Links for 2010-02-03

"Imagine going into a local supermarket or butchery, pulling out your cell phone and using its camera to instantly check for the best piece of meat on display. That is one of the applications that some in Japan hope could become possible one day from scientific research into using infrared cameras to grade the taste of high-quality beef."f

"The Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are asking Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. The biggest stumbling block at this point is a fear that if the draft is ever re-instated this policy would make Republican Congressmen and televangelists draft-eligible."

"[T]he fact that I haven't been shortlisted for a fiction award reflects badly on all the great authors who've never been shortlisted for a fiction Hugo either. People like J.G. Ballard, Ray Bradbury, Lester Del Rey, M. John Harrison, Michael Moorcock, Tim Powers, Peter Straub, AE van Vogt. I mean, think about it. I really don't deserve to be in their company."

"Oddly enough, if I knock five bucks off of $14, I get $9. If I knock four bucks off I get $10. And sure enough, Macmillan's agency deals with Apple and now Amazon will pay it between $9.10 and 10.50 per book.

Meanwhile, if I knock $5 off of the $15 discounted price of a hotnewbestseller hardcover bought online, I get - $10. What Amazon wants to be charging for frontlist ebooks. Fancy that."

"My proposal is inspired by Macmillan's sliding scale model, but I've tried to make it simpler and more idiot-proof. (Nothing is entirely idiot-proof; the world always has new and better idiots.)

I propose:

The standard electronically-delivered edition of a book for a wide consumer audience should be priced at xx% of the list price of the currently-dominant print-on-paper edition.

I personally think that the percentage should be about 60%, but reasonable people may differ on this point."