San Francisco bookseller Marcus Book Stores created a new Chrome app called "Amazon, huh?" that reminds you what you're about to do every time you visit Amazon.com. A little bubble pops up that reads:
When's the last time Amazon brought one of your favorite writers in to read from her work — for free?
When's the last time Amazon recommended a book based on your actual interests, not a bunch of data they've fashioned into a half-assed consumer profile of you?
Sure, you might save a couple of bucks on this order, but what's that compared to supporting local businesses, maintaining a local tax base, and buying your books from somebody who actually cares about books?
It's just a little lark of an app—it preaches to the converted, it doesn't direct you to any other bookstores besides Marcus Books, and it unfortunately doesn't do price checks of books you're about to buy on Amazon, including the cost to your local economy, (that would be incredible) but it's nice to see bookstores starting to realize that they can bring the fight to Amazon.com.
