MetaFilter posts tagged with amazon

when you need that unusual gift ...

madamjujujive — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:50:24 -0800

Did they use one-click?

smackfu — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:58:01 -0800

People adore Zappos. Will that continue now that Amazon has bought them for nearly a billion dollars? In a battle of new wave corporate communication, Jeff Bezos announced it on Youtube while the Zappos' CEO posted his letter to the employees on their blog. (Previous Zappos posts: 1, 2)

How Much Is The Fine When It's Overdue?

Xurando — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:28:48 -0800

Kindle is coming soon to a library near you. Amazon is sending mixed messages about the concept. Librarians are having an online conference to the discuss the issues.

The earth has no price.

shetterly — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:33:29 -0800

A fight for the Amazon that should inspire the world. "Army helicopters opened fire on the protesters with live ammunition and stun-grenades. More than a dozen were killed. But the indigenous peoples did not run away. Even though they were risking their lives, they stood their ground. One of their leaders, Davi Yanomami, said simply: "The earth has no price. It cannot be bought, or sold or exchanged. It is very important that white people, black people and indigenous peoples fight together to save the life of the forest and the earth. If we don't fight together, what will our future be?" And then something extraordinary happened. The indigenous peoples won." Via A Tiny Revolution: Latin America, World's Moral Political Leader.

10 years is just a blink of the ever-watching galactic eye

filthy light thief — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:08:15 -0800

Inspired by its 10th anniversary, the Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how the world has changed. From these images, Wired Science has made 5 videos, presenting convenient time-lapse views of the world changing (mainly) because of human actions. Watch the urbanization of Dubai, specifically the growth of Palm Jumeirah. See the Aral Sea dry up - once the fourth largest lake, down to 10 percent of its original size (marked by the thin black line in the video) by 2007. View the clearing the Amazon, as observed from above the state of Rondônia in western Brazil. Behold the return of Mesopotamia's Wetlands, now in the process of being restored from near total destruction under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Witness the impact of drought on Southern Utah's Lake Powell, where water level dropped from 20 million to 8 million acre-feet from 2000 to 2005.

Just SIP the book

CheeseDigestsAll — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:35:22 -0800

According to Amazon, this is the "essence" of Ulysses: matrimonial gift, quaker librarian, charming soubrette, editor cried, retrospective arrangement, pike hoses, pensive bosom, seaside girls, absentminded beggar. At least, according to their SIP algorithm. Too obscure? How about: barn cellar, famous pig, grey spider, old sheep, egg sac. Pretty easy, right? Now consider: shock shop, seclusion room, least black boy, bull goose loony, big black boys, wicker bag, ward policy, tub room, drug room, red capsules, dorm door, two black boys. Catching on? Now try the quiz.

Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt, Available in Various Sizes

swift — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:08:29 -0800

Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt, Available in Various Sizes
She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt ... There is one thing, though, and that is that whenever I wear the wolf shirt I have a lot less issues with involuntary urination ... You are the wolf pack leader ... If you like it then you better put a wolf shirt on ... If you are planning on spending exactly $9.14 on yourself this year, this better be the purchase ... Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

Maybe I'm missing something, but...

Wrinkled Stumpskin — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:45:25 -0800

You Can't Please Everyone is a collection of one-star reviews of classic movies, music, and literature on Amazon. It contains reviews of The Odyssey and many others. From Cynical-C [via]

AmazonFAIL

TochterAusElysium — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:57:08 -0800

Within the last few hours, a trend on Twitter has emerged in response to Amazon's removing the sales ranking of books they consider to have "adult content," which also keeps those books from appearing in search results. However, while seeming to unilaterally de-list any books with gay themes and characters, many books with adult heterosexual content were left untouched. Unfortunately, books included in the de-ranking include classic works such as Brokeback Mountain, The Well of Loneliness, Tipping the Velvet, and others whose "adult" content is negligible. In response, some people have started a coordinated Googlebomb to bring a new definition of "Amazon Rank" to the top of Google's search results. As of this writing, #amazonfail is the top trend on Twitter (possibly because some big names have taken up the re-tweet cause). A Google News search for this story returns no results, indicating that it might behoove corporate PR folks to keep a closer eye on Twitter...and that someone might be having a rough Monday morning tomorrow at Amazon headquarters.

