People are talking about podcasts created by NotebookLM. We are astounded at how the two people discuss any topic we want, in such a natural dialog. The male voice sounds like a mild version of Howard Stern, and the female voice reminds me of…not sure. On the other hand, we complain that the voices are always the same, the speed and delivery also the same.
Google has another tool that lets you have more control over the output. Marc Watkins explains.
Right now you can write a prompt or link to a webpage for input, and select voices and dialog register (formality). Still no speed settings.
A faithful historic rendition of the years Thomas Cromwell rises to power first under Cardinal Wolsey, then King Henry VIII. This account is the first of a trilogy, now finished, with the first two winning the Booker Prize. An acclaimed BBC mini-series brings the book even more to life. A story for all ages, reviewed in the Guardian and NYTimes, here a couple of takes on issues at the edge of the story: the printing of books and paper notes.
You get a really good picture of life in 1530s England under Henry VIII and his court with this book. Court politics aside, money and banking aside (both ample topics), we get a glimpse of how the printing press, tied to Luther and Protestantism, is infiltrating and changing England and Europe.
Cardinal Wolsey sees this early on and gains power and wealth by decommissioning monasteries, mostly full of corrupt monks, and using the proceeds to establish colleges at Oxford. You can see the power move from church to university.
When Tyndale translates the Bible into vernacular English, it becomes a target of the King, trying to maintain credit and credibility among the Catholic kings of Europe, to which he is indebted. With his annulment to Katherine, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabelle, things get confusing. But the disruptive nature of books in the hands of regular people is well noted by Cromwell, who tries to manage his fortune around that fact.
The other notable part of this book (for me) is Cromwell’s fascination with the Memory Palace, which he learned in Italy, and commissioned a sort of memory machine by the Italian (Name begins with C), now moved to Paris. He goes on about a box, or chest, with drawers, and drawers within drawers, each with a book in it, and each with more drawers inside, linked from the text to another book. There is an eerie resemblance to Vannevar Bush and his concept of linked texts in As We May Think. Evidently, though, this is an adaptation of a system to remember things, Method of Loci, where lists are remembered by assigning them places, so it is also called a Memory Palace.
I plan to take a short break and start book 2 of the trilogy in about a week, on my daily walks up the hill to the park, then winding down through the cemetery. The audiobook version read by Ben Miles is excellent. Also looking to find a place to watch the BBC mini-series (It’s on Amazon, 4 Episodes, each about 90 minutes).
I wrote about my (now) 3-week ordeal when a tech over at Amazon.uk (Vishnu, you should be fired) for cancelling BOTH my UK and US account when I asked him to leave the US one alone. Three times.
My 5th attempt I tried using some ALL CAPS while writing in the chat with the support tech person. When the final result was another promise to email me with the login details, 4 times before without results, I asked who the boss was, and got a name. THIS time, I actually DID receive and email. But it directed me back to support. I click on the link, and I am back at square one. I go through the same process with the new tech, hoping this time something different would happen. Nope. SO I START YELLING FOR THE BOSS, FLIPPING OUT and pointing out this was my sixth attempt. The tech finally put me in contact with his boss, who discovered the problem and had my old account reinstated in less than 3 minutes.
The lesson from all this? I am going to find a way to save all my Kindle books locally, so I am not dependant on Amazon su- su- su- sucky support. Also, I am downloading all my highlights from books past. You never know how much you depend on something until you lose it. I was fortunate to get it back.
I have had a frightening experience with Amazon over the new year vacation, and extending into the year, that has opened my eyes about the power relationship between seller (Amazon) and “buyer” (me) in digital commerce. I have ignored Cory Doctorow and EFF and their warnings about how buying hundreds of books (I have 320) at Amazon, they have power over you. For all of its daunted reputation, Amazon depends on having the power in the relationship. I cannot walk away. That leaves me begging for Customer Support. Long story below, I will try to get through it as quick as possible so you can see the effect. But this could happen at iTunes with your music. Google is a bit different because you can back up your content locally, so is more beholden.
Time for a Digital Bill of Rights.
Initial Question: I want to close my amazon.co.uk account because I have not lived there in years. I want to keep my amazon.com and my amazon.co.jp accounts open.
