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New York, 3:11 AM
Fri Nov 27
20 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/02/09

    In reply to Bill Gates Lost $7 Billion Last Year, Is Still Richer Than God
    Meijer is 44, not bad.
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of macpatrik macpatrik
    10/01/09

    In reply to Bill Gates Lost $7 Billion Last Year, Is Still Richer Than God
    I feel your pain Gates. My card got declined today getting an egg McMuffin. Hard times.
     Reply
    macpatrik was starred macpatrik was unstarred
    Image of AZNPCGamer AZNPCGamer
    10/02/09

    @macpatrik: At least you got a card, I had to purchase my food items the ole fashioned way, one dollar bills.
     Reply
    Identity less than three approved this comment AZNPCGamer was starred AZNPCGamer was unstarred
    Image of Identity (Metric) Identity (Metric)
    10/02/09

    @AZNPCGamer: How's that corner job workin' for you?
     Reply
    Identity (Metric) was starred Identity (Metric) was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/02/09

    @AZNPCGamer: Slow night at the strip club?
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    10/01/09

    In reply to Bill Gates Lost $7 Billion Last Year, Is Still Richer Than God
    This will be increcibly unpopular, but, money isnt everything. It cant buy you happiness or peace or fulfill your hopes and prayers. Your dog wont love you any more if you have it. In the grand scheme of things, it means very little. If you dont agree with me, ask someone who has a child that is sick with an illness for which there is no cure.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    10/02/09

    @Curves: i think the ol' "money can't buy happiness" doesn't apply if you've got 50 billion dollars.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    10/02/09

    @Curves: "but, money isnt everything. It cant buy you happiness or peace or fulfill your hopes and prayers"

    Give me $50 billion dollars and I would gladly test that theory out.
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of Invisiblemoose Invisiblemoose
    10/02/09

    @Curves: You're right! Instead of doing tremendous charity work, Bill Gates should burn all his money instead! Cleanse the world of the evil, evil money!
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment Invisiblemoose was starred Invisiblemoose was unstarred
    Image of Identity (Metric) Identity (Metric)
    10/02/09

    @Curves: I... I think I love you.

    Same exact thought going around in my mind the other day. RIP J...
     Reply
    Identity (Metric) was starred Identity (Metric) was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    10/02/09

    @Invisiblemoose: I am not saying money is evil, I am also not saying it shouldnt be used for good. All I said was in the grand scheme of things, money isnt the answer for everything. If I thought money was evil, I would be in a convent someplace and not working every day of my life. Its a means to and end. Thats all.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/02/09

    @Curves: That is a statement made by people without money problems or stay at home Mom's or by people who only know rich assholes.

    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.
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    10/02/09

    @UnderLoK: I am none of those things. I, like everyone, have to pay my bills, I am not a stay at home mother, in fact I am a single mother, and I know people of all economic classes and there are assholes and angels in each group. I am also ethnically Irish, and as such, a world class worrier, but, I still stand on my statement that in the grand scheme, its not that important.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of tenazrael tenazrael
    10/02/09

    @Curves: Once a person knows what makes them happy, only then can they know if they need more money or not.

    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.
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment tenazrael was starred tenazrael was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    10/02/09

    @tenazrael: It cant buy happiness (you being home with your family). The money is a means to the END that makes you happy.

    PS-I dont know where you are from, but if youre in the US, check out FSLA.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of FuturePastNow FuturePastNow
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    It was inevitable from the start, due to licensing issues between publishers, that Amazon would eventually have to remove a book from its library.

    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.
     Reply
    FuturePastNow was starred FuturePastNow was unstarred
    Image of Kev50027 Kev50027
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    It sure does scare me when I think of the power they have over my content though. In reality, you're not buying books, you're renting them for an undisclosed amount of time. I trust Amazon, but it would be pretty easy for them to lose that trust doing things like this.
     Reply
    Don Nguyen promoted this comment Kev50027 was starred Kev50027 was unstarred
    Image of scrag scrag
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    You can't get any more "we totally fucked up" than that, can you? Those sorts of spinless apologies that don't try to make excuses or pass the buck are rare these days.
     Reply
    FuturePastNow promoted this comment scrag was starred scrag was unstarred
    Image of PatriciaLawlipap PatriciaLawlipap
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    George Orwell strikes from beyond the grave. I'm glad that books like 1984 still impact us this much.
     Reply
    FuturePastNow promoted this comment Reil approved this comment PatriciaLawlipap was starred PatriciaLawlipap was unstarred
    Image of PersisEmu PersisEmu
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    I'd like to point out something that a lot of people have overlooked. Everyone here is talking about how ebooks should be treated the same as physical property (which I agree with by the way). Well, if these books were sold illegally, then they are, in essence, stolen property. The parallel everyone has been drawing to having these books being deleted is "what if someone broke into your house to take back your real property?". However, the police can in fact, break in peoples houses to retrieve stolen property. Granted, this is usually done with higher value items, but the principle remains the same: If you buy stolen goods, you are legally obligated to turn them over to the police (and good luck getting your money back in the real world).

