MMP eRulebook

[Sparafucil3]

fsirlybrestricted

Someone needs more covfefe. -- jim

 

[Vinnie]

Someone needs more covfefe. -- jim

A truer word....

 

[Robin Reeve]

fsirlybrestricted

There you go Gaelic again!

 

[Robin Reeve]

Someone needs more covfefe. -- jim

Ninja'd !

 

[holdit]

If it's free, it's doing something in the background to monetize it. Nothing on the internet is Free anymore. -- jim

It's free as in it doesn't hit me in the pocket before I'm allowed to install it or keep using it, which is what people mean by "free" 99.9% of the time when talking about cost.

Of course there's something in it for the people making it. For a start, it's trying to tempt you to buy the full version, just like Adobe Reader. Fair enough. And it has an tiny ad for its online service. Again, no big deal. Maybe it's recording the types of PDF I view in order to target me with ads, but I see no evidence of that and have no issue with it anyway. My bank balance remains unaffected.

 

[holdit]

If it's just for the rulebook, consider a second hand tablet. The Fire is fsirlybrestricted to sell Amazon stuff.

I was very tempted by the Fire once upon a time, until I looked in detail at what it could actually do. No sale.

 

[Robin Reeve]

I went for Okular, which has no commercial objective.
On Android, I use Foxit - and haven't seen a lot of purchase suggestions.

 

[Sparafucil3]

It's free as in it doesn't hit me in the pocket before I'm allowed to install it or keep using it, which is what people mean by "free" 99.9% of the time when talking about cost.

Of course there's something in it for the people making it. For a start, it's trying to tempt you to buy the full version, just like Adobe Reader. Fair enough. And it has an tiny ad for its online service. Again, no big deal. Maybe it's recording the types of PDF I view in order to target me with ads, but I see no evidence of that and have no issue with it anyway. My bank balance remains unaffected.

I don't mean it as a personal affront. I took your meaning of free into account. I want to make sure others at least give a thought to what that means. Your eyeballs looking at adverts are a valuable commodity. Not just the small adverts they show in the app, but also in the real-time sales of advertisement chances (they are likely selling that small advertisement space) and the data they gather on you to other people to tailor adds and such. I would say the same thing about Facebook, Google Hangouts, Discord, Reddit, etc. -- jim

 

[von Marwitz]

My bank balance remains unaffected.

I don't mean it as a personal affront. I took your meaning of free into account. I want to make sure others at least give a thought to what that means. Your eyeballs looking at adverts are a valuable commodity. Not just the small adverts they show in the app, but also in the real-time sales of advertisement chances (they are likely selling that small advertisement space) and the data they gather on you to other people to tailor adds and such. I would say the same thing about Facebook, Google Hangouts, Discord, Reddit, etc. -- jim

Jim is absolutely correct. There is a market for such data. With the help of such data that people spread around all over the place unwittingly (from FaceBook, Instagram, WhatsApp over to all sorts of "card" transactions, the trove of sensor and meta data from your smartphones - the list could go on and on) pricing models are crafted that pull more money from your pockets that you would like to imagine. Development goes the way towards individual prices - i.e. you would pay a different price for the identical product because 'it is known' from collated data that you are willing to do so.

Knowing your preferences is one thing that does have an impact on your bank account, though you might not realize it. Every f***ing day. The price of your car? The price of your medicines? The price of all sorts of commodities? Yep, they are all affected. Heck, it might even be your parking fees. I worked for a company which is active worldwide and has by now more than 2000 employees. Such things are their business model.

Now, knowing your preferences is one thing. The other thing is manipulating your behavior to make purchase decisions which are not to your advantage. Or your political ones (Cambridge Analytica anyone?). The more data you spread, the easier you will be victimized. This works fine on an individual basis but as well even if you attempt to abstain, as you can be modeled as part of 'populations' with countless combinations of tags/characteristics which are then individually targetted.

von Marwitz

 

[Gordon]

If it's just for the rulebook, consider a second hand tablet. The Fire is fsirlybrestricted to sell Amazon stuff.

Any recommendations? I've never really used any tablets much, I stick mostly to PCs and my phone. No way I'm using my phone to try to read the rulebook one sentence at a time on the screen.

 

[von Marwitz]

Any recommendations? I've never really used any tablets much, I stick mostly to PCs and my phone. No way I'm using my phone to try to read the rulebook one sentence at a time on the screen.

