Useless Conversation

[Merusk]

Nothing goes on sale since Apple 'innovated' the "Sell at this price or you don't get our product" model that totally isn't price fixing.

[schild]

First they'll come for the Ebooks.

And I'll say nothing, because fuck Ebook pricing.

[Paelos]

First they'll come for the Ebooks.

And I'll say nothing, because fuck Ebook pricing.

Ebook makes no sense to me. I have a Kindle. I can download at will, but for some reason Mass Market Paperback costs LESS for many books because they package them together. The Dark Tower series is a good example of this.

Also, Ebook costing the same as regular book? That's insane.

[Hammond]

First they'll come for the Ebooks.

And I'll say nothing, because fuck Ebook pricing.

Ebook makes no sense to me. I have a Kindle. I can download at will, but for some reason Mass Market Paperback costs LESS for many books because they package them together. The Dark Tower series is a good example of this.

Also, Ebook costing the same as regular book? That's insane.

Ebook pricing is completely out of wack.  I am a huge fan of the kindle and E-readers in general due to many reasons.  I agree why is it cheaper for me to go buy a new book than buy a ebook version.  Apple and the publishers can go fuck themselves over the price fixing they have done.  I am REALLY curious to see what happens with pricing now that Amazon can come back to the negotiation table.  I imagine they will not be very nice about it now that the law is behind them....

[schild]

I said that because the government is suing Apple (among others) for price-fixing ebooks.

The U.S. accused Apple Inc. AAPL -0.36% and five of the nation's largest publishers Wednesday of conspiring to raise e-book prices, in a case that could radically reorder the fast-growing business.

Here's my favorite part:

Some publishers said the government's action could harm consumers by giving Amazon excessive control of the industry.

[MrHat]

Girlfriend wants a Sony NEX-C3 since we're traveling so much this year.

Does this shit ever go on sale? Same price at Amazon, Fry's, and Sony Style.

BRB, crossposting this in the camera thread.

Maybe newegg with shoprunner?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830179457&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-DSLR-_-Sony-_-30179457

[murdoc]

I said that because the government is suing Apple (among others) for price-fixing ebooks.

The U.S. accused Apple Inc. AAPL -0.36% and five of the nation's largest publishers Wednesday of conspiring to raise e-book prices, in a case that could radically reorder the fast-growing business.

Here's my favorite part:

Some publishers said the government's action could harm consumers by giving Amazon excessive control of the industry.

Wow, I didn't know this. I was pretty ticked when Amazon had to raise their ebook prices above their '$9.99 for all' promise. l

[ghost]

Maybe we should break up some of these monopolistic companies that are starting to litter the landscape, such as Apple and Amazon. 

[Hammond]

 

Some publishers said the government's action could harm consumers by giving Amazon excessive control of the industry.

[/quote]

I doubt it is going to harm consumers financially. It is more like it is going to force the few book stores left to either come up with a new business plan or go out of business.  Much like Blockbuster and video rental stores went through with Netflix.  Don't get me wrong I like actual physical books but the upside of e-books is entirely to attractive.  I think book publishers will be fine in fact I would not be surprised if their profit margins actually go up once the old legacy stores go away.  I think you will eventually have custom print shops where can go in and order any book and they print on demand that will fill the gap for the people that still actually want physical books.

On a side note anything that can be delivered electronically will eventually bury the competition.  You are going to see a continued loss in employment in retail jobs as those brick and mortar stores just cannot compete and more big box stores close.  Just look at what is happening with Best Buy.

[HaemishM]

Here's my favorite part:

Some publishers said the government's action could harm consumers by giving Amazon excessive control of the industry.

Yeah, I hate to tell them this, but Amazon already has the goddamn industry by the balls. And it's all the publishers fault, because they ceded the market to Amazon a long time ago by fucking about and not supporting 1) eBooks in general and 2) not getting out ahead of Amazon and creating one workable eBook format standard. That's what happens when you try to maintain a death grip over a market without ever bothering to innovate. And fuck the publishers. When I can sell an eBook for $2.99 and make more money per book as an indie author than the authors whose eBook versions they are charging 5 times as much for, your industry is fucked up. If I was an established best-selling author, I'd finish my last contract with whatever publisher I'm working with, then go full indie and make a killing. I truly think the only reason many mid-list authors stay with publishers is because they are too afraid or lazy to do the marketing on their own.

[Merusk]

You would be entirely correct on the lazy and afraid part.  Much like cartoonists still clinging to the AP distribution model.   It's something they know and the general thought being "I got in to this field to write, not to handle x, y, z." 

