Amazon’s e-book reader meets the criteria for an digital book reader that I described 20 years ago: easy to use, clear text, substantive capacity, over-the-air downloads.

Kindle 2 Physical Size & Capacity

The Kindle2 is lightweight, 10.2 oz, about the size of a trade paperback book,
8” by 5.3”, and about as thick as a magazine, 0.36”. It was surprisingly thinner and lighter than I expected. This makes the Kindle2 easy to hold and carry. I can slip the e-book reader into my notebook case or keep it in its own leather binder. Either way, it is smaller than all but a few of the paperback books in my library.

I currently have five dozen books installed in the Kindle’s memory, and I have used less than .09GB of the device’s 1.49GB of available memory. This means that I should be able to store about 1,000 books similar to the ones that I have already downloaded. However, the books that I have installed are significantly longer than most books: Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s, the complete collections of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s and Mark Twain’s. Some of the books that I have installed are each thousands of pages in length, so I expect that the average reader will be able to carry upwards of 2,000 typical length books. Not bad for a device that can be carried in purse or computer bag.

Available Content for Kindle

With a quarter million books available from Amazon.com and thousands more available for free from other sites, I have had no problem finding interesting material to read on my Kindle. I downloaded classics that are now in the public domain from feedbooks.com, others from Amazon.com. Most popular books sell for $9.99; however, I was surprised to find that many books cost less, many for under a dollar.

Whether I purchase the books using my notebook or Kindle’s web interface, the books immediately download via a cellular connection to the device.

The device includes a web browser through which I can access Google and Wikipedia, as well as most sites. Some complex HTML designs confuse the device’s browser, but for the most part, I have had no significant problems.

Many of the academic papers that I read are delivered in PDF. The Kindle cannot directly read PDF files; however, Amazon offers a free conversion service: I e-mail the PDF files to my private Amazon.com e-mail address, and the Kindle versions of the documents automatically download to my device within a few minutes.

Change in Reading Habit

What most struck me about the e-book reader is the ways that it has changed my reading habits. I have read a dozen books on the device during the last two weeks. During the same period I read two paperback and two hardcover books. I compared reading physical and digital books during the same period.

I never noticed it before, but reading a physical book presents a few challenges. My thumbs were tired after holding the physical books open; I had never taken notice of this problem before. In addition, I had difficulty taking notes while reading the physical books. When my writing hand moved to the pad on my knee or desk, the book folded over, making it difficult to refer to the text.

Neither of these physical problems occurred while reading on the Kindle. In addition, I noticed that I more closely focused on the content of the text, as the Kindle displays only a single page at a time. When making notes, I could lay the device down and easily write in my notebook. I experimented with the digital notetaking feature of the Kindle, but the device’s keyboard does not lend itself to fast typing, so I kept to my paper notes.

Recommendation

I recommend, without hesitation, Amazon’s new e-book reader. Whether you read books, magazines, newspapers, or other documents–or a combination–I think that you will find the Kindle 2 a welcome tool in your literary kit. Buy the Kindle 2 directly from Amazon.com through this hyperlink: Amazon Kindle 2.

 

Internet traffic is broken into packets, small data chunks, that are routed through the most efficient available channels. A single e-mail message or webpage download my comprise dozens of packets, each of which takes a different route to reach its intended destination. The receiving computer reassembles the packets into their original form, allowing the data to be read without error. Since the packets travel independently between the sender and receiver, they do not necessarily end their travels at the same time, and internet technologies account for this; in fact, this is one of the fundamental strengths of the net’s design: flexibility in packetization and transmission.

E-mail and online documents aren’t adversely affected by the routing delays that occur when their data packets are disassembled, transmitted, potentially delayed, and reassembled at the destination, because the delay is small enough to not be noticed for these media. However, when listening to digital audio or watching online video, a delayed packet or two is not only noticable, it is annoying.

A half-second delay in transmitting an e-mail message is not noticable, but a half-second latency makes voice over IP (VOIP) practically unusable. With the cost of VOIP and the bundling of free long distance services, many consumers and businesses are dropping their traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) in favor of lower-cost VOIP alternatives. With rates as low as one-third of traditional POTS service, VOIP alternatives are attractive to cost-conscious buyers.

