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questions I’d like to hear Amazon / Booksurge answer

wfz-admin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:23:10 +0000

Things I have not seen explained yet in the press, or would like to see someone ask Amazon:

What happened to Amazon’s selection promise — how can you be “world’s greatest bookstore” if you remove tens or hundreds of thousands of titles from your catalog at a stroke because they are supposedly “too hard” to acquire for your customers (via 24-hour POD ??)
How exactly Amazon proposes for Booksurge to handle the load of 400,000 or more new POD titles that took LSI 10? years to put in print. it is fair to say that booksurge does not have a reputation for operational excellence. not that they couldn’t fix that, but so far they have not said or done anything to indicate that they are serious about accommodating all the business they’re asking for.
Why won’t Amazon convert books from other POD formats into Booksurge’s — after all, Amazon is a technology company — let them do the work of reformatting tens of thousands of books — much more efficient to do it at the chokepoint programmatically than for thousands of publishers to do it individually. worst case is they have to buy a few extra printing machines and learn how to work ‘em. Not hard for a company with the resources of Amazon.
Why can’t Amazon just do a deal with LSI to put LSI printers in Amazon fulfillment centers?
Are your BookSurge reps ever going to be able to threaten anyone with Buy Button removal again, given that there will be an immediate viral response in the blogosphere if they do? given that the Buy Button threat is effectively inoperable — thanks to the power of the InterWeb — why don’t you just withdraw it?

It looks to me as if Angela Hoy is emerging as the heroine of this story. Apart from having the courage to speak out in the first place, which was huge, she is doing the best job of covering all the developments on a rolling basis.

Not a very bright idea …

wfz-admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:44:01 +0000

News from the South Atlantic – Falkland Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha – South Atlantic Remote Territories Media Association
Friday night’s Force-8 gales proved to be too much for Colin Yeates, who had set off from Stanley on Friday in a second attempt to circumnavigate Antarctica in a rowboat. According to Fisheries Operations, who had promised to track Mr. Yeates’ progress, the Force-8 gale capsized his boat several times.
The fishing vessel, DORADA, was tasked to pick Mr. Yeates, who by this time had become concussed, up and take him to safety.

The 47, said he wanted another chance to circumnavigate Antarctica this year and had a harrowing backwards and sideways journey the first time, Mr. Yates had hoped he could be towed far enough away from the Falklands to leave the coastal pull that scuppered his first attempt in January but even with the extra distance he couldn’t cope with the gale-force winds.

After retrieving his boat, a survey of the damage was made and the Kevlar skin was found to be intact. Epoxies flown in by Lan put the boat back to seaworthy condition, only to have it capsize several times on the second attempt.

Cover detail of Subterranean’s A STORM OF SWORDS

wfz-admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 23:38:02 +0000

Cover detail

Limited edition from Subterranean Press.

The Wikipedia Muhammad Cartoons Debate: A War Of Ideas

wfz-admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 15:29:03 +0000

The Wikipedia Muhammad Cartoons Debate: A War Of Ideas
A new book from Iraq Museum International (www.BaghdadMuseum.org) documents the war of ideas waged behind the scenes among contributors to Wikipedia, the world’s largest Internet encyclopedia.

(PRWEB) February 11, 2006 — A new book from Iraq Museum International (www.BaghdadMuseum.org) documents the war of ideas waged behind the scenes among contributors to Wikipedia, the world’s largest Internet encyclopedia.

The Wikipedia Muhammad Cartoons Debate: A War Of Ideas
John Simmons, editor
Format: 2 Adobe pdf files
File Size: 3,585KB total
Printable: Yes
Mac OS Compatible: Yes
Windows Compatible: Yes
Handheld Compatible: Yes
Digital: 706 pages
Publisher: Iraq Museum International – www.BaghdadMuseum.org (February 10, 2006)

“The Wikipedia Muhammad Cartoons Debate: A War Of Ideas” assembles a 700-page transcript of the heated online discussions among the users of Wikipedia, the world’s largest Internet encyclopedia, as they edited articles dealing with the notorious satirical drawings of Muhammad first published in Denmark.

According to editor John Simmons, “This transcript reveals the mechanics of the clash of civilizations.”

This is a good idea.

Fortune Takes A Look Back

wfz-admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:37:58 +0000

To see the future of media, go to Slashdot.org – Feb. 10, 2006
If you want to see the future of media, go to Slashdot.org.

Two things distinguish it — it’s the most popular news and information site with the tech cognoscenti, particularly programmers and engineers. And all of its content is created by its users.

Actually, no. Slashdot is viewed with increasing suspicion by tech cognoscenti because of the credulous approach of the editors. And, of course, having content created by users is nothing new or special.

This article just makes Fortune look like an old-media dinosaur.

Charismatic Megafauna = Dangerous Pests

wfz-admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:30:01 +0000

I love charismatic megafauna and follow news about them with great interest. I want to see them preserved. But the discussion is not going to get very far until people on the conservation side acknowledge a fundamental truth. To farmers and to parents with small children, food or 2)dangerous pests who fully deserve the immediate death penalty. Peaceful co-existence ain’t gonna happen.,

it’s this line of thought that leads me to support Pleistocene rewilding.

The case for mocking religion. By Christopher Hitchens

wfz-admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 15:43:43 +0000

Slate: The case for mocking religion. By Christopher Hitchens
Therefore there is a strong case for saying that the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and those who have reprinted its efforts out of solidarity, are affirming the right to criticize not merely Islam but religion in general. And the Bush administration has no business at all expressing an opinion on that. If it is to say anything, it is constitutionally obliged to uphold the right and no more.

Absolutely correct. This is about freedom of speech and freedom of thought, which should be primary concerns for book-lovers everywhere.

the ‘Magnum P.I.’ movie

wfz-admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:11:18 +0000

CNN.com – ‘Magnum P.I.’ coming to big screen – Jan 24, 2006
Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”) has signed on to write and direct the big-screen adaptation of “Magnum P.I.,” the 1980s series that made Tom Selleck a star.

…

Thurber is not making a spoof but rather something akin to the tone of the show, which mixed humor and danger. The story line for the Universal Pictures film sees Magnum, with the help of his former military pals, searching for a missing buddy.

Wow, this is really underwhelming.

“Dodgeball”?
No Tom Selleck?
“searching for a missing buddy”?

Snoozefest.

Sydney Penny IS Bernadette

wfz-admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:07:37 +0000

AMC fans take note:

Download Images
Sydney Penny, pictured, plays the role of St. Bernadette Soubirous in the soon to be released film, “The Passion of Bernadette,” about Bernadette’s life after the Blessed Mother appeared to her at Lourdes, France in 1858. Ignatius Press, one of the largest Catholic book publishers in the U.S. and the primary English language publisher of the works of Pope Benedict XVI, is sponsoring the national premiere of the film Feb. 11, 2006

Jefferson nickel facing forward

wfzimmerman — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 11:34:00 +0000

Cool.