Random House caves on agency e-book pricing, may join iBooks soon

Monster publishing house Random House has finally given in over the so-called "agency model" e-book pricing and will begin implementing the pricing changes on Tuesday, March 1. The agency model is a shift away from the traditional wholesale model, though the publisher plans to stick to the old way when it comes to physical books. The move will not only shift the pricing power back to the publisher, but will also open the door for joining Apple's iBooks as well.

Under the wholesale model, publishers like Random House would sell a certain number of books to a reseller (such as Amazon) for a set price, then the reseller would set its own price on each book. This works out well for the sale of physical books that have to be shipped, but not so much for e-books, where are infinite copies. The agency model, by comparison, allows publishers to set their own prices for e-books and give 30 percent of the sale price to the reseller.

A number of publishers stood up to Amazon last year in a push for agency model pricing for electronic books, and ended up winning. As a result, the average prices of e-books have gone up a bit from the once-typical $9.99, though others (including some of Random House's own titles) are currently sold for less than that.

"Going forward, Random House will set consumer prices for the e?books we publish, and we will provide retailers with a commission for each sale," Random House said in a statement. "The agency model guarantees a higher margin for retailers than did our previous sales terms. We are making this change both as an investment in the successful digital transition of our existing partners and in order to give us the opportunity to forge new retail relationships."

One of those new relationships is likely to be iBooks, Apple's answer to Amazon's Kindle Store. Random House is the last iBooks holdout of the major publishers, largely because Apple requires its publishers to function under the agency model. Other major publishers, including Harper-Collins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster, have already gotten on board, so it makes sense that Random House will too. It's possible that Apple might even welcome Random House to iBooks during its March 2 media event.

The American Booksellers Association issued a statement applauding Random House's decision. "We have believed from the beginning that the agency model is in the best interest of not only the book industry, but the consuming public as well," ABA CEO Oren Teicher said. "We appreciate the careful and thoughtful deliberation Random House has brought to this issue, and applaud their decision to adopt agency pricing."

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Allofmp3 clones, Baidu top US list of "notorious" IP infringers

The document in question admits that one of the scofflaws mentioned no longer exists. And the anti-piracy survey concedes that another, Taobao, is making real efforts to improve. But that didn't stop the United States Trade Representative from putting these Internet sites on its new "Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets," released on Monday.

"The review we are announcing today shines a light on examples of many offending markets, and highlights an opportunity to work together with our trading partners to curb illicit trade and expand legitimate commerce in creative and innovative industries," declared USTR's Ron Kirk upon the report's release.

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Philips BDP7500S2

A steal for 3D home cinema

Fancy a Blu-ray deck that does it all? Able to spin 3D Blu-ray discs, this classy deck proves technically just as good as models from the likes of Sony, but it does lack one or two features rivals include.?Its provision of 1GB of local storage is a nice bonus that few competitors offer at this low price, though it’s a shame there isn't built-in Wi-Fi.

Spend around ?200 and you can score this deck with a ?50 WUB1110/00 wireless USB dongle for inserting into a rear USB slot, though we’re not convinced it’s worth your while; the online BD Live service is increasingly useless while Philips’ own Net TV service - which is fully loaded onto the BDP7500S2 - isn’t (yet) much cop.

That could change, and the fact remains that Net TV does contain the only open web browser in the business. That Opera browser is slow, while the way it works - using the remote’s directional buttons to jump from live link to live link on a page - can be painful. In theory that would be no problem for video-based websites, but the software behind Net TV doesn’t include licences for Flash video etc, so sites such as BBC iPlayer simply don't work.

We wouldn’t be surprised if iPlayer arrived on the Net TV platform soon, though for now it revolves around YouTube, Picasa, Twitter, eBay, Box Office 365 and the live music gigs of iConcerts.?Whether a Blu-ray player should be judged on the content it can access is a moot pint, though with optical media increasingly sidelined as broadband speeds jump, we’d argue that the BDP7500S2’s abilities as a “home hub” are increasingly important.

As such it scores a pass, but nothing more. Aside from its so-so Net TV service, the BDP7500S2 - a 3D update of this model - doesn't indulge in any kind of home networking, something that does put it slightly behind the curve. Shove a USB stick loaded with digital media into the deck’s hidden front slot and things improve. In our tests we managed to get MP3, WMA and AAC music files to play, while supported video includes DivX, MPEG-2, XviD, WMV, MKV (DivX HD), H.264, VC-1 and AVC HD files.

All this is handled through an attractive user interface; its grid-style approach is similar to LG’s, and that’s no bad thing. Especially brilliant is its simple approach to varying video sources. A shame, then, that the remote control is rather cheap ‘n’ cheerful, and, frankly, just too small to operate comfortably. If you do pair this with a Philips TV (something that could see you doubling-up on the Net TV service), engage the CEC option immediately to tie this deck to your TV’s remote.

