Deborah Solomon, New York Times; Questions for Jeffrey P. Bezos [Amazon CEO]:
[Solomon:] "Barnes & Noble claims on its Web site that the Nook has several advantages over the Kindle — for one thing, a Nook book can be lent to friends. You can forward the text to another user.
[Bezos:] The current thing being talked about is extremely limited. You can lend to one friend. One time. You can’t pick two friends, not even serially, so once you’ve loaned one book to one friend, that’s it.
[Solomon:] You have to pick just one person? What are you saying? It’s like “Sophie’s Choice”?
[Bezos:] It is “Sophie’s Choice.” Very nicely done...
[Solomon:] Of all the books that Amazon sells, what percentage are digital books?
[Bezos:] For every 100 copies of a physical book we sell, where we have the Kindle edition, we will sell 48 copies of the Kindle edition. It won’t be too long before we’re selling more electronic books than we are physical books. It’s astonishing.
[Solomon:] How quickly are paper books migrating into their digital equivalents?
[Bezos:] When we launched Kindle two years ago, it was 90,000 titles, and today it’s more than 350,000. We’re adding thousands of titles every week. Our vision is every book ever printed in every language, all available within 60 seconds.
[Solomon:] But so much is missing. I see the so-called Kindle store doesn’t carry “The Catcher in the Rye” or “Franny and Zooey.” Is that because J. D. Salinger has declined to authorize digital editions of his books?
[Bezos:] You’d have to ask him...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06fob-q4-t.html
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Language Of 'Piracy' As A Spectacle; TechDirt, 12/4/09
Mike Masnick, TechDirt; The Language Of 'Piracy' As A Spectacle:
"I've discussed in the past why I'm not thrilled about the use of the word "piracy," even as it has become rather standard for describing unauthorized file sharing. It's inaccurate, and is used by the entertainment industry to paint a picture of pure evil, where a more nuanced and accurate view might help. At the same time, with the rise of "The Pirate Party" in various countries, a group of folks have tried to take the word back -- but I still wonder if the name limits the party's upside, even as it may have enabled some of the initial attention (and vote-getting ability)."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091203/2347377193.shtml
"I've discussed in the past why I'm not thrilled about the use of the word "piracy," even as it has become rather standard for describing unauthorized file sharing. It's inaccurate, and is used by the entertainment industry to paint a picture of pure evil, where a more nuanced and accurate view might help. At the same time, with the rise of "The Pirate Party" in various countries, a group of folks have tried to take the word back -- but I still wonder if the name limits the party's upside, even as it may have enabled some of the initial attention (and vote-getting ability)."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091203/2347377193.shtml
Let Them Sing... About Copyright?; TechDirt, 12/4/09
Mike Masnick, TechDirt; Let Them Sing... About Copyright?:
"Shocklee points us to an awesome little app that lets you type in whatever lyrics (or, well, words) you want, hit play, and whatever you type will be sung for you, using clips from various famous songs. It's a really fun little app (though, I was amused that they have no clip for the word "lyrics" despite the service being all about lyrics) and can get pretty addictive. In fact, if you want to hear this entire post sung outloud via this system, just click here (please note, this will take a really long time to load, but it's totally worth it). However, like with many other cool music projects, I'm left wondering whether or not some would consider this to be copyright infringement. All of the clips are tiny -- one word, or in many cases, less than a full word, but they do seem to come from various popular and well-known songs."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091204/1146267209.shtml
"Shocklee points us to an awesome little app that lets you type in whatever lyrics (or, well, words) you want, hit play, and whatever you type will be sung for you, using clips from various famous songs. It's a really fun little app (though, I was amused that they have no clip for the word "lyrics" despite the service being all about lyrics) and can get pretty addictive. In fact, if you want to hear this entire post sung outloud via this system, just click here (please note, this will take a really long time to load, but it's totally worth it). However, like with many other cool music projects, I'm left wondering whether or not some would consider this to be copyright infringement. All of the clips are tiny -- one word, or in many cases, less than a full word, but they do seem to come from various popular and well-known songs."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091204/1146267209.shtml
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Google draws flak over online 'crumbs'; Sydney Morning Herald, 12/4/09
Sydney Morning Herald; Google draws flak over online 'crumbs':
"Search engine giant Google came in peace to a gathering of world newspaper editors and executives in India, but was soon embroiled in a battle over internet copyright.
