March 2012

What Did Amazon Ever Do For Us?

We don’t aim to list the errors or poor presentation issues we saw but clearly there is a huge gap the approach to selling and the perception of what the consumer may want to know. Amazon were the only ones to list all the renditions (ebook,hardback etc) on the same page and link to these individual options. They were the only ones to give us a sample of the book and even a promotional video. They, as you would expect won on price, but also clearly stated the RRP, saving and sale price. There was even disparity between the various offers as to what the ebook RRP actually is, which in the eyes of a consumer may be very confusing. Within seconds we had it downloaded our copy.

Deep Thought is Dead, Long Live Deep Thought

‘Where are these jobs that will require such rapid “searching, browsing, assessing quality, and synthesizing the vast quantities of information”? We don’t need those skills to drive a truck or manage company accounts or sell clothes or do IT customer service or write novels or write code or give inoculations to patients or teach seven-year-olds how to read … so what do, or what will, need them for? And how many of us will need them?’

Copyright isn’t dead just because we’re not willing to let it regulate us

The “copy” in copyright is there because of an accident of history: once upon a time, to “copy” was to do something industrial. Copying required physical plant, employees, premises, trading. While not everything industrial could be reduced to “copying,” all copying was presumptively industrial. There were ways of non-industrially copying things – a sculptor could copy another sculptor’s work by application of her eye and hand and chisel, a writer could dip his quill and set out the lines of another writer – but it wasn’t really necessary to explicitly declare that this wasn’t the kind of thing regulated by copyright. Such activity was almost always invisible to rights-holders, and even if an individual work happened to rise to the attention of a rights-holder, he would seem like a bit of a fool trying to apply industrial rules to individual actors. It’s like asking your neighbours to register as a bed and breakfast because they’ve got guests in for the weekend who’ve chipped in for groceries.

Facebook asserts trademark on word “book” in new user agreement

Facebook is trying to expand its trademark rights over the word “book” by adding the claim to a newly revised version of its “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,” the agreement all users implicitly consent to by using or accessing Facebook.

The Toronto Sun reports that a local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide (A Gift for Muslim Couple) that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.

The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”

The store’s manager, who didn’t give his name, said the book had been sold out for some time, and the store’s owner, whom the manager identified as Shamim Ahmad, refused to comment for the story.

It wasn’t clear whether the shop has ordered more copies of the book, but it’s available at online Islamic bookstores and even through eBay.

In the book’s opening pages, it is written that “it might be necessary to restrain her with strength or even to threaten her.”

Later, its author advises that “the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”

Page 45 contains the rights of the husband, which include his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that his wife must “fulfil his desires” and “not allow herself to be untidy … but should beautify herself for him … ”

The Toronto Sun reports that a local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide (A Gift for Muslim Couple) that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.

The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”

The store’s manager, who didn’t give his name, said the book had been sold out for some time, and the store’s owner, whom the manager identified as Shamim Ahmad, refused to comment for the story.

It wasn’t clear whether the shop has ordered more copies of the book, but it’s available at online Islamic bookstores and even through eBay.

In the book’s opening pages, it is written that “it might be necessary to restrain her with strength or even to threaten her.”

Later, its author advises that “the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”

Page 45 contains the rights of the husband, which include his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that his wife must “fulfil his desires” and “not allow herself to be untidy … but should beautify herself for him … ”

In terms of physical punishment, the book advises that a husband may scold her, “beat by hand or stick,” withhold money from her or “pull (her) by the ears,” but should “refrain from beating her excessively.”

“History has secrets, but secrets don’t stay hidden if you know where to look”: a video by the Milstein Division of the NYPL: click to view.

More about the video’s creation here.

Video streaming by Ustream

Hat tip to EarlyWord for this video. See their post for more details about video.

With the Statistical Abstract of the United States slated for extinction following the release of the 2012 edition, ProQuest said Thursday morning that it will take over publication of one of the best known and respected reference works beginning with the 2013 edition.

More at Publisher’s Weekly

As a supermodel and chat show host, we’re used to seeing Tyra Banks looking stunning in glamorous outfits.

But in a new acting cameo in hit Disney show Shake It Up, the 38-year-old is unrecognisable as geeky librarian Ms Burke.

With her hair held together with pencils, oversized glasses, ill-advised eye shadow all over her lids and eyebrows, Tyra looks a far cry from her usual self.

Original these Disney folks, eh?