Boycott publishers of overpriced Kindle books.

Serial entrepreneur, perennial innovator and venture capitalist gadfly, Guy Kawasaki, has released a new book. Published by Penguin, you can buy it on Amazon. It’s available in both hardcover and Kindle format.

I’m was about to buy it – but will not. What’s the rub? Penguin’s pricing policy has caused Amazon to charge MORE for the Kindle version than the hardcover.

Does Penguin set Amazon’s price? No. Instead they set their pricing so the Kindle version costs MORE than the hardcover. The effect is the same.

Does this sound familiar? Brain-dead publishers, such as Penguin, are following in the footsteps of their music industry brethren. They are going to new and absurd measures to forestall the future of their industry. As consumers, we can only vote with our dollars to express our displeasure with this short-sighted, ham-fisted strategy.

Physical media’s requisite costs - from felling trees, to printing books, to trucking them to the store – have been removed. Removing these product and supply chain costs would serve to lower the final cost to consumers. Kindle certainly believes this is true. Millions of book lovers agree.

To be clear, I fully support their right to charge whatever they want for their books. They can make the Kindle version $100 if they want to. It is their choice. My choice however is to not do business with publishers that adopt this pricing strategy. I encourage others to consider how their purchases will influence the future of the publishing industry as well.

Do you read Kindle books? If so, consider refusing to purchase books (electronic or otherwise) from publishers that show such contempt and disrespect for the marketplace.

That’s my view. I look forward to hearing yours.

^Carl Melville

I thought I’d heard every possible story from tech support people – until today. A great new CMS tool, Remix, has come out with an update. I visited their site today seeking a solution and was told that tech support was unavailable. Seems their town of Surat India is under TERRORIST ATTACK. That’s a first.

Here is the message:

 

“The WP Remix 2 has received a good praise, suggestions and support from the valuable clients since its release. At WP Remix site, we have support forum for any and all queries that the buyer might have and I have been providing in time support to all the queries generated by the users.

Unfortunately, the city where I live has some bad news. My city is under terrorist attack and many live bombs (nearly 25) has been detected in past 3 days as you can see in the following news websites.

Though I wish to provide support in time, the circumstances are as such, I might not be able to come to office for few days and as a result, I might not be able to provide support in time.

I request all the existing buyers to co-operate in this situation and also would request to active support forum members to help each others as much as you can.

Again, I appreciate the warm support of all the people, and hope to the things get well soon.”

Wow. We take much for granted in our sheltered existence – but the threat posed by extremists impacts the lives of all of us. I hope my friend in India is soon back at his desk and that his company continues to prosper.

– Carl Melville / Blogvious

Do you ever Text, email, blog, Twitter, or schedule on your cell phone? Do you wish you could?  How about while driving?

It’s rare that a new product really gets me excited. This one does. Dial2Do, a new FREE service for your cell phone, turns you and your phone into a hands-free productivty machine. You can use it while driving, walking, sky diving – anywhere or anytime when it’s not convenient to use your hands.

Best of all, it works with my existing email, blog, and calendar software. I don’t need to change ANYTHING. It works the way I do, and it all begins with a simple phone call.

 To use it, I dial a local number. Dial2Do recognizes me (from my cell number) and asks me what I want to do. I say “Send Text”, “To Nick”, “Don’t forget to bring cold beer”. Done. He gets the text. I can even get a confirmation if I want. This coudl also have been done via email.

Yesterday I was on my way back from the gym when a Twitter thought crossed my mind. I said “Twitter”, Diak2Do asked for my post. I said “I’m writing a white paper on the California Hands Free driving law and looking for case studies.” – BAM. It was posted on Twitter (after it read it back to me to approve).

While on the call, I said “Reminder”, “Finish monthly recap and email before noon”. When I got back to my office, this reminder was on my calendar. How cool is that?

Oh, this product / company just took top honors at the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs awards (2008), so I expect it may be a company to watch out for.

Want to try it?  Warning: It can be addictive. Go to www.dial2do.com for a activation code. If you sign up now, you get it for free. The product is in late stage beta but work great.  Enjoy.

– Carl Melville / Blogvious

In a previous post I pondered the proposition of Twitter. To Twitt or Not to Twitt. Open minded but skeptical, I said that I would try to see what all the fuss was about. I was unexpectedly surprised with what I discovered.

More than just a self-aggrandizing podium for ego-centric technorati, though there is plenty of that, Twitter is actually fun – and a bit addictive. I’ve set up several Twitters now and am using them for personal and business reasons. Have they had a huge impact? Probably not. But as anyone involved in SEO can tell you, every little bit counts.

If you’ve not yet Twittered, take it from a would-be-doubting-dinosaur, it’s worth a look. For more information or to sign up, go to www.twitter.com.

– Carl / Blogvious