``Please don't shoot. I am unarmed,'' Google senior vice president David Drummond told participants at the World Newspaper Congress on Thursday, where his company has been vilified as a parasite sucking the life blood from mainstream journalism.
Addressing the final session of the three-day congress in the southern city of Hyderabad, Drummond, who is also Google's chief legal counsel, sought to counter the charges of ``stealing'' stories from online newspaper websites and not sharing advertising revenue.
``Talk of us as 'vampires' and 'kleptomaniacs' is wide of the mark,'' said Drummond, who argued that Google had taken various steps to address newspaper industry concerns that its content was being exploited online.
On Tuesday, Google announced it would let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free through its search engine, and the following day it launched a ``news-specific crawler'' that lets online media automatically keep stories, photos or video out of its index.
But Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) dismissed such measures as ``handouts and crumbs'' and said his members would only be satisfied with Google's ``unambiguous acceptance'' of copyright principles.
``Copyright is not an intellectual abstract. It is the law,'' O'Reilly said during an on-stage debate with Drummond.
Google's popular news aggregator website Google News has drawn fire from a number of newspaper owners for linking to their articles without payment.
The Internet search and advertising heavyweight counters that it is providing newspapers a free service by driving readers to their websites - an argument dismissed by O'Reilly.
``We are told: 'Don't complain. Aren't we bringing you the traffic?'. But I can't take traffic to my bank manager,'' he said."
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/google-draws-flak-over-online-crumbs-20091204-k971.html
"Search engine giant Google came in peace to a gathering of world newspaper editors and executives in India, but was soon embroiled in a battle over internet copyright.
``Please don't shoot. I am unarmed,'' Google senior vice president David Drummond told participants at the World Newspaper Congress on Thursday, where his company has been vilified as a parasite sucking the life blood from mainstream journalism.
Addressing the final session of the three-day congress in the southern city of Hyderabad, Drummond, who is also Google's chief legal counsel, sought to counter the charges of ``stealing'' stories from online newspaper websites and not sharing advertising revenue.
``Talk of us as 'vampires' and 'kleptomaniacs' is wide of the mark,'' said Drummond, who argued that Google had taken various steps to address newspaper industry concerns that its content was being exploited online.
On Tuesday, Google announced it would let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free through its search engine, and the following day it launched a ``news-specific crawler'' that lets online media automatically keep stories, photos or video out of its index.
But Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) dismissed such measures as ``handouts and crumbs'' and said his members would only be satisfied with Google's ``unambiguous acceptance'' of copyright principles.
``Copyright is not an intellectual abstract. It is the law,'' O'Reilly said during an on-stage debate with Drummond.
Google's popular news aggregator website Google News has drawn fire from a number of newspaper owners for linking to their articles without payment.
The Internet search and advertising heavyweight counters that it is providing newspapers a free service by driving readers to their websites - an argument dismissed by O'Reilly.
``We are told: 'Don't complain. Aren't we bringing you the traffic?'. But I can't take traffic to my bank manager,'' he said."
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/google-draws-flak-over-online-crumbs-20091204-k971.html
Microsoft starts antipiracy initiatives in 70 countries; Ars Technica, 12/3/09
Emil Protalinski, Ars Technica; Microsoft starts antipiracy initiatives in 70 countries:
In addition to enforcement and engineering improvements to fight piracy, Microsoft has started pushing education initiatives in 70 countries.
"Microsoft has simultaneously launched education initiatives in more than 70 countries to help protect consumers and increase awareness of the risks of counterfeit software. Named Microsoft Consumer Action Day, the push includes an intellectual property rights education program in schools across China, an originals club for software resellers in Germany, a risk-of-counterfeit training course for the consumer protection authority in Mexico, a children's online safety program in Greece, and a study of piracy's impact on small and midsize businesses in Argentina. Details about these efforts are available at Microsoft.com/HowToTell and (800) RU-LEGIT (785-3448)."
