Stop The Nook Insanity!

As if my last post about this wasn’t bad enough… this just happened a few minutes ago on eBay:

Click = big

And that’s not the worst of it, either!

Elf On The Shelf

Thanks to @jane_l on Twitter for pointing me to this:

Elf on the Shelf’s Sales Policy Works for B&N, But Not for All Independents

I just want to pull out these sentences:

CCA and B only sells Elf direct, non-returnable through its Web site to stores, and will not work with wholesalers or distributors.

And:

Pitts said that when her family first wrote the book, a literary agent tried selling it to a major house but had no luck, so they decided to self-publish. To date, she and her family have not received offers to be picked up by a large publisher.

This book is four years old.

This year it will approach seven million dollars in sales.

And You Will Trust Google With All Of Our Books?

G-Railed: Why Did Google Bury the Web’s Oldest Entertainment Publication? [UPDATE]

Since launching its own site in April, Studio Briefing–a Variety-style news service that’s been sending emails since 1993–had been buying ads from Google AdWords and promoting ads from Google AdSense. Then in September, without warning, owner Lew Irwin received a boilerplate notification from Google that its ads had been “disabled”–thereby eliminating a potential revenue stream–because the site did not comply with Google policies. The search titan also diverted its spider, which meant Studio Briefing posts wouldn’t appear in Google search results.

“The notice was totally vague,” says Irwin, who just turned 75. “I’ve been trying to get a specific explanation ever since, but they haven’t given me one.” (A Google rep did respond to my request for comment, saying she would “look into [my] question” and get back to me.)

This is not the only time this has happened, either.

And there’s more: Other people who use Blogger have mysteriously had their sites categorized as splogs (spam blogs) and been locked out of them.

If Google can’t get its own act together — its bread and butter of advertising and advertising-enabling blogging — what do you expect they will do once they have all the goddam books?

Previously here:

This Is Print Publishing’s Final Warning
Mark The Words Of Dave Winer
Sergey Brin: Also Absolutely Inexcusably Clueless
Google Thinks It Owns Our Books!
The First Step Towards A Google Book Search Solution
Google Always Had POD Planned
God Bless Marybeth Peters Of The Copyright Office!
Google Books Settlement Notes #2
Tomorrow: Google Books Settlement Deadline For Writers
Cooler Adds Google’s One Million ePubs Of Crap!
Google Books Settlement Notes #1
Google’s Great Writer Rip-Off
Google’s One Million eBooks Of Crap!
The Capitulation Of Print Publishing
Reject The Google Book Search Settlement!

People Know Hearst. They Don’t Know Skiff.

Skiff Reader – Hearst Skiff eBook Reader

What is it with these dinosaur media companies who don’t seem to understand branding?

First Time, Inc. tried to place everything under a Pathfinder name instead of its own brand.

Then ABC went and created something called the GO Network.

Now Hearst will tout something called Skiff.

You know, Hearst, naming something after a boat immediately brings to mind another famous boat:

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Derek Raymond Is Your Year-End Reading

Not Everybody Loves Raymond

Beginning tomorrow, and running through early January 2010, The Rap Sheet will interrupt its usual catch-all succession of “forgotten books” posts in order to roll out a mini-series concentrating on the work of novelist Derek Raymond (1931-1994). Raymond, whose real name was Robin Cook (not to be confused with the still-extant American medical thriller writer), is frequently credited as “the Godfather of British neo-noir,” and has many big-name admirers, among them James Sallis and Cathi Unsworth. But, despite a number of his books having been reissued this decade by Serpent’s Tail, his work is unknown to many crime-fiction readers, especially those in the States. We hope to correct that deficiency with our mini-series, which will focus on Raymond’s succession of five “Factory novels,” bleak and often violent police procedurals of a sort, that reflected Great Britain’s changing political and social orders during Margaret Thatcher’s time as prime minister.

I learned of Derek Raymond through Ken Bruen.

I’ve never been the same since.

Go read this series. But better: go buy and read Raymond’s books!

Additional:

Derek Raymond Tribute site
Rare Derek Raymond photograph
Derek Raymond’s current publisher

Previously at Mike Cane’s Blog:

Derek Raymond: He Makes All Others Look Like Shit

Previously at Mike Cane 2008:

Writer Derek Raymond
Writer Derek Raymond Tribute

Previously here:

God Bless Writer Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond

Camangi WebStation Pre-Orders Are Go

The Camangi ordering system is up.

It turns out the early bird price is just US$10.00 less than the regular price: US$389.00 versus US$399.00.

I’m no longer sure this will be a pleasurable device for accessing the Internet, but it could still be good for non-DRMed (or DRM-stripped) ePub eBooks.

Chippy over at Carrypad is skeptical about it:

As far as performance goes, this is where I have my reservations. The CPU in this device is not exactly leading-edge and with about 1/2 the processing power of top-end smartphones (estimated 1/5th of the processing power of a netbook) , browsing speeds could be somewhat laggy. Media playback performance could be limited too. Granted, the need for speed isn’t as great when you’re lying back in a comfy chair but in my opinion, the performance isn’t going to match the marketing that we’re seeing and there could be disappointment. I’ve tested a very similar device, the SmartQ7, and I can’t honestly say that it was a thrilling experience. Regardless of operating system if YouTube doesn’t work or programs hang for too long, it’s frustrating.

Thus, I myself will wait until I read some firsthand reports.

If you buy it, come back and leave a Comment.

Previously here:

Android OS/Archos 5 Internet Tablet Notes For Saturday November 28, 2009
Two Android Mini-Tablets: Promising NEC But Avoid Smart Q5!
Camangi Android Mini-Tablet: ePub Built-In
The Coming Android Mini-Tablet Flood