Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Thanks For Being Open Apple, Amazon, Barnes And Noble
"Open systems" are really helpful for consumers. For example, on Friday I found what seems like the perfect book to help me learn how to create apps for the iPhone and iPad.
I found the book while surfing around using Safari on my iPad. I wanted to know more about it, so I went to the Amazon.com site, and read through the comments. I decided to buy it.
But I didn't want to wait until after the weekend to have Amazon ship me a copy. So, I went to BN.com (that's Barnes and Noble's website), and looked up the book, and they have a very handy feature that lets you see if it is available at your local store. And there it was! So, I let the store know I wanted it, and they texted me back that it was ready.
Barnes and Noble seems to be working as hard as they can to be ready for modern consumers. When I got to the store, I noted that the book (computer tech books can be quite expensive) had been marked down 20% already, and my member's discount of 10% would be taken off of that. I think that BN realizes that they are competing to some extent with Amazon. Based on conversations I've had with other booksellers, this is a hard concept to grasp.
I'm thinking of buying the ebook version of the book so I'll have it in my iPad reference library. As much as I enjoy Apple's iBooks versions of ebooks, I'll need to get it for the Kindle app on the iPad, because iBooks doesn't have it. Since everyone is working together, though, I'll be able to have the ebook version too.
I'd argue that this works out more conveniently than even sf writers imagined; the best visualization of ebooks is probably the tiny electronic book store from Stanislaw Lem's 1961 novel Return from the Stars.
Anyway, this whole scenario wouldn't work if each of these companies hadn't elected to have a more open system. So thanks, Apple, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/1/2011)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
Vesuvius Challenge Accepted - Ancient Burnt Scroll Read!
'The image on the Trimagniscope tube was an enlarged view of one of the pocket-size books found on the body...' - James P. Hogan, 1977.
Humans Love Helping Other Species
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.' - Robert Heinlein, 1951.
AI-Powered Jesus Hologram Accepts Confessions
'The Padre's weightless voice floated reassuringly back to him.' Philip K. Dick, 1969.
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.' - Jack Vance, 1952.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
DNA Printed Book By Isaac Asimov Now Available
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!'
AI Computer Chip Designs Passeth Human Understanding
'It seems that at one time computers were designed directly by human beings.'
Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now
'...the spot was a lonely one in an uncharted region, far from the normal lanes of space traffic.'
Fine-Tune Your Infinite Book The Way You Want It
'I squatted down beside the roller and tried to make some sense out of the knobs. There were thirty-nine of them...'
SpiRobs Soft Spiral Robotic Arm
'Beware the long, flexible, glittering tentacles...'
Holland Factory 3D Printing 500 Tons Of Steak Per Month
'...I don’t understand technical things — tell me, does it ever feel anything?"
Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering From Harvard
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
