Thursday News: DRM, Apple News, Michael Mann Books, and the Wellcome Book Prize
Tell Us Your DRM Horror Stories about Ebooks, Games, Music, Movies and the Internet of Things! – The Electronic Frontier Foundation continues its work on behalf of consumers looking for transparency and fairness in copyright law. According to this article by Cory Doctorow (which includes a form you can fill out and submit electronically), EFF is working on a petition for “fair labelling practices for DRM-restricted devices, products and services.” They are specifically focused on DRM and abuse of the “anti-circumvention” provisions in the DMCA. So check out the call for consumer information and share any applicable stories.
We’re collecting your DRM gotcha stories. Specifically, we’re looking for cases where:
- Someone in the USA;
- Bought a product, service, or device;
- That had DRM (a technological barrier that restricted your ability to access code or other content stored on your device);
- Where the DRM’s existence and extent were not disclosed;
- (Or inadequately disclosed)
- And that caused trouble later. – EFF
Apple News opens the floodgates – Apple is claiming to make it easier to read all of your news in one place, and has invited a wide range of publishers – including bloggers – to offer content through Apple News app. They are, not surprisingly, competing with Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for both content and eyeballs.
The News app, which is baked into the iOS software that powers iPhones and iPads, aggregates news sources into one feed and builds personalized recommendations based on what you read. Apple has partnered with more than 100 media companies since launching the app in September, including The New York Times, Conde Nast and (full disclosure) CNET.
The expansion is part of Apple’s battle with rivals, including Facebook and Google, to capture more of your mobile attention by delivering content quickly. Next month, Facebook is opening Instant Articles, which accelerates the loading of news stories posted to the social network, to all publishers. – CNET
Michael Mann Launches Book Imprint; ‘Heat’ Prequel Novel A Priority – In what Deadline refers to as a kind of “reverse engineering,” Michael Mann is starting a book imprint with an eye to create books that tie in to already-made films and to develop in tandem with film and television projects. The initiative sounds similar to James Frey’s media factory, where a bunch of writers are employed to produce content under the owner’s direction (similar to a book packager). Mann is apparently now looking for a publisher to house his new venture.
Under his Michael Mann Books imprint, Mann will have a core group of authors to collaborate on fiction and nonfiction books, and he may share cover credit on certain properties. Conversations with publishers are expected to begin shortly. The publishing venture will be repped by Shane Salerno at The Story Factory. Mann is represented by CAA, LBI and Attorney Harold Brown. – Deadline
Wellcome Book Prize 2016 shortlist revealed – A literary prize worth £30,000 for “books being written and published exploring the role of medicine in our lives and our literature.” Encompassing both fiction and non-fiction, the winner will be announced on April 25th. Joan Bakewell, who is on the judging committee, made some pretty insensitive comments about anorexia recently.
The shortlist:
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot
Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss
It’s All in Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan
Playthings by Alex Pheby
The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink
Neurotribes by Steve Silberman – BBC
I’m reading Neurotribes. It does a good job of explaining a lot of the crap inflicted on people with Autism, even by loving parents, trying to do their best.
Gee, if Michael Mann writes a book to go with his movie of LAST OF THE MOHICANS, maybe we’ll get more (or any) conversation between Alice and Uncas. Or else I can just read the fanfic that’s out there already.