Why is Amazon a Mac hater?

Amazon offers a publishing service that delivers blog content to Kindles and kindred e-readers. The subscription costs $.99/month, one-third of which goes to Amazon.
I set up an account and will make this stream o' bits available through the Kindle channel. (If anyone subscribes, I will donate my proceeds to charity. I'm interested in the publishing process, not in making money.)
One annoying hitch, however, is that, when I go to the publisher's page to log in to my account, I'm greeted with this warning.

Internet Explorer isn't available and you really have to dig to find Firefox versions older than the current  (17.0) release.
It turns out that the message is benign. Safari and Chrome, the two browsers that I have installed on my Mac, work ok.

Best Buy, dead store walking

Let me start by saying that I really want Best Buy to succeed. I want and need a local store where I can pick up a gadget or accessory on short notice.

That said, and related to my previous post, I was hoping to pick up a Bluetooth keyboard for my Nexus 7. Colleague Mitch Wagner suggested the Logitech 920-003390 Tablet Keyboard for Android.

Amazon offers the keyboard, available for 2^nd day delivery, at $49.00.

I checked Best Buy online:



This page doesn't show the price. It's $69.99  so that  I can have it shipped to one of the stores in 7-10 business days.

More on recycling

Last year, the  Freakonomics guys were on Marketplace to talk about a phenomenon called conspicuous conservation. Basically, it means keeping up with the Jones by showing off the great ways that you are kind to the environment, leave no footprints, and all that. Good on you if you do that.

Sometimes, they're called Super Greenies. They're wealthy, drive Prii, and use rechargeable batteries in their whatevers.

Fine. Good. But there's a limit for all of us. Amazon showed me that limit.

Barnes and Noble and the Case of The Missing Missing Manual

I wanted a book. I went to a book store. I came home without a book. If only it was that simple.

We were looking for some clear guidance about QuickBooks 2012.  The Missing Manuals series has been a good source of guidance on a number of topics. I had some errands to run and so added a stop at Barnes and Noble to my itinerary. I double-checked on my phone to make sure that they had a copy. They thought that they did.



They have a lot of books in the store. I wasn't looking for a lot of books. I was looking for one. Because the taxonomy put books of this type in the Microsoft Office shelf, rather than under business or finance, I had to wander a bit to find the right section, let alone the book. So, somewhat surprisingly, I asked for help. I went to the desk, explained my mission, and followed the clerk to the aforementioned section where we found no such book.



The clerk asked if I wanted to have him order it. I declined. The Barnes and Noble website didn't let me see the contents or index to make sure that it had the information that I needed. (I'd already checked the official Intuit manual on the B&N shelves. That book didn't address the topic at hand.) I ordered the book from Amazon after confirming that it had the information I needed.

 

Something magical from Amazon

They are able to take one of these:

via Amazon.com: Davis 6152 Vantage Pro-2 Wireless Weather Station with Standard Radiation Shield

and reduce its weight when shipping it: