Free Almost-eBook From Jason Pinter

Via MySpace Bulletin:

Through August 5th, you can read the entire, uncut text of the critically acclaimed, award nominated first Henry Parker novel, THE MARK, for FREE!

[...] [A]t www.jasonpinter.com, click on the "Browse this Book" link, and you'll have full access to the book that has been nominated for three awards and optioned to be a major motion picture.

Now is the perfect time to see what all the fuss is about, or to let your friends and family know about the series!

Plus, if you help spread the word, I will personally thank you in the acknowledgments page of a Henry Parker novel to be published in 2009!

Emphasis added by me.

I would have done it without the payola, but now I want my payola, dammit!

I say it's an "almost ebook" because it's one of those read- on- your- monitor things:


Click = big

But it actually can be read. The text is black, not faded gray. Clicking enlarges the page:


Click = big

On my pathetic PC, it takes seconds to turn a page. All of you with better machines can probably zip from page to page. If I could, I'd read it. The opening paragraph hooked me:



Yeah, that's killer.

Go to Read THE MARK--for free!! for the reading link.

Jason Pinter MySpace

Is Intel's Atom CPU Shortage Due To Apple?

A Commenter over at the wonderful all-things-ebook Teleread reminded me about the Atom CPU shortage that's begun to happen. Asus, no slouch in putting out netbooks to sell, recently offered two new non-Atom models in order to preserve their sales presence and keep the money flowing in.

Which brings me to this question: Is Apple the reason for this Atom shortage?

Think about it.

Intel would certainly give Apple priority treatment if Apple wanted it. Apple wouldn't even have to be hard-nosed about it. Intel would fall over itself to have that business.

Also, the Atom has not been embraced by the netbook crowd for reasons other than its battery life (an Asus EeePC 901 with a six-cell battery gets a good five hours!).

Even Intel has dissed its own chip in this famous quote:

“You’re dealing with something that most of us wouldn’t use.”

However, Intel has previously stated that it sees this chip in millions and millions of devices.

Is that going to happen when its target market lacks enthusiasm for it?

Getting into millions and millions of devices can happen when Microsoft's bloaty and crusty Windows XP is ditched and replaced by Apple's iPhone OS.

How well would something like that work out?

Following the break are a bunch of videos illustrating installation of the full desktop version of OS X on an Atom-powered MSI Wind (or clone) and what the performance is like. (These videos will not appear here at the Blogger backup blog due to many videos on a page clogging my PC! Switch over to the post at the WordPress blog.)

I'll have more to say after you've watched the videos.

MSI Wind Leo Install

Here is a complete installation on an MSI Wind Subnotebook of OSX 10.5.4 Leopard from first boot to desktop. This should show people just how simple it really is.

Update: This video is misleading. He is not installing OS X from an Apple-bought disc. This is a customized disc. Details here. Yeah, it fooled me too! Buy OS X legally in order to use that disc!!
-- go to the WordPress blog to see this video

Medion Akoya Mini E1210 running Mac OS X Leopard

...a short glimpse of my new Medion Akoya Mini E1210 running OS X 10.5.3 (demonstrating iTunes Streaming + Fullscreen Animations and Nezuis gameplay)...

-- go to the WordPress blog to see this video

MSI Wind: Mac OS X Demo

An overview of the functionality of the MSI Wind with 10.5.2 installed. It runs very well.

-- go to the WordPress blog to see this video

Now just how great is that?! Close to Insanely Great, I think.

Fully Insanely Great would be marrying iPhone OS to that 1.6GHz Atom! Look at how fast iPhone OS is on its current processor (said to be 620MHz). Imagine it on something over twice that speed! (iPhone code wizards feel free to chime in about whether or not that could play havoc with the speed of games!)

Intel has another version of this Atom chip (why they named them both Atom is just confusing -- but this is after all the PC world), to be used in what Intel has been touting as Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). One of them is the Gigabyte M528 (aka Aigo).

Here's a video of that device running Windows XP SP3 (this is a hack which replaces the built-in Linux OS; not all of XP works due to missing drivers):

aigo MID Unboxing Part 3 - Windows XP SP3
-- go to the WordPress blog to see this video

Now imagine iPhone OS running on that! (I'm not saying that hardware would in any way look like my predicted iPod Air, however!)

