Thoughts, Ponderings, Questions and Answers http://eric.abando.com/musings eric@abando.com (Eric Abando) eric@abando.com (Eric Abando) Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:18:37 -0500 agency vs. wholesale vs. whatever it is that music, movies and tv shows do. So iTunes is a store. They don't have inventory. So they don't buy a bunch of product from distributers and resell to consumers with a markup to create a profit. Well, they have a very small inventory, because it's easily replicated. When Apple started out, they said to the music publishers (if that's what they are), hey, we'll sell your songs, available individually, for $.99 each. Music companies originally wanted to be able to set the price per song, to make some songs available on album purchases only, and so on. But they got steamrolled by Steve Jobs. So it's $.99 per song, $.29 goes to apple, the rest goes to the music company. Eventually, music companies get enough leverage, they get their ability to set variable pricing, so you see $.79 and $1.29 prices. Fine. Apple still gets their 30% cut. I assume the same thing happens with Movies and TV Shows. Production companies can set their prices, Apple takes their 30% cut. Why are eBooks so different? Because of the way it used to be? The way it used to be doesn't make any sense. Actually, looked up wholesale pricing. And I don't understand how that is a good idea when applied to digital goods. It does't make any sense. And this seems to get into something about First Sale Doctrine, and who owns it, or doesn't own it, or is granted a license to it. But it doesn't make any sense. If I could buy directly from an author or a singer, instead of paying a store who pays a publisher who then pays the creator? Where the store and publisher made sense for physical goods, but not so much for digital goods? Does the government understand why it's so different? And which lobby got the DoJ to look into this? Amazon's? http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1227 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:18:37 CST “She has no idea. The effect she can have.” ― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games And I think that's the part of Katniss that I associate with the most. Because looking back, it seems like I was the same way. I always wondered why I had friends. I don't think I really tried. It seemed like they just appeared. At various times they seemed like they gravitated towards me. I never figured out why I got nominated to Prom and Homecoming courts. I never thought I was popular. I never wanted to be a leader. If anything, always thought the only leading I do is by example. And that's what I see in Katniss. How she just did her things. Not trying to make friends, be popular, but just doing what she had to do. Yet she was noticed. People knew her. And she didn't do anything special. She just had it. I'm reminded of Swingers, and being so money and not knowing it. And friends directed that comment towards me. And I didn't believe it. I still don't. Probably no longer applicable, but at the time? I think back to that glorious summer, with so many choices. Of all the times it felt like people were following, looking to me for direction. And I wasn't leading, I was just going. And I wasn't thinking of leading. But that confluence of what people are looking for combined with the rather selfishness of someone so self absorbed, they don't see their effect on the outside world. Yet I touched upon this in my salutatorian speech, of the ripples, of the effect we have, known and unknown. I wonder how many times I've shirked from a possible position of power. When I could have become greater by accepting the mantle placed upon me, or expected of me, but instead remained selfish and self absorbed. How much have I left on the table by not becoming the mockingjay? http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1226 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:09:43 CST Just want an oil company to invade Iran. There's got to be a company with enough money to augment their already substantial private military force, but sPend a couple billion to go in, take over a country, install a corperocracy. Guaranteed income from the oil exports. Not beholden to any national or international treaties. Not sure how other nations would treat, or deal. No longer citizens, but employees. No idea how international travel would work. But after establishing an oil base, start branching out to manufacturing with slave, err, indentured servants? Citizen employees? And what it it was a public ally traded company? Would all stock holders immediately become citizens of the nation corp? Infrastructure provided by the company, services, medical, travel, food stuffs. Doesn't have to be big brother white wall commissary. CEO/President/King. How do you even begin to deal with it? http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1225 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:31:24 CST so i saw how the nypd cleared out occupy wall street protesters in NY's Zuccotti Park last night. My first thought was what some of the 1% had firmly suggested to some higher ups in the nypd to clear it out. And that the nypd was kind of on the payroll of some of the 1%. because would they really be that stupid to do the things they did? to prevent press from entering? to close off airspace? doesn't seem like a very smart way to, what sounded like, a temporary eviction so they could clean the park. but then i start to read more, that the park is actually private property, and #ows were technical squatters. peaceful assembly, sure, but illegal habitation? that sounds off. anyway, what if it was a 1%'er who sides with the 99% and got the nypd to do the eviction, knowing that it would help the media continue to turn against the opposition? Or maybe the nypd is that stupid. why couldn't they just announce what they needed to do, give the protesters a couple days to clear out, give them a date they could return, and then clear them out if they haven't left yet? Then if protesters hadn't left, they could be as mean as they want, because the nypd was nice and cordial about it. but no, riot gear in the middle of the night, closing off the park for a block in all directions, preventing press from observing, closing the subway to prevent others from joining in against the eviction. Strange all around. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1224 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:57:33 CST Steve Jobs passed away today. And I mourn him, and then I think I never knew him. I think of how he touched my life, and then how he was a CEO of a major corporation. That he created products I bought, formed a company I believe in, brought it back from the brink, helped create markets, lead technology. It's crazy. But he's not family, he's not a close friend. But yet I mourn him. I try and think of other examples, of situations like this. I think of when Michael Jackson died. He was a forerunner. He changed things. But he was also well past his prime. Steve Jobs was in the middle of an incredible hot streak with the company he led. Then I think of JFK, before my time, but the difference being that Kennedy was stolen from life. Abruptly. At least with Jobs, there was a little preparation. At least a little. But I guess it's the same sort of thing? Maybe? A visionary. Against the grain. No other. I wonder what he could have come up with if he wasn't force out of Apple all those years ago. Might we have been 12 years past where we are now? Or did he need that stuggle to be the person to help create all those iProducts? Without him where would the world be? What would technology be like? I hope that his vision, his visions, his dreams, live on, in some black sketchbook, in some doodles, in images, in journals. I wonder what else he dreamed and wished and would have the force to make reality. I sadden at the thought that somewhere, some CEOs might be rejoicing, thinking that now the iFad will pass away. I sadden at some article putting Steve Jobs in the 1% that #occupywallstreet is protesting. Because he wasn't just about making money. He was about doing great things, and understanding that to do great things, you had to be successful, or else you can't do the great things. That he was putting power back in the hands of the people, and not just looking to make more money. But as I type this out on an iMac, planning on which iPhone 4S to get, before reading a bit on my iPad before bed, I have to thank the man who lead the team, who I'd like to think willed those products into existence. For believing in them so they could be made. Thanks. The world is better off because you were here. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1223 Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:26:42 CST So Steve Jobs retired. And that makes me worried about Apple. Why? Because I wonder if all the people that will follow will be able to say no. Because I feel that was Jobs greatest talent: saying no. Saying no to the "standard" ways of making more money, of doing business. I wonder if the culture will remain. Weren't there just articles about what happened to HP? Possibly spinning off their consumer PC business? What happened the last time Jobs left, or was fired? Wasn't Apple then trying to do things like everyone else? Will they still remain leaders without someone saying no? And I worry because there's no visionary. And I worry that the computing/consumer electronics industry no longer has someone to follow. And I worry that at some point all the stuff will stop just working, and instead, well, I'm scared. Well, not scared, scared is probably too strong a word. But anxious about possibly being annoyed in the future. Fingers crossed there's someone else out there who makes the Metaverse, Matrix, OASIS, whatever. Sensory stimulation. Someone needs to make that science fiction reality. Of course, Steve's not leaving leaving, but you wonder how much power he'll still have, and I'm guessing, or at least hoping, people would still listen to him, since the company did so well under him. At least that's the hope. And the fear that someone there thinks they know better. And we'll see the xMac, and Flash in iOS, and USB3, iPhone nanos, the xserve, WebObjects? http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1222 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:40:02 CST random thoughts unworthy of twitter: Apple's iCloud vs. Google or any other current cloud interface. In non-apple/dropbox world, the cloud is where things are stored. You don't store things locally. iCloud/Dropbox: there's a master truth in the cloud, but your stuff is everywhere. that's nice. i also turned my abando.com gmail account back on in mail.app so I've got an on disk backup on multiple machines. Lion Server seems very powerful, and I need documentation. Thankfully, there's some available at apple.com. Had to go in to work today, had to make waffles, and couldn't say no to either. Meant I was late getting back to watch Lucy sleep, and my mother-in-law had to watch instead, and i was late starting the firewall upgrade. i really got to learn to say no. i gotta learn to be mean. to be harsh. to upset people. I still don't want to. having all my machines upgraded and standardized on lion is nice. I actually like the natural scrolling, except now when I'm at work, I get confused with scroll directions. nice to have a real server OS back in the house. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. time passing, passing over previous fixations, and it recedes into the review mirror. always. and i forget. and i remember, and then that memory too fades away. until the next time, and i'll try to keep it in view for as long as i can, until the movement sends me on my way. such is the way. http://eric.abando.com/musings/index.php?id=1221 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:36:57 CST