Category: Geekness

Tragedy Avoided – A Computer Story

Anyone who I’ve talked with enough about computers knows that I will pester you with the virtues of backing up your stuff.

Yesterday my computer started acting flakey. I would get some odd twitches, and then just blank screen crashes. This, as we say in the geek world, is not a good thing ™.

This morning, amidst reading, it went out again, a twitch and some screen babble first. I have seen this behavior before, and I know this isn’t good. If I am lucky we are talking just bad RAM, or a failing hard drive. If we are not, we are talking a new computer.

I’m still working on what’s wrong, but that isn’t the intent of this post. You see, when that screen came up, when the first fleeting thoughts of “I think it is really dead” came through my mind, there was something else as well, or should I say a lack of something. No panic.

I have two back up hard drives, one is Time Machine, which is Apple’s built in back up software, and the other is one where I manually dump things. My writing files and most of my LampLight / Apokrupha files live in Dropbox, meaning they are synced not just online, but on at least two other computers as well.

You see, my laptop isn’t just a computer, it is my most valued tool in these ventures I have, between writing and editing and publishing. A failed hard drive is more than an inconvenience, because without preparation, it is the loss of months and months of work on LampLight, on all of my writings, my photos.

If I had not been prepared, a hard drive failure, quite simply, could have been the end of LampLight, the loss of thousands of photos, and the loss of nearly twenty years of writing. And that, friends, is not a risk I am willing to take.

So, my writer friends, editor friends, even just normal ones… what is your back up plan? If your computer was stolen or fried this very second, what would you lose? What story or photo could you never get back?

Backup. Backup. Backup.

Remember, it is not Apple or Microsoft’s fault if you lose stuff. Not Google, dropbox, not Western Digital nor Matrox. It is not HP’s, it is not Dell’s, it is only and always yours. These are your files, your digital creations, keep them safe.

Smashwords, DRM and You

eBooks have provided a fascinating addition to readers’ lives. Themselves, intangible, we’ve become gadget geeks and we read on our Nooks and Kindles, ebooks taking a spot between mass markets and webpages.

But there has been a downside to this, and for the most part can be summed up in three letters: DRM.

What is DRM? Digital Rights Management, the intention is to make a file that can only be opened by the person who purchased it, hence cutting down on piracy (this is not going to be a discussion on that subject). Sounds reasonable, no?

No.

First off, pirates aren’t using these files, they have non-DRM versions. We, the legitimate buyers of these files are. But we bought them, right? What’s the problem then?

Overall, DRM has changed its function. Intended to curb piracy (something it had no affect either way on), it has instead turned into a method of vendor lock in for these digital goods.

How so? If you buy a book with DRM from Amazon, it will work on your Kindle. Which, if you have a Kindle, is great. But what if you decide you like that new Nook and want to use it? No big deal, right? both are ebook readers, just like MP3 players, this should be easy. Of course, it is not.

Aside from the formatting issues (Kindle uses a proprietary format, AZW, Nook uses the more common ePub), the DRM prevents you from doing this. Even if you had a Nook ePub and wanted to put it on your Kobo, both which read ePub, you could not. There is software that will convert file formats for called Calibre (which I HIGHLY recommend) but cannot do so with DRM-ed files.*

So even if you like that Nook, you would have to buy all new books because your old ones are locked up in Amazon’s court.

Add on another issue, the DRM itself needs to be authenticated. So you sign in with your BN or Amazon account on your reader, or on your computer software, it checked to make sure that you are you and you bought it (yes, even after it has been downloaded) and then you can read. So what’s the big deal? Ask anyone who purchased DRM-ed music from WalMart. They shut their DRM servers, pretty much making those “purchases” null and void. This punished legitimate customers for making legitimate purchases.

This is where Smashwords comes in. Smashwords is an ebook store that sells you not just one type of book (mobi or epub or PDF), but all types of the ebook. So say you buy an issue of LampLight from Amazon, you get a Kindle file. If you buy that same issue from Smashwords, you get that issue in Kindle, ePub, PDF, txt, RTF and can read it online if you wish–all without DRM**.

So, download those books, back them up on other harddrives, burn them to disk. Put them on your Nook, Kobo or Kindle (or anything you want!). If Smashwords goes out of business, they will still work.

But they aren’t the only ones. Baen, a publisher of sci-fi offers purchases (and a large free library) without DRM. Storybundle’s offerings come free off those three little letters. And many independent publishers, such as NeCon eBooks, offer sales direct through their stores san-DRM.

So do yourself a favor, and download Calibre (which is free and open source) and take control over your eBook library. See if you can get that book without DRM.

  • yes, yes, I know. Google is your friend, just don’t be a jerk.

** So, to be fair, there are files on Amazon and Barnes and Noble that do not have DRM. However, neither site makes finding those titles, or even knowing if a title you are looking at is one of them very easy.

The Kobo Mini Review

(Edited on 10 August with some fixes)

I am a gadget geek, but that is not news to anyone. Since starting my publishing endeavors, I’ve been looking into all the ebook reader options, not just the Nook or Kindle. With the advent of eBooks, we are in a situation where the tactile experience of our books are independent of the intellectual one. As such, I am enjoying exploring all that is offered to see how different companies tackle this same issue.

I recently picked up the Kobo Mini and it is fantastic.

What is it? it is a small (5 inch) epaper reader

What isn’t it? anything else

This thing has one purpose in mind: read. And for that, it does a great job. The size is really the killer feature with this reader. It is about the size of a paperback book. The screen is responsive and the device is easily held with one hand. And light, it is nice and light.

The software is responsive, and reasonably customizable. They have an achievements type system built in which marks your accomplishments: number of books finished, number of pages read, etc. Not essential to any experience, but can be fun to look at.

It works well with Calibre, which I use to organize my ebooks from Smashwords or Storybundle, allowing me to read on whatever device I want.

I found my only real complaint is that it is difficult to operate left handed because of where on the screen the “next page” regions are. A small softer customization on this part would make it fantastic. There are three options for the screen on how to change the pages on the Kobo. While none of them are what I’d prefer, it is set up so it can be used either left or right handed. After changing the setting, this became much better to use.

Small, light, great battery life, this reader really is a fantastic single minded gadget.