What I don't know is whether the manufacturing of the Atom chip for MIDs would affect manufacturing of the Atom for netbooks like the MSI Wind. That's up for others to go dig up. I'm pointing to the most likely field where the body is buried. The techies can go man their shovels now!

Is Intel's Atom shortage due to giving Apple priority over all others? My own suspicion is Yes!

Additional:
Paul's complete guide to installing OSX Leopard on your MSI Wind / Advent 4211

Previously here:

You’re All Wrong: It’s The iPod Air!
The Reasons Why eBooks Are Next For Apple
It’s NOT Lower Prices, You Eejits! It’s iPod Air!
And So The iPod Air Is Coming After All!
iPod Air: See You In September?
No iPod Air Next Week
The iPod Air Will Be Better …
What’s This? iPod Air Next Month?
Future iPods: Piper Jaffray’s Blind Spot
For The Record: Apple and eBooks
Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?

What A Major FAIL In eBooks Looks Like

I'm glad David Rothman over at Teleread did this post so I didn't have to!

Girl Not Of His Dreams After All

New York subway romance hits end of the line

A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.

For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manhattan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch to find her -- www.nygirlofmydreams.com.

Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing as usually cynical New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt.

The mysterious brunette was named as Camille Hayton, from Melbourne, Australia, who was working as an intern at the magazine BlackBook and also lived in Brooklyn. One of her friends spotted the sketched picture on the Web site and recognized her.

But after finding each other, appearing on TV and getting international press, the couple took their romance out of the public eye, with Moberg closing down the Web site and with both refusing to making any more comments -- until now.

Hayton told Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that she dated Moberg for about two months but it just didn't work out.

What's the guy got to say about all this now?

Moberg, however, was still refusing to comment on the relationship.

"We've decided not to do any more press," he wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

In other words: "She rejected me!"

Plenty of women in New York City.

Hardly any sane ones, but many pretty ones.



Most who will grow up alone, bitter, and pursuing plastic surgery.

Your Weekend Smart Car Pr0n

What would a weekend be without my pr0nographic pictures of a Smart Car? Empty!!!

Photos taken yesterday, Saturday, July 26, 2008, with the Philips crapcam.

Here's that new one I mentioned earlier, the negative image of the Badass Batman Smart Car:








This one has the leather seats. Probably heated too!






Kneel, you peasants. You are beholding Art!



And two more of the original Yellow Submarine Smart:





Yeah, baby, that's Driving In Style.

Previously here:

NOW Do You Believe In My Persecution?!!?
Smart Car Stuff
Photo Album: Smart Car In Manhattan #3!
More Smart Car Videos
This Is Why It’s Called The Smart Car!
Fugly MINI Cooper Vs. Cutie Smart Fortwo
Smart Car: Coast-To-Coast Possible
The Smart Car Cult
Badass Batman Smart Car!
Video: Smart Car
Photo Album: Smart Car In Manhattan Again!
Photo Album: Smart Car In Manhattan
Cars Of The Future: Lose Weight Or You’ll Walk!

Gasoline On July 27, 2008

Photo actually taken yesterday, Saturday, July 26, 2008 on Satan Staten Island with the Philips crapcam.



I passed by the sign before 6AM and it was still $4.63/gal for Premium.

When I went past it again about noon, it was changed to that. A four-cents price drop.

The station across the street just lowered their prices identically today (no picture; I'd forgotten to clear out the crapcam from yesterday).

Will we now see a retreat in food prices? When the Moon shits free cheese!

Educate yourself!

Previously here:

Gasoline On July 9, 2008
Gasoline On July 3, 2008
Gasoline On June 28, 2008
Gasoline On June 21, 2008
Gasoline On June 12, 2008
Gasoline On June 8, 2008
Gasoline On May 31, 2008
Gasoline On May 26, 2008
Gasoline On May 21, 2008
Gasoline On May 18, 2008
Gasoline On May 18, 2008
Gasoline On March 15, 2008
Oh. My. God.

Reading Books Plummets In Japan Too

Argh.



Novels under manga cover: Convenience stores go literary

Publishers and convenience stores are teaming up on novel efforts to draw young people back into the literary world.

