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February 2009
26 February 2009
Jeff Bezos on The Daily Show
Jon Stewart interviews Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. The intention was to promote the Kindle 2 reader, but Bezos may not have achieved his objective...
21 February 2009
The Past and Future of Publishing
Jason Epstein gave the keynote address to the 2009 O'Reilly Tools Of Change for Publishing Conference.
According to his bio, Epstein 50-year distinguished career in publishing, includes among other accomplishments, serving as Editorial Director of Random House, co-founder of the New York Review of Books, creator of Anchor Books, which launched the paperback revolution, founder of the Library of America and of the Readers Catalog, the precursor to online bookselling.
Full Text of Jason Epstein's TOC 2009 Keynote
21 February 2009
I am, You are, He is...
"While reading a novel, as the author describes the main character washing dishes or cooking dinner, we will often create a mental image of someone in the kitchen performing these tasks. Sometimes we may even imagine ourselves as the dishwasher or top chef in these scenarios. Why do we imagine these scenes differently - when do we view the action from an outsider's perspective and when do we place ourselves in the main character's shoes?"
Psychologists look at how pronouns influence the way we imagine events being described.
19 February 2009
Facebook Co-founder Backs Down
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Facebook's Ts & Cs deprived writers and artists of their rights over their work once it was posted on the website. I'm pleased to see that Mark Zuckerberg has had second thoughts and for the time being at least has reinstated the previous terms. Apparently, a Facebook group, 85,000 strong, calling itself People Against the New Terms of Service has been instrumental in bringing this change about. I'm not a Facebook member and only heard about the problem in passing. Being sensitive to issues of writers and copyright, I decided to follow it up. I wonder how many other sites have terms that provide their owners with licences over members' work.
15 February 2009
Roald Dahl's Writing Place
Roald Dahl worked from a hut he had built in his back garden. No-one was allowed into this private area.
11 February 2009
When I Say 'Next Day Delivery'...
Author flew 600 miles on Christmas Day to hand-deliver a copy of his book after promising an Amazon buyer next-day delivery.
05 February 2009
While Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, dreams of the riches he will make from mining the vast quantity of user data his site has amassed, I wonder how many people ever read Facebook's terms and conditions when they register. For example, would they be aware of the following clause:
By posting user content to any part of the site, you automatically grant to the company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such user content for any purpose on or in connection with the site or the promotion thereof.
That means Facebook can do whatever it feels like with any photograph, writing, music or artwork posted on its site. If I were a Facebook user, I'd have second thoughts about posting personal stuff. It could end up as a billboard ad or feature in a TV commercial.
04 February 2009
Stephen King on Stephanie Meyers
Given Stephanie Meyers's dominance of the best-sellers lists recently, it's interesting to read what another best-selling author thinks of her writing and that of JKR.