Which is where more savvy and enterprising folks would be wise to get in and do their own thing to cater to those people since the established publishers have dropped the ball.

[Salamok]

Here's my favorite part:

Some publishers said the government's action could harm consumers by giving Amazon excessive control of the industry.

Yeah, I hate to tell them this, but Amazon already has the goddamn industry by the balls.

On the one hand you are right since the publishers had to resort to illegal activities to cockblock Amazon but then again they did successfully manage to pull it off, at least in a mechanical sense if not a legal one, so I guess Amazon didn't quite have the ball crushing grip that I imagined they had.

Linky to the complaint section 4 is the interesting part.

[HaemishM]

Amazon didn't have the crushing grip then... give it a few years. The fact that Amazon had any pull at all when at the time, there were only what... 3 million or less Kindles out there? 3 million Kindles is NOTHING. But Kindle eBook sales surpassed paperbacks on Amazon last year, IIRC. That may not last forever, but it sure isn't going to trend the other way anytime soon. Every new Kindle they release captures more device owners. The publishers can't ignore eBooks now, and the Kindle's only been out 5 years? Amazon is a monolith in training.

[Sky]

Not to mention every other device is a pita to load library books onto. With the kindle fire, you can do everything right on the device, quickly. I'm a complete kindle convert, having used and troubleshootered manifold devices (not that I have much day-to-day use on anything besides a nook eink model and the fire).

The kindle fire is how it should be done from a lending and transactional standpoint as an end user.

[Furiously]

I checked out an ebook last week because the wait was like three months less. Pretty cool how amazon integrates with the library system. I look forward to how libraries will change and adapt in the next five years.

[Merusk]

I don't recall a useless links thread so I'll stick this here instead.  The iPhone has created a slew of these type of back and forth 'conversations' on blogs for the lulz.  This one was funnier than others I've seen in a while.

http://www.sadanduseless.com/2012/04/texts-from-my-dog/

[Yegolev]

I changed my car and homeowner's insurance over to the agency owned by my state rep.  That's probably not having a downside.  Then I see him again while at lunch, after telling him it would be nice if I could see people around town that I actually knew.  Weird.

[Minvaren]

I suppose there's one plus side to the recent insane drama where I work - those 15 pounds I'd like to lose are down to about 5.   

[Chimpy]

While I don't regret having lower monthly payments on my loan, writing a check for sales tax on my car was a bit painful this morning.

Now all I need to do is deal with the bumper repair.

Bumper repair you ask? I got hit in a Walmart parking lot when I was visiting my mom on Easter. Deformed the back bumper some. The guys insurance is saying they won't pay half at the moment.

[MuffinMan]

Ah the Wal-Mart parking lot, the #1 accident scene in the country.

[Chimpy]

I am just lucky the guy was driving a vehicle with a bumper the same height as mine. In Evansville that is a small minority of drivers (especially at WalMart). The jacked up/full size pickup is the most common mode of transportation down there.

[Morat20]

What the fuck is it with businesses today? I schedule an installation two goddamn weeks in advance, I get a "two hour window" (plus up to four hours for the install after that) on a Saturday.

What do I get? An hour after the motherfucking window closes, I get a call from them -- as I'm on the phone with their technical support people trying to figure out where they are -- telling me the "outage is done" but hey, they can't actually do it now, so would I mind reschedule for two fucking weeks from now on a goddamn Thursday morning.

Yes, assholes, I'll GLADLY TAKE A DAY OFF WORK so you can install the service I'm fucking paying for after you asshole left me swinging in the fucking wind all goddamn day without so much as a fucking notice.

Am I wrong to be incandescently FURIOUS abou this?

[Paelos]

Well that depends.

1 - Was it a cable company? If it is, was it Comcast?
2 - Was it a dish company?
3 - What state are you in?
4 - Does this service involve a large amount of installation cost?

[Morat20]

It was fucking ATT's fucking uverse. I've been stuck on DSL, and I've been avoiding cable because cable here is done through Comcast and I loathe Comcast will all the hatred in my heart.

You know, because I've been a customer of their's for years for my cable TV, and their service and equipment sucks. It more than sucks. It's like the company was created solely to increase despair, hatred, and anger in the world to bring on the Apocolypse.

So I've been trying to switch to Uverse for, oh, three years now? Yeah, they come out every six months, fuck around a bit with the outside wires, and then tell me I can't get it. It was "you're too far away, we'll red list the neighborhood" for a bit. Then that stopped and it was "Well, you're still too far away but we're bringing in boosters soon". And then last time it was "you're too far away for the standard, but we do this [insert some tech shit I've forgotten] that'll get the signal plenty for you, but I can't do it on this install -- speciality team has to do it, I'll write up the ticket and we'll call after it's done to schedule the install".

When that never happened I just thought "fuck it" and waited the regular six months.

Which leads to today. And the fact that I just spent an hour on the phone trying to Force Choke everyone I've talked to. If I schedule a fucking appointment two weeks in advance and YOU HAVE TO CANCEL you should, you know, tell me. I wouldn't be half so pissed about having to reschedule for two weeks from now (because I am not taking the goddamn day off work, I am busy!) if they'd let me know BEFORE the install time -- not an hour after their 'window'.

I had shit I could have been doing today, shit I wanted to do today but didn't because I had already scheduled uverse. Shit I could have, in fact, still done if I'd learned they couldn't make it at eleven not 2:00 PM.

Maybe I can charge them a hundred dollar "no show" fee like everyone else does for skipped appointments.

[Paelos]

Call them up, tell them you want your appointment rescheduled to this Saturday since they screwed it up, and you want your fee waved.

[ghost]

I'm tired of cable/dsl/telephone companies.  I'm thinking very seriously of getting rid of all of it for my house, except for the DSL line.   

[Paelos]

I've found, after living all around a major city, that the further you get away from downtown the worse the problems with your telecom. Example, living in a suburb of Atlanta outside the perimeter, my internet would NEVER stay up, and it was due to the shitty lines in the area that hadn't been replaced since 1989 when a tornado came through.

After that, moved to in-town. The internet hardly ever drops here, and the cable only went out for a period when they couldn't figure out how to apply my autopayment after a card was changed.

In short, if you live in the boondocks or the suburbs, you will always have shitty telecom no matter what you do or who you use.

[Morat20]

Call them up, tell them you want your appointment rescheduled to this Saturday since they screwed it up, and you want your fee waved.

I got a 25 dollar credit and told the earliest they could do it was next week. Middle of the week. During work hours.

On one hand, I get their problem -- they  had a major outage and yanked pretty much all their techs to fix things up. I get that. "Making the phone lines keep working" is bigger priority than "upgrade people's service".

What I don't get is the fact that they apparently decided to just tell all those "upgrade service" folks to fuck off, we'll get to it later. Probably because they don't want to pay overtime or time-and-a-half or whatever it costs to convince technicians to drag their asses out on their day off.

I would have been irritated, but basically okay with, "We can do it tomorrow". Or even, I suppose, "monday" -- but basically shoving my ass to the end of the line? Fuckers.

I wish I didn't hate comcast so much, so I had an actual choice.

[ghost]

I wish I didn't hate comcast so much, so I had an actual choice.

You always have a choice.

[Morat20]

I wish I didn't hate comcast so much, so I had an actual choice.

You always have a choice.

True. I can choose to be fucked by ATT or fucked by Comcast. And, sadly, the fucking by ATT has thus been far, far gentler than Comcast.

Comcast is legendary for the shit it pulled. It's only been tolerable SINCE u-verse, because suddenly people were switching away from them and they couldn't make their equipment out of cast-offs from high-school eletricial projects, chewing gum, and tinfoil.

[Tarami]

Did you admin guys reset the forum /played?

[Trippy]

Did you admin guys reset the forum /played?

Not intentionally.

[Paelos]

Comcast is legendary for the shit it pulled. It's only been tolerable SINCE u-verse, because suddenly people were switching away from them and they couldn't make their equipment out of cast-offs from high-school eletricial projects, chewing gum, and tinfoil.

Well I'm guessing by what you said earlier, you live in the middle of nowhere? Mostly rural or a subdivision far off the grid?

If that's the case, you're fucked. No provider is going to what to waste time, resources, and visits to low pop areas. That means you'll have to be doubly loud to get anything done.

[ghost]

I wish I didn't hate comcast so much, so I had an actual choice.

You always have a choice.

True. I can choose to be fucked by ATT or fucked by Comcast. And, sadly, the fucking by ATT has thus been far, far gentler than Comcast.

Comcast is legendary for the shit it pulled. It's only been tolerable SINCE u-verse, because suddenly people were switching away from them and they couldn't make their equipment out of cast-offs from high-school eletricial projects, chewing gum, and tinfoil.

Or you can be fucked by none of the above.  It's always an option.  Let your wallet talk to these assholes.

[Sky]

Life without internet?

Even I'm not that much of a mountain man.

Got in my 8 cords of wood this afternoon. Celebrating my first year ahead of the game, I have enough wood for two seasons. Thus the wood can season for two summers and burn clean, less creosote etc. I'm a wood shed and new stove away from nirvana.