Concerned over flagging book sales, especially among younger age groups, publishers are having popular manga artists illustrate the covers of novels and are turning serious works of fiction into manga to be sold at convenience stores.

Such "combini novels" are proving popular among young people who are seemingly averse to conventional bookstores.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. in May became the first major convenience store chain to put on sale revamped editions of works by three Naoki Prize-winning authors--Arimasa Osawa, Miyuki Miyabe and Natsuhiko Kyogoku.

Although none of the books are new, they have been totally repackaged, with manga artists popular with young people illustrating the front covers.

Emphasis added by me.

And:

More convenience stores are offering serious literary works such as Takiji Kobayashi's Kani Kosen (The Factory Ship), Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Toson Shimazaki's Hakai (Broken Commandment) in manga format.

Tokyo-based East Press' series "Manga de Dokuha" (Read through books using manga) has taken such well-known works of literature and made them into manga. The series was launched in July last year, mainly available at convenience stores. Its 17 titles have so far sold 900,000 copies.

"We thought that maybe we could get people to read well-known works perceived as tough reads by turning them into manga and selling them at convenience stores," East Press' Kosuke Maruo said.

Until now, the reading material on sale at convenience stores has been mainly restricted to magazines and "how-to" books.

But Maruo said that convenience stores welcomed the novels turned into manga, as did readers, who said they wanted to read more such novels.

Emphasis added by me.

And:

Behind the growing collaborations between the publishing industry and convenience stores is the difficult financial position many publishers have found themselves in.

According to the Research Institute for Publications, estimated 1998 sales of publications were 2.5 trillion yen, but this figure had fallen to 2 trillion yen by last year--a drop of about 20 percent.

Emphasis added by me.

I must adapt Nikki Finke's famous quote: Pretty soon, every single fucking book is gonna be turned into a comic book one way or another. Ugh.

David Rothman, what say you?

-- via Japan Probe

Previously here:

For God’s Sake, Get eBooks Going, Steve Jobs!

iPod Air Blog

I picked a new theme, fleshed out the right sidebar with widgets, and added a post of intent.

iPod Air blog

Apple iTunes (Store) Trademark Evolution

This is interesting for what it has now added to the iTunes Store (see red). Then see the three prior filings abbreviated afterwards.

Each of these can be searched for at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office via their registration number using the TESS system (select Trademarks at left, then TESS in the drop-down list).

Note: The tabular records have been reformatted for improved readability.

Word Mark
ITUNES STORE

Goods and Services
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment services, namely, providing prerecorded audio and audiovisual content, information and commentary in the fields of music, concerts, videos, movies, television, books, news, sports, games and cultural events all on-line via a global computer network. FIRST USE: 20060912. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20060912

Standard Characters Claimed

Mark Drawing Code
(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Serial Number
77386751

Filing Date
February 1, 2008

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Published for Opposition
July 22, 2008

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Prior Registrations
2653465;2828093;2993227

Disclaimer
NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "STORE" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN

Type of Mark
SERVICE MARK

Register
PRINCIPAL-2(F)-IN PART

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE

Distinctiveness Limitation Statement
as to "ITUNES"

The first filing -- registration number 2653465 on January 9, 2001 -- was:

Word Mark
ITUNES

Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer software for use in authoring, downloading, transmitting, receiving, editing, extracting, encoding, decoding, playing, storing and organizing audio data. FIRST USE: 20010109. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20010109

The second filing -- registration number 2828093 on May 15, 2003 -- was:

Word Mark
ITUNES MUSIC STORE

Goods and Services
IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Retail store services in the field of entertainment, namely, musical and audiovisual works and related merchandise, provided via the internet and other computer and electronic communication networks. FIRST USE: 20030428. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20030428

The third filing -- registration number 2993227 on October 16, 2003 -- was:

Word Mark
ITUNES MUSIC STORE

Goods and Services
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: providing on-line facilities, via a global computer network, to enable users to program audio, video, text and other multimedia content, including music, concerts, videos, radio, television, news, sports, games, cultural events, and entertainment-related programs. FIRST USE: 20030428. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20030428

Condolences To Michael Connick

On the passing of his wife.

Words just fail me at times like these.

If you're good with them at times like these, go post a message of sympathy there for him.

New Buzzword: Freegan

Dumpster diving with the freegans: Why pay for food?

