales of an eBook is time that is not spent writing new material, which is the actual scarce product of highest value that the author has for sale.
Publishers provide a division of labor, where the better trained professionals focus on what they do best-- writers write, copy editors proof read, etc.
Honestly, if you have any interest in how the publishing industry works, from the pragmatic concessions made to the irrationalities of historic business practices still in use, take a look at Stross's postings. For your average novel writer, he covers it pretty effectively: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html
You don't have to agree with him, but he's got the insider knowledge on this and he's tech geek himself so he knows his way around these issues from that angle too.
Those saying "why don's authors sell eBooks directly?" should check out SciFi author Charlie Stross's postings on the publishing industry, which answers such questions and a whole lot more in a series of fantastic posts.
The short answer is skill set, opportunity costs, and frequently lack of access to electronic versions of the edited manuscript. Here's the first post in that series:
I don't believe it. I saw this a few days ago and couldn't find any source for their information or corroboration. In the publishing world, Amazon is notorious for pushing down the margins to a very thin line on, and considering some of the analytical errors that Tim O'reilly himself points out in the comments, I'm not inclined to take this on faith.
It's also the case that the Kindle, for the most popular brand of a consumer electronic in its 2.5 generation, is fairly expensive. As such, if Amazon is in fact paying above sale price for its eBooks, I don't doubt that they are curtailing their loses somewhat on what they charge for the hardware.
The idea that the person who pays the bills is the customer is true, but only to a point, especially when many parents take the approach that it's the kid who has to live/work at the school, so they should go somewhere they're going to be comfortable. We encounter this issue every day, assisting transfer students, not parents, who weren't happy at their previous school. In truth, both students and their parents are customers, and we have to accommodate both.
On the issue of behaving like a commercial enterprise you are also correct, but again it comes down to the fact that we are both commercial and an institution. Our goals may not come down to a bottom line of profit or loss, but we are sufficiently similar to companies in having to attract and retain users/customers/buyers/students that focusing exclusively on being an institution over the more business-like aspects will similarly cause us to fail, just as you observe that focusing exclusively on money making will cause us to fail. It's this balance that has been very hard for higher ed to find, or even recognize as necessary.
I work in higher education, on the technology and data side of enrollment management. There's certainly going to be a lot of resistance to this. It's hard to describe the extreme level of institutional inertia and conservatism (in the sense of being averse to big changes) that exists in the world of traditional higher education. It borders on what's seen in large religious institutions, because people in this industry very rarely view it in terms of a business that has to meet the needs and demands of customers, and instead view it as a sort of social good in itself, and so when the status quo is threatened, they see that as an attack on and destruction of something that is good in and of itself, rather than a shift in business models. Education certainly is a social good, but you can't divorce that from the other side of meeting the needs of those consuming your service.
In conversations with colleagues about the coming shifts, we've recognized that we'll need to adapt, but also that there will always be a place for offering a complete "college experience" and higher quality service as a value-add to knowledge acquisition that can be obtained much more cheaply by itself. None the less, I also realize that in 5-10 years I will either be working for an institution that has learned to adapt, or for the offspring of the current crop of upstart competitors.
Given it's O'Reilly, a company with fairly high quality content, I take it to mean that they're putting the primary value (and cost of production) into the content rather the delivery platform, and only charging the marginal cost for the delivery platform. In this case, it's $5 for a printed version, $0 for the eBook version.
This is no different than if people stopped buying Hard Cover books in favor of mass-market copies. If people only want mass-market copies and the prices there aren't high enough to cover costs & make a profit, then you either:
A. Sell more copies by producing a higher quality work
B. Sell less copies by make more money by pricing it higher, but not so much higher you lose more sales than the higher price makes up for
C. Price it lower to sell more copies but not so low you make less money
Generally I'd recommend a combination of A & C. The same holds for eBook copies.
On the post: US Mainstream Media Refuses Op-Ed About TSA Eroding Civil Liberties... But Pravda Publishes It
However, let's no one be surprised that the premier outlet of Russian anti-American propaganda-- Pravda-- published an op-Ed by an American criticizing a major American agency and policy.
On the post: Barnes & Noble Revealing Microsoft's 'Secret' Patents, Which It Believes Cover Android
On the post: Stop The Scourge Of Illegal 'Downwriting'
While this is true in a limited sense of recipes as a list of ingredients, this is not often the case in the context of an entire recipe complete with instructions as found in a cookbook: The description of the recipe, along with the instructions/explanation for prepping the dish, may be covered by copyright. http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
So, death penalty for the old ladies, but only if they're copying out the part that reads something like "be sure to sift the flower slowly to ensure proper blending and smoothness of the dough"
On the post: Appeals Court Says Genes Are Patentable, Because They're 'Separate' From Your DNA
It's all mine!
Ditto for kids. My kids is currently isolated from the others (only child, currently at home) Patenting him will make all the kids belong to me... and I'm hungry.
On the post: Rep. Anna Eshoo (From Silicon Valley!) Thinks PROTECT IP Is About Immigration?
from Sen. Lautenberg: "The “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act of 2011” (S. 968) would give law enforcement additional tools to combat the illegal online sale of counterfeit or copyright infringing goods. Specifically, this bill would give the Attorney General the power to serve issued court orders on search engines, payment processors, advertising networks, and Internet service providers. It would allow suit against site operators, but would not allow law enforcement to block access to a site. This bill would also require plaintiffs to sue the owner or registrant of a domain name before bringing suit against a site itself."
The irony is that the one thing he says this bill won't do is "allow law enforcement to block access to a site", which is something that law enforcement (ICE) has already grabbed for itself.
On the post: How Out Of Control Copyright Law Is Keeping Millions Of Books & Images Away From Scholars
On the post: How Putting James Joyce's Ulysses Into The Public Domain Will Breathe New Life Into Joyce's Work
Re:
On the post: Apple Trying To Run All Content Sales Through Its Own Sales System
Re: Kindle doesn't do in-app purchases
On the post: Funeral Directors Want To Put Monks In Jail For Offering 'Unauthorized' Coffins
Perhaps not so cut & dry
Dead bodies are pumped with all sorts of chemicals. If the containers in which they are stored are not properly constructed and sealed then those chemicals will leach out into the soil. I'm not willing to assume, absent further details, that the monks in question built theirs to the proper spec.
On the post: Random House Realizing That Its Old Contracts Don't Cover Ebooks
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Publisher? Who cares?
On the post: Random House Realizing That Its Old Contracts Don't Cover Ebooks
Re: Re: Why authors don't DIY eBooks
Answer: Find a High School Kid
There is a difference between an electronic file containing the text of the book and a professionally formatted eBook. It is similar to the difference between a stapled stack of photo copies and a professionally bound book, and presentation will effect your volume of sales.
Also, it takes time, as does OCR followed by proof-reading and editing. This is where "opportunity costs" come in to play. It's an important concept in economics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
In short though, opportunity cost in this case means that time spent prepping, publishing, and managing the sales of an eBook is time that is not spent writing new material, which is the actual scarce product of highest value that the author has for sale.
Publishers provide a division of labor, where the better trained professionals focus on what they do best-- writers write, copy editors proof read, etc.
Honestly, if you have any interest in how the publishing industry works, from the pragmatic concessions made to the irrationalities of historic business practices still in use, take a look at Stross's postings. For your average novel writer, he covers it pretty effectively: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html
You don't have to agree with him, but he's got the insider knowledge on this and he's tech geek himself so he knows his way around these issues from that angle too.
On the post: Random House Realizing That Its Old Contracts Don't Cover Ebooks
Re: Re: Why authors don't DIY eBooks
On the post: Random House Realizing That Its Old Contracts Don't Cover Ebooks
Why authors don't DIY eBooks
The short answer is skill set, opportunity costs, and frequently lack of access to electronic versions of the edited manuscript. Here's the first post in that series:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html
His books are great too, with some freely available.
On the post: This Is What's Wrong With eBooks: Amazon Loses $2 On Every eBook Sold
It's also the case that the Kindle, for the most popular brand of a consumer electronic in its 2.5 generation, is fairly expensive. As such, if Amazon is in fact paying above sale price for its eBooks, I don't doubt that they are curtailing their loses somewhat on what they charge for the hardware.
On the post: Next Up For Disruption? College
Re: Re: A view from inside higher ed
On the issue of behaving like a commercial enterprise you are also correct, but again it comes down to the fact that we are both commercial and an institution. Our goals may not come down to a bottom line of profit or loss, but we are sufficiently similar to companies in having to attract and retain users/customers/buyers/students that focusing exclusively on being an institution over the more business-like aspects will similarly cause us to fail, just as you observe that focusing exclusively on money making will cause us to fail. It's this balance that has been very hard for higher ed to find, or even recognize as necessary.
On the post: Next Up For Disruption? College
A view from inside higher ed
In conversations with colleagues about the coming shifts, we've recognized that we'll need to adapt, but also that there will always be a place for offering a complete "college experience" and higher quality service as a value-add to knowledge acquisition that can be obtained much more cheaply by itself. None the less, I also realize that in 5-10 years I will either be working for an institution that has learned to adapt, or for the offspring of the current crop of upstart competitors.
On the post: Publishers Lashing Out At eBooks
Re: And yet...
On the post: Publishers Lashing Out At eBooks
Simple Solution
A. Sell more copies by producing a higher quality work
B. Sell less copies by make more money by pricing it higher, but not so much higher you lose more sales than the higher price makes up for
C. Price it lower to sell more copies but not so low you make less money
Generally I'd recommend a combination of A & C. The same holds for eBook copies.
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