Welcome to cr0!  You've found the right place.

Cheers,

ast

...one more thing

While it should've been obvious from my earlier post, what happens when Andy Inc. or whomever gets tired of paying the ~800 quid a year to keep the e-book working?  Doing the math, the minimum costs for the security software are 804/yr, meaning he must sell at least 27 e-books a year to pay for the security measures.  Depending on how he manages his P&L, it might not matter...

BUT, if he gets tired of paying the subscription fee for whatever reason:  e-book-y no work-y!

Buyer beware!

ast

Following UB's link, I stand partially corrected.  It's a bit more sophisticated than I thought from the earlier descriptions, but the product in question certainly uses liberal amounts of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to sell the product to people who don't really understand the issues.  Since it works on a minimum subscription fee of $67/month, I'm guessing this is why the e-book is so expensive.

After you cut through all the hype, the File Secure Pro product uses the built-in security features of the PDF file format specification as well as seemingly using some embedded JavaScript (as I think someone else mentioned) to provide real-time checks to the File Secure servers to ensure that the copy hasn't been deactivated.  The techniques are essentially the same as one of the ways used by your browser to make sure the security certificates on "https" websites haven't expired.

That said, it still won't stop hand transcriptions or taking pictures of the screen.  I'm sure it isn't supporting any accessibility features for screen readers either, so I still stand by my earlier comments about treating customers as criminals isn't a sound business practice.

For me, even if it was to provide the best BIR recipes on the planet, I don't think it'd be worth it when you have sites like this and documented proof that many real chefs are willing to help the home cook by providing recipes and tips.  There isn't any such thing as the "silver bullet" that provides the "one true way" to solve complex problems in business or technology, so I don't put much faith in claims that there's one for BIR cooking.

I think I'll spend the 15 quid on ingredients for my next batch of base.  It'll provide a much better return on investment than an ebook surrounded by so much hype and so little proof of substance.

ast

Re: copyright, there are a number of different ways to register copyright.  The easiest is to publish something in a widely accessible place with the words "Copyright YYYY NAME_OF_COPYRIGHT_HOLDER" or you can alternatively use the "c in a circle" symbol.  You can also post a copy of something to yourself so that it gets dated, and then only open it in the event of any dispute.  Formal registration for copyright does take some time, but it doesn't cost all that much.

However....

The above reflects the US copyright law, which also includes a "fair use" clause to allow you to quote or use parts (not the whole work) in critiques, parodies, and other scenarios.  I almost added this to my other post, but then I discovered that UK copyright law is quite different and doesn't include the "fair use" clause.  Wikipedia also says that copyright is "automatic" in the UK, but that isn't much of a legal description of how it works.  You could also say that about some of the US methods too.

Re: ebook security, my guess (having not seen the book) is that the executable is really just a front-end for an embedded web browser.  If SBF got the pictures off the web, and it seems that you need to be connected to use it, then it's just providing automatic authentication to the website.  Given a copy of the ebook and appropriate network diagnostic tools, I'm sure it wouldn't take too much to figure out how it works.

Like any security scheme, there's always at least one way around it.  That's the thing about security, as I'm sure SnS knows well from his former military background as well.  The trick is to make it inconvenient enough so that you can achieve an appropriate level of risk mitigation.  There will always be people who try and get around it.

In this case, hand transcriptions, digital photos of the screen and probably any of the "really good" screen capture tools would likely work quite well.  Sorry, Andy, but there's always a way.  The other thing which is quite amusing is that most people don't really understand information security techniques well enough to come up with something that really works.  There are a few techniques which are generally accepted by the InfoSec community to work really well, but it doesn't sound like these are actually being employed in the ebook.  It seems more like a "home grown" approach, and nearly always, these only provide the illusion of security rather than actually doing much good.

If I had 15 quid to throw away and a few hours, I'd buy it for the craic just to see how it worked.  Information Security and Assurance is another aspect of what I do professionally, so I have some basis for these comments as well.

I think the 6 hr refund policy is crap.  Are you really going to be able to make all the dishes (or even one of them) in 6 hrs from the time of purchase to determine if you don't feel like you got what you paid for?  I agree with SnS.  I don't think there'd be much of a legal foundation for those terms and conditions if someone pushed very hard.

At least the recent developments on this thread finally made me chuckle a bit.  It seemed to be giving diminishing returns earlier.

As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

ast

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on February 02, 2008, 10:02 PM
Ast - I'll see you at London Olympics Curry Freestyle qualifiers. Bring your best game because my Bhundaloo's packin heat!