Warning: There's an autoplay video in the center of that article.

This is the first time I've encountered that term.

According to wikipedia, it's been around since the 1990s.

As usual, I'm the last to know.

Quote: Timothy D. Cook Of Apple

From the Seeking Alpha transcript (which is so good I must go back for another snippet):

[M]any people really didn’t have a full view of what a phone could do until we announced the iPhone.

This is what Apple does: Dispels the mystery.

When the Macintosh debuted in 1984, it allowed people who never used a computer before to actually want to use one. And, because it was a Mac with a real-people-friendly interface, those novices could immediately do more on their machines than the millions sitting in front of their MS-DOS command-line interface boxes.

When the iPhone debuted last year, it allowed people who could never, ever figure out how to do email, the Internet, SMS, music, and video on their phones to see that it could be done on a phone. They weren't stupid people. They just had stupid software in their hardware. For all the sneers about the iPhone being a "feature phone," it seems to me that the phone that allows people to do more things easily is the true smartphone.

You're All Wrong: It's The iPod Air!

I just don't give a damn how many people repeat this stupid rumor about a "MacBook Touch."

You. Are. All. W.r.o.n.g.!

What planet are you people living on that you think Apple is suddenly going to develop a touchscreened notebook at a price point that's going to impact their future earnings?! Has Apple suddenly become a charity?

Asus had problems delivering a $199 subnotebook! The price creep on the Asus EeePC is such that it now bumps up against the price of low-end full-size notebooks. That nearly puts portability back where it was to begin with: at a premium price! And, hello McFly! The EeePC has no touchscreen.

You all really think that Apple's code genii have been busy overhauling a desktop OS to be finger-friendly?

They already have a finger-friendly OS: the iPhone OS!

I've seen the SpyMac image. It's a crock.

The OS is not optimized in any way for fingertip selection either in menus or the file selector. It looks like what Microsoft would envision a MacBook Touch to be.

People with intact memories will recall a more convincing fake image that circulated before the MacBook Air was finally introduced:



And what did Apple actually release? Something with absolutely no resemblance to that.

There have been plausible image leaks in the past. The iPod Nano got leaked.

But if any of you are expecting the iPod Air to be leaked, don't hold your breath. Apple just extended the NDA on the iPhone OS SDK. That means any developer who leaks about upcoming device resolution independence features -- the key point that would reveal an iPod Air -- will be toast.

And when the iPod Air is finally released, remember that all of you read about it here first.

And, baby, I own iPodAir over at WordPress. So stand by for action.

Previously here:

The Reasons Why eBooks Are Next For Apple
It’s NOT Lower Prices, You Eejits! It’s iPod Air!
And So The iPod Air Is Coming After All!
iPod Air: See You In September?
No iPod Air Next Week
The iPod Air Will Be Better …
What’s This? iPod Air Next Month?
Future iPods: Piper Jaffray’s Blind Spot
For The Record: Apple and eBooks
Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?

Michael Savage Laughed Out Of Court

Judge tosses Savage's suit against Islamic group

In her ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said people who listen to a public broadcast are entitled to use excerpts for purposes of comment and criticism. She also said no evidence was presented to show that advertising on the show's broadcast was affected by CAIR's actions.

A judge who believes in Fair Use!

Hallejulah!

Previously here:

Michael Savage, Crybaby

Bank Collapse Watch: Two More Down

FDIC takes over 2 more banks, closing 28 branches

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.

The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors - including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits - will switch to Mutual of Omaha with "the full amount of their deposits."

Emphasis added by me.

1st National Bank of Nevada is listed on that long list I previously referenced:


Click = big

As number 142.

Does that mean we can now look forward to one hundred and forty-one more failures?

Where's your money today?

Educate yourself!

Previously here:

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #168
Bank Collapse Watch: Contestant List #3
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #160
Bank Collapse Watch: Contestant List #2
Bank Collapse Watch
Ominous Rumors
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #155
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #154
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #152
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #150
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #149

Back To 2.0.0.15!

Yes. And it is faster than 2.0.0.16. So far.

Contrast

MacBook:

* 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed

* 800MHz frontside bus

* 1GB (two 512MB SO-DIMMs) or 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB

This goddammed PC:

* x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~1794 Mhz

* Bus? I have no frikkin idea!

* 640.00 MB physical (max!), 224.83 MB available right now

Maybe this is why when I play with a MacBook at the Apple Store it frikkin blazes and my jaw keeps dropping as it open sites like ten times faster than this machine -- while the MacBook is connected via WiFi and this has an allegedly-fast cable broadband connection!

Yes, you may go ahead and laugh at me.

But then pity me!

Hah!

Reference: Downgrading Firefox

Yes! They answered my question!

Soon I will ditch 2.0.0.16 for the 2.0.0.15 I was using.

Installing a previous version of Firefox

Creating a new Firefox profile on Windows

FTP server of prior Firefox releases

I might even try that New Profile thing to see if that helps.

Thanks to the Mozilla team!

Blog Notes: Is This Joy?

For like the past hour I've been bouncing around the Net -- doing a bit of ad-hoc catchup on some of all that I've missed -- and have not had to curse once at the PC.

What a difference from Fox 3!

I still want Fox prior to 2.0.0.16 and I hope someone over at Mozilla will tell me where that's hidden. 2.0.0.16 though faster than 3, is still slower than the version I had at the start of this week!

At some point the usual icky blogginess will continue. I just don't know when yet. XP refuses to yield.

Blog Notes: XP War Rages On

I've just kicked Firefox 3 out of my PC. Fox 3 never felt right, was never as fast as they claimed (for this PC, at least), and there were small touches about it that just make me aesthetically nauseous (why the hell was the line spacing off in some right-click pop-up menus?).

Rolled back to 2.0.0.16. But what I really want is 2.0.0.11! And I can't find it at their damned site! 2.0.0.11 worked fine. Then they had to frikkin update me! (Never again will I ever do Automatic Updates for anything!!)

YouTube still skips.

vlc still skips.

And here's a real kick in the head: Videos that skip in vlc play fine in that crappy Windows Media Player!

You gonna try and tell me this shit isn't Microsoft deliberate sabotage?

Your days are numbered with me, Microsoft! And with millions of other people too!

Go read the braying of that dancing monkey boy Steve Ballmer, in an email he sent to all the Microsoftheads. Clearly he still doesn't have one goddammed clue.

Let me set my own agenda for Microsoft:

1) All those third-party utilities I've had to grab to try to fix XP? You should provide every single one for free!

2) We should always be able to turn back Software Updates thoroughly. I'd still like to roll back one more point level -- which was before everything turned to shit on this PC -- but I can't find a way!

3) Fuck off trying to horn in on Flash with Silverlight. Flash is a big bitch as it is to deal with and you expect us to add yours? Here's a one-word answer for you: NEVER!

4) Kill the Zune. Period.

5) Kill your idiotic ZunePhone plans.

6) Start over with a brand-new OS. Get rid of all this legacy bullshit that's clogging everything up!

7) In every major city you should have a service office where we can bring our clogged-up machines for you to unclog. You clogged them, now unclog them, dammit! Anyone who brings in a PC that shows skipping in YouTube or vlc gets the unclogging done for FREE. Bite that pill, bitch!

8) ALL steps of Startup and Shutdown should have the option of being displayed step-by-step with options to kill each step permanently. What the hell is going on that it's now taking XP about two goddammed minutes to shut down?! Trying explaining that in plain English to all the millions of people you're daily stealing that time from!

9) Stop thinking you're going to conquer the world. You will never again have the dominance you once had. You've screwed too many people with your arrogance, your rushed products, your total half-assedness. If Apple ever went under, that wouldn't help you. You've already created millions of people so disgusted with your OS that we'd switch to Linux. And that population is going to grow. That's your new reality.

Previously here: -- the shit I've had to put up with this week because of Microsoft!

Blog Notes: XP War Notes
Blog Notes: The War With XP Continues
Blog Notes: XP Needs A Beating!
Blog Notes: XP System Idle Process
Blog Notes: The XP War Chronicles
Blog Notes: Another Day In Windows XP Hell
Blog Notes: Another Clue
Blog Notes: Test #2 In Progress
Blog Notes: Test #1 = FAIL!
Blog Notes: Go Away. I Am Testing.
Blog Notes: PC Is Frak-Free
Blog Notes: Go Away. Scan In Progress.
Blog Notes: Intolerable PC Speed