Still about development economics, though.
]]>If you're using Firefox, click on View/Toolbars/Add-on Bar. It gives you a small toolbar at the bottom right that allows you to disable JavaScripts, Java, Flash, cookies, and some other stuff.
Firefox is free, if you're not using it.
]]>Neaver thought of Andy being a Geordie though.
Some of the pronunciations are a bit off Mhari is pronounced it should be pronounced Vah - ree and at one point neuron seems to be used instead of Neutron
]]>Thank you; I'd not noticed that before. It's not exactly what I'd like (the ability to blacklist and whitelist Javascript by website) but it's better than being spammed by Flash ads.
]]>Yes, but not for some years. For contractual reasons Equoid can't be collected until late 2016. As for the others ... I've only got around 65,000 words of uncollected Laundry short pieces, and I write around 1-2 short stories a year. So I won't have enough material for a substantial collection before 2016 in any event.
The other problem is that the publishing market is changing very rapidly. The old wisdom -- 5 years ago -- was that short story collections sold worse than novels, so attracted smaller advances. It's anybody's guess what the new wisdom will be in 5 years time; it might make more sense to unbundle the works and sell them separately at singles.
(I should note that "Down on the Farm" and "Overtime" are available as ebooks from Tor right now, for US $0.99 each, DRM-free. "Equoid" will join them after online serialisation on Tor.com, although it might cost a little more.)
]]>What you want is to install the NoScript add-on for Firefox. Does exactly what you want, and a bunch more.
You probably also want to install AdBlock Plus, Cookie Monster (for controlling cookies left by third parties), HTTPS-everywhere (for a more secure browsing experience -- not recommended on low-powered/older machines), Share-me-not (stops sites tracking you via embedded sharing graphics -- e.g. Facebook), and Beef TACO (Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-out).
That's just about my minimum web browser plugin load-out. Aims: get rid of annoying ads, stop advertising networks tracking me, provide fine-grained control over Javascript executed by sites I visit.
]]>But yes, that idea belongs in some deep back-story archive files in a novella I have not yet thought of ...
]]>Huzzah. Yes, that's what I had in mind! I'm already using Ad-Aware and limited HTTPS (some of my machines are of the old & slow type).
It does remind us how little encryption was thought of when laying down the original internet protocols. To be sure, often just getting them to work at all was plenty of challenge - but we are now faced with a much more populous network, with more bad actors.
]]>You could do worse than writing a Laundry story from the antagonist's point of view someday.
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