Zek | Gear Diary

Gear Bits April 6, 2011

Maybe They’re Sponsored by Nintendo?

Here’s a head-scratcher. At a time when child obesity is climbing, and the big push is to get kids active, one homeowner’s association apparently wants kids inside glued to a PlayStation. They’re proposing banning children from playing outside without adult supervision (which, okay, I guess it’s a safety thing?), but even worse, they’re banning “skateboarding, playing games like tag, or using loud toys.” Each violation could run families $100 a pop. What is wrong with this homeowner’s association??? Granted, the article is light on details, but this just sounds ridiculous. What constitutes “loud toys”? When my brother and I were…

News & Features April 6, 2011

Epsilon, Emails, and Hackers

My guess is that, like me, you’ve received many soothing-but-scary emails over the last few days from Target, TiVo, Best Buy, maybe even your bank. They explain how, oops, someone might have accidentally tapped into their database and found your email, but don’t worry! Just maybe think twice before clicking on any email links until you make sure it’s from the company you trusted to not leak your email in the first place. It’s a headache, but not a huge problem all by itself. Except, of course, the sheer number of companies impacted. Because everyone was using the same company,…

eBooks April 5, 2011

JK Rowling to Finally Declare “Uncle” (er…”Kindle”)?

Good news for Harry Potter fans! There’s a rumor that JK Rowling may have finally been persuaded that the vast army of Kindles, NOOKs, and iPads should also be sprinkled with some wizarding magic, and the Harry Potter series may actually come to ebook form! According to The Scotsman: The Edinburgh-based writer has an estimated £620m fortune following record-breaking sales of the Harry Potter books and the success of the film franchise, and publishing experts say the e-book rights could be another major money-spinner for her. Liz Thomson, editor of book industry website BookBrunch, said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if…

Gear Bits April 3, 2011

Borders Gets Snarky

Apparently, this closing Borders is really, really, bitter about the whole bankruptcy thing. We’ve spent plenty of time rehashing why everything went so wrong for Borders, but this store did nail one thing we all secretly miss when retailers disappear.

Reviews April 1, 2011

Paperback Books Reviewed!

There’s been a huge leap forwards in book technology, and here at Gear Diary we have an exclusive first look! It’s exciting, it’s svelte and pocketable, it’s shiny and colorful and new…yes, I’m talking about the paperback book! Sure, we’re all familiar with the usual hardcovers and scrolls, but this is a breakthrough. Now you can carry two, even three titles with you for the same space and weight as a hardcover title. But is the smaller size and convenience worth the tradeoff against the heft and comforting size of a hardcover? Read on to find out! My first impression…

News & Features April 1, 2011

New Calculator, “The Abacus” Announced!

It never fails. You’re taking the lunch order for your office, and everything is fine until the total runs past $20. Suddenly you can’t just use YOUR fingers and toes, now you need to include your coworker’s dirty feet too. And who wants to be near that many stinky toes right before lunch? Luckily, a non-fingers and toes based calculator has been announced, the “Abacus”. Way more portable than a stone slate, and you can even customize with multiple colors! Support your favorite March Madness team as you add! Check out the link below for some more information, and then…

eBooks, Editorials March 30, 2011

The New York Times Paywall and the Death of eBook Reader Subscriptions

The New York Times paywall makes a decent effort to bridge app-based subscriptions with physical papers and online access, but there’s one glaring exception: eBookstores (except Amazon’s Kindle) are being cut out of the fun. It’s looking like Amazon was able to cut a special deal, but everyone else (mainly B&N and Kobo) are not included in any such offerings, which is a slap in the face to the users who have been voluntarily paying for an electronic version of the New York Times. It just boggles my mind, since there’s really no downside to allowing these subscribers to have…

News & Features March 25, 2011

Google Plays “Hide the Honeycomb”

I am not a developer or a computer science person, so everything beyond the basic user experience is sort of like magic to me. But even as a former philosophy major, I know there’s a huge number of people out there who spend unpaid hours digging through Android’s guts to provide more services and software to the average user. And that much of that is thanks to Google being committed to open source and sharing Android with the world. Or it was… According to BusinessWeek, Google is holding back from sharing the full source code for Honeycomb with everyone who…

Gear Bits March 24, 2011

Losing a Cell Phone and Finding Honest People

“Uh…I can’t find my phone…” is not something anyone wants to discover. It’s especially upsetting when you’re in the airport at 5:3o in the morning and your wife just realized she left her smartphone somewhere between the car and the gate. Uh-oh… That was us on Friday morning. It was not good, since we were flying to Florida and already through security, and neither of us was sure where Sarah had left her Incredible. I tried calling it on the off-chance it was in her jacket pocket, but it rang and rang and went to voicemail. Then we brainstormed and…

Editorials March 18, 2011

The New York Times Paywall Proves Paper Is Still King

By now you’ve probably heard about the byzantine pay wall being set up by the New York Times. It’s complicated, it’s expensive, and it proves one thing: for the New York Times, paper subscriptions are still what they care about, and digital is just a means to that end. If you haven’t already heard about the NYT pay wall, here’s how it’s going to work: 1) Buy an online+smartphone app subscription for $15 every four weeks, or roughly $180 a year. 2) Buy an online+tablet app subscription for $20 every four weeks, or roughly $240 a year. 3) Buy a…

eBooks March 17, 2011

Amazon Explains Their Kindle Page Numbering System

There was much rejoicing when Amazon rolled out their latest Kindle update which included page numbers! It made life much easier for book clubs, students, and everyone who just wanted a comfortingly familiar way to figure out where they were in a novel. What’s really cool, though, is that Amazon did some serious behind the scenes work to make the feature successful. Amazon explained on today’s Kindle blog post that they didn’t want to just create new page numbers for the eBook (and implied that’s how their competitors do it), but instead they took the time to match Kindle version…

