Category: Thoughts

  • Sony Reader adds some brilliant features, 3 years late

    Almost three years ago, Sony unveiled the first version of its electronic book reader, dubbed, excitingly enough, the Reader. As I predicted at the time (Short-tailed Sony reader needs a much longer one), the device bombed because it was a product in search of a need. The Reader didn’t offer enough (if any) advantages over…

  • Apple makes deleting a Boot Camp partition super easy

    A couple of years back, when I upgraded the hard drive on my then-new Macbook Pro, I used Apple’s incredible Boot Camp software to install Windows Vista. Using Boot Camp, you’re not just simulating running Windows under Mac OS X — you can actually boot up into “pure” Windows on your Apple hardware. The only…

  • Aspyr finally releases Mac version of Civ IV: Beyond the Sword

    UNBELIEVABLE – video game publisher Aspyr has finally released a Mac version of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion pack only TWO YEARS after it came out for Windows. What the heck? (Tip o’ the cap to CivFanatics for alerting me to the news). I may be peeved but that probably won’t stop…

  • History and Uses of Amazon Kindle for People Living in Caves

    I used to kind of like author Nicholson Baker. I think the first time I encountered his writing was a long essay in The Atlantic (going on memory here) about his quest to preserve huge collections of old newspapers that libraries were rapidly tossing out. As a guy who used to spend hours in the…

  • Yes, Virginia, the Barnes & Noble ebookstore is a Good Thing

    Yesterday, I took a whack at explaining why Barnes & Nobles new online ebook store would turn up the competitive pressure on Amazon’s Kindle world and, more than likely, benefit consumers. But now at least two prominent ebook bloggers are disputing the notion that the new Barnes & Noble ebook store provides important competition for…

  • Barnes & Noble eBook Store Great News For Consumers

    Book retailing titan Barnes & Noble has been building its electronic book sales effort this year with some haste, likely hoping to slow the growing momentum of Amazon’s Kindle before it becomes unstoppable. In March, Barnes & Noble bought Fictionwise, maker of a popular ebook reader app for the iPhone and proprietor of several popular…

  • Amazon really blowing it with Kindle DRM

    The other day, I posted about some of the idiotic and inadequately disclosed limitations built into almost every electronic book sold by Amazon in their Kindle store. These limits, enforced by so-called Digital Rights Management, or DRM, software, can dramatically effect the way consumers view Kindle ebooks. And they make complete hash of the argument…

  • Amazon Kindle competitor EReader slashes ebook prices

    I’ve been pretty tough in the past on the high prices at Amazon Kindle competitors eReader.com and Fictionwise.com, the twin pillars of Steve and Scott Pendergrast’s ebook empire. The Pendergrasts sold the company to Barnes & Noble back in March and now things seem to be changing in a hurry. The other day they announced…

  • Despite complaints and DRM, Kindle is a good value

    I’m starting to see signs that Amazon has successfully injected some major mojo behind its Kindle electronic book program. Dare we call them green shoots? This morning, publisher, blogger and Chris Anderson-fill-in Rex Hammock had a great post up about how his Kindle was aiding his effort to re-read David Foster Wallace’s massive novel Infinite…

  • As feared, Kindle prices appear to be rising

    I’ll start this post about Amazon’s fabulous Kindle just like I did the last one: I really, really like my Kindle and I’ve written about it positively here and all over the web (Internet smartie and publisher Rex Hammock says I’m his go-to Kindle fanboy). And, I really want to see the Kindle succeed. That…