5typos.net

Edward Tufte, on being appointed to the panel that tracks and explains $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:

I’m doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I’ll learn something.

I attended an E.T. seminar a two years ago. I’m very sure everyone else is going to learn a lot more.

/via Waxy.org

Macmillan CEO, John Sargent, addresses the changes on their eBooks business model.

On the agency model:

Starting at the end of March, we will move from the “retail model” of selling e-books (publishers sell to retailers, who then sell to readers at a price that the retailer determines) to the “agency model” (publishers set the price, and retailers take a commission on the sale to readers).

On availability:

We will no longer delay the publication of e-books (read: no windowing).

On price:

For physical books, the majority of new release hardcovers are published in cheaper paperback versions over time. We will mirror this price reduction in the digital world.

The price range mentioned is exactly the same as the ones announced for iPad’s iBookstore.

I don’t feel as strongly about eBook’s $9.99 price point as I did for iTunes 99¢ song price. I still refuse to buy songs that go over that limit, but I do see myself buying a new NYTimes bestseller for $12.99. On the other hand, $14.99 will probably make me wait a bit.

All in all, Macmillan’s plan sounds much more reasonable than what the other bozos talked about in December. As long as they provide the same availability as pBooks - at reasonable prices, I’m in.

Motoko Rich, also in the NYTimes.com:

At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent. If e-book sales start to replace some hardcover sales, the publishers say, they will still have many of the fixed costs associated with print editions, like warehouse space, but they will be spread among fewer print copies.

Nobody said innovation is fair - it’s efficient.

Stephanie Clifford, from NYTimes.com:

The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.

Finally.