01:57 AM GMT Vishn)u(Amazon): Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk. My name is Vishnu. Am I chatting with Kevin Ryan? 01:57 AM GMT Kevin Ryan:, I am Kevin Ryan 01:58 AM GMT Vishnu: Hello Kevin ,hope you are doing good,I do understand your concern regarding the account close I will be very glad to help you with this. 01:59 AM GMT Kevin Ryan: Thank you, I wanted to make sure that will not affect the other two amazon accounts I have. 02:01 AM GMT Vishnu: I have successfully closed your account 02:02 AM GMT Kevin Ryan: Thank you. I can still use my other two accounts, correct? 02:02 AM GMT Vishnu: yes
Chat with Amazon.co.uk support Dec 28, 2018 (Excerpted)
OK, so then
10:51 PM PST Justin(Amazon): Hello, my name is Justin. I’m here to help you today. 10:52 PM PST Kevin Ryan: I recently closed my account at Amazon.co.uk and Vishnu, the tech, assured me that would not affect my Amazon.com account. 10:53 PM PST Kevin Ryan: But now I cannot access. The address is my@address.com Here is the chat transcript (Copy of Visnu’s transcript)
10:55 PM PST Justin: So you cannot access your Amazon.com account? 10:55 PM PST Kevin Ryan: That is correct. 11:01 PM PST Kevin Ryan: You there? 11:01 PM PST Josephine(Amazon): Hello, my name is Josephine. I’m sorry your previous chat disconnected. 11:04 PM PST Kevin Ryan: Visnu, when he disconnected my.co.uk account, also must have closed my main account at .com 11:06 PM PST Josephine: Yes, Kevin. Upon checking I see that your prime account in Amazon.com is closed. 11:07 PM PST Kevin Ryan: My main Amazon.com account is almost 20 years old, Prime, with about 320 books. If you could resurrect it, please. 11:09 PM PST Josephine: I understand your concern, Kevin. In this case, I’ll submit the form to our Account close team. 11:10 PM PST Josephine: They will contact you within 24 hours And respond to the E-mail. 11:10 PM PST Kevin Ryan: OK…Does that mean it will take some time over the holidays? OK, I will be on the lookout for the email. 11:11 PM PST Josephine: Thanks for your understanding, Kevin. 11:12 PM PST Josephine: Before that for security reasons, Could you please confirm …..(security check) 11:22 PM PST Josephine: I’m really sorry for any inconvenience this has caused for you, Kevin. 11:22 PM PST Kevin Ryan: As long as we can get it fixed. 11:22 PM PST Josephine: I’ve successfully submitted the account reopen form on behalf of you. 11:22 PM PST Kevin Ryan: OK. 11:22 PM PST Josephine: You’ll receive an E-mail from our team within 24 hours.
Amazon.com Customer Support with Justin (then Josephine, after line was dropped). December 31, 2018
We’re sorry that the Amazon US account was cancelled mistakenly by the previous associate. We’ve submitted the Account Reinstatement Form regarding this matter and an Account Specialist /Escalation Specialist will get in touch with you via email within 2-3 business days from now.
After phone support session with Amazon.com with Joe. Jan 2, 2019
Initial Question: My content and devices have disappeared.
02:04 PM PST Joel(Amazon): Hello, my name is Joel. I’m here to help you today. 02:10 PM PST Kevin Ryan: Long story. (recounts history) Chat logs available. 02:12 PM PST Joel: I am really sorry for the inconvenience caused. 02:14 PM PST Joel: In this case I will forward this issue to our account specialist team. They will check and help you with this issue. You will receive an email within 24 hours regarding the account issue. hope this works for you? 02:15 PM PST Kevin Ryan: This is the third time I have heard this message. 02:15 PM PST Joel: There is no need for any concern. 02:16 PM PST Kevin Ryan: Right. Third time is a charm? I guess I will have to wait. Again. Thank you.
Amazon.com Support chat January 10, 2019
The saga continues. I contacted Andrea by phone on January 11. I thought maybe being upset and angry might work–I’ve tried polite. I was gruff and impolite, just short of swearing–although I did say this whole scenario “scared the shit out of me”. I went through the whole process again.
Andrea: I relayed your information to the team trained to handle this scenario. You should hear back from them in the next 1-2 business days. If you have any concern you can give us a callback at anytime.
And nada, nyet, nothing. Again. Time to consider legal action. Amazon just stole 320 of my books, and thousands of my highlights, which I often use for research and work.
I went through a list of the top 100 pens last month, and found this one, the Pilot V fountain pen rated highly. The ink flows nicely, no scratchiness, as smooth as my rollerballs, but more…sensual. What can I say? Costs about $3 (¥300). I may go back to longhand.
