I see the payday lenders are being criticised for letting people take out loan after loan when it is clear they cannot pay the money back.
Isn’t this what every Western government has been doing for years?
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Why don't my e-books play video?
I read books on screen. It is convenient, simple and cheap.
But why are e-books not designed?
If I buy a book in a bookshop, it will have a particular typeface and chapter headings.
If there are pictures, they will appear at the relevant point in the narrative and they will probably fill a page.
If I read the same book on my Kindle, the typeface is in one of the Kindle’s standard typefaces, as are the chapter headings. And the pictures, if they appear at all, will appear as tiny images, sometimes all together the end of the book.
Why don’t publishers take advantage of the new medium and use video instead of the static pictures in a physical book? Why no sounds files in my Leiber and Stoller biography?
Why is the index not displayed as clickable links to take me to the relevant page?
Is it that publishers see e-books as an annoyance, something cheap and tawdry which is eating into their traditional business?
They would do better to see them as an opportunity.
If video and sound would make a book too large to download in a reasonable time, why not store the video and sound files in a cloud and give people who buy the book at the publisher’s price, or with the publisher’s app, access to them.
I want to hear Riot in cell block #9 when I read my Leiber and Stoller autobiography.
I want to see Bobby Charlton scoring when I read The footballer who could fly.
I want to see Eddy Merckx flying up mountains when I read Half man half bike.
Come on publishers, bring books up to date.
But why are e-books not designed?
If I buy a book in a bookshop, it will have a particular typeface and chapter headings.
If there are pictures, they will appear at the relevant point in the narrative and they will probably fill a page.
If I read the same book on my Kindle, the typeface is in one of the Kindle’s standard typefaces, as are the chapter headings. And the pictures, if they appear at all, will appear as tiny images, sometimes all together the end of the book.
Why don’t publishers take advantage of the new medium and use video instead of the static pictures in a physical book? Why no sounds files in my Leiber and Stoller biography?
Why is the index not displayed as clickable links to take me to the relevant page?
Is it that publishers see e-books as an annoyance, something cheap and tawdry which is eating into their traditional business?
They would do better to see them as an opportunity.
If video and sound would make a book too large to download in a reasonable time, why not store the video and sound files in a cloud and give people who buy the book at the publisher’s price, or with the publisher’s app, access to them.
I want to hear Riot in cell block #9 when I read my Leiber and Stoller autobiography.
I want to see Bobby Charlton scoring when I read The footballer who could fly.
I want to see Eddy Merckx flying up mountains when I read Half man half bike.
Come on publishers, bring books up to date.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Seeing through the Windows
Windows 8 is interesting. It moves away from the traditional Windows Start menu and into the world of clickable icons.
For decades Microsoft have made millions because the world has been compatible with Windows.
Most companies use Windows, so most commercial software is created to run on Windows.
Windows is on most of the computers we buy to use at home, so most of the software written for people at home has been created to run on Windows.
And most of the printers, scanners, cameras and other devices we buy come with software created to run on Windows.
The world works on Windows.
Or it did until Steve Jobs showed non-geeks how to download music and Google’s Android made millions of phones cool.
Now people are as happy to touch apps as they are to start a program from a menu. The Windows spell has been broken.
I bet there are more programmers writing software for iPads and Androids than there are writing code to work on Windows PCs.
Windows 8 shows Microsoft have accepted this. Why is it taking so long for the people who make printers and other peripheral bits of kit to provide an app as well as a Windows CD for people to set them up and use them?
For decades Microsoft have made millions because the world has been compatible with Windows.
Most companies use Windows, so most commercial software is created to run on Windows.
Windows is on most of the computers we buy to use at home, so most of the software written for people at home has been created to run on Windows.
And most of the printers, scanners, cameras and other devices we buy come with software created to run on Windows.
The world works on Windows.
Or it did until Steve Jobs showed non-geeks how to download music and Google’s Android made millions of phones cool.
Now people are as happy to touch apps as they are to start a program from a menu. The Windows spell has been broken.
I bet there are more programmers writing software for iPads and Androids than there are writing code to work on Windows PCs.
Windows 8 shows Microsoft have accepted this. Why is it taking so long for the people who make printers and other peripheral bits of kit to provide an app as well as a Windows CD for people to set them up and use them?
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