Nothing To Do With Wonder Woman

The Whelk — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:30:34 -0800

"Percy Harrison Fawcett ... convinced himself, based on a mix of archival research, deduction and clairvoyance, that a large undiscovered city lay hidden somewhere in the Amazon" Greg Grandin of The Nation talks about the allure of the Amazon in history and the repeated attempts made to domesticate, colonize, control, or explore it. previous discussion of failed Amazon ventures here ( via )

Midair collision at 37,000 feet

flug — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:45:09 -0800

The sky is a really big place, right? So how did a Boeing 737 and a Legacy 600 private jet manage to collide head-on at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle in Brazil? William Langewiesche's detailed analysis of the 2006 crash--which killed all 154 aboard the 737--provides some answers. It seems the sky just isn't as big as it used to be: "Until recently, head-on airplanes mistakenly assigned the same altitude and route by Air Traffic Control would almost certainly have passed some distance apart, due to the navigation slop inherent in their systems. But this is no longer true." The navigation systems of the two aircraft are so precise that when they met--at a closing speed of about a thousand miles per hour--the Legacy 600 was only 2 feet below and 30 feet to the left of the 737.

Another look at the incident from Salon's Patrick Smith
Another analysis of an aircraft disaster by William Langewiesche, the 1999 crash of EgyptAir 990 (previously on MeFi)

light it on fire?

Pants! — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:48:28 -0800

How will the Kindle change the publishing business?

The theory of Z

tellurian — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:51:44 -0800

Percy Harrison Fawcett disappeared in the Amazon in 1925 whilst searching for the City of Z. Some believe that he is alive and well and living in a subterranean world with Extra-/Intra-Terrestrials.

Just how long can that tail be?

Grrlscout — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:50:56 -0800

10 out of 13 million tracks available for purchase online didn't sell a single copy. Jut how Long can that Tail be, after all? Is the length of the tail mentioned in the article down to piracy or the state of the music industry as a whole? Is it possible to make a profit or break even on a niche website based on sales alone, and not on advertising revenue?

More fun with Scientology!

changeling — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:52:13 -0800

Recently, everyone who pre-ordered a certain book on Amazon.co.uk received a letter notifying them "This item has been removed from sale for legal reasons." Amazon.com claims the book is temporarily out of stock. The book? The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology by John Duignan. Interestingly, on November 5th, Tom Cruise attended an "all hands" meeting of Amazon.com bigwigs. Photos. A random coincidence? What about all those one and two-star reviews that kept disappearing from books like Dianetics and Science of Survival?

stop crying kindle fanboy

taz — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:16:24 -0800

Some are calling it the "Kindle Killer". (Demo launch video at engadget.) Plastic Logic's new e-reader, expected to be out in the first half of 2009, does promise to offer a lot that Kindle and most other other popular e-readers don't, like a larger display, big enough to provide a newspaper or magazine layout; touch-based markup and annotation; the ability to read standard documents and other file types without conversion; (promised) Wi-Fi connectivity (including the ability to transfer documents between readers); and last but not least, a screen display that you can hit with a shoe, and isn't that something we've all been waiting for during these tense times? But in the Plastic Logic vs Amazon Kindle smackdown, "Plastic Logic says they don't plan to compete with Kindle directly, instead, it's targeting business mobile professionals with 'a lot of documents already,' not those who will get all their content from the Amazon store." Heh. The question on everyone's lips, of course, is what about price? Wired reports that while pricing has not been announced, "officials said the reader would be "priced competitively" with devices such as the Kindle, which currently costs $359". Other questions? The NYT touches on issues of privacy, mentioning that, "as an electronic device, newspapers can determine who is reading their paper, and even which articles are being read. Advertisers would be able to understand their audience and direct advertising to its likeliest customers" and wonders "how much people will pay for a device and the newspaper subscription for it". (emphasis mine)

I.O.U [next to] noooooothin'

scarylarry — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:21:59 -0800

"'49:00' is a 43-minute-long album in the form of one long recorded track that claims to be six minutes longer, and insists in its subtitle on grabbing exactly that portion of your time/life." To commemorate his upcoming 49th birthday, ex-Replacement Paul Westerberg released his first digital album on 'June 49th.' He's worked out an exclusive arrangement with Amazon, selling it at a price that's all shook down: $0.49.

Pluribo

matthewr — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:15:23 -0800

Pluribo is a way-cool Firefox extension that automagically summarises Amazon product reviews.

Zoomii.

chunking express — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:51:57 -0800

Zoomii. An interesting interface for Amazon. From the about page:

Because I love bookstores. Spending afternoons wandering the shelves. Happening across great books I didn't even know existed. But it's an experience I never found online. Online bookstores are wonderful. They've got amazing prices, huge selections, and they're open all the time. If you know exactly what you want, they're perfect. But somehow I kept coming back to the bookstore just to browse. Zoomii is my attempt to bring online as much of the real bookstore experience as possible.

"They are almost certain not to understand what the plane is -- perhaps a spirit or a large bird."

Rhaomi — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:18:12 -0800

"Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away. The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable, for they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes." The unnamed tribe is just one of dozens around the world (though most are located primarily in the depths of the Amazon basin). The discovery comes at a time of increased pressure on these isolated cultures to surrender their lands and resources to loggers and oil drillers, as well as the diseases and other troubles they carry. And while advocacy groups like Survival International campaign to prevent damaging encounters -- ranging from deforestation and urban encroachment to radical "human safari" ecotours -- even the most well-intentioned first contacts can result in violence and death. Images: One, Two, Three More news reports Previous thread discussing a South American first contact For the Wikiholics: Uncontacted peoples, First contact (anthropology), Cargo cult, and Outside Context Problem

Amazon's Cookie Tax

ikkyu2 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:55:14 -0800

Whatever the market will bear. Did you know that Amazon.com charges you different prices for the same goods depending on who you are (and what your browser cookie shows?) This was news to me, but the WaPo and CNN reported it in 2005. Some call it "price-customization" or "dynamic pricing;" others call it "price discrimination." The rest of us just want to know how to evade it.

The Standard Oil of Books

Toekneesan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:11 -0800

Amazon.com dropped a bombshell on the publishing industry with the announcement on Friday that they will no longer allow print on demand books printed by vendors other than Amazon, to be sold directly by Amazon. In other words, use our print services or lose your listing on our site. This decision effects over half a million books listed on their site and could be a defining moment for both publishing and the future of online retailing. The company with the most at stake is Lightning Source, the largest print on demand company in the world. If Amazon makes good on its threat, Lightning Source's 4,300 client publishers and their almost half a million titles on Amazon's site will go from "ships in 24 hours" to unavailable unless those publishers switch to using Amazon's company, BookSurge, as their printer. Hubris or exceptionally bold gamble? There is nothing on Amazon's site about the move. Meanwhile, On Demand, the company developing the Espresso Book Machine (previously), announced today that they have finalized an agreement with Lightning Source that would allow publishers currently using Lightning Source to license that content to On Demand so those books could be printed at Espresso sites. If the EBM catches on and Amazon's catalog is compromised, could brick and mortar bookstores and libraries find themselves with an unexpected windfall?

Influenza in the Amazon

roofus — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:19:43 -0800

A British TV crew have been accused of spreading flu to a remote Peruvian tribe of 250 members, leading to 4 deaths. TV director Matt Currington (google cache) and team were researching for the Discovery channel in the Peruvian Amazon, when flu struck the Matsigenka people. Despite denials from the production company, US anthropologist Glen Shepherd has substantiated the allegations.

Philip M. Parker writes and publishes over 85,000 books on Amazon

stbalbach — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:11:53 -0800

Philip M. Parker ^[1]^[2] has written and published over 85,000 books on Amazon in the past few years, although by his own count the total published is over 200,000. He is like a writing machine - in fact, he has created a machine that churns out an original book about every 20 minutes. A few sample titles: * The 2007 Report on Wood Toilet Seats: World Market Segmentation by City (330pp., $795) * The 2007-2012 Outlook for Lemon-Flavored Bottled Water in Japan (140pp., $495) * Avocados: A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, and Annotated Research Guide (108pp., $28.95) * Brain Injuries - A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, and Annotated Research Guide to Internet References (244pp., $28.95) (Via)

Who is Grady Harp?

farishta — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:11:35 -0800

The murky demimonde of Amazon's Top Reviewers. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I had imagined Amazon's customer reviews as a refuge from the machinations of the publishing industry: "an intelligent and articulate conversation ... conducted by a group of disinterested, disembodied spirits..."