Amazon makes download patches available
Author F. Paul Wilson had a printing error occur in the publishing of his most recent book, An Enemy Of The State. The end of the epilogue was cut off. While nothing could be done about the print version, Amazon was able to offer a downloadable fix for the Kindle version. According to Amazon via the WSJ, this is something the company can offer from time to time. Don’t forget, Amazon got into a dust up last summer when they removed some versions of 1984 from the Kindles of readers who had bought the book or “book” or whatever. It calls into question the whole idea of a book as being a bound volume of set knowledge. Couldn’t authors keep revising, adding? Could e-books just become blogs?
Verizon and Google are working on a tablet together
You gotta figure anyone who thinks they can make a tablet is getting busy these days after the success of the iPad. And given the strength of their collaboration on Droid, it stands to reason that Verizon and Google would team up to take on AT&T and Apple. No date has been set for such a product. It’s another story that makes you wonder if you should wait to buy a tablet until competition can drive better products and drive down price.
Google tells businesses to keep old Office, upgrade with Google Docs, Businesses say yeah right
All Things D has a set of responses to Google’s idea and says the idea is not catching on. Today marks the release of the new suite of Office products. Essentially, the feeling is that there are no legit alternatives to Office. Google is a huge consumer company but MSFT still owns- OWNS – offices with Office.
Six suicides at Hon Hai (aka Foxconn) this year
Business Week reports on the death of a factory worker at a Shenzen factory that builds products for Apple, HP, and other companies. It’s the 6th suicide this year. Last year, an employee apparently killed himself after an iPhone prototype he was trusted with went missing.
A New Facebook
The New York Times reports that some self-described nerds in New York are building an alternative to Facebook. But more private and with open source code. The project, called Diaspora*, was funded – and fast – throught the grass roots fundraising site Kickstarter. It all sounds a little like what Facebook was when it was called TheFacebook. (* the asterisk is part of the name)
Facebook Executive answers questions and also makes lots of money on ads
The New York Times culled questions from their readers about Facebook’s approach to privacy. Public Policy VP for Facebook answered them:
Here’s what he has to say about what happens to your info when you delete:
Deletion is permanent, and the account can’t be reactivated. When we process your deletion request, we immediately delete all personal information associated with your account. Messages and Wall posts remain, but are attributed to an anonymous Facebook user. Content you’ve added is deleted over time, but isn’t accessible on Facebook, and isn’t linked with any personal information about you.
*All Things D reports that FB delivered more banner ads to its US users than any other web publisher.Â
Tell me before I break the bank on my cell bill
On Tuesday, the FCC announced it would take public comments about a plan that would require cell phone companies to tell customers when their bill is getting unusually high. European wireless carriers are required to do so – so the question is should we do that in America, too?
Another iPhone prototype is leaked
TechCrunch says this leaked phone reveals the iPhone is evolving – it’s powered by the same kind of chip that powers the iPad.Â
Moon Zoo
On Tuesday, NASA and the Citizen Science Alliance announced a project which will allow users to reserarch some of the biggest scientific questions about the history of the moon and our solar system.  People will have access to new images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Will they be able to offer answers to some of our most burning questions?
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