    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.
     Reply
    Reil approved this comment PersisEmu was starred PersisEmu was unstarred
    Image of Nelson Nelson
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    That's an awfully emo apology letter, Mr. Bezos.

    (I still love your product and use it daily)
     Reply
    Reil promoted this comment Nelson was starred Nelson was unstarred
    Image of Hi, I'm God Hi, I'm God
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    ... Does this mean we get those books back? As much as I disagree with what they did, they didn't exactly have another course of action. They had to avoid the courtroom.
     Reply
    Magicant promoted this comment Hi, I'm God was starred Hi, I'm God was unstarred
    Image of Magicant Magicant
    07/23/09

    @Hi, I'm God: Of course they had other courses of action. When a company screws up, they make amends. They quite easily could have compensated the publisher who DID have the rights rather than punish the innocent consumer. It was Amazon's error, not the error of the person buying the book.

    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.
     Reply
    Edited by Magicant at 07/23/09 6:42 PM Magicant was starred Magicant was unstarred
    Image of Hi, I'm God Hi, I'm God
    07/23/09

    @Magicant: Well obviously they could have done the removal of the books a little more gently... for example give a message saying something along the lines of "In 10 days this book will be deleted due to legal issues so read if fucking fast"

    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?
     Reply
    Edited by Hi, I'm God at 07/23/09 6:51 PM Hi, I'm God was starred Hi, I'm God was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    07/23/09

    @Hi, I'm God: They should not have removed the books. If that meant taking licks in a settlement with the publisher or even in court, that is better than what they did.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of semiquaver semiquaver
    07/23/09

    @frigg: With respect, I'm not sure your response is rooted in an understanding of how intellectual property law works. The publisher wasn't asking for more money, they had never granted permission in the first place. That's a pretty egregious legal error on Amazon's part, and to thumb their nose at the IP owner like that would have been much worse than upsetting a few bloggers.

    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.
     Reply
    tande04 mile island in the sun promoted this comment semiquaver was starred semiquaver was unstarred
    Image of weatherman weatherman
    07/23/09

    @Magicant: They may well have had other options, and it may not have been the fault of the buyer, but the buyer still had something they had no right to have and Amazon removed it without harm to the buyer. The buyer was made whole.

    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.
     Reply
    weatherman was starred weatherman was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    07/23/09

    @sixteenth note: Given the mistake, I think Amazon would have been better served to put themselves in a position to be forced to remove the books. The result would not have been as important as how the parties arrived at it.

    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.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    07/24/09

    @semiquaver: ... also, if you take Jeff Bezos' apology at its word, that it's not just a disingenuous bit of clever PR, he seems to agree that the "solution" (his quotes) was no solution at all, and given the mistake, they should have gone down another path to correct it.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    07/23/09

    In reply to Jeff Bezos Issues A Personal Apology for Kindle Debacle
    it's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of Reil: Save Stars, Save Peach Reil: Save Stars, Save Peach
    07/23/09

    @Nick: My island name is Nicko: You know, the first time I heard that phrase, it was when one of the dads in my Boy Scout Troop brought several rifles (no ammunition) into one of the Church buildings to teach the kids about firearm safety.

    And I will always think of that event when someone says that phrase.
     Reply
    Reil: Save Stars, Save Peach was starred Reil: Save Stars, Save Peach was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    07/15/09

    In reply to Kindle For Every Schoolkid Proposed, We Strongly Recommend At Least 1 Calculator
    damn it. all my comments in this thread are stuck together.
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    07/15/09

    @nutbastard:



    ...until now. son of a bitch...
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of zenpoet zenpoet
    07/15/09

    @nutbastard: what have you been doing with your comments? Sicko.



    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.
     Reply
    zenpoet was starred zenpoet was unstarred
    Image of Deoki Deoki
    07/15/09

    In reply to Kindle For Every Schoolkid Proposed, We Strongly Recommend At Least 1 Calculator

    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...
     Reply
    Deoki was starred Deoki was unstarred
    Image of Electricity Electricity
    07/15/09

    In reply to Kindle For Every Schoolkid Proposed, We Strongly Recommend At Least 1 Calculator
    no.
     Reply
    Electricity was starred Electricity was unstarred
    Image of Geisrud Geisrud
    07/15/09

    @Electricity: no.
     Reply
    Geisrud was starred Geisrud was unstarred
    Image of MadMacs MadMacs
    07/15/09

    In reply to Kindle For Every Schoolkid Proposed, We Strongly Recommend At Least 1 Calculator
    One very important feature that makes this idea good is the weight of all the books that kids have to carry. I know when I went through school, we all had lockers, but out here in California, they have to carry all their books in book bags.



    There are problems with the idea, but overall, I'm leaning towards, I like the idea.
     Reply
    MadMacs was starred MadMacs was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    07/15/09

    @MadMacs:



    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.
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
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