(To those not in on the joke - it's phonetically the same as this.)
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
A Quote
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I have a feeling that most people that try to be creative these days have never heard the phrase or had the concept cross their mind.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Kindle Surprise
After a one-year struggle of choosing a vendor and a model for a possible e-book reader, I've finally settled on an Amazon Kindle - a pretty neat piece of work that I have to admit I've instantly taken to liking.
However, as with just about anything that one's bound to like, there's an entire package of "buts" bundled with the associated item. This time, of course, it's the DRMs and the amazingly high e-book prices.
Now, some might already know of my disdain for the mentioned DRMs - to me, they're nothing but a waste of time and money for the publisher and developer of any type of software, as it takes just a fraction of effort for hackers to break their next generation of defense - and at the same time, legitimate customers end up being treated like dirt, which, admittedly, is not an attitude that I happen to enjoy. In any case, be it as it may, no sooner than I've got my Kindle, I've come across (thanks, Seagale) this lovely little article on publishers stiffing out the public libraries of funds for e-book usage.
As a TL;DR, some of the major book/e-book publishers are trying to impose various limitations on the number of use of e-books - as low as 26 in case of Harper-Collins - with a requirement to renew the purchase after the book has been read the said 26 times. Obviously, with the limited funding that public libraries get, this little scheme becomes quite taxing, and yet again, hits the segment of the population that the industry seems to have defaulted to the level of beggars and pocket thieves. Thanks, industry, students and the lower-middle/working class will remember you with gratitude!
However, as with just about anything that one's bound to like, there's an entire package of "buts" bundled with the associated item. This time, of course, it's the DRMs and the amazingly high e-book prices.
Now, some might already know of my disdain for the mentioned DRMs - to me, they're nothing but a waste of time and money for the publisher and developer of any type of software, as it takes just a fraction of effort for hackers to break their next generation of defense - and at the same time, legitimate customers end up being treated like dirt, which, admittedly, is not an attitude that I happen to enjoy. In any case, be it as it may, no sooner than I've got my Kindle, I've come across (thanks, Seagale) this lovely little article on publishers stiffing out the public libraries of funds for e-book usage.
As a TL;DR, some of the major book/e-book publishers are trying to impose various limitations on the number of use of e-books - as low as 26 in case of Harper-Collins - with a requirement to renew the purchase after the book has been read the said 26 times. Obviously, with the limited funding that public libraries get, this little scheme becomes quite taxing, and yet again, hits the segment of the population that the industry seems to have defaulted to the level of beggars and pocket thieves. Thanks, industry, students and the lower-middle/working class will remember you with gratitude!
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