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/12/microsoft-starts-antipiracy-initiatives-in-70-countries.ars
In addition to enforcement and engineering improvements to fight piracy, Microsoft has started pushing education initiatives in 70 countries.
"Microsoft has simultaneously launched education initiatives in more than 70 countries to help protect consumers and increase awareness of the risks of counterfeit software. Named Microsoft Consumer Action Day, the push includes an intellectual property rights education program in schools across China, an originals club for software resellers in Germany, a risk-of-counterfeit training course for the consumer protection authority in Mexico, a children's online safety program in Greece, and a study of piracy's impact on small and midsize businesses in Argentina. Details about these efforts are available at Microsoft.com/HowToTell and (800) RU-LEGIT (785-3448)."
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/12/microsoft-starts-antipiracy-initiatives-in-70-countries.ars
Judge rejects Amazon bid to scrap Google pact; Reuters, 12/2/09
Reuters; Judge rejects Amazon bid to scrap Google pact:
"A federal judge has rejected Amazon.com Inc's request that he withdraw preliminary approval of a settlement between Google Inc and groups of authors and publishers to digitize millions of books.
In a Tuesday ruling, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said he planned to conduct a "thorough fairness analysis" of the settlement at a February 18, 2010 hearing and Amazon could argue its case then."
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5B15KY20091202
"A federal judge has rejected Amazon.com Inc's request that he withdraw preliminary approval of a settlement between Google Inc and groups of authors and publishers to digitize millions of books.
In a Tuesday ruling, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said he planned to conduct a "thorough fairness analysis" of the settlement at a February 18, 2010 hearing and Amazon could argue its case then."
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5B15KY20091202
Huffington hits out at Murdoch speech; Guardian, 12/2/09
Mercedes Bunz, Guardian; Huffington hits out at Murdoch speech:
Huffington Post founder says aggregation is 'part of the web's DNA' and tells old media organisations to 'get real'
"Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington has accused Rupert Murdoch of confusing aggregation with misappropriation following his Federal Trade Commission speech claiming "There's no such thing as a free news story".
Huffington began in a humorous vein: "First of all, I would like to quote my great grandmother who likes to say: 'Never bet on a company that takes itself out of Google.'"
Then she introduced the audience to the three topics of her speech: "One, desperate times lead to desperate metaphors; two, desperate times lead to desperate revenue models; three, desperate times desperately call for better journalism."
She added: "I've talked about how the future of journalism will be a hybrid future where traditional media players embrace the ways of new media (including transparency, interactivity, and immediacy) and new media companies adopt the best practices of old media (including fairness, accuracy, and high-impact investigative journalism)...
After these statements she finished her attack saying: "And now they want to call 'Time out!' and start questioning 'fair use' – have you heard that? – as well as praising the first amendment. Basically they are attacking new media for being, well, new and transformational and there to stay. Get real you guys, the world has changed.""
Huffington Post founder says aggregation is 'part of the web's DNA' and tells old media organisations to 'get real'
"Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington has accused Rupert Murdoch of confusing aggregation with misappropriation following his Federal Trade Commission speech claiming "There's no such thing as a free news story".
Huffington began in a humorous vein: "First of all, I would like to quote my great grandmother who likes to say: 'Never bet on a company that takes itself out of Google.'"
Then she introduced the audience to the three topics of her speech: "One, desperate times lead to desperate metaphors; two, desperate times lead to desperate revenue models; three, desperate times desperately call for better journalism."
She added: "I've talked about how the future of journalism will be a hybrid future where traditional media players embrace the ways of new media (including transparency, interactivity, and immediacy) and new media companies adopt the best practices of old media (including fairness, accuracy, and high-impact investigative journalism)...
After these statements she finished her attack saying: "And now they want to call 'Time out!' and start questioning 'fair use' – have you heard that? – as well as praising the first amendment. Basically they are attacking new media for being, well, new and transformational and there to stay. Get real you guys, the world has changed.""
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