- The iPad is the talk of the town lately. Apparently Apple is building a stable of allies and partnerships in anticipation of the coming launch. Seems everyone wants to have an app ready for April 3, including Amazon. This isn’t that big a deal, really, as they already have an app on the iPhone with similar features. When all is said and done, the iPad will probably be pretty cool. Though anyone still dumb enough to buy a first-gen Apple product will probably over pay by hundreds, more if they go for this model (I’d just fake it). This week’s entry in adding a dumb name to an existing piece of hardware and calling it something new: the Infibeam Pi.
- Everyone seems to be touting the Great eReader Adoption as an iPad-Kindle war, but the Nook still looms (and also sports an iPad app) and the Alex is still on the way (and still overpriced). However if terrible customer service like this around haphazard products is what can be expected from Barnes & Noble, the Nook won’t stand much of a chance. Perhaps I don’t really understand why international buyers can’t have an instant download over the internet already, but I guess Diesel-ebooks allowing instant international “delivery” of ebooks is a good thing. (Really though, what do mail carriers have to do with ebooks, and what does “an innovative and evolutionary free digital shipping promotion” mean?)
- Lightning round! How long do you think before Google buys up a buttload of these super-fast book scanners? We’ve know about color e-ink for a while, but is it coming closer to being a practical reality? We’ve been upping our output of reviews lately, anyone who noticed care for a game of Book Review Bingo?
- This year I’m once again a second round judge for the Amazon Breakout Novel Award. I obviously can’t talk specifics about the books, but it’s a pretty cool program so I wanted to stick in a link so more people could check it out. I like when the big guys open the doors for the small fries. You can see a full list of the entrants now, and if it’s run like last year’s was, more information about the books will be available once the short lists are narrowed down.
- Now for fun (or no-longer-fun). In case you were wondering: LOST sucks. I love this essay about zombies though.
- Finally, this video is rather clever: