Editorials

The App-ification of