The Hackable Internet of Things

Nicholas C. Rossis

A buggy future?

In my book, A Heaven for Toasters (which, by the way, is FREE until the 20th), a zoomer (flying car) is hacked and made to crash.

As with all things futuristic, I based this on current trends. One of these is the so-called Internet of Things: a common language that allows any device plugged into the Internet to communicate with any other device.

This opens up a world of possibilities for hackers – or naughty teenagers, as a girl allegedly demonstrated in a battle of wits with her mother. Following the confiscation of all of her electronics because she “was boiling rice and was too busy on phone and stove burst into flames,” Dorothy claimed to have used her LC smart fridge to send the following tweet:

Image: Business Insider

Can You Hack This?

While some have cast doubt on Dorothy’s viral tweet…

View original post 1,651 more words

Advertisements

Writing Pitfalls: Doubt and Discouragement

A Writer's Path

by Andrea Lundgren

This is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month’s question is “What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid on their publication journey?”

View original post 653 more words

Your Book Isn’t For Everyone, And Your Marketing Strategy Shouldn’t Be Either

A Writer's Path

by Lauren Sapala

I’ve launched three different books in the past couple years and I’ve definitely noticed a pattern. Every time I go into “launch mode” I tend to also go into “marketing frenzy,” which means I’m frantically researching, emailing, posting, and overthinking about my book of the moment. My main drug of choice to support the frenzy is the internet. Because no matter what question I might have, the online world seems to have the answers.

View original post 912 more words

Kindle Unlimited: How Much Did Amazon Pay Per Page Read in August, 2019?

chrismcmullen

THE KINDLE UNLIMITED PAGE-READ RATE FOR AUGUST, 2019

In August, 2019, Amazon paid $0.00439 per Kindle Unlimited normalized page read (KENP), virtually identical to what they paid in July (you have to go to another decimal place to see a difference).

The KDP Select Global Fund rose slightly from $25.6 million to $25.8 million.

(Keeping it concise, not blogging too much right now. Working on some cool projects, like Fun with Roman Numerals, about to go live, and Test Your General Science Knowledge, coming soon. Time to get back to writing.)

Write Happy, Be Happy

Chris McMullen

Author of the Improve Your Math Fluency series of math workbooks and self-publishing guides

View original post

How to Title Your Book

A Writer's Path

by Samantha Fenton

The right title for your book is incredibly important: It’s what you and everyone else will be calling it the rest of your life. The title is one of the first things people will ask for, and one of the first ways you’ll describe your book. But how do you title this manuscript you have been writing for so long?

View original post 917 more words

I Deal with Imposter Syndrome Daily and I Haven’t Quit Writing Yet

A Writer's Path

by Meg Dowell

Writing is hard enough. Add imposter syndrome into the mix and it becomes the kind of challenge you have to remind yourself, quite often, is still worth pursuing.

View original post 818 more words

Lumen 5: Make a Video the AI Way

Nicholas C. Rossis

Back in April, I reviewed an online video creation tool, Flexclip. I have now discovered a second tool that allows you to create a video in mere minutes: Lumen5.

Lumen5 takes video creation one step further: it can read a web or blog page and create a video on its own, using some impressive AI!

But let’s take it from the top.

Step 1: Choose Your Video Format

When you first register, log in (which you can do using your Facebook account), and choose a plan (any plan), you are taken to a page which shows you various video formats. This is where I had my first indication of how well thought out Lumen5 is. They have taken the most common social media and they give you specific format choices for each of them:

Step 2: Choose Your Mode

Once you have picked your format, depending on where…

View original post 451 more words

Want to Meet Your Goals This Year? Start Setting Definite Ones.

A Writer's Path

by Amie Gibbons

Hey, how are those New Year’s Resolutions going?  : )

No, I’m not trying to bait you or make you feel terrible about yourself. I’m trying to make a point.  If you set goals, do you stick to them?

I’m here to give you some tips on how to stick to your goals, basically by sharing what works for me.  If your way works, stick to it; you’re obviously doing something right. If it hasn’t been, try these tips and see what happens.

View original post 538 more words

Make a Book Trailer with PowerPoint

Myths of the Mirror

I’m a cheapskate.

I’m also technologically impaired.

So when it came to making a book trailer for Sunwielder’s audiobook pre-release hype, I resorted to the old familiar standby from my years of selling office furniture – MS PowerPoint. The program’s been updated over the past 2 decades, but I still figured it out with some trial and error. And error. And a little more error.

The main thing I learned is regarding sequence:

1. Start with your text: Keep it pithy. I used my book blurb and pared it down to its bare essentials. That gave me about fifteen slides to populate with images.

2. Then add images: I took advantage of Pixabay’s royalty-free, attribution-free images for this one, frequently mashing them together to create a scene. Remember to check copyright details for the images you decide to use.

3. Add transitions: Don’t get too zany, but have fun. Timing…

View original post 99 more words

Remembering 9/11

Nicholas C. Rossis

I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.
Mephistopheles, Faust

View original post