Apple patents autographs. Checkmate, eBay Apple, for some reason, has decided it wants to make the process of getting a book autographed even more sterile and impersonal than before. The Cupertino giant was granted a patent on Tuesday covering a method by which an author can digitally sign his or her autograph onto readers' copies of e-books. Yes, it seems that the …
So... I can go to Waterstones, speak to Terrry Pratchett and then have a personalised signature in my book.
Or, I can download a predefined signature that is meaningless. This does not make an ebook closer to a paper book. It makes the differences stick out even more!
(Disclaimer, I love ebooks for travelling, but for reading at home it doesn't come close to going to the library of books, browsing and selecting one.)
" I love ebooks for travelling, but for reading at home it doesn't come close to going to the library of books, browsing and selecting one."
I finally unpacked the boxes of books yesterday that had been in storage for the last four years while we moved around (I had kept some with me during the last three moves, but it has been mainly ebooks during that time). I now have something like 12 metres of fiction* lining the walls of my study again, and it feels far better than I ever though it would! I had to keep popping back in the the room just to look at the loveliness of my library, and deciding what I'm going to read over the next few weeks!
*Factual and text-books still have to be unpacked.
Ok, I'm jealous! We have about 7m of book cases about 2.5m heigh and a few book shelves in other rooms for those that don't fit. Always on the look out for new books :-)
Just browsing, reading a few passages from a few books before picking one is so much better than swiping through lists on an ereader...
Next you'll tell me that my MP3 of 4'33" is the same as any other blob of zeroes.
Of course, I just make authors I like digitally sign my e-books with their GPG key.
..is the F'in point??? You get an autograph to make your book more valuable ro to show it to friends when they happen to be admiring your bookcase whilst waiting for dinner to be cooked.
Who the hell is going to be impressed by something that can't be sold because of DRM and everyone else has too. I know personalised autographs are fround upon by collectors but un personalised ones like this that everyone has, that all look EXACTLY the same are completely pointless.
Well, as i see it Apple doesn't really care if the electronic autograph will become popular or not, but *if* it does they have first dibs on it.
This looks like a "grab what you can" because if you don't then someone else will eventually.
Not so much to do with what they patent, more to do with having a decent sized patent portfolio.
Agree that this one is pretty dumb
I guess the technology might have a use, but this use doesn't even come close to matching the meaning of a signed physical book. In the physical case, the signature means that you were in the presence of the Great One and that they actually held the book in their hands.
A bit more meaningful than a spammed signature, I think.
Unless I'm just some kind of luddite, I don't see how this would ever replace or have the same meaning as a physical object that has actually been in contact with the person who originated it.
If anything it highlights how value-less ebooks are and how they are a convenience not an object of desire. It's not like you're even able to pass the things on in an inheritance (unless that has changed recently).
What would be more valuable is a facebook/xbox acheivements type site which can only be updated via a keyring with nfc. Swipe the key near your idol's tablet/phone and said idol then draws a doodle which is then submitted to the site and shows up as a verified contact with that person. The idol can choose to just copy and paste a signature if they want to but it gives them the freedom to dedicate and personalise it too, which is where the real value in autographs comes in. The hunters then have a place where they can show off their collections and possibly even trade digitally with other collectors. Problem solved.
Unless I'm just some kind of luddite, I don't see how this would ever replace or have the same meaning as a physical object that has actually been in contact with the person who originated it.
O Walter Benjamin, where are you when we need you?
"I imagine it would have some value if the author was troubled to paint each autograph uniquely prior to upload. That could certainly be a technical possibility that could be enforced."
And there already exists suitable technology1 to get a 'proper' autograph in electronic form: Touch screen devices - preferably with a stylus, but I suppose with a little practice authors could develop a finger-written autograph.
So perhaps a better solution would be to develop e-readers so that they could go into 'signature' mode, whereby the device can be signed on screen and that signature (image produced by the author signing the device) added to the file so that it's always displayed at the start of the book.
As I said, the technology for accepting signatures this way already exists in software - and the hardware clearly already exists. My idea is purely to implement this in e-reader software - so, come on Amazon, Google, Nook et al, piss on Apple's fire by doing a better job with this idea.
Just don't patent my idea and claim you invented it, you greedy, thieving bastards!
1. The most commonly recognised implementation, I'd guess, is the PDA and stylus combo carried around by some delivery drivers - instead of signing a piece of paper, the person accepting the delivery signs on the stylus2.
2. Based on my own efforts, though, the big flaw seems to be producing a signature on those things that is anything like the real thing. :)
While others are busy trying to create new uses for technology which actually have some tangible benefit, Apple come up with something completely pointless which will no doubt be labelled by fanbois as ground breaking. Colour me surprised. And cue the fawning BBC coverage.
Years ago, an area manager at a well known telecomms company whinged that he was supposed to sign every bit of paper that went across his desk.
Me, being a 'redeployee' at the time (see under Zero hour contract), I was doing office stuff and had a chat with his P.A..
When he got in the next day all his doc templates had a field to insert an image file of his signature.
(yes, there were one or two orders faxed here and there - a mini BOFH)
Is this not autographing automatically -- and over 20 years ago?
The way that the US works, is that this is going to have to be challenged in court, by interested parties. Until then, this stupidity stands.
As an author who has just spent a while sat here signing books ... the signature is more than just a signature. There's a personal bit from me, to each person who I've signed the books to as well.
To me, this patent isn't worth the paper its printed on. Oh... wait...
"As an author who has just spent a while sat here signing books ... the signature is more than just a signature. There's a personal bit from me, to each person who I've signed the books to as well."
Couldn't agree more. I always buy the wife a selection of 'real' books for Christmas. A few years ago I came across an autobiography by Ricky Tomlinson and it looked interesting. I purchased the signed one over the unsigned one as it was a little more personal.
Most books are passed on in swaps or donations, however Rickys is still here.
is not an autograph. But then, there are many, many people, who believe the word of Apple. It's relatively easy to make them believe and repeat to all around them, that the digital autograph is the way to go man! And they will pay (which is the whole point here).
Sigh. There's value in anything that anyone assigns value to. Value is not some magical essence attached ab initio to entities; it's a subjective quality associated with them by observers. And Apple has a pretty good track record in convincing people to assign value to things.
That said, this looks like a non-starter to me.
Actually, what this is is a digital bookplate, something book owners use when a) they don't want to have the book itself defaced or 2) The author cannot be present for a promised signing.
I once attended a signing by Joe Haldeman that took place via Skype owing to illness, and he had kindly provided pre-signed bookplates to the organizer as a next-best option.
No, it wasn't the same as meeting him in person and getting him to deface my books.
The digital version does recapitulate a discussion I had with Charles Stross some years back when he was in New York and was hot for all things digital (pre iPad, to give you a feel for the years gone away).
I wonder how he feels about it all now people want his books with his name on them?
Piss on Apple. A long, steaming-as-it-hits-the-snow Asparagus scented piss.
I have to hand it to them - they took the Xerox Star and in no time at all raised it up to a consumer platform. Likewise they've taken the corporate assholery of their forebears - Microsoft, DEC, IBM and Novell - and recreated it as an art form of consumer abuse. Steve jong-Il would be proud.
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