Telecommunication companies are under pressure to provided tiered service, effectively guaranteeing high-speed and unimpeded service to those who are able to pay a premium for connectivity. This may lead to latency and transmission delays for consumers and small businesses that do not subscribe to the internet toll service. Streaming audio, video, and the all-important VOIP transmissions may be disrupted and, effectively, made unusable.

But to net purists, network neutrality is a founding hallmark of the internet. Worse than transmission delays is the potential for transmission road blocks. Telecommunication providers may choose to no longer offer open routing to competitor’s networks, requiring service subscribers to pay a premium (a toll) to have data packets routed to or through a competing telecommunication company’s network, the potential host of the intended destination.

Dave’s Opinion
While I am willing to take the toll road, when I drive my car, I am uncomfortable being required to take it, while on the internet. I’ll be looking for the bypass that I hope will remain a freeway.

Call for Comments
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Sony’s XCP copy protection program was included on at least different 20 CDs, and automatically installed itself when the CD was inserted into the computer’s drive, without the user’s knowledge or consent. The root kit software has a cloaking feature that hides files on the affected system. Users who attempt to manually remove the software find their CD drives inoperable.

Both the original root kit and Sony’s patch leave users’ computers open to attack from malicious software, including Trojan horse programs that allow the computer to be remotely controlled through the internet.

Dave’s Opinion
Sony BMG Music Entertainment really dropped a hammer on their toes, twice. I’m all for protecting intellectual property and digital media; however, do not expect that a system-wide security tool will do that without causing other problems for users.

This XCP root kit and its patch sound like a product created by committee without any technical expertise.

Call for Comments
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References
Sony BMG Music Entertainment

 

Maryland and Virginia, along with other states are testing a new technology that allows traffic patterns to be mapped on roadways by monitoring several hundred thousand cellular phone signals at the same time. So long as the cellular phones are turned on–they need not be in use–the system can track the cars’ locations.

State transportation and law enforcement agencies say that the cellular tracking systems monitor clusters of phones, rather than individual users; however, privacy advocates aren’t so sure that the system won’t be used for purposes other than those currently promised by the state agencies. The systems are so sensitive that they can determine whether cellular phones are moving along at the pace of a pedestrian’s walk or at highway speed.

Maryland will begin testing the cellular tracking system near Baltimore, and Virginia will test on the Norfolk beltway.

Not all cellular telecommunication providers are willing to connect their networks to cellular tracking system. Cingular, for one, currently plans to decline Maryland’s future program; however, Verizon Wireless will continue to serve the government’s requests.

Dave’s Opinion
For once, I’m glad to have Cingular cellular service. I’m not comfortable being tracked by the phone that I hang on my belt. I don’t usually exceed the speed limit, but sometimes I do get caught in the flow of traffic around the Baltimore Beltway. I’d hate to get a ticket just because my cell phone was doing 60 in a 55 MPH zone.
Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References
Tracking Phones for Traffic Reports

 

Westchester County Executive, Andy Spano, proposed a new law this past week to protect the public from crimes, such as identity theft and other consumer fraud. The law, if enacted by the county’s Board of Legislators, would require commercial businesses, including internet cafes, to take fundamental security precautions to protect customer information from being acquired by computer crackers and personal identity thieves.

According to the county’s press release, “Spano and Norman Jacknis, the county’s chief information officer, took a laptop computer equipped with easily available software and drove around downtown White Plains [last week] in search of vulnerable networks.” The press release also reported that the Department of Information Technology performed the same survey and came across 248 wireless hot spots in less than a half an hour of driving down Westchester Avenue and Main Street in White Plains. Out of those, 120, or almost half, lacked any visible security at all.”

The law would require all commercial businesses that use wireless networks and maintain personal information to have secure networks that protect the public from potential identity theft and other potential threats such as computer viruses and data corruption.

