Day: March 12, 2021

Amazon’s monopoly is squeezing your public library, too – The Washington Post

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. Its monopoly is stopping public libraries from lending e-books and audiobooks from Mindy Kaling, Dean Koontz, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Trevor Noah, Andy Weir, Michael Pollan and a whole lot more Listen to article 10 min (Andrea Chronopoulos for The Washington Post) By Geoffrey A. Fowler Technology columnist March 10, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST

Amazon’s monopoly is squeezing your public library, too – The Washington Post\

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Sounds like this might draw some anti-trust action!

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NEWJERSEY: State Gooferment goes rogue

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https://bearingarms.com/ba-contributor/2021/03/10/nj-man-arrested-unlawful-possession-breaks-no-laws-n41980

NJ Man Arrested for Unlawful Gun Possession, Breaks No Laws
By Bearing Arms Contributor | Mar 10, 2021 9:00 PM ET

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With last year’s U.S. Supreme Court mooting the NYSRPC v. City of New York case and rejecting to hear a dozen other 2A cases — many of which dealt with the right to carry firearms outside the home — the legal issue of possession of firearms outside the home remains a battle. But if states like New Jersey wish to lean on the narrow provisions pronounced in Heller and McDonald, then they should not be allowed to arrest honest citizens for having arms within their residences as specifically protected under Heller and McDonald.

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I’m not surprised.  It’s the bluest of blue states where the elite hates liberty.

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NOTRECOMMENDED: Google Pay

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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/the-new-google-pay-repeats-all-the-same-mistakes-of-google-allo/

PLEASE STOP —
The new Google Pay repeats all the same mistakes of Google Allo
For P2P users, the new app has fewer features, is less convenient, and has more fees.
RON AMADEO – 3/7/2021, 9:30 AM
 

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For long-term Google users, the new Google Pay is yet another annoying transition they’ll have to explain to friends and family. This is an occurrence that’s getting more frequent and more annoying in recent years, thanks to similar Google shutdowns of Google Play Music, Cloud Print, Inbox, Works with Nest, the ongoing Hangouts situation, and many others. That’s to say nothing of the crazy history of this payment service, which used to be Google Wallet, then Android Pay, then Google Pay, and now it’s a totally different Google Pay. Just like we’ve been through a million times now, some people won’t think this is a big deal because their use case is supported on the new product, while for other people, the new Google Pay will be a much bigger deal, because their use cases will be ripped-out from under them and no longer supported.

The worst part of it all is that, like the move from Google Music to YouTube Music, there is no reward at the end of this transition. Google is blowing stuff up and making users switch apps and set things up again only because of internal politics and infrastructure concerns. There aren’t any great new features to sell people on—it’s just Google’s constantly shifting priorities reaching into your life to remind you, “This is what being a Google user is like now. You’d better keep up!” It gets exhausting.

There is one new feature in the new Google Pay. I swear I’m not making this up: new Google Pay is yet another Google messaging app! Once you add someone via their phone number, the three options are “Pay,” “Request,” and “Message.” The “Message” option will bring up a full messaging app with the usual back and forth replies, push notifications, and emoji support. You can even start a group chat!

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Luckily, I never got into Google Pay. And, I dropped Google Fi for Altice’s unlimited mobile offering.

YMMV

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