Just a quick post to point out two things.
The first was that I found myself seeing a lot of press about the OS X FlashBack Trojan, and I immediately tried to test my iMac … before I remembered I was on Ubuntu.
I thought that was interesting, not only because Linux tends to be safer from such things but mainly due to the fact that I totally forgot I wasn’t on OS X.
I should also note that most sites are suggesting that the easiest way for people to detect the trojan is to download and execute some code off the Internet. (sigh)
The second thing is that David Bryne has started blogging again, and he has a cautionary tale about Amazon removing Kindle content without asking permission:
It seems that, once again, Amazon has removed purchased material from our devices. I suspect Apple had a hand in this as well. Apple has consistently sabotaged their competitors’ apps and software that allow you to sync other devices with their own. Then, all of the sudden, apps that once did X and Y suddenly don’t perform those functions anymore. In most cases those apps were free—so it is hard to complain too much. Although, some of the free apps contained magazines, books and other content, like Decoded, that I purchased and though they may not have been very good, I paid for them and they were mine to keep! They came to my house and ripped pages out of my book!
As much as I’d love to have some sort of e-reader, until they stop doing stuff like this I’ll vote with my wallet.
I generally prefer to consume simplified content, partly because of these kinds of shenanigans. The no frills version of the Kindle is a simple device and great for just one thing, but even then you still get jacked around. There are some great books I’d love to read that are audiobook only (for only $25 per! instead of a $3-5 written book), similar to a song you want to buy that can only be bought as the full album. Likewise it seems to be popular for new books to keep a hefty ebook price for at least a couple years. Marketing jerks always seem to get involved at sometime, somehow, in the process. Everyone has a “great idea” on how to make emoney. That’s OK. For every audiobook scam and greedy publisher, there are many times more free or cheap authers of quality out there, and with the e-reader you always have something to read.
These days of wild west content providing I expect the occasional content removal from Netflix or WGN blackout on DirecTV, so aiming for some kind of middle of the road source is as good as I can try for now. Rich media experience or interactive books and magazines, no thanks.