Dave’s Comments
This is a good first step toward encouraging data security practices.

Initially, it appears that the law will also affect home offices, and it may even affect wireless telephone networks, as these, while not specifically Wi-Fi, are wireless networks. If a legal challenge results in telephone services being wrapped up into this law, wouldn’t that be a major hassle?

Call for Comments
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References
Westchester County Government Press Release

 

Google Print, which was launched last October, facilitates the online searching of book contents, according to Google, makes it easier to find relevant books. Charges brought by The Authors Guild in a New York court claim damages and demand the search engine company stop uploading the contents of library books. Lawyers for the New York-based nonprofit asked the court to block Google from copying the books so the authors would not “suffer irreparable harm, ” caused by losing control over the reproduction and distribution of their work.

A recently published list of talking points, taken from The Authors Guild website, aims a broadside at Google, the company well known for its search engine and recently recognized for its broad applications of digital technology:

1. Google is a commercial, not a charitable, enterprise. Google is worth roughly $90 billion, making staggering profits through its online advertising programs. Its investment in Google Library is intended to bring even more visitors and profits to its website and ancillary services. The Guild is all for profit, but when the profit comes from the works of authors, the authors should be properly compensated.

2. Google is scanning entire books, not just “fair use snippets.” Google is digitizing countless texts, your books, in their entirety — every sentence, every carefully chosen word — without your permission. That Google presents browsers with small selections of your work doesn’t change that.

3. It’s not just public domain books. The Guild has no objection, of course, to the digitization of public domain works. The Google Library project goes far beyond that, encompassing works that are still protected by copyright, including in print and out of print works.

4. Out of print doesn’t mean public domain. Out of print works are valuable. Out of print works are republished every day, bringing welcome new advances to authors and the prospect of new royalty income. That Google is willing to sink so much money into digitizing these works is further proof of their ongoing value.

5. Authors (and the Guild) aren’t opposed to making their works searchable online with a proper license. With a proper license, in fact, far more than “snippets” could be made available to users. The opportunities are boundless, but it all starts with a valid license. This is no big deal, really; businesses large and small sign license agreements every day.

Google Print’s website includes the following statement that addresses how Google Print works:
Just do a search on the Google Print homepage. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we’ll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you’ll see the page of the book that has your search terms, along with other information about the book and “Buy this Book” links to online bookstores (you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title’s bibliographic data and brief snippets). You can also search for more information within that specific book and find nearby libraries that have it.

Dave’s Opinion
It sounds to me that The Authors Guild is stuck in a hot-lead mode of thinking while the rest of the world has moved to digital type. Google Print doesn’t seem to be aiming to control the distribution and reproduction of authors’ work, even those that are still under copyright protection. Rather, Google Print aims to serve as a type of combination digital library and bookstore.

The Authors Guild doesn’t seem to be able to honestly evaluate the current state of its industry. In a publication on the association’s website homepage, A report linked from its own homepage, Report to the Authors Guild Midlist Books Study Committee, acknowledges the growing limitations of national chain booksellers and libraries to deliver a broad range of titles to the public. Wouldn’t you think that the association, rather than seeking further limitations on book publication, would, instead, seek to help its member authors to more widely distribute their work? Although The Authors Guild may be showing its true colors; the same homepage also prominently advertises another book, The Writer’s Legal Guide: an Authors Guild Desk Reference.

I think The Authors Guild should consider partnering with Google in an effort to help authors, both members and nonmembers, to distribute their work as widely as possible.

Unless The Authors Guild gets in the swim of digital publication, they’ll sink with their lead still in their back pockets.

Call for Comments
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References
The Authors Guild
Google Print
Report to the Authors Guild Midlist Books Study Committee

Related Articles
Google Becomes a Library. Digitizing the World’s Books?

 

According to the Copyright Office’s website, “[I]t is not entirely clear whether the [preregistration] system will be compatible with web browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and higher. Filers of preregistration applications will be able to employ these Internet Explorer browsers successfully. Support for Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, and Mozilla 1.7.7 is planned but will not be available when preregistration goes into effect. Present users of these browsers may experience problems when filing claims.”

It sounds as if support for other browsers is planned, but won’t immediately be available, but what does this mean?

Dave’s Opinion
I can’t understand why the U.S. Government, as well as commercial e-business developers, doesn’t use open-source development tools that are designed to be browser independent, such as PHP and MySQL? Come on folk, let’s build websites that work well, under as many conditions as possible.

The U.S. Copyright Office is a division of the Library of Congress, a part of the United States Government. Wasn’t it the U.S. Government that sued Microsoft over antitrust issues? It seems as if the government and Microsoft have patched their relationship.

Oh, by the way, if you’d like to submit your comment about the Copyright Office’s plans, you’ll have to do so via snail mail, in sextuplicate.

Call for Comments
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References
Library of Congress Announcement

 

Many digital devices, including everyone’s personal computer, have built-in clocks that keep track of the current date and time. These devices usually have internal calendars that automatically adjust for daylight saving time each spring and return to standard time in the autumn. The new law will move the start of daylight saving time forward by three weeks and extend it by a total of four weeks. So, for four weeks each year, digital devices that do not account for the changes in DST dates will be off by an hour.

Many people wait to make cellular calls until their free nighttime minutes begin. If the cellular nighttime schedule is off by an hour, nocturnal conversations could easily run up almost $1,000 a month in per-minute charges.

Dave’s Opinion
I expect that Microsoft will quickly release a patch to Microsoft Windows XP and 2003 so users of these operating systems will see the correct time in the system task bar; however, users of older versions of Windows, such as Windows 95/98/Me/2000 may be out of luck. Microsoft no longer offer full updates service for these operating systems.

I hope that Palm offers a patch for my handheld computer. I rely totally on my Tungsten E2 to keep me on time for my appointments.

Thankfully, I wake up to a digital alarm clock that synchronizes with an atomic clock via a radio signal, so I should get up at the right time, each day. But, will I know when to go to bed?

Call for Comments
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Although Microsoft has not confirmed that the crack works, details are well publicized, and it appears that the crack is popular, at least amongst nefarious users.

Previously, JavaScript tricks were required to bypass the WGA requirement; however, now it appears that it’s as simple as running the WGA application in Windows 2000 compatibility mode.

Dave’s Opinion
Microsoft has yet to learn that the best way to deliver software is to make it easy for users to have access to the software. Rather than trying to keep folk out, Microsoft should encourage users to be honestly use their products. Take a note from the shareware book, Microsoft. Create great software that we want to use, and then make it easy for us.

Given the option, most people want to be honest.

Call for Comments
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References
Microsoft Corporation

 

In a statement released by Acting Assistant Attorney General John Richter, the government’s goal is “to shut down as much of this illegal operation as quickly as possible to stem the serious financial damage to the victims of this high-tech piracy–the people who labor to produce these copyrighted products,” He continued, “Today’s crackdown sends a clear and unmistakable message to anyone involved in the online theft of copyrighted works that they cannot hide behind new technology.”

Dave’s Opinion
While I agree that the enforcement action is a long time in coming, it was probably hastened by the posting of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” on the site, even before the movie was released in theatres.

Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References
BitTorrent
EliteTorrents (currently offline)

 

According to the FTC website, Operation Spam Zombies was announced yesterday as an international campaign to educate Internet Service Providers and other Internet connectivity providers about hijacked, or zombie computers that spammers use to flood in-boxes here and abroad. Twenty members of the London Action Plan, an international network combating spam, and 16 additional government agencies who will participate in Operation Spam Zombies will send letters to more than 3,000 ISPs around the world, urging them to employ protective measures to prevent their customers’ computers from being hijacked by spammers. The measures include:

1. block port 25 except for the outbound SMTP requirements of authenticated users of mail servers designed for client traffic. Explore implementing Authenticated SMTP on port 587 for clients who must operate outgoing mail servers.
2. apply rate-limiting controls for email relays.
3. identify computers that are sending atypical amounts of email, and take steps to determine if the computer is acting as a spam zombie. When necessary, quarantine the affected computer until the source of the problem is removed.
4. give your customers plain-language advice on how to prevent their computers from being infected by worms, Trojans, or other malware that turn PCs into spam zombies, and provide the appropriate tools and assistance.
5. provide, or point your customers to, easy-to-use tools to remove zombie code if their computers have been infected, and provide the appropriate assistance.

Dave’s Opinion
These are good first steps for security-aware ISPs to take in throttling the transmission of spam.

Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References
Federal Trade Commission
FTC Press Release
Operation Spam Zombies

 

Take, for instance, Apple iTunes and Napster’s use of a DRM wrapper that prevents music purchased from the online service from being used on a digital music player that is not recognized by the DRM wrapper. Not everyone has an iPod, that works with iTunes, or an iriver H10, that works with Napster. I’d like one of these new devices, but I’ve chosen to make due with my Sony NetMD Walkman. In fact, the Walkman’s removable MiniDisc media make the device easy to upgrade. I can carry a cache of MiniDiscs with me, and I’m able to share my discs with other NetMD users, just as if I were sharing an original CD. As flexible as the NetMD MiniDiscs are, the digital recorder isn’t supported by the new DRM security of these two premier music distribution services. How many other yet-to-be-created services won’t support my device? Before starting the argument that Moore’s Law affects all digital devices, and products quickly become too archaic to support, my MiniDisc player is not the only device that’s running into a wall because of DRM…most digital music players run afoul of DRM wrappers.

Jon Johansen, a Norwegian software coder, recently released PyMusique, an application that let’s honest downloaders sidestep the DRM requirements of Applies iTunes music service. PyMusique logs into the iTunes site, facilitates the purchase of music without the iTunes DRM wrapper. Once the unwrapped music is downloaded, it can be transferred to any digital media player, including a computer.

I recognize that once a song (or a set of hundreds of songs) has been downloaded without the DRM wrapper, it can be illegally distributed, just as if it were ripped directly from a physical CD or downloaded from an unauthorized site, but at least I would be able to listen to the media in a manner that’s convenient for me. I say drop the DRM and trust that I won’t illegally distribute the music I just bought.

The world’s not perfect, and there are many dishonest and unethical people; heck, we take actions that are unethical, to some extent. However, DRM is a set of shackles that excessively restrict reasonable use of commercial music. My wife makes the argument that, in the aggregate, artists are likely to get more playtime if their music were distributed freely. At some point, mass appeal encourages commercial success: just ask the Grateful Dead, who “have long encouraged the purely noncommercial exchange of music taped at our concerts and those of our individual members.”

Audiophiles, encourage the simple distribution of the music (and audiobooks) that you enjoy. Be honest, don’t bootleg or pirate recordings. Music distributors, pay heed to your market niche and customer service: drop DRM wrappers, now.

Call for Comments
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References
Grateful Dead Statement

 

The report continues to say that recent lawsuits by the recording industry against both media distribution outlets (i.e. Napster) and individual file swappers have encouraged 48 percent of the downloading users’ to move toward informal networks and personal relationships as distribution alternatives. Digital music players, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM) services are popular media for the informal distribution of digital content. The Pew Internet & American Life report, Music and Video Downloading Moves Beyond P2P, estimates that 18 million Americans are sharing digital content through nontraditional media.

Nineteen percent of those surveyed (an estimated 7 million Americans) reported downloading content using a digital media player, an iPod or similar device. E-mail and IM were even more popular alternatives; a reported 28 percent (an estimated 10 million Americans) use e-mail and IM for distribution. Remaining nontraditional distribution channels comprise websites, including blogs.

About a third, 30 percent, of those surveyed reported stopping file sharing because of a fear of prosecution, following the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) purges. About half, 49 percent, of respondents judge that file-sharing networks should be held responsible for the illegal distribution of copyright-protected media that traverses the P2P networks.

I find it particularly interesting that half of the folk, and possibly more, based on my experience, place the legal responsibility for protecting copyrights on the P2P networks, and fail to take personal responsibility for their own actions. It is as if the P2P networks forced the individual downloaders to receive the illegally distributed content. Come on, other than yourselves, you are you trying to fool?

