A Little Naughty Merry Christmas Plus

Were you naughty or nice
this year?

I sincerely wish all a very Merry Christmas :)

Take a break from all the rush and enjoy a little Christmas humor.


Top 10 Things that Sound Dirty at Christmas, But Aren’t


10. Did you get any under the tree?

9. I think your balls are hanging too low.

8. Check out Rudolph’s Honker!

7. Santa’s sack is really bulging.

6. Lift up the skirt so I can get a clean breath.

5. Did you get a piece of the fruitcake?

4. I love licking the end till it’s really sharp and pointy.

3. From here you can’t tell if they’re artificial or real.

2. Can I interest you in some dark meat?

1. To get it to stand up straight, try propping it against the wall.


Christmas Card problem solved!

Last Christmas, grandpa was feeling his age, and found that

shopping for Christmas gifts had become too difficult. So he

decided to send checks to everyone instead.

In each card he wrote, “Buy your own present!” and mailed them

early.


He enjoyed the usual flurry of family festivities, and it was

only after the holiday that he noticed that he had receiving very

few cards in return. Puzzled over this, he went into his study,

intending to write a couple of his relatives and ask what had

happened. It was then, as he cleared off his cluttered desk that

he got his answer. Under a stack of papers, he was horrified to

find the gift checks which he had forgotten to enclose with the

cards.


A Car For Christmas


Danny had recently passed his driving test and decided to ask his clergyman father if there was any chance of him getting a car for Christmas, which was yet some months away. ‘Okay.’ said his father ‘I tell you what I’ll do. If you can get your ‘A’ level grades up to ‘A’s and ‘B’s, study your bible and get your hair cut, I’ll consider the matter very seriously.’

A couple of months later Danny went back to his father who said ‘I’m really impressed by your commitment to your studies. Your grades are excellent and the work you have put into your bible studies is very encouraging. However, I have to say I’m very disappointed that you haven’t had your hair cut yet.

Danny was a smart young man who was never lost for an answer. ‘Look dad. In the course of my bible studies I’ve noticed in the illustrations that Moses, John the Baptist, Samson and even Jesus had long hair.’ ‘Yes. I’m aware of that…’ replied his father ‘… but did you also notice they walked wherever they went?’


Christmas Answers

Q: If athletes get athletes foot, what do astronauts get?


A: Missletoe!


Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

A: Frostbite.

The New york Times and Bite-Sized Digital Books Known as "E-Singles"

New York Times is getting into the business of

selling digital books based on its reporters' work,

 giving it entry into growing market for inexpensive

"e-singles" that can be read in a couple of hours.

A growing need for content, generated by tablet, e-reader and other mobile gadget popularity, has produced an up and coming e-model: e-singles.

The New York Times is now entering the e-book publishing field by having its journalists put current (and past) news stories of dynamic interest into bite-sized digital books called e-singles.

These so-called bite-sized digital e-books can be anywhere between magazine article size, which can top out at about 10,000 words, up to ?? .

"The Times' first mini book will go on sale Monday. It's an 18,000-word piece about skiers caught in an avalanche by Times reporter John Branch. The story, called "Snow Fall," expands on an upcoming piece in Monday's newspaper." --- Excerpt from the following piece in The Times of India:

New York Times enters e-book publishing market

The New York Times is getting into the business of selling bite-sized digital books based on its reporters' work, giving it entry into a growing market for inexpensive "e-singles" that can be read in a couple of hours.

The Times' first mini book will go on sale Monday. It's an 18,000-word piece about skiers caught in an avalanche by Times reporter John Branch. The story, called "Snow Fall," expands on an upcoming piece in Monday's newspaper.
It will sell for $2.99 in Amazon.com's Kindle store, Apple's iBooks, and on Barnes & Noble's Nook.
E-singles fall somewhere between magazine pieces, which can top out at around 10,000 words, and full-length books, which can run around 100,000 words.

The product meets the rising demand for content as people buy tablet computers like the iPad and Kindle Fire in increasing numbers. IHS expects global shipments of tablets to hit 120 million this year, just two short years after the iPad jumpstarted the category in April 2010. Tablet shipments are expected to hit 340 million in 2016.

And people aren't just watching movies and surfing the web on their mobile devices. The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism said in October that half of US adults own a tablet or smartphone, and two thirds of them get news on their device.

The quick turnaround of digital publishing means non-fiction work remains timely.

Gerald Marzorati, the Times' editor for editorial development, said the company is betting the new format will make long-form journalism easy to read and reach people who don't visit the Times' website or read the newspaper.

"We're going to really experiment in the first year with different sorts of forms - long essays, long narratives," he said. "We may even try collections. We're just sort of experimenting with this form and we'll see if getting something at a very reasonable price in book form is something that appeals to people."

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Ereaders, Brazil and Marketing Gamesmanship

The Brazilian Flag

There are many fine ereaders on the market nowadays. But it wasn't always that way when they were just popping out of their tech wombs.

Tonight's post will take you inside a little intriguing history of how the new ereaders on the blockjostled with each other to be the chosen one --- and demonstrates to what extent ereader companies, such as Kobo, Amazon and Google, will go in gamesmanship when launching first ebookstores this week in Brazil within hours of each other --- all after nearly a year of anticipation, negotiation and planning.

So, what's behind this rush to market in Brazil?

Edward Nawotka, Publishing Perspectives, gives us the answer:

What’s Behind Kobo, Google and Amazon’s Simultaneous Brazil Launch?

Usually, Kobo is first. Or at least that’s what they will tell you. A few years ago during BookExpo America, the company announced a new ereader just minutes before Barnes & Noble revealed a similar device, after having sent out press invitations more than a week earlier. Technically Kobo was “first,” but it left one with the distinct impression they were merely crying “me too, me too” — rather than having innovated anything as such.

In Brazil this week, we saw the same kind of gamesmanship, with Kobo, Google and Amazon all launching ebookstores within hours of each other — all after nearly a year of anticipation, negotiation and planning. Kobo was, natch, “first”—and here proper credit isdue — having announced their partnership with Livraria Cultura bookstore chain months ago. Amazon was the subject of rumors concerning a deal with Brazil’s dominant bookstore chain Saraiva, so we knew something was happening, even if the notoriously secretive company wasn’t revealing its hand. Goole was…well, just being Google — that is, silently ubiquitous. Apple, meanwhile, jumped in last month with their half-baked iBookstore “window” for Brazilians, but that doesn’t quite count as a proper launch.

So what is behind all this “rush to market.” Is it pursuit of the so-called “first mover advantage?”

In ebooks, first-mover advantage would seem to make a huge difference, as buyers — particularly in developing markets — are likely to commit to a single reading device and stick with it. But in Brazil, where relatively few devices are available (iPads, one Kobo, no Kindles, a few white label readers…but hundreds of millions of cell phones), it wouldn’t seem to make a difference. Well, yes, for Kobo it would. But for Amazon and Google, whose apps are available on multiple formats and, in the case of Google, every Android phone — what’s the rush? And why chase?

It all harks back to the early ebook days, when bookstores touted the increasing number of titles they had on offer like some kind of pointless Cold War escalation.

And, as Irish publisher and pundit Eoin Purcell pointed out last week and as we saw in Japan — where Amazon learned from Kobo’s mistakes — sometimes waiting on the sidelines can be an advantage (could this be B&N’s strategy in Brazil?).

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