Printing Choice has a comparison of iPad vs magazines. At one point, it refers to ‘the pricing problem’, seemingly suggesting iPad magazines are a massive rip-off, due to the “lack of subscription options” creating a “price disparity for magazine/app buyers”.

On looking at the figures, it’s an easy conclusion to come to. One issue of Wired on the iPad is $4.99, which is the same as the subscription price. But a year of Wired on the iPad is $59.88, compared to $10 via subscription.

Some readers might have just had an alarm bell go off in their head, at least if they’re not American. No, that’s not a typo—Wired really does cost as little as a dollar per issue in the USA. To my mind, that is the pricing problem with magazines, not a supposed price-hike on the iPad. US publications are already absurdly dependant on (declining) advertising revenue, and due to low subscription costs no-one sees any value in them. (Maxim’s figures are even more absurd, with a subscription costing less than two newsstand issues.)

So I get a message on Facebook earlier today, pointing me to some dodgy gaming forum, with a post from ‘CraigGrannell’ stating.

I’m new. from retro gamer magazine. how are you guys doing?

The only thing is, I didn’t write this (which should be obvious on the basis that I have some command of the English language, but my doppelgänger has still to learn about capital letters).

This rather begs the question, why on earth would anyone pretend to be me? I mean, I like writing for Retro Gamer and all, but I can’t imagine there’s much cachet in that, nor in being a slightly greying freelance hack from Hampshire.

Anyway, I’m suitably creeped out by this, so I thought I’d share.

Update: For having the audacity to alert the forum’s administrators about this problem, I have now been banned from it. Nice.

Wired reports:

The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.

The argument is that Americans should expect no privacy while in public, and so officers should be able to shoot darts with GPS tracking on to vehicles to track them. As despicable as I find the idea that you’ve no right to privacy when in public, what happens when the targeted, CLEARLY EVIL CRIM, who is presumed guilty from the off, returns home, where there is still an expectation of privacy (until the administration figures out how to do away with that trifling annoyance)? Presumably, the US government has developed magic darts, which drop off a vehicle when it returns to private property! Yes, that must be it!

Reuters reports on NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker saying it won’t offer 99-cent TV-show rentals on iTunes, mirroring Warner.

Zucker:

We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content. … We thought it would devalue our content.

Yes, I’m sure that’s your real concern, Zucker. It’s nothing to do with thinking that you’ll get the same amount of sales at the $1.99 price-point, which is frankly a bit of a rip-off, or that you’d ideally like to keep people buying overpriced DVDs rather than move to digital rentals. However, the likelihood is studios will gross more with low-priced rentals, and consumers will see such shows as good value for money, not ‘devalued’. (Again, see WoSBlog’s investigation into Pac-Man for iOS pricing for the reality of what happens when high-profile meets high-value in iTunes.)

I sincerely hope those who have signed up for 99-cent rentals—Fox, ABC, Disney Channel and BBC America—start making money hand over fist, at the expense of NBC and Warner. And, believe me, it pains me to say “I hope Fox makes even more money than it does now,” but something needs to give studios a reality check regarding TV rental pricing.

Android 2.2, Froyo is slowly being rolled out, but ‘Gingerbread’, scheduled for a Q4 launch, will OBLITERATE Apple and iOS, according to half the tech industry. This is because, in their heads, Steve Jobs has decided to jack in his role as a visionary and become a gardener. Consequently, while he will remain as Apple CEO, the company will not move forward from this point on, allowing even Nokia to eventually speed past.

Alternatively, tech industry hacks, bear in mind that Apple develops stuff too. I’m sure Gingerbread will better Froyo, but I’m equally sure iOS 4.3 or 5.x will better iOS 4.2 (coming in November) and iOS 4.1. Making comparisons about something that doesn’t even exist in the wild versus something released this month—especially in such a fast-moving industry—is stupid, so stop doing it.