The 3D effect created by the BDP7500S2 is a tad cleaner and easier to watch than from other decks we’ve seen, though the actual depth it creates isn't quite as profound. Personally, that suits us, though others will disagree.

Always packed with detail and as sharp as any Blu-ray deck we’ve seen, there are few issues with the BDP7500S2’s 2D performance. We did notice a trace of motion blur across our Donnie Darko Blu-ray test disc, but were bowled over by its lack of judder and contrast-heavy images. It’s a similarly impressive story with DVD playback, where Sean Locke’s 15 Storeys High sitcom looks lively and proved easily watchable as an 80-inch image through an Epson Full HD projector.

As a Blu-ray disc player, the BDP7500S2 can or course decode the latest and greatest sound codec’s such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and is unusually comprehensive in its audio prowess; 7.1 analogue outputs, rare on a Blu-ray deck this price, sit next to both coaxial and optical digital outputs. Soundtracks delivered to our home cinema appeared clean and powerful, and though it’s perhaps a tad clinical in places, the reward is a consistent amount of fine detail.

Design-wise the BDP7500S2 is quite something, and if you already have a Philips Ambilight TV its mirrored finish and excellent build quality - as well as some nifty touch-sensitive controls - are not to be sniffed at.

Verdict:

With a build quality superior to most rival decks, this 2D and 3D disc spinner’s 7.1 analogue outputs, built-in storage and comprehensive USB playback make-up for its sparse networking dimensions and lack of native Wi-Fi. Its Net TV online platform lacks must-have streamed content, but does include an open web browser.

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Tags: Home Cinema Blu-ray players Philips Philips BDP7500S2 3D Blu-ray

   

Philips BDP7500S2 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:00:00 +0000

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Republicans: No compromise possible on net neutrality

The recently installed Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), has no intention of finding any compromise on network neutrality. If he can't override the new rules, he will work to defund their enforcement. And if that doesn't work, he will continue railing against a "government takeover of the Internet" in speeches until something gets done.

Boehner gave his first speech outside of Washington DC as Speaker of the House yesterday, appearing at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville Tennessee. The speech moved quickly from a discussion of that morning's sermon text (“No man can serve two masters”) to a discussion of God's love of humility to an assertion that America was founded on said humility and that this in turn led to the freedoms that Americans enjoy.

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Windows Phone 7 update failed 1 in 10 phones

And still no real fix

If you’ve got a “bricked” Microsoft Windows Phone 7 smartphone following Monday’s rollout of a new update, fret not, you aren’t alone.

Turns out 1 in 10 people where affected by the update that saw some having to take matters into their own hands to get their phone working again.

“90 percent of people who’ve received an update notification have installed the new software patch successfully. (So when your turn to download it arrives, chances are good this will be a non-event.),” said Michael Stol in a blog post, clearly trying to play down the mess up before trying to shift the blame: “Of the 10 percent who did experience a problem, nearly half failed for two basic reasons - a bad Internet connection or insufficient computer storage space.”

To those unfortunate 10 per cent, Stol says that “Luckily, both are easy to fix.”

While that might be the case for some of that 10 per cent it’s not the case for all of them, certainly the ones that can’t get their phone to respond at all.

For those people it seems that Microsoft, Samsung and the carriers have left them on their own with repeated requests from Pocket-lint to Orange in the UK, Samsung and Microsoft for an answer, left unanswered.

Earlier in the week a Microsoft spokesman told Pocket-lint that it was?pulling the Windows Phone 7 update for Samsung Omnia 7:?

“We have identified a technical issue with the Windows Phone update process that impacts a small number of phones. In response to this emerging issue, we have temporarily taken down the latest software update for?Samsung phones?in order to correct the issue and as soon as possible will redistribute the update.”

If you are affected our advice would be to go to the shop you bought it and request a replacement, regardless of when you bought it.?

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Tags: Phones Windows Phone 7 Microsoft Samsung Samsung Omnia 7

Windows Phone 7 update failed 1 in 10 phones originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:09:00 +0000

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White iPad available immediately? We'll know on Wednesday

We're just two days away from Apple's March 2 media event, which is widely expected to bring updates to the iPad. In typical pre-event fashion, leaks and rumors continue to make their way through the grapevine, leading some to believe that the next-gen iPad will not only be available in white, it may be available to customers almost immediately after the event.

iPhone repair shop iFixYouri (via 9to5 Mac) claims to have gotten its hands on an iPad part directly from Shenzen that hints the device will come in white, just like the white iPhone 4 that has yet to make an appearance. The part is the bezel (also known as the digitizer) that frames the display on the front of the device; the front appears to be painted white, while the back is black. The bezel also features a small hole at the top, which is believed to be for a front-facing camera that will be included in the next iPad.

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