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Amazon yielded to the inevitable on Friday when it announced (in this statement) that it would no longer enable the text-to-speech feature on its Kindle 2 e-book reader by default; publishers can make the call.

Instead, publishers may enable the text-to-speech feature on a title-by-title basis, if they believe that choice is in their best interest.

I have been sorely tempted to write a response to some of the factually incorrect and even grossly deceitful pieces I've seen written about this issue since the Kindle 2 was launched, but fortunately, Amazon has made that unnecessary. Nevertheless, there are still … Read more

Amazon chose to keep secret from much of the publishing sector the text-to-speech feature built into the Kindle 2.

Instead, Amazon sprung the feature on publishers and the retailer is now taking public-relations hits that it might have avoided if it hadn't been so tight lipped.

Following the debut of the Kindle 2, the 9,000-member Authors Guild claimed text-to-speech created a derivative work and violated copyright. Paul Aiken, the guild's executive director said many publishers were also angered over the speech function, adding that Amazon never consulted beforehand with either of those groups. Amazon responded Friday by … Read more

Apparently, Amazon won't fight the publishing industry on the issue of whether the Kindle 2's text-to-speech function violates copyright.

The retailer, which makes the popular Kindle electronic-book reader, announced late Friday that the company is modifying systems to allow authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis.

Amazon began its press release with tough talk. "Kindle 2's experimental text-to-speech feature is legal," Amazon wrote. "No copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given."

But then the company says: "… Read more

Executives at the Authors Guild say the text-to-speech feature in Amazon's Kindle 2 could hurt sales of audio books. Not all of the experts agree, including the guild's.

Andy Aaron, an expert on text-to-speech technology, recently commented in an interview about how much such systems have advanced. In an op-ed piece published Tuesday in the The New York Times titled "The Kindle Swindle?" Roy Blount Jr., president of the Authors Guild, used Aaron's quotes to support his argument that the Kindle's voice feature could threaten the future of audio books.

But when asked to … Read more

A friend of mine recently showed me a text message from her boyfriend. "I luv u," it said. As she cooed over his ability to access his deepest feelings, I wondered whether he might access the deeper fact that three fewer letters do not make the romance greater.

However, there is now vast hope for all those who send texts with stunted spellings. And for their children.

Researchers at Coventry University in the United Kingdom decided to test whether those who are stunted texters really are literate-lite.

The academics' paper, published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, … Read more

From Fox and Friends, Clayton Morris joins us again today to talk about how to survive a shark attack by punching the killer fish, while Wilson tells you not to go in the water when you're on your monthly cycle. (Hint: piranhas are vampire lesbians.) Anyway, Wilson G. Tang here--your other favorite Asian podcaster--taking over for a Mr. Justin Yu for all your regularly scheduled blog posts. I can only hope to be half as funny as J. Yu, but I will certainly try.

In the meantime, we wax poetic about Facebook's changes in its terms of service. … Read more

The best way to get from one place to another here in New York, where I'm on a business trip, is to walk. Except that walking has become increasingly hazardous.

It's not the nastily dressed business folks who come up behind you and insist on brushing your shoulder as they waft to another interesting appointment. It's the people walking straight at you, typing into their BlackBerry. (My statistically insignificant research showed 75 percent were BlackBerry users. You know, men in cashmere coats and tasseled loafers.)

It happened to me the first time just outside a Cellulite Center … Read more

It was math. It was, no doubt, more opaque than the truth about A-Rod. So a 14-year-old Wisconsin girl texted away.

Until she was taken away.

She was confronted by a school security officer at Wauwatosa High School, after she had ignored the math teacher's request to look at numbers instead of texting them.

At first, according to the police report, she denied having a phone. However, two of her class mates declared that this was not true. The phone, a Samsung Cricket, was then recovered from her person. From "the buttocks area," to be precise.

She was cited for disorderly conduct … Read more

Message Systems, a company that offers message management platforms for carriers and ISPs, announced the launch of its first message management service that "combats the transmission of illegal and inappropriate images sent via email and wireless messaging." According to the company, the tool will use image recognition software developed by Image Analyzer to provide ISPs and mobile carriers with better knowledge about what's being transmitted over their networks.

Detecting illegal and illicit images has been difficult for ISPs and mobile carriers, Message Systems said in a statement. But with the help of Image Analyzer's technology, ISPs … Read more