yon Leveron blog

As folks who know me will readily tell you, I’m into technology.  The Kindle 6″ screen is definitely high technology.

• Relatively new invention called an mp3 player, pre-iPod? One of the first kids on my block.
• Build your own Apple I from a kit? Yep. (it really did come as a kit, BTW)
• Work with a big scary mainframe system early in high school? Surely.

Then why wouldn’t I rave over a brilliant new device, this Kindle, or the somewhat larger 9.7″ screen  Kindle DX?  Both of these e-readers are already product improved versions in their second generation.  After reading a link from Yale, I found that even David Byrne had one.  Who am I to question him?

It actually isn’t just any one reason I’m not really into the Kindle.  I’ll admit, I like paper. I’m all for recycling and not wasting resources to start with, but I am just a little tradition bound since I started seriously reading paper and hard back novels at age six.  While it is a daily vice for me, there could be worse.

It does have some convenience factors vs. my other typical Amazon orders (old tech / paper and ink) but I just prefer to have a physical product to hold onto, and to pass down.

While the “1984 recall” was not-so-hot, it really isn’t the exact point. While to Amazon’s credit they did return the purchase price of the books they deleted, I’m essentially against any product / service that even has some mechanism to recall / remove / change data on my end of things. I simply don’t want to license my purchases, I want to own my particular copy.

Yes, I actually like to pay cash for things too, rather than purchase on someone else’s credit. And “librarians, unite”

He rocked.

This will be interesting to watch as it develops.

Microsoft, Yahoo Unite Against Google Book Search — InformationWeek.

excerpt below, click link above for full article

Microsoft, Yahoo Unite Against Google Book Search

A new coalition opposed to Google’s Book Search settlement has been formed.

By Thomas Claburn

InformationWeek

August 21, 2009 04:00 PM

Microsoft and Yahoo have confirmed that they have joined the Open Book Alliance, a newly formed group opposed to the Google Book settlement.

Amazon also reportedly joined the coalition, which is expected to make an announcement next week. Amazon, however, declined to comment.

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Companies team to develop computing device and chipset architectures that will combine the performance of powerful computers with high-bandwidth mobile broadband communications and ubiquitous Internet connectivity.

The Open Book Alliance is a distinct organization from the Open Content Alliance, a group with similar goals created by Yahoo, the Internet Archive, and many universities.

Last October, Google reached a settlement with the authors and publishers who brought a lawsuit against Google for scanning books for its search index without permission. The settlement awaits approval from the judge overseeing the case. The U.S. Department of Justice is also weighing whether the settlement merits antitrust action.

A fairness hearing to consider approval of the settlement is scheduled for October 7. The deadline for objections to the settlement is September 4.

The major areas of contention revolve around issues of privacy, exclusivity, and indemnification from liability. Critics of the settlement want Google to commit to: offering online readers the same privacy protection enjoyed by offline readers; an open registry system rather than one controlled by two publishing industry groups; and indemnification from copyright claims for those who want to scan orphaned works — books for which the copyright holder cannot be found — as Google has done.

In May, Google said that it planned “to build and support a digital book ecosystem to allow our partner publishers to make their books available for purchase from any Web-enabled device,” showing that Google Book Search will become a platform for Google book sales. This presumably explains Amazon’s reported decision to join the coalition opposing the settlement.

To Google, Microsoft’s public opposition seems incongruous because the company shuttered its Live Book Search project last year “to focus on search verticals with high commercial intent, such as travel.”

Large list of some possibilities, but some I’ve enjoyed are :

Most anything Robert Anson Heinlein ever penned.

The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings

Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle

Neal Stephenson : wide range of dates, great themes.

some of the original Tom Clancy novels

L. Neil Smith – some of his best are out of print unfortunately, but you’ll find good search links embedded in this post.

There are lots more, I’ll just toss a few out every now and then.  Hopefully you’ll help fully addict a child to reading, to the point that they suffer (gladly) this “vice” at least once per day.

Cheers

RIF, babee!