Blog / Amazon

Paranoia+

The squealing of the Internet over Google’s purchase of Nest baffles me. Sure it’s not exactly their mandate of organizing the world’s information, but I fail to see the pants-wetting terror of an advertising company having access to my most personal integer: the temperature of my living room. It looks like another attempt by Google to get its hands an excellent hardware manufacturer ala Motorola. Even in an apartment I desperately want a Nest thermostat and some of those Protect smoke detectors.

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Xbox One hunting

Online shopping is fun. Online shopping under a time limit is maddening.

This morning I woke up at 4:57 AM to try and grab a few Xbox Ones Amazon had left over. While the site was being hammered, it wasn’t exactly slow. You just got a glimpse into what Amazon used to look like in its early betas. Click the “Buy now with 1-Click” button and it takes you to an error page. Add it to your cart and it disappears. Reload the page and it’s unavailable. Reload again and it’s back in stock.

After seven minutes of fumbling I found it by going to the “More buying choices” section and 1-Click ordering it from there. Went to my orders page and refreshed a few times to ensure it stuck. And it did! What a relief.

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Memo to Charles Schumer: Publishers are not books

In an opinion piece to the Wall Street Journal, New York Senator Charles Schumer argues that the suit against Apple and book publishers is misguided and will restore an Amazon.com monopoly in e-books. This isn’t a great lawsuit, but Mr. Schumer’s argument is worse.

Recently the Department of Justice filed suit against Apple and major publishers, alleging that they colluded to raise prices in the digital books market. While the claim sounds plausible on its face, the suit could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get published.

(Emphasis mine) I don’t think Mr. Schumer knows what the word “published” means in 2012, and how much easier things are when you ditch the traditional publishers. Here’s how e-book publishing works today:

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