Call for Comments
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References
Pew Internet & American Life Project

 

1. Every gallon of ink used by consumer ink jet printers creates two tons of garbage, including the cartridge and it’s packaging.

2. The first atomic clock was originally set to the time on Albert Einstein’s pocket watch.
3. George Washington was a self-avowed atheist.

If trivia like these tickle your fancy then read on.

The three trivial statements above are taken from a fun website, gullible.info, I want to give the authors credit, both for their writing and their sense of humor. None of the statements is true, yet they each sound accurate. At first, I accepted them as true, because I took them at face value, not analysing and evaluating their veracity and accuracy. But now, I have to fess up; I’ve really presented them as a come-on, hoping that once you’re here, you’ll read further. I’m sorry for attempting to dupe you.

I’m challenged to write this article after facilitating a set of classes in the past month that addressed the topics of ethics and focused on the application of critical thinking to the evaluation of ethical considerations. What struck me in facilitating the classroom conversations is that many of the students, all thoughtful, well-educated adults, failed to apply the general principles of analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and evaluation when discussing whether common actions were appropriate (right or wrong). I was intrigued by the number of opinions that were formed based on untested truths.

For example, many adult students saw nothing wrong with distributing digital music that was protected by copyright and distribution reservations if the music was originally given to them (if they didn’t steal it directly, themselves). The opinions agreed that it would be acceptable to distribute exact copies of someone else’s commercial work, so long as the distributor didn’t pilfer the work, but received it gratis from someone else (even the original pilferer).

So, by extension, would it be acceptable for me to receive stolen objects and share them with a friend? What if the shared object were the booty of a bank heist? Isn’t there a law against possessing stolen objects?

I introduced the topic of digital ethics by posing a question regarding the use of pop-up and banner advertisement blocking software: is it ethically acceptable to use ad-blocking software to view commercial websites that offer free content and commercial advertisements?

In all classes, this question generated a lot of conversation, but in general, it was a question that the participants had not yet considered. If I were to use blocking software, such as the AdBlock extension to the Mozilla Firefox webbrowser, would I be accepting the content in a manner other than was intended (even licensed) by the provider? Is it ethical to take something without consideration for the desires and expectations of the provider?

What do you think? Is it proper (not just acceptable) to view commercial webpages using ad-blocking software?

 

Jeffrey Citron, CEO of Vonage Holdings Corp., a leading VoIP provider, called for a letter-writing campaign to Congress to protest network port blocking as a form of censorship. Citron said that the FCC moved within weeks of Vonage’s filing a complaint against Madison River Communications, fining the company $15,000 for, in effect, terminating all voice communications for the affected consumers, including emergency 911 service.

Citron wants to urge Congress to pass legislation to ensure “complete neutrality” of both wire-line and wireless telephone companies, which will ensure VoIP service providers and customers free and unfettered access to any telephone network in the country.

Dave’s Opinion
Madison River Communications should be ashamed of its actions, and its customers should express their resentment at corporate high-handedness by voting with their wallets: walk away, find another telecommunications provider.

Call for Comments
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He was prosecuted under state laws by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for prosecution, primarily because he was a minor at the time that he committed the crime. A Federal conviction would have resulted in a significant incarceration, and would have not allowed the judge such latitude in sentencing.

During the investigation the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered more than $50 million worth of music and movies on Dhaliwal’s computer. Many of the movies were available only in theaters, at the time. The files weren’t solely for personal use, Dhaliwal both duplicated and sold the pirated digital media.

Dave’s Comments
From a digital rights perspective, I’m glad that this thief has been stopped; digital poachers, like Dhaliwal, are a parasite on the back of digital media development and distribution. However, offering a minor sentence and requiring service and education are a reasonable response to a teenager’s misdeed.

It will be interesting to see the spin that the Recording Industry Association of America puts on this case.

Call for Comments
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References
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
Recording Industry Association of America