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Welcome to ConsortiumInfo.org
Friday, February 03 2012 @ 07:48 PM PST
Friday, February 03 2012 @ 08:16 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 109
 This series highlights aspects of my experience self-publishing The Alexandria Project. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). And you can read a new chapter of its sequel every Monday here.
 This week we’ll talk about how to come up with the “right” price for your book in each of the formats in which you plan to make it available (eBook, soft, and/or hardcover). By “right” price, I mean a price that will make more, rather than fewer, people actually buy your book. My challenge will be to convince you that the title you see above makes sense.
But first, let’s cover the basics – how the pricing process works, and the factors that may put a floor under your book price.
Monday, January 30 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 687
 Welcome to the sequel to The Alexandria Project, a cybersecurity thriller. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). You can read a new chapter of The Lafayette Deception here every Monday.
 “That’s right, Vicky. Simple as that. So can you guys take it from here?”
“Sure thing, Frank. No problem, and great work!”
In fact, it hadn’t been great work that had finally allowed him to crack the mystery of the flipping poll numbers. Just greater attention to detail. Once he had spotted the few extra bytes of code in the server’s time check code he knew that he’d found the chink in the system’s armor that the hacker had exploited. After that, it had been relatively easy to figure out what happened next.
Settling back in his chair, he stared out across the magnificent void of the Grand Canyon, and then smiled wryly. Not quite a perfect metaphor for his state of mind, but it would do. He felt good about cracking the problem he had been tasked to solve, yes, but now what? Suddenly he was at loose ends again, with nothing to fill his time except the fading goal of writing a book.
Friday, January 27 2012 @ 06:38 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 1,063
This series highlights aspects of my experience self-publishing The Alexandria Project. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). And you can read a new chapter of its sequel every Monday here.
 Last week we talked about how to design covers for books - eBooks, soft cover books and hard cover books. If you've written a book, or are thinking of writing one, odds are good that you’ve already spent some time thinking (or worrying) about what the covers of your book should look like. But how about the interior of your magnum opus? Odds are also good that this isn't something that has engaged you yet at all. If so, that’s a shame, because how well the interior of your book is designed will have a major impact on what people think of your work when they read it. If it looks professional, you'll look professional. But if it looks like your local library newsletter, then readers aren't likely to take your work seriously, because it will look so, well, "self published."
Monday, January 23 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 795
Welcome to the sequel to The Alexandria Project, a cybersecurity thriller. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). You can read a new chapter of The Lafayette Deception here every Monday.
 Frank was puffing his way up the dirt road leading away from the canyon rim, focusing on his breathing. He’d actually lost five pounds in the first week of his new regime, and had also progressed from walking fast to alternating walking with short bursts of labored jogging. The near-term goal he was now focusing on was to reach the point where his jogging interludes were longer than his walking ones.
He hadn’t been as successful on the technical front. Despite the revelation that whatever had been interfering with data on his server hadn’t affected the same data on his laptop, he was still struggling to figure out why. Worse, when he had tried the same exercise a second time, the data on his laptop did flip. But what had changed? Had he done something different the first time without realizing it, or was there a vital clue that he was missing?
Friday, January 20 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 1,290
This series highlights aspects of my experience self-publishing The Alexandria Project. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). And you can read a new chapter of its sequel every Monday here.
 If your publishing progress has been keeping step with this series, you’ve now not only got the text of book all ready to go, but you’ve decided on how you’re going to bring it to market (POD, Google eBooks, or whatever) as well. So your next set of tasks revolves around this question: what would you like your masterpiece to look like?
There are two main parts to this step: coming up with the cover design, and laying out the interior design. Those are both big topics, so this week we'll tackle cover design, and turn to interiors next time around.
So how do you go about coming up with covers that you can be proud of? Note that I say “covers,” because you’ll need up to three, depending on how many formats you want to bring to market. They are:
Monday, January 16 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 778
Welcome to the sequel to The Alexandria Project, a cybersecurity thriller. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). You can read a new chapter of The Lafayette Deception here every Monday.
 Frank was sitting inside his camper, a bowl of diet popcorn at one elbow and a small dumbbell at the other. The elbow next to the popcorn was getting most of the exercise. On the opposite side of the camper hung a large flat screen TV, and on that set the latest, pre-primary season Republican debate was about to begin.
Like many other Americans, and indeed like a surprising number of satellite viewers around the world, Frank was curious to see how Lamar Wellhead, the latest entrant to the Republican field, would fare in his first performance under the scrutiny of the public and the national media. As usual, he had rocketed to the top of the polls within days of announcing his candidacy, but few besides Frank knew that this was almost certainly a manufactured illusion.
Friday, January 13 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 1,429
This series highlights aspects of my experience self-publishing The Alexandria Project. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). And you can read a new chapter of its sequel every Monday here.
 For the last several weeks we've looked at how the various types of PODs differ in their business models and in the services they offer. We've also looked at the importance of ensuring that your goals align as well as possible with the POD you eventually select. This week we'll use that background to construct a decision tree and question list you can use to find the POD that's best for you. I'll also suggest (from painful experience) how you can avoid some of the problems I've encountered.
As you'll recall, some of the ways in which PODs differ include price, personal service level, range of services offered, ability to place your book into all channels, and ability to make hard copies as well as eBook copies available. If all of those capabilities are of importance you, then you'll want to look at one set of PODs. But if not all of them matter to you, then you may decide to limit your review to a far smaller set of candidates. Given how many businesses have jumped into this pool, anything you can do to narrow the field will be a time saver.
Monday, January 09 2012 @ 04:30 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 818
Welcome to the sequel to The Alexandria Project, a cybersecurity thriller. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). You can read a new chapter of The Lafayette Deception here every Monday.
 Frank was only a couple hundred yards from his camper, but already he was gasping for breath. He wanted to blame the 8,000 foot elevation of the North Rim, but suspected he couldn’t pin all of his distress on the thin air. After all, he hadn’t engaged in anything more strenuous than a fast walk since high school. And he hadn’t been in great shape then, either.
He lurched to a halt and leaned forward, hands on his knees, gulping in the cold, clear air of the morning. Surely this was hopeless. What had he been thinking?
Friday, January 06 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 909
This series highlights aspects of my experience self-publishing The Alexandria Project. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). And you can read a new chapter of its sequel every Monday here.
 Last week we looked at how Amazon, Apple and Google make money by working with self-published authors, what they do for them in return, and what that means for you. As promised, this week we'll take the same kind of look at the myriad POD outfits that provide a wider range of services.
As you'll recall, Amazon, Apple and Google each have quite different motivations, based on the significant differences in their overall business models. One result of the fact that self-published authors generate a very small part of the revenues of each of these companies is that each offers very few services in return, and most or all of those services are automated. Another is that none of the three companies has an incentive to make it easy for a self-published author to sell through any of its competitor. Indeed, quite the opposite.
In contrast, for most POD publishers, helping you get your book to market in every logical distribution channel is their only business. So that should be good, right? Well, yes and no. Here's why.
Monday, January 02 2012 @ 12:01 AM PST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 1,299
Welcome to the sequel to The Alexandria Project, a cybersecurity thriller. If you'd like to read the book this series is based on, you can read the first three chapters for free here (just click on the cover of the book). You can read a new chapter of The Lafayette Deception here every Monday.
 Frank gazed out over the immeasurably vast canyon that stretched for miles before him, bedazzled by the silent, bright sunlight of an early autumn morning. The enormity of the view was so overwhelming that the infinitely crenellated details of mesa and river, cliff and spire seemed dimensionless and unreal.
It was unusual for him to sit so placidly for so long. Usually he would notice an internal flaw of logic in some random thought passing through his mind, setting his brain in motion until the underlying, disharmonious concept had been identified, the random thought properly rephrased, and the result mentally stamped as ‘resolved.’ Or perhaps some inscrutable object or action would catch his eye, presenting a puzzle that needed solving before his mind would permit his eye to move on.
But not today.
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ABOUT THE
STANDARDS BLOG
There are over 1,000,000 supported standards, with more being developed all the time. The Standards Blog examines how standards are developed, and their impact on business, society, and the future. This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. GU is an internationally recognized leader in creating and representing the organizations that create and promote standards and open source software. The opinions expressed in The Standards Blog are those of Andy Updegrove alone, and not necessarily those of GU. Please see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for this site, which appear here.
Quote of the Day“ I see this as just one more bit of proof that LibreOffice, not OpenOffice, represents the future of open-source office suites” -Journalist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, commenting on IBM's announcement that it will abandon support for Symphony in favor of Apache OpenOffice See all Quotes
Latest NewsANSI Accreditation to Support Smart Grid Testing and Certification FrameworkANSI.org February 3, 2012 - The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system, is playing a key role in the national push for a robust, reliable, and interoperable smart grid for the United States....
Taking the next step forward in the grid’s development, the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP)...released today version 2.0 of the testing and certification framework for the North American electric power industry. Developed with input from ANSI, the framework lays out a plan to enhance the quality of secure and interoperable smart grid products and significantly reduce their installation cost in the smart grid....ANSI has committed to support the implementation of the IPRM Framework as an internationally recognized accrediting organization.
ANSI accreditation offers a formal, third-party process for review and recognition of certification programs.... ...Full StoryIETF closer to finalizing ID standard to secure mobile apps, APIs
John Fontana
ZDNet/Identity February 2, 2012 - By | January 23, 2012, 11:52am PST
Summary: OAuth 2.0, a key framework for securing native mobile applications and APIs, Monday moved a step from being declared an official Internet Engineering Task Force standard. The authentication/authorization framework, which aids in cloud security, lays out an identity access token exchange in lieu of username and password....The IETF is also working on standards to join OAuth 2.0 and the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) that is popular today in enterprise identity management installations and single sign-on between enterprises and software-as-a-service and other applications. ...Full Story Google's SPDY Incorporated Into Next-Gen HTML, Offers TCP Enhancements
Joel Hruska
Hot Hardware February 1, 2012 - Google's efforts to improve Internet efficiency through the development of the SPDY (pronounced "speedy") protocol got a major boost today when the chairman of the HTTP Working Group (HTTPbis), Mark Nottingham, called for it to be included in the HTTP 2.0 standard. SPDY is a protocol that's already used to a certain degree online; formal incorporation into the next-generation standard would improve its chances of being generally adopted.
SPDY's goal is to reduce web page load times through the use of header compression, packet prioritization, and multiplexing (meaning combining multiple requests into a single connection). By default, a web browser opens an individual connection for each and every page request, which can lead to tremendous inefficiencies....Google has also fielded a proposal to accelerate and streamline the venerable TCP protocol.... ...Full Story New Industry Collaboration Validates Need for Automated Demand Response Systems
Press Release
Z-Wave Alliance/Open ADR February 1, 2012 - The Z-Wave Alliance, the world's largest ecosystem of interoperable wireless control solutions, and OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of a Smart Grid standard known as Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), today announced from DistribuTECH (Booth #1627) the signing of a liaison agreement to collaborate on compliance and interoperability programs to ensure successful market deployment of the OpenADR 2.0 standard....Z-Wave is an international standard for low-power RF mesh network communication and is used for building area communications enabling products such as; gateways, thermostats, lighting controls, window and shade controls, home energy displays, smart appliances and load controls to form intelligent networks. Z-Wave enabled products represent the world's largest ecosystem of interoperable smart products. ...Full Story IBM to close down Symphony, its OpenOffice fork
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
ZDNet January 31, 2012 - In a brief note, Ed Brill, an IBM product line manager, announced that IBM has likely seen its last release of Symphony, its OpenOffice fork....
In his blog posting, Brill wrote:...This will also likely be the last release of IBM’s own fork of the OpenOffice codebase. Our energy from here is going into the Apache OpenOffice project, and we expect to distribute an “IBM edition” of Apache OpenOffice in the future. We have contributed the Lotus Symphony code into the OpenOffice project, along with human resource across development/product management/marketing organizations....What does this mean for users? If you’re a Symphony user, I see little reason to worry. Call it Symphony or call it Apache OpenOffice the IBM Edition, you’ll still have IBM office suite support. For other suite users, I see this as just one more bit of proof that LibreOffice, not OpenOffice, represents the future of open-source office suites. ...Full Story EU draft guide standards and procurement aims to reduce vendor lock-in
EC Joinup January 31, 2012 - "The appropriate use of standards will help alleviate lock-in", says a draft guideline prepared for the European Commission, on the link between ICT standardisation and public procurement....According to a survey done in preparation to the guideline, around 40 per cent of public administrations report some degree of vendor lock-in. "This can prevent authorities from switching to optimal solutions and making best use of public funds."
IT systems designed for citizens’ use that are based on proprietary technologies which cannot be implemented by competitors, will restrict the choice that citizens have in the way they interact with the public authority, the guide explains. "For example, a public website that can only be accessed through a specific Web browser will oblige citizens to use that specific browser. This can have a number of undesirable effects, including limiting competition in the ICT market."
Symptoms of lock-in include the use of specific brand names of products in tender descriptions and requests for backward compatibility with proprietary systems, of which only a few suppliers have knowledge. These practices can limit competition in the IT market.... ...Full Story Open public data can drive growth in all sectors
Guardian.co.uk January 31, 2012 - Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude recently argued that access to data can curb public spending; but it should also be an integral part of a more ambitious growth agenda for the UK....
The autumn statement, which announced the Open Data Institute, demonstrated the government's idea that public data – produced, collected or paid for by public bodies – can deliver economic and societal benefits.
The European Commission also published its open data strategy in December....Widening access to public data, regardless of origin or volume, is a necessary first step towards deriving insights to guide policy decisions and create business opportunities.... ...Full Story France launches open data portal
The H Open January 31, 2012 - France has launched a beta version of an open data portal under the domain data.gouv....the web site, which launched on 5 December 2011, makes government data available to the public free of charge and without restrictions. The portal currently provides access to around 350,000 government records,...The data published at data.gouv.fr is released under an open licence (License Ouverte)French language link which allows the data to be used for any purpose....Businesses, researchers and citizens are being called upon to develop new uses for this public data.
The objective of the initiative is to increase transparency at government agencies by providing the public with access to the data that the government uses as the basis for its decision making.... ...Full Story How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books
Ed Bott
ZDNet January 30, 2012 - Apple has built its iBooks platform on the back of an open standard. With last week’s introduction of iBooks 2.0 and the free iBooks Author software for Mac OS X, Apple is deliberately locking out that popular open standard....If you read, write, or publish digital books, you should be concerned.... ...Full Story Leading Email Senders and Providers to Combat Email Phishing through DMARC.org
Press Release
DMARC.org January 30, 2012 - Fifteen leading email service and technology providers are today announcing DMARC.org, a technical working group that has been developing standards for reducing the threat of deceptive emails, such as spam and phishing. DMARC.org draws upon a history of private industry collaboration with 18 months of dedicated work, to outline an enhanced vision for email authentication that can scale up to today's Internet needs. The group's work includes a draft specification that helps create a feedback loop between legitimate email senders and receivers to make impersonation more difficult for phishers trying to send fraudulent email....The DMARC specification addresses concerns that have traditionally hindered widespread deployment of an authenticated, trusted email ecosystem. Today, email receivers lack a reliable way to know the extent to which an email sender uses standards like SPF and DKIM for authenticating their messages. As a result, providers must rely on complex and imperfect measurements to separate legitimate unauthenticated messages sent by the domain owner from fraudulent phishing messages sent by a scammer.
By introducing a standards-based framework, DMARC has defined a more comprehensive and integrated way for email senders to introduce email authentication technologies into their infrastructure. For example, a sender could set policies to easily request a provider to discard unauthenticated email in order to block phishing attacks. The specification also creates a mechanism for email providers to send detailed reports back to email senders to help catch any gaps in the authentication system. This feedback loop raises the trust level within the email ecosystem and makes it easier to detect and stop phishing attempts....After gathering data and input from field usage of the technology, DMARC.org intends to submit its DMARC specification to the IETF for standardization. Interested organizations are encouraged to read the specification, join the dmarc-discuss mailing list at www.dmarc.org, and begin testing and deploying email authentication standards SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.... ...Full Story
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