French Government To Steal Books

Legalized Copyright Theft Begins In France: Government Prepares To Dispossess Writers Using Public Funds

In France there is now a double standard for piracy: it’s illegal for individuals to copy material without permission and share it freely online, but for some works the state can make a digital copy without permission and allow its sale for commercial gain. This looks like the plundering of individual property for private gain, which deprives writers of the rewards of their own labors and deprives the public of open access to orphan works.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Hugo, Baudelaire, Nerval, and the rest rage from their graves.

Previously here:

France’s Writers Sold Down The River
France’s Book Grab: Worse Than Google Books

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Guide To Chinese iPad Mini Clones

Update November 19, 2014: Don’t bother reading this post. It’s totally out-of-date and not being updated. Click on “iPad Mini Clones” and “Android” Category in the right sidebar to see posts about the latest ones. I’m not doing another all-in-one post like this because things change too fast.

Update May 23, 2013: If you want to cut to the chase, see: Chinese iPad Mini Clone Buying Tips

This is a listing of strict iPad Mini clones, not of general eight-inch Chinese tablets (such as the Onda v812 aka Archos 80 Platinum).

All screens are generally iPad Mini size (7.85/7.9″) and full IPS at 1024 x 768 resolution.

They all run Android 4.1. [Update: As of May 10, some clones based on the AllWinner A31s CPU will get an update to Android 4.2.2. Rollout depends on vendor. Expect to get a tablet with Android 4.1 and have to manually update.]

They generally differ from one another in three main points: CPU, GPU, and camera resolution.

Note that some specifications are subject to change or might be imprecise due to machine translation. Product names might also be ambiguous due to trademark and language issues. This post will be updated as specs are solidified, so you might want to bookmark it.

In addition, I’m not including things such as 4K video output, which I consider to be a marketing gimmick few people will ever use.

Check each site for complete and final specs.

In most cases, the links within will go to a Chinese-language site. A frustration of these sites is that the text tends to be embedded in large graphics and cannot be machine translated because they are images.

Finally, I’ve done this guide for my personal reference. Due to legal issues surrounding “trade dress” (see Apple v. Samsung lawsuits across Europe) don’t expect these tablets to be generally available at local brick and mortar stores (as the Onda V812 is, which is rebranded as the Archos 80 Platinum).