Thinking Different
When Amazon brought the Kindle to market I was one of those early adopters who jumped on that bandwagon. The notion that my entire library could be digital was very seductive to my way of thinking. I travel a lot and having lots of good books at my fingertips no matter where I happen to be, and without having to lug hundreds of pounds of actual books around, seemed like a pretty good thing.
Besides, I don’t know about you, but I rarely ever read a book more than once and books take up space. Buying a book, reading it, and then storing it for the rest of my life seemed a fairly inefficient use of the space in my home.
Now, in my head, the concept of electronic book publishing seems like it would be a dream for publishers too. They require no printing or assembly, and no storage or shipping. Surely if I buy a hardback book from Borders for $29.99 then at least half that cost, and probably more, has to be in the printing, assembly and physical distribution to thousands of bookstores.
Or so one might think.
With the Kindle the only real game in the e-book world, Amazon had a strong bargaining position with the publishers who either played ball on price or didn’t publish for this new medium. But the introduction of the iPad has messed that up and now we’re seeing e-book prices escalating from the once common $9.99 per title to $14.99 and higher.
Gee, thanks Apple!
All of this got me thinking a bit more about the e-book business and suddenly, it doesn’t look so good to me anymore.
Here’s one example of how it’s been working for me since the advent of the Kindle…
I’m a Clive Cussler fan and read everything he writes. When one of his new releases hits the market it generally retails for $29.99 at most brick and mortar bookstores. Amazon will offer that same title for $21.99 plus shipping. The electronic Kindle edition costs $9.99.
But there’s a stiff penalty for buying that book as soon as it’s released. If you wait nine months, that same hardback book that retailed for $29.99 will be selling for $5.99 in the bargain bin at any decent bookstore. That’s almost half the cost of the electronic version – and the electronic version price is never discounted below $9.99.
So if you discover a book that you want that’s been out for awhile, the best price will undoubtedly be in the bargain bin.
And consider this … when you buy an electronic version, you’re only buying the right to read that book on a specific device. You can’t sell it in a garage sale a year later because you don’t have that right. If you decide to sell your Kindle you can’t legally sell your purchased e-book collection along with it. And if you decide you don’t like your Kindle anymore and you get rid of it, you lose everything in your digital collection.
It would seem that these problems will only be perpetuated with new devices like the iPad and others who are actually a little late to the e-book party. Each will be an isolated little island where whatever you purchase will only be usable on that little island.
(Interestingly enough, the Kindle software is currently available on the iPhone which means it should also be available on the iPad. But given Apple’s draconian App Store history who wants to bet that as soon as they get their iBooks Store up and running they won’t banish the Kindle software claiming it’s a duplication of their own effort?)
Suddenly, physical books don’t seem quite so archaic.
And considering that part about me usually only reading a book one time, I starting to think that maybe we ought to come up with a service that lets us all share the books that we’ve already read with each other.
And then it dawned on me that we’ve had that for a long, long time and it works quite well.
It’s called a public library.
In: blog · Tagged with: amazon, apple, ideas, ipad, kindle
iTelegraph
If you’ve been sweating great drops of blood worrying that Morse is going the way of the horse and buggy, then take some solace in this unique electronics kit.
The iTelegraph kit allows you to send Morse code over the Internet to other iTelegraphs and you can even use an antique key and sounder with this kit.
It uses an Ethernet module and microcontroller to connect to the receiving iTelegraph, creating a virtual "main line."
A computer is not needed, allowing you to create a stand-alone telegraph interface. You can enter the remote IP address as well as configure the device using the intuitive LCD and button interface.
Imagine, you can pound brass for as long as you like without the band suddenly going south and leaving you wanting more. If you’ve got an Internet connection and a little gumption, you can spend the next century pounding brass to your hearts content…
In: blog · Tagged with: electronics, kit, morse
Don’t Try This at Home
Don’t try this at home — unless your crotch rocket will go from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds…
Direct link to YouTube video.
In: blog · Tagged with: video
On a Clear Day
ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi has been making use of his camera and Twitter account to send some truly amazing pictures of the Earth from orbit.
In this flyover of Egypt, two pyramids are clearly visible.
In: blog · Tagged with: space, twitter
Census Workers
Here’s a bit of information with regard to the army of census workers who may be descending on your town anytime soon. Make certain to share this with everyone in your home and also with any of your older relatives who might need a little help… okay?
If someone comes to your door claiming to be a census worker, ask to see a photo ID and a badge that shows that the person represents the U.S. Census Bureau. The worker will also have a hand-held device that is used to take your information, a canvas census bag and a confidentiality notice.
Census workers will not ask for your Social Security number or for information about your bank accounts or credit cards. The Better Business Bureau advises you not to invite the worker, or anyone you don’t know, into your home. To protect against identity theft, the BBB also warns you never to give out personal or financial information to anyone who shows up at your door.
For more tips, go to the Better Business Bureau website.
In: blog · Tagged with: ideas
War is good for HF radio
From the Sydney Morning Herald…
Upheaval is usually something most businesses try desperately to avoid. But for Codan, the Australian maker of high frequency radios, satellite transceivers and metal detectors, conflict is central to its business. And business is booming, as natural disasters, armed conflicts and nation building efforts around the world expand the markets for its products.
Even the global volatility that has driven up the price of gold has helped boost sales of its metal detectors.
But it is the radios used in warzones and emergencies that have helped the company post a profit of $13.6 million after tax, integration and restructure expenses, up from $6.7 million for same period last year. Revenues for the company jumped 25% from $71 million to $89.4 million, according to Codan’s half-year financial results released today. “We’ve had to tailor our product and equipment more towards protection and military applications,” he said. “We’re seeing our high frequency radio business remain quite strong.”
The company’s HF radios, whose huge antennae are a common site in hotspots like Afghanistan and Iraq, work by bouncing signals off the ionosphere – in the upper atmosphere – allowing people to communicate across countries that lack a working infrastructure.
In: blog · Tagged with: business, hf, war
Conductive Perplexity
Scientific American reports:
“An electric insulator, in the simplest terms, blocks the flow of electric current. So it would be a bit counterintuitive, to say the least, if a current on one side of an insulator could produce voltage on the other. But that is precisely what a group of Japanese researchers has found, as detailed in a study in the March 11 issue of Nature. The electric current induces a collective excitation in the magnetic insulator that can travel relatively long distances before unloading its momentum to generate a voltage when it reaches an electric conductor.”
So much for the power of glass doobies…
In: blog · Tagged with: electronics, science