Dec 14 2012
Paper Towels v. Air Dryers – What do you think? The Mayo Clinic suggests that paper towels might be more efficacious than air dryers in part because drying your hands is a vital part of killing germs. I admit that I often leave air dryers with my hands only partially dry. Based on 12 studies(…)
Dec 12 2012
Tower Bridge forced to open for 50 foot rubber duck | London – ITV News – Jackpotjoy.com was responsible for sending a giant rubber duck down the Thames, forcing the Tower Bridge to open in order to allow the duck to pass. Jackpotjoy is a gambling site and its “Facebook Fundation” is “a bursary granting(…)
Dec 4 2012
August AAP Sales Rise, As eBooks Continue to Moderate – The publishersmarketplace summary of August sales indicate a stabilization, of sorts, in the book market. Mass market books have finally (after years of declining numbers) shown a slight increase. According to PW and PM, this is a result of a decline in returns. The same(…)
Nov 30 2012
Judge, Jury & Executioner – Copyright Law – The Colbert Report – 2012-26-11 – Video Clip – Stephen Colbert took on the Kirtsaeng case which may have far reaching affects on the right of first sale for consumers. The question for the Supreme Court in the Kirtsaeng case is whether a product sold overseas, purchased(…)
Nov 27 2012
Beware the False Privacy Notice Posted All Over Facebook – A fake copyright notice spread around Facebook yesterday claiming that under the “Berner Convention” if you declared your copyright over uploaded photos and facebook statuses, you would be able to prevent Facebook from reusing them without your permission. There is no Berner Convention, it’s the(…)
Nov 22 2012
Black Friday / Cyber Monday Week – BN is offering the Nook Simple Touch at $59 in stores. Barnes & Noble Publisher cracks whip over ‘Fifty Shades’ spin-offs – This is rich. E.L. James and her French publishers are targeting spin offs. There may be a different copyright law in France but her editor calls(…)
Nov 15 2012
September Bookstore Sales Fell 8% – I guess by now anyone who has ever been interested in reading a 50 Shades book has bought it already. In September the spring and summer’s robust sales due to the trilogy have worn off leaving bookstore sales to droop 8% behind the previous year’s already lackluster numbers. Publishers(…)
Nov 14 2012
My Book, ‘Stranger To History’, Was Used To Defend My Father’s Killer – Aatish Taseer wrote a memoir and in it he described certain family events where his father ate pork, drank alcohol, and had fathered a half Indian child. When his father was assassinated, Taseer’s book was used to exonerate the killer. Taseer writes(…)
Nov 1 2012
The Durham County Library is hosting a romance reader festival. If you live in the Triangle area of North Carolina, check it out. Male Contraceptive Pill One Step Closer – New Method to Stop Sperm from Reaching The Ovule Discovered – Honestly I can’t wait for the male pill. Not because I would trust a(…)
Oct 28 2012
Intro On October 26, 2012, the Register of the Federal Copyright Office issued the triennial exemptions to the DMCA law. (PDF here) Every three years, the Register of the Copyright opens a proceeding whereby it accepts public arguments as to why certain anti circumvention processes should be allowed. It’s a flawed system but the only(…)
Oct 22 2012
Johnny Depp Imprint – I don’t really get the idea behind this but apparently it is believed that if Johnny Depp’s name is on the imprint, then people will buy the books. The first book from the Johnny Depp imprint, a part of HarperCollins, is The Unraveled Tales of Bob Dylan by Douglas Brinkley. Associated(…)
Oct 3 2012
Barnes & Noble reportedly instructs local stores to pull Amazon titles – Some Barnes & Noble stores were carrying Amazon published books until it was reported by blogger MobyLives (who has several Amazon is killing publishing posts). Now B&N has sent a company wide email instructing those books to be removed from the shelves. The lack(…)
Sep 25 2012
My first post in this series on free speech issues focused on the line between fully protected critical speech and less protected commercial speech, specifically in regard to paid-for positive and sockpuppeted reviews. This post is on the economic concept of free riding and its substantial but often silent impact on intellectual property issues. If(…)
Sep 4 2012
Welcome back to work, Americans. Say Hello to Samsung’s Fanboy Factory – The Mobilers Program – I know that the tech blogosphere (along with a few others) have a lot of money attempting to influence them. There are many complaints that Tech Crunch fails to adhere to a journalistic standard (or an FTC standard) about(…)
Aug 27 2012
Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves – NYTimes.com – This NYTimes article simply confirms what we know is true. Buying reviews is worthwhile for authors. It’s not ethical, but it works. Jason Rutherford set up a business to sell reviews. At one point he was making $28,000 a month. He would(…)
JOINT REVIEW: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh (and Giveaway)
Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour: District 5, Our Giveaway
Something is very wrong with us, and it’s not bad reviews
Berkley Fall Giveaway
Author DeborahAnne MacGillivray Harasses Amazon Reader
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