“The amount of online ordering, as every year, has been going up exponentially,” said Eric Walker, a mail support specialist at the Hitzeman Mail Center. “And this year was without a doubt the most we’ve ever seen.” 

Given the huge success of Netflix’s original content, it’s no wonder that other online streaming services are trying to get in on the action. So far, though, no other service has come close to producing content on the same level as “House of Cards” or “Orange is the New Black.

This month, the Department of Justice brought an antitrust lawsuit against Apple along with many book publishers, alleging price fixing in order to combat Amazon’s successful strategy of dramatically reducing e-book prices.

Packages stacked as tall as students have backlogged the South 40 mailroom, preventing many from receiving the textbooks they ordered online. Mail Services Manager Peggy Smith attributes this delay to an overwhelming number of students ordering books online at the start of the semester.

When Napster came around, the playing field for music changed forever. Movies soon followed, and the piracy buzz spread to movies, games…within a short period of time, virtually all media could be pirated for fun and profit. Oddly enough, however, books were completely passed over. As if too old and decrepit to be worthy of piracy, books lost to newer media in terms of piracy, and especially in terms of notoriety. Until now.

If I were to tell you that I know everything there is to know about fungal growth in the Amazon rainforest, you’d either think I was incredibly knowledgeable, quirky and interesting, or you wouldn’t believe me. You would be right not to believe me.