News & Features March 15, 2011

Kobo’s “Spin to Win” Contest

The good folks at Kobo LOVE contests. It seems every month they have a new promotion out there, and they clearly have fun making each one more interesting than just clicking a link. This time it’s a spin-the-wheel type contest like at the Jersey shore, but without the grease and Axe Body Spray odor. You can win everything from discount coupons to ebook readers to the chance at staying in a super-nice hotel. Sure beats just clicking “like” on a Facebook page! Here are the full details from Kobo’s blog, and you can enter daily through March 20th. Good luck,…

Reviews March 15, 2011

NXE ActiveSleeve Review

I have an ongoing issue when I run. I carry my Droid both because it tracks my runs for me but also because I am an early morning runner and feel better having my phone with me. The problem, as you may know, is that the Droid is not a small phone. It’s uncomfortable to carry in my hand and you don’t want to know how uncomfortable it is to run with a Droid bouncing around in your pants pocket. Let’s just say it leads to some odd-looking bruises on your leg. In any case, I’m always on the hunt…

eBooks March 14, 2011

IDC Reports eBook Sales Numbers with Some Surprising Results

IDC has done some number crunching, and their ebook sales numbers are…interesting, to say the least. They say Amazon is #1, but surprisingly Pandigital has a very strong showing against B&N, coming in third for the year but second for the fourth quarter. That’s a huge shocker, though Pandigital did flood the market with several models over the course of 2010. I do wonder why IDC didn’t include Pandigital under media tablets, since even though they’re marketed as ebook readers they all run various flavors of Android. Even more interesting, Sony’s numbers were up 80%, which sounds great…until you find…

eBooks, Gear Bits March 11, 2011

eBooks Really Are Getting Cheaper!

Over at Teleread, they have a very interesting, if unscientific, analysis of eBook pricing over the years. By taking prices from 2004 and comparing them to prices today, Chris Walters determined that there has been a slight drop in overall pricing, even if it doesn’t feel that way with the Agency Model taking away $9.99 price points! In a nutshell, Chris argues that the same books bought for $280 in 2004 would cost $213 today. Yes, it’s a subjective analysis, but as a random sampling, it’s somewhat helpful. And he further points out that the average price for fiction titles…

Gear Bits March 9, 2011

Hike the Appalachian Trail from Your Chair!

This is a super cool video if, like me, you’ve ever daydreamed about hiking the full Appalachian trail. However, since I have a job and lack the fitness to head out the door and cover 2,174 miles (unlike Dean Karnazes, who is currently running across the whole damn country!) Luckily, an intrepid through-hiker videotaped his experience, sped it up, added some fun music and created this video. If you’ve ever hiked the Appalachian and can identify any of the trails as they go by, be sure to share in the comments! Warning: If you’re sitting in your office while watching,…

News & Features March 9, 2011

Facebook to Enter Video Streaming

I admit, I’m not a big Facebook-er. I use it as a necessary evil, not a destination site. But it looks like the folks who brought us the “like” button are taking their insinuation into our lives a step farther; now they’re going to stream video too! According to the Wall Street Journal, Warner Brothers is floating a trial balloon in the form of of “The Dark Knight”. Rather than stream it through a subscription service like Netflix, you’ll be able to rent “The Dark Knight” on Facebook for 30 credits (or $3.00). While it’s only one movie, it’s enough…

eBooks, Gear Bits March 7, 2011

Andy Rooney Rants About eBooks

Apparently, Andy Rooney is not a fan of Kindles and NOOKs. His 60 Minutes rant this past week was all about ebooks. I really hate to say this about Andy Rooney, but he really missed the mark big time. He expressed surprise that paperbacks are being outsold by ebooks, and seemed wholly perplexed by the concept that an eBook reader holds 3,000+ titles. At one point he touches upon one of his books being free, though he doesn’t explain if he’s mad about piracy, or if it was some sort of “freebie” deal organized by his publisher. Sadly, the germ…

eBooks March 6, 2011

European Union Investigating eBook Pricing

It’s a safe bet that if you aren’t a publisher you’re not happy with the agency model. It did more than just change the nature of publisher/seller relations; it actively changed how booksellers could sell ebooks. Suddenly everyone had to fall in line with the exact same prices, and discounts were banned. Needless to say, this raised some regulatory eyebrows, and according to the Guardian UK, there’s been some old-fashioned office raiding over it! According to the article: The European commission has launched morning raids on several publishing houses suspected of fixing the prices of ebooks, as a huge battle for the…

Editorials March 6, 2011

The Consequences of Distracted Driving

I got into a fender bender last night. Luckily no one was hurt, and as for the damage to my car (see above), well, that’s what insurance is for. In the aftermath, though, I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking on how easily I let myself get distracted while driving, not just yesterday but in general…and fortuitously, this afternoon I came across my old iPod shuffle. If you’re wondering how I went from distracted driving to iPod shuffle, it’s not that crazy a leap. I usually use my Droid for music in my car, either using the built-in music…

eBooks, Editorials March 3, 2011

Is Apple Going to Boot eBook Apps? My Conspiracy Theory…

I might be seeing conspiracies where there aren’t any, but I think I see a pattern in many business decisions going on in the eBook market lately. We’re all sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the outcome of the in-app purchasing drama, and so far no one’s (overtly) talking. But reading between the lines tells a very different story… 1) Apple can’t be happy with how iBooks has performed so far. 100 million books downloads is an empty number, especially since everyone who downloads iBooks gets one download to go with it. With a very low number…

Articles by Zek