Twitter Still Doesn’t Get It

Starting today, we're rolling out an email notification that lets you know if someone you follow retweets or favorites one of your Tweets.

— Twitter (@twitter) May 23, 2011

1) What I Favorite is my own damn business
2) Why the hell do people need an RT notice via email?

I broke my Twitter silence today for a few tweets I wanted to get out.

But otherwise the service continues to be a waste and given the above, they still don’t have the first fucking clue of how to add value to it.

Previously here:

$#*! Twitter Hype Says
Twitter Truth!
Another One Gunning For Twitter
Twitter As It Stands Is Still A Waste
Bin Laden’s Doom Tweeted Live
More About Twitter
Facebook Wakes Up While Twitter Snores
Twitter’s New Sign-Out Page
Bailing On Twitter: Timing!
Another Lost Opportunity For Twitter
Now Only Here

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Kobo eReader Touch Demo Video

You haven’t seen this one elsewhere. It’s only a little over an hour old as I embed it here. I had to crank my speakers way up for the audio. YMMV.

Previously here:

Yay! Borders Is Awake!
Kobo Plans To Market To Its Readers Via Devices And Software
Borders Modifies Kobo Agreement
Kobo eReader Touch Size Comparison
Because It Needed To Be Said
New Kobo Reader Is All-Touch

Yay! Borders Is Awake!

Click = big

I tease.

This is a welcome break from all those damned emails for Rewards Members.

Now they need to inform people about Kobo handling eBooks. And they must arrange for Kobo Books Gift Cards.

Because no one will buy this until Borders reassures people that their eBook purchases and Gift Card balances will be absolutely safe.

In fact, that shouldn’t be a plain pimping letter. It should a letter from Edwards himself, explaining in plain language that Gift Card balances and eBooks will be safe, guaranteed, and not disappear. Lay it on freakin thick. And no damn corporate speak. Make it human.

Stop! The! Damn! Botox!

The TV was on. It was on Oprah. Shut up.

And there I saw Oprah, Tom Hanks, and Madonna — and if you held a gun to their heads and told them to raise and lower their eyebrows or they’d get a bullet through their skulls, you’d be forced to shoot them.

What the hell are you people on TV and in movies doing to yourselves?

Don’t you realize how unreal you look? You don’t look young. You look like mutants! You look inhuman.

Do you really think people can’t tell? Do you really think you’re going to be cast in anything when you can’t move your face to express emotions?

Last year, an actress I hadn’t seen in a long time guest-starred on Castle. It was an actress I liked, too. I didn’t recognize her. It was weeks later that I saw her name as being in a recent episode. I went back to look at the episode. Her face was a tragedy. Nothing moved! And she had to express grief and anger and regret — and she couldn’t do any of that with her face. Whatever acting talent she had was smothered by her frozen facial muscles.

Stop this madness. Just stop it!

Apple Slaps Down Lodsys

Full text: Apple Legal’s letter to Lodsys

I just want to cut to the chase, which really is epic:

Through its threatened infringement claims against users of Apple’s licensed technology, Lodsys is invoking patent law to control the post-sale use of these licensed products and methods. Because Lodsys’s threats are based on the purchase or use of Apple products and services licensed under the Agreement, and because those Apple products and services, under the reading articulated in your letters, entirely or substantially embody each of Lodsys’s patents, Lodsys’s threatened claims are barred by the doctrines of patent exhaustion and first sale. As the Supreme Court has made clear, “[t]he authorized sale of an article that substantially embodies a patent exhausts the patent holder’s rights and prevents the patent holder from invoking patent law to control postsale use of the article.” Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Elecs., Inc., 553 U.S. 617 (2008).

He who can cite the Supreme Court, wins.

So every app developer whose OS maker has licensed from Lodsys, you’re safe.

Previously here:

The Lodsys Issue Is Bigger Than We Know

Kobo Plans To Market To Its Readers Via Devices And Software

Kobo launches touchscreen e-reader, expands marketing strategy

When Kobo launched Reading Life, the company also began a program of offering users rewards for reading. Kobo users could earn badges and rewards for reading at a certain time of day or completing a certain number of books.

The program launched with Kobo-specific rewards — such as digital coupons for free books — but with the launch of the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition, the company is expanding its “rewards for awards” program to third party companies who want to market to heavy readers. For example, readers who use their Kobo device to read from a coffee shop could earn a free coffee at that location.

Mr. Serbinis said he expects third parties to begin marketing to Kobo users through the program around the same time as the new devices launch.

My first impulse is that someone needs a beating. But I will wait and see how this all works out. Kobo has so far been a pretty classy company.

Previously here:

Borders Modifies Kobo Agreement
Kobo eReader Touch Size Comparison
Because It Needed To Be Said
New Kobo Reader Is All-Touch

Borders Modifies Kobo Agreement

Borders Expands Partnership with Kobo

Under the expanded Borders-Kobo agreement, beginning June 1, both the Borders eBook store and Borders eReading app will be branded Kobo, providing Borders customers with more e-content selections than ever before, including newly available access to newspapers and magazines. Customers can download the content via Borders.com, Kobo.com and the Kobo apps, which will be regularly updated and enhanced to provide a superb eReading and content purchasing experience.

Apparently the Borders name has become poison in the eBook space, with people fearing they will lose their books if Borders drops dead. So, this is smart of them. It will reassure people. It will also be interesting to see how my Borders eBooks are migrated over to my Kobo account.

What they must do: Now sell Kobo Gift Cards. No one will touch a Borders Gift Card for eBooks these days.

Kobo eReader Touch Size Comparison

I’ve arranged them by height:

Amazon Kindle 3: 7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.335″ – 8.5-8.7 oz
Kobo Reader: 7.24″ x 4.72″ x 0.393″ – 7.795 oz
Sony Reader Touch 2: 6.62″ x 4.75″ x 0.4″ – 7.58 oz
Kobo eReader Touch: 6.5″ x 4.5″ x 0.4″ – 7.1 oz
Sony Reader Pocket: 6.25″ x 4.25″ x 0.41″ – 7.6 oz
Sony Reader Pocket 2: 5.75″ x 4.12″ x 0.34″ – 5.47 oz

It’s not as wee as the lust-o-licious second-gen Sony Pocket, but it’s $40 less and that’ll make up for it. It’s also a whopping $100 less than the Sony Touch Edition with identical 6″ screen.

Borders has a hell of a lot of work to do. This is your lifeline, Borders. Pimp the living hell out of it. Make room at the front of your stores to highlight it. Drop every other damn device. They’re not worth your effort. If you can’t sell a ton of these, what good are you to anyone?

Now I understand why major retailers have dumped the Sony Reader. They knew Kobo had this up its sleeve. Best Buy was smart for adding Kobo.

Because It Needed To Be Said

https://twitter.com/#!/mikecane/status/72698199604867073

See: Kobo’s New E-Reader Aims to Turn Reading Into a Game

New Kobo Reader Is All-Touch

Click = big

According to Nate at The Digital Reader, Kobo couldn’t keep its own yap shut and broke its own embargo!

Nate has another picture at his site. The one above I swiped from Kobo’s yfrog.

Update: Second image after the break.