It’s Morgan Grimes trying to become a chef at Benihana…. #Chuck @nevenmrgan
That’s me, the saltier half of Salt & Fat, wearing a custom chef jacket courtesy of Fat, Jim Ray. I’m holding my gift for Mr. Steven Frank, a plush hambone.
(Photo by Antichrista)
Robust De-anonymization of Large Sparse Datasets -
So a couple guys found out how to take the Netflix data that was used for their Netflix prize and gather non-public information based on their movie viewing history. This lead to a lawsuit and Netflix halting their Prize 2. This is sad. Not that these UT students have discovered how to gather this data, but the fact that they were able to do this emphasizes the importance this type of data for research purposes.
When people can take huge data sets and glean information from then it serves great good. These guys gained huge research-able value from this data, not to mention the benefit Netflix found with a better recommendation engine. Think about this type of data from things like health, automotive, and much more. These large amounts of data could help usher in a new world of beneficial research.
This comes down to informed consent. Some people didn’t like their Netflix data out in the world, but many (and I’d assume most) people don’t care about their movie history being public. They should be told what is going on, what benefits would come from participating in the providing of the data, and that some private information could be gleaned from this information. Knowing this, people can opt-in to still participate. And the world could benefit.
Thank you, and I’m done…
What a great candid. Bigelow deserved it, Cameron just released his comeback in a tough year.
drew:
James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow after the #oscars
Shameless self promotion I know, but this dude’s face it funny!
Ah the joys of cycling… I’ve been chuckling at this guys face for a good part of my morning.
(via cycling)
“When I was five my grandfather came up to me and said, “When I was your age, I was six,” and then he cackled madly and threw a spoon against the window. He was a strange man.” — Steven Wright
Making the Case for E-Book Prices -
I posted this over at NookTalk but wanted to make a few comments here.
This article emphasizes that a structured pricing plan is good all around when it come to eBooks. (My plan says eBooks should cost around 75% of the cheapest retail price available for the print copy. So if B&N sells a Hardcover for $20, then the eBook should be <=$15. If the Mass Market Paperback is available for $7, then the eBook should be <=$5.25.) Here’s the way it breaks down:
Hardcover - $26 (consumer’s cost)
Publisher’s Paid: $13
Author Royalty: $3.90
Printing, Storage, Shipping: $3.25
Design, Typesetting, Editing: $0.80
Marketing: $1
Publisher’s Profit: $4.05 (before overhead operational costs: offices, warehouses, electricity, etc.)
eBook - $12.99 (consumer’s cost)
Publisher’s Paid: $9.09
Author’s Royalty: $2.27-$3.25
Digitizing, Typesetting, editing: $0.50
Marketing: $0.78
Publisher’s Profit: $4.56-$5.54
eBook - $9.99 (consumer’s cost - Amazon model)
Publisher’s Paid: $6.99
Author’s Royalty: $1.75-$2.50
Digitizing, Typesetting, editing: $0.38
Marketing: $0.60
Publisher’s Profit: $3.51-$4.26
All this shows that the Publishers make more money from the eBook market (although Authors are getting reduced royalties). And what the NYTimes doesn’t employ is the change based on when the book goes to paperback. Where Design, typesetting, editing are once again needed for the paperback, the eBook is still ok in it’s current form. Also assuming that the paperback needs little to no marketing as well, prices fall dramatically.
Mass Market Paperback - $8
Publisher’s Paid: $4 (per 50% model illustrated in NYT’s article)
Author’s Royalty: $1.40-$2
Printing, Storage, Shipping: $.8-$1 (assumed % from NYT model, dropped 20% for reduced shipping [arbitrary])
Design, Typesetting, editing: $0.75 (assumed similar, but slightly cheaper since design is reworked for MM Paperbacks)
Marketing: $0 (no marketing done for paperbacks)
Publisher’s Profit: $0.25-$1.05
eBook - $5.99 (consumer’s cost for a $7.99 mass market paperback)
Publisher’s Paid: $4.19 (based on NYT’s 70% price point)
Author’s Royalty: $1.05-$1.50 (based on NYT’s 17.5%-25% numbers)
Digitizing, Typesetting, editing: $0 (done during hardcover release, no changes necessary)
Marketing: $0 (assumed none for paperbacks)
Publisher’s Profit: $2.69-$3.14 (Much higher profit margin!!!)
I think most people here don’t mind the higher prices up front (ie $12-$14 for brand new books) that’s only expected. But sticking to the $9.99 as a blanket need is a joke. And if publishers looked at things in the big picture I can’t believe they wouldn’t see this too. Right now they’d be making more off the eBook than their print books. The only people that get screwed regardless are the authors, which is a shame and I’d assume that they’d renegotiate their royalty structure in eBooks became the dominate form of delivery. Which would put the profits to the publishers once again around what they are getting for print books. The only paragraph in the article I have an issue with is that publishers claim they make up much of any losses from the Hardcover edition in the paperback edition. It’s difficult if they only make ~$4 off of a Hardcover, and expect to make more from a $8 retail paperback…assuming they only receive a wholesale price for those books as well. I can’t see B&N paying $6, $7, or $8 for a book that they will sell at $8-ish.
BUT, again what’s not thought about in any article talking about publishers and eBooks is the market for used books and the ability for eBooks to take market share away from the used book market. I want cheap books. Let me give you a for instance. B&N had Shutter Island for cheap (~$4) the other day. I bought it for my wife to read (and for me later). My wife is a huge library fan so, if it wouldn’t have been so cheap, she’d have found it at the library and read it. But now, B&N, William Morrow (pub), and Dennis Lehane (auth) got a little scratch from me instead of the nothing they’d receive from her library visit. Or if I wanted purchase the book, a trip to Half Price Books or an Amazon Marketplace purchase second hand would have been what I did, instead I bought the book in the way that put money in their hands. I might be a little in the dark, but with the data I’ve seen this is a win-win-win-draw for publishers, retailers, consumers, then authors (meaning authors will need to renegotiate so it’s not a total loss for them). Am I wrong?
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I’m thinking that I want to join twitter just so I can follow Conan O’Brien. Yes, I am that obsessed. F U Leno.
Re-sparked my Twitter usage.
“Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.” — Unknown (but awesome)
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