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10/02/09
10/01/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/01/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
Give me $50 billion dollars and I would gladly test that theory out.
10/02/09
10/02/09
Same exact thought going around in my mind the other day. RIP J...
10/02/09
10/02/09
Going bankrupt drives people to suicide, depression, drug dependency, and alcoholism. Money isn't everything, but when you have it, it removes daily stress that us normal folks deal with on a daily basis.
I for one never have a problem paying the bills and have no debt, but that doesn't mean I don't worry about things in general. Worry about the market tanking again and loosing my retirement, worry about loosing my job, worry about...
In the grand scheme of things to most people money is everything because it affords you piece of mind that you wouldn't otherwise have. Having the ability to never worry about "shit" again is a beautiful thing and actually affords you the ability to spend more time with family and friends and enjoying life in general. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.
10/02/09
10/02/09
Money can buy all sorts of happiness. For example, I'm about to have my first child and I don't get paternity leave and my wife doesn't work because she is out of a job. But I'd be very happy to get to spend every waking day with my child and my wife. That would make me very happy. Sadly, that time is made shorter because I have to spend 9 hours every day at work/in traffic making money to live and support the ones I love.
10/02/09
PS-I dont know where you are from, but if youre in the US, check out FSLA.
07/23/09
Someone at Amazon must therefore have sat down and wrote a procedure for what would happen in that event. Including the objectionable part of this, deleting every purchased copy of the book from user's devices.
How stupid did that person have to be to not anticipate this response? It's all very predictable, including the eventual apology.
Kindle sales must have tanked in the last 24 hours. If nothing else, maybe that will keep it from happening again.
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
Now yes, there is an onus on Amazon to make sure that the goods they sell are legit (You don't see wal-mart buying speakers that fell off the back of kmart's truck). And in this regard, they do deserve criticism. However, I don't think that this incident has any Orwellian overtones outside of the books in question. Amazon did what they were legally required to do.
07/23/09
(I still love your product and use it daily)
07/23/09
07/23/09
What would that have cost them? $10,000? $50,000? A drop in the bucket compared to the loss of goodwill and horrible PR they just went through.
They also could have e-mailed the consumer begging forgiveness FIRST.
Basic customer service principle - don't punish your best customers.
07/23/09
I'm sure they did pursue settling it with the publisher, but could not reach an agreement. Like Apple and the Beatles.
Side note - The rights to the Beatles were owned by Michael Jackson, correct? So any chance now that he's a goner we get them in the store?
07/23/09
07/23/09
Any lawsuit would have revealed the fact that this mechanism to recall the books existed, and in addition to having to pay a hefty fine or settlement, they undoubtedly would have been ordered to recall the books anyway.
Amazon is still primarily a book company and as such they need to stay in good graces with the publishers and authors who give them their product. Clearly they could have handled this better by communicating with their customers, but any solution would have involved taking the books back.
To me, this underscores why I would never purchase such a device which you pay a substantial sum for, but do not control. I'm glad the issue came up to shine light on why it is foolish to buy a product that is full of DRM and constantly phoning home over a cellular connection.
07/23/09
We have become so coddled in this society, and so litigious, that we think we deserve to be compensated for every infraction and indignity. If a company makes a mistake when they print a sale price, we insist they honor it even though ethically there us no reason they need to; an honest mistake should be forgiven if there is no harm. So when Amazon catches someone selling something that isn't theirs - the equivalent of stolen property, we expect Amazon to make amends not just by refunding the money, which they did, but by giving consumers even more for that vague feeling of violation that they suffered when they found out the stolen property they bought had to be returned. That seems absurd to me. Sure, Amazon could have handles things better and been more direct with the affected customers, but I think we should not expect them to absorb all the cost and blame for this event, nor should we expect that every affected customer should get a free copy of 1984 and a fruit basket. This has been an unfortunate mess for everyone involved, but I think consumers need to understand the financial and legal implications before they go spouting off about all the hurt they suffered when their illegitimate copy of 1984 was rescinded.
07/23/09
Amazon's choice to surreptitiously voluntarily remove purchased books was so egregious, the cost of avoiding it would have been worth it. Forced removal and settlement is a fig leaf Amazon could have used for both customers and publishers (along with some new safeguards for IP owners).
Publishers protect their IP, but most have also read "1984," and grok the symbolism of sneaking into people's gadgets in the dark of night and removing words on Wednesday that were there on Tuesday.
07/24/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
And I will always think of that event when someone says that phrase.
07/15/09
07/15/09
...until now. son of a bitch...
07/15/09
On a related note, are you having problems where your browser pops up as says that the scripts are too large, and asks if you want to end them? I like the new format, but its bogging down my system on threads that have tons of responses.
07/15/09
In Portugal, every schoolkids are getting a "Magalhães" laptop (based on Classmate), but I'm still waiting to see results about this. Now we will have a bunch of script-kiddies going amok once they find "Hackers" during puberty...
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
There are problems with the idea, but overall, I'm leaning towards, I like the idea.
07/15/09
boo hoo tough shit. fat little bastards could use the exercise since the stranger-danger morons won't let their precious snowflakes walk a mile home.