Links and Thoughts 17: 29 May 2014
Tommy James – Draggin’ the Line
Good Morning.
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Still recommending cookbooks this week; Today’s Book Recommendation is a two-fer, call it an author rec rather than a book rec:
Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking – Michael Ruhlman (2009), paperback ISBN 9781416571728
Ruhlman’s Twenty: 20 Techniques, 100 Recipes, A Cook’s Manifesto – also by Michael Ruhlman (2011), hardcover ISBN 9780811876438
I’ll get my to-buy links sorted out eventually. In the meantime, you can still use most readers’ preferred option.
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Media:
Why Vox (and other news orgs) could use a librarian : Nieman Journalism Lab
Media:
The Challenge of Measuring Multi-Platform Success for Print Magazines : PBS Mediashift
Books:
“Is it really necessary that retailers and publishers should view one another as war-like adversaries, or as predator and prey?”
Amazon’s Hachette Dispute Foreshadows What’s Next for Indie Authors : Smashwords
Tech:
[newsreel]“…and battery technology marches on!” [/newsreel]
A Battery Made of Iron Could Improve the Economics of Solar and Wind Power : MIT Technology Review
see also: Storing the Sun – and for more follow the links in both
Tech:
The cold logic behind Elon Musk’s $5 billion gigafactory gamble : Quartz
Couch Potatoes:
“Access to sports content of various sorts has always been a sticky subject for cord-cutters — those who eschew traditional cable for set-top boxes and video streaming services. For NFL fans, that issue has been addressed in part by the National Football League, which today revealed that both Roku and Amazon has become distribution partners for NFL Now.”
Roku, Kindle and Fire TV get NFL Now access : SlashGear
Amazon’s Robot Army:
I can’t make this stuff up : The Verge
Perspective:
“Walmart is the world’s largest company. With fiscal year 2014 revenue of $473 billion, its annual sales easily top those of Apple, Google and Amazon combined.”
Walmart CEO: Amazon Teaches World What’s Possible, But Physical Stores Here to Stay : Re|Code
Surveillance State:
Court upholds ‘First Amendment’ right to film police : Ars Technica
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Diary entry for 29 May:
Since our last visit together, not one but two opinion pieces posted to the site:
“Amazon’s Generosity should not be taken for granted, or assumed to be limitless. I suppose the advice to authors should be: get in now, while the getting is good, and hope you can make your roll before the rules change and Amazon, in its great indifference, rolls over you.” : Amazon’s Generosity, 26 May
The 2nd piece is much longer (6400 words, 25min) though there is a shortcut option that lets you skip to the end and read just the conclusions (1700 words, 7min)
“I think it’s fine to use Amazon, but one shouldn’t be enamored by it. In the current publishing landscape, Amazon has every potential to become a de-facto book monopoly — a utility like AT&T, maybe, something you don’t notice and with flat rates that everyone gets accustomed to using — but being a comfortable and familiar monopoly doesn’t make it less of one. If you think of Kindle Direct Publishing as a book utility service (which is more of a poetic analogy than a direct one, but I find it fits) and recall the abuses of pre-breakup AT&T, or perhaps that other de-facto monopoly, your local cable company — maybe you’ll pause for just a moment before encouraging everyone to jump on board.” : A Once-in-a-Century Opportunity to Re-invent Publishing, and Books, 28 May
For me, that certainly feels like enough writing, so I’m not doing a dairy entry today. —M.
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