Public Domain Parasites #2

Google Book Forum: Is Kessinger Publishing for real?

I had a number of 1800s needlework books in my library. Suddenly some of them are not Full View any more. They are listed as “Legacy Reprint Series” by Kessinger Publishing.

When I search for
“Legacy Reprint Series” inpublisher:Kessinger inpublisher:Publishing

it brings up 97,300 results. Is this for real? Are they some kind of Print on Demand house? And can they really take public domain books away like this, as fast as Google can scan them and put them up?

Ninety-seven thousand three hundred books they have in their little publishing house?

And the bottom line of these parasites is this:

So basically, Kessinger is taking books Google has invested the time and money to digitize, filing for an ISBN number, and taking it out of public domain.

Where is the Court to stop this looting of our cultural heritage?

Would there be an uproar if Google claimed Copyright after scanning all of these?

Previously at The iPad Test:

The Looting Of Our Public Domain
Public Domain Parasites: An Ongoing Series

Charbax Sells New Sony Reader Better Than Sony!

He does!

First, he get realclose to the screen, showing how damned good it is.

Second, he shows that even the lightest possible touch on the screen will activate pageturn.

Third, he shows that a light press of a fingertip’s skin will create lines in the freehand Notes application.

Fourth, he points out there is no lag whatsoever in that app.

So, yeah, Charbax does do a better job selling the new Reader than Sony has been doing!

I’m beginning to think this is like the frikkin Lexus of eBook devices now (in my day, it would have been the Cadillac).

Watch all of the video after the break. It’s worth every minute. Best one I’ve seen so far.

Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card – Venezuela – MiamiHerald.com

Presented by President Hugo Chávez as an instrument to make shopping for groceries easier, the “Good Life Card” is making various segments of the population wary because they see it as a furtive attempt to introduce a rationing card similar to the one in Cuba.

via Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card – Venezuela – MiamiHerald.com

When the food crisis hits here, if our government tries to pull this, it’s rebellion time.  You think the politicians will be constrained in food supplies?  Hell no.  Watch them gain weight.

Book fan reveals collection of 15,000 Penguin paperbacks | Metro.co.uk

When the publisher made the first sixpence paperbacks available – 75 years ago this year – most hardbacks cost about a week’s wages for the average worker.

via Book fan reveals collection of 15,000 Penguin paperbacks | Metro.co.uk

Right now, the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.  So it’d be 2 to 3 hours of wage work to buy most hardcovers, with some ballooning to 4 to 5 hours.  That’s an improvement, but even eBook prices must drop to move everyone to digital.

We need the same kind of price revolution those original paperbacks created.

HP lists Photosmart eStation C510 printer with detachable e-reading touchscreen — is this the Zeus? (update: yes) — Engadget

The Photosmart eStation C510 is listed for $399.99 and, in addition to usual ink-plastering duties, has a detachable wireless 7-inch TouchSmart control panel for browsing content, printing (of course), and “brows[ing] the latest e-book bestsellers or old favorites.”

via HP lists Photosmart eStation C510 printer with detachable e-reading touchscreen — is this the Zeus? (update: yes) — Engadget.

Bah. I thought this would be webOS, but they’re saying Android. B&N’s Nook software on webOS would have been a major development.

The Screens Of 2014 Envisioned

Have a look first, my two cents after the break:

New Statesman – Girls, tattoos and men who hate women

Lisbeth Salander is an immensely powerful character, a misandrist vigilante with a penchant for black fetish wear and ersatz technology, like the terrifying offspring of Batman and Valerie Solanos. She is so well drawn that one can almost forgive Larsson for having her sleep with the protagonist (an obvious author-insert of the kind normally only found in teenage fan-fiction) for no discernible reason. Salander is smart, she’s brave, she always wins, and she won’t let anyone tell her what to do. No wonder so many women secretly want to be her.

via New Statesman – Girls, tattoos and men who hate women

The Daily Rubicon Twitter Broadsheet

GeorgeAM1970 on Twitter has set up one of those aggregator pages that are now the rage at Paper.li.

This one is for AMC-TV‘s series Rubicon!

See it here.

I kick myself for not thinking of it!