America, Fuck Yeah

UPDATE: Texas theater cancels plan to show "Team America" instead of "The Interview." http://t.co/BXWl1V3F9A pic.twitter.com/48lngMPIGQ

— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 19, 2014

Thunderbirds Are Go Site Crash

Click = big

All media gone.

I wonder if they screwed up or if Amazon is having the vapors?

ALERT: Don’t Ever Buy The Coolpad Brand

Manufacturer’s Backdoor Found on Popular Chinese Android Smartphone

The manufacturer has also taken steps via modifications to its version of Android to keep the backdoor hidden from users and security software that could be installed on the phone. For example, Olson said Coolpad has disabled the long-press system that allows a user to find out what application generated an pop-up advertisement or notification, for example.

Well, they just ruined their brand.

I don’t give a shit if they come out with The Return Of Jesus tablet. They are permanently banned from coverage here.

Previously here:

The China Market Has Been Lost. Thanks, NSA!
China Android Malware Alert 2
China Android Malware Alert

Morons Are Go!

Previously here:

Thunderbirds Are Go Still No-Go

Thunderbirds Are Go Still No-Go

American East Coast time:

Unknown timezone where it’s hit zero:

Exiting times. Only 4 more negative minutes! You can imagine my excitement at -1 seconds. :P #ThunderBirdsAreGo pic.twitter.com/E9zJOVg9qe

— Hans Cronau (@HansCronau) December 18, 2014

Same-day update:

From England, from Gerry Anderson’s son:

@mikecane @IanJackal email signup. That's all as far as I can see pic.twitter.com/wh0OcJcyKh

— Jamie Anderson (@ImJamieAnderson) December 19, 2014

That’s it?!!? They led us on a leash for that?

Lucette Lagnado, You’re Needed!

Diana Rigg’s Enduring Appeal

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Thanks to Don Linn, who shares my enduring … ermmm … admiration, yeah, that’s it, for Mrs. Peel and Diana Rigg.

Lucette Lagnado, who wrote the article. Honorary Mrs. Peel in my book!

Thunderbirds Are Go Renewed Before Reveal!

Thunderbirds Are Go renewed for second series by ITV

Thunderbirds Are Go has been renewed for a second series.

ITV has ordered a 26-episode second series of the reboot for CITV, which will air across 2016 and 2017.

The first series of Thunderbirds Are Go is set to debut in 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the classic show.

Jamila Metran, Head of Programming for CITV, said: “I am delighted to confirm that a second series of Thunderbirds Are Go has been commissioned for CITV.

We civilians — those not anointed to attend the MIP Jr. preview — still have no idea what the new Tracy brothers look like. Yet it’s been commissioned for a second season already.

This is all out of order!

Meanwhile, I can confirm the countdown clock is based on local timezones. If someone in Russia hits the site, they can see it before everyone else! In Western Siberia, it’s 8PM locally. The clock should display four hours to the reveal.

Amazon: “We Win, You Lose.”

Escape from Stalag $7: Why Amazon’s Pricing Box Is Bad for Indies

But after all the fireworks and fun, the one thing I never ever received from AAAG were coherent answers to my questions, particularly the most important one of all. And that is: Why has Amazon placed indies in a $7 dollar pricing box? Why does it grab 65% of your revenue (not counting its transmission fees, which it charges on every transfer and which vary based on book size) if you price under $2.99 and the same if you charge over $9.99? This is an issue of critical importance to indies because it is not financially feasible to hand over that level of margin to a reseller for a download service. (And if you think Amazon is paying you a “royalty” when you fork over that 65% operating expense, please stop reading now. You are incurably ignorant and I cannot help you.)

Generally I tend to stay the fuck away from publishing these days. Why continue to bang my head against a wall?

But sometimes a post rises to the level of requiring reading by others.

The above is such a post.

Amazon isn’t concerned about how many books it sells as being good for writers. It wants to sell as many books as possible because it’s good for Amazon.

If Amazon could sell fifty-seven billion books yet have each writer make only a dollar in a year, that’d suit Amazon just fine.

And while I focus on Amazon here — because the originating post is about it — this holds true for all companies that have managed to create a stranglehold in any area.

The China Market Has Been Lost. Thanks, NSA!

China is Planning to Purge Foreign Technology and Replace With Homegrown Suppliers

China is aiming to purge most foreign technology from banks, the military, state-owned enterprises and key government agencies by 2020, stepping up efforts to shift to Chinese suppliers, according to people familiar with the effort.

The push comes after a test of domestic alternatives in the northeastern city of Siping that was deemed a success, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. Workers there replaced Microsoft Corp.’s Windows with a homegrown operating system called NeoKylin and swapped foreign servers for ones made by China’s Inspur Group Ltd., they said.

The plan for changes in four segments of the economy is driven by national security concerns and marks an increasingly determined move away from foreign suppliers under President Xi Jinping, the people said. The campaign could have lasting consequences for U.S. companies including Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

“The shift is real,” said Charlie Dai, a Beijing-based analyst for Forrester Research Inc. “We have seen emerging cases of replacing foreign products at all layers from application, middleware down to the infrastructure software and hardware.”

Official Video: Teclast OS Demo

Weibo:

Teclast has uploaded to Youku a video demonstrating “Teclast OS.” I’ve ripped it and uploaded it to YouTube. See it after the break.