You're on, mate!  I'll be practicin my curry, stir-fry hang-time technique and the frying spice hold-your-breath-so-you-don't-choke moves from now till then.  Bring it on, mister!! ;D ;D

Hi Guys,

Thanks for that.  I guess I should say that we already have the next-to-the-top-end Kenwood Chef Professional with the food processor and the blender.  That's what I've been using, but it's a right pain to faf around with intermediate containers, etc. to blend the base as you can only do 1L at a go.  I'd much prefer to do what SnS illustrated in his update Saffron recipe and just blend in the pot (as others have posted too).

Cheers for the info,

ast

Thanks for that, SnS!

Good to know that they're built to last.  Of course, the cynic in me says that they've probably lost several hundred thousand in lost revenue because it lasted this long, so they've probably made the new ones a bit cheaper and not quite to the same spec!

I'll have a look around and see if I can find the newer model here.  Carrefour's closed tomorrow, but I'll hit it early next week.

Thanks again,

ast

Quote from: Secret Santa on February 02, 2008, 08:08 PM

Quote from: ast on February 02, 2008, 05:45 PM
I wouldn't want to see the results of using a really floury potato...It would melt away to nothing and probably end up adding very little.

The problem with that agument is that the potato, whetever type it is, gets blitzed into non existence along with all the other ingredients. If you look at the majority of  base sauce recipes they don't contain potato and I think this is another good argument for it not being neccessary. The only real effect the potato will have is to thicken up the sauce due to its starch content and that's just not required.

Possibly, SS, possibly...  I'd originally intended to write more, but I guess there isn't much point.   Yes, it gets blitzed, but, while I haven't performed a side-by-side test, my guess is the type of thickening observed/tasted would be slightly different.

Personally, I'll stick with the semi-waxy salad potatoes for this recipe. ;D

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to buy one of these hand blender things, and I was wondering what types people would recommend for blending bases.  I have two main concerns:

1) The length of the stalk the blades are attached to:  is it long enough for "reasonalby" sized pots of > 6L?

2) The power output/chopping ability:  My gut feel is that a smaller one would burn up quickly and I've no idea how the blade shroud design will affect the size of the vegetables you can use when cooking the base.  Granted, they should be soft enough by the time you blend, but I don't want to spend the money for the thing and then end up still using my blender at 1L/time to get a smooth curry base.

In having a look around one of the 3 main shops here today, I found a Braun, 300W jobber that looks like this:



A 400W Moulinex 3-piece kit:


Specs: http://www.moulinex.fr/products/preparation-culinaire/mixeurs/robot-marie.htm

and a 3-piece, brand X kit that is similar to the Moulinex, but a bit cheaper.  There's also another Moulinex one that's pretty similar, but I can't find a picture.  Price range is ?25-50, and I want to buy one here (we're in France visiting the in-laws), because past experience says they'll be cheaper here than in Dublin.  I'm also going to need a serious curry fix when I get back, so next weekend I'll be hoping to break it in on a new batch of base.

Any experience, recommendations, things to look out for, etc. would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

ast

Quote from: unclebuck on February 02, 2008, 02:56 PM
hi CA. i can not disclose any info in the book. Andy is reading this and has contacted me to reconfirm that any info from in the book will terminate my ebook. sorry mate.

Andy, if you are reading this, I have to say that that's a pretty short-sighted point of view if you're really trying to build a business around selling e-books.  Would you take the same approach if the e-book was to be reviewed by Ziff-Davis, the Register, or the New York Times?  I would certainly doubt it.

From a business perspective, what you want to do is convince people how great the content is.  Word of mouth (positive or negative) is the best/worst publicity you can get.  It has been proven time and time again to be much better than any marketing or advertising campaign that you could spend money on.  If people who are honest and upstanding (as UB seems to be since he promised that he wouldn't post recipes here) can't write an independent review of your product, that speaks volumes about the quality and sustainability of your product as well as your overall business plan.

You may make a few sales and you may even get a few happy customers, but it isn't a sustainable model.  Without a sustainable business model, are you (as a business) even going to be around long enough to ensure that people's ebooks continue to work?

That's a pretty big risk to ask potential customers to take and really reinforces the perspective of a "take the money and run" operation.

I'm offering the above to you, Andy, as free advice on how you can build a better business.  You can take it or leave it, but this type of advice is part of what I do professionally, so I'm not just saying this to waste bandwidth and deplete the world's energy reserves to ferry these particular electrons around the planet.

Hopefully, you'll reconsider and let people like UB, who are one of your most important assets, e.g. paying customers, give a review of the book.  If he violates the terms and posts recipes, then that's a different matter, but unless some sort of legally-binding, industrial-strength NDA was part of the click-wrap agreement, let the man speak!

If you don't believe me, why not try asking the record companies and movie studios how far they've gotten with treating their customers like criminals using DRM strategies preventing straight-forward and legitimate use of the content they've paid for?  It isn't exactly a strategy that's likely to win friends and positively influence potential customers to shell out their cold, hard cash for something that you're preventing legitimate users from talking about.

Cheers,

ast