Use a laptop with external TFT-display and an extended desktop (working two screens or screen/laptop-display) for your normal chores/work. Take only the laptop if you play away from your desk some FtF game for the eASLRB. A laptop does not take much more space than a tablet. You only need one device that you can use for work, VASL, and as a 'mobile electronic rulebook'.

von Marwitz

 

[holdit]

I don't mean it as a personal affront. I took your meaning of free into account. I want to make sure others at least give a thought to what that means. Your eyeballs looking at adverts are a valuable commodity. Not just the small adverts they show in the app, but also in the real-time sales of advertisement chances (they are likely selling that small advertisement space) and the data they gather on you to other people to tailor adds and such. I would say the same thing about Facebook, Google Hangouts, Discord, Reddit, etc. -- jim

I didn't take it personally; I was just irritated by what I saw as unnecessary pedantry that doesn't really add to the discussion. When people are talking about obtaining software, "free" for the vast majority means you don't have to reach for your credit card in order to obtain it. What you appear to be referring to, if it has a name, is more like Total Cost of Ownership, except it isn't even that, because purchases are voluntary. It's not like you've been given a free printer but are being fleeced on the cost of cartridges. What you're talking about is more like "having strings attached" and of course nearly everything in life comes with those.

 

[jomolungma]

Has anyone been able to have clickable links work on a Kindle Fire? My PDF opens with the Kindle app, and links don't seem to take me anywhere. Course, given how the Kindle interface changes monthly, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

edit - apparently one can convert pdfs to Kindle format by attaching the pdf to an email that one sends to one's Kindle. Problem is, the ASLRB is bigger than Gmail can attach directly, so Gmail sends it as a Google Drive link which... probably doesn't get picked up by Amazon for conversion. But we'll see, maybe we get lucky.

I backdoored the Google Play store onto my Fire HD10 a while ago. There are a number of PDF apps in the Google Play store, including Foxit, that handle the eRB quite easily. I haven't checked, but Adobe Reader might be available just in the Kindle App store itself, and it works fine. It sounds like you don't have an issue getting it onto your Fire, but in case anyone else is interested - there are a number of file managers available on Google Play (haven't checked the Amazon App store) that will allow you to connect to a Windows 10 box through SMB, allowing you to file share anything from your Windows 10 PC to your Fire on a LAN. You can also just plug your Fire into your PC

 

[holdit]

Jim is absolutely correct. There is a market for such data. With the help of such data that people spread around all over the place unwittingly (from FaceBook, Instagram, WhatsApp over to all sorts of "card" transactions, the trove of sensor and meta data from your smartphones - the list could go on and on) pricing models are crafted that pull more money from your pockets that you would like to imagine. Development goes the way towards individual prices - i.e. you would pay a different price for the identical product because 'it is known' from collated data that you are willing to do so.

See what I said above about strings attached.

Knowing your preferences is one thing that does have an impact on your bank account, though you might not realize it. Every f***ing day. The price of your car? The price of your medicines? The price of all sorts of commodities? Yep, they are all affected. Heck, it might even be your parking fees. I worked for a company which is active worldwide and has by now more than 2000 employees. Such things are their business model.

This is reaching so far I think you just left the solar system. We're talking about the up-front cost of obtaining a software utility, for crying out loud.

Now, knowing your preferences is one thing. The other thing is manipulating your behavior to make purchase decisions which are not to your advantage. Or your political ones (Cambridge Analytica anyone?). The more data you spread, the easier you will be victimized. This works fine on an individual basis but as well even if you attempt to abstain, as you can be modeled as part of 'populations' with countless combinations of tags/characteristics which are then individually targetted.

Shrug I'd say anyone getting their important information from social media is already screwed in that respect. One more contribution isn't going to make a lot of difference.

 

[Sparafucil3]

I was just irritated by what I saw as unnecessary pedantry that doesn't really add to the discussion.

I guess we agree to disagree. If not in a thread where the product is being discussed then where? -- jim

 

[jomolungma]

I was very tempted by the Fire once upon a time, until I looked in detail at what it could actually do. No sale.

For me, the Kindle Fire is the greatest device I own, and I own a lot of devices. They are constantly on sale on Amazon. I got a brand new, latest generation HD10 for $60. It's currently on sale for $95. Yes, this is the "with special offers version" but who cares? So my Fire has an ad on the lock screen. It functions perfectly fine otherwise.

So, for my $60 - which, btw, Amazon allows you to pay interest free over multiple payments if you so choose - I get a gorgeous 10" tablet that is 1) a great Kindle for books, 2) a GREAT Kindle for magazines, 3) a handy, ultra-portable TV, 4) a home automation device when I have it docked in Show mode, 4) a web browser, 5) and many many many more things. I mean, seriously, it is amazing that Amazon sells this thing so cheap. Of course they are trying to cross-sell you on all their content, but I already subscribe to Prime and so it's a no-brainer. And while the Amazon app store is extremely limited, you can backload Google Play in four incredibly easy steps and have full access to the Google Play store. I haven't run across an app from that store that hasn't yet worked on my tablet. It has expandable storage, as well. It's not even my primary device, it was just so damn cheap and I continue to find ways it is useful. I even use it as an external dashboard when I do simracing using SimHub. Yes, it's not the fastest tablet out there. But it is absolutely fine for what I use it for. Just a great device.

 

[holdit]

I guess we agree to disagree. If not in a thread where the product is being discussed then where? -- jim

A more general discussion about Internet marketing.

 

[jomolungma]

Now, knowing your preferences is one thing. The other thing is manipulating your behavior to make purchase decisions which are not to your advantage. Or your political ones (Cambridge Analytica anyone?). The more data you spread, the easier you will be victimized. This works fine on an individual basis but as well even if you attempt to abstain, as you can be modeled as part of 'populations' with countless combinations of tags/characteristics which are then individually targetted.

von Marwitz

I don't really want to get bogged down in this conversation, but I do want to just address this one paragraph. If you engage in any way with the digital world today, you are immediately compromised in more ways than you can possibly comprehend. And once you take that step, unwinding it all is pretty much impossible. So buyer beware on everything. You really can only escape it if you live off the grid. I will give a very quick example using Google Analytics. Many many many websites use Google Analytics. Android phones use Google Analytics. If you have an Android phone and visit a website that uses Google Analytics, that website and your phone will pretty much instantly know every piece of personal metadata on your phone and every piece of personal metadata from EVERY Google Analytics website you've EVER visited. When you go to a Google Analytics website that has dynamic ads driven by the Google Analytics engine, it will take ALL of that data to determine the most effective ad for your specific eyeballs. And it could change daily as it updates your data record with additional behavior.

This is just modern reality. Not going to opine on whether it is right or appropriate or anything, but it just is reality today.

 

[holdit]

For me, the Kindle Fire is the greatest device I own, and I own a lot of devices. They are constantly on sale on Amazon. I got a brand new, latest generation HD10 for $60. It's currently on sale for $95. Yes, this is the "with special offers version" but who cares? So my Fire has an ad on the lock screen. It functions perfectly fine otherwise.

So, for my $60 - which, btw, Amazon allows you to pay interest free over multiple payments if you so choose - I get a gorgeous 10" tablet that is 1) a great Kindle for books, 2) a GREAT Kindle for magazines, 3) a handy, ultra-portable TV, 4) a home automation device when I have it docked in Show mode, 4) a web browser, 5) and many many many more things. I mean, seriously, it is amazing that Amazon sells this thing so cheap. Of course they are trying to cross-sell you on all their content, but I already subscribe to Prime and so it's a no-brainer. And while the Amazon app store is extremely limited, you can backload Google Play in four incredibly easy steps and have full access to the Google Play store. I haven't run across an app from that store that hasn't yet worked on my tablet. It has expandable storage, as well. It's not even my primary device, it was just so damn cheap and I continue to find ways it is useful. I even use it as an external dashboard when I do simracing using SimHub. Yes, it's not the fastest tablet out there. But it is absolutely fine for what I use it for. Just a great device.

Stop advertising at me! Jim and von Marwitz are on to you...

Seriously, though, I have to put my hands up and say that I can't remember what aspects of the Fire's functionality turned me off, but it was a few years ago so maybe there have been some changes. The only thing that jumps out at me is that my phone already does most of those things, albeit with a smaller screen.

 

[Houlie]

I don't mean it as a personal affront. I took your meaning of free into account. I want to make sure others at least give a thought to what that means. Your eyeballs looking at adverts are a valuable commodity. Not just the small adverts they show in the app, but also in the real-time sales of advertisement chances (they are likely selling that small advertisement space) and the data they gather on you to other people to tailor adds and such. I would say the same thing about Facebook, Google Hangouts, Discord, Reddit, etc. -- jim

The documentary "The Social Dilema" on Netflix is eye-opening on the monetization of internet activity -- and the human "cost" of social media and its impact on our kids. I highly recommend it. Many who I have listened to who have seen it have been completely unaware of what goes on behind the scenes. Jim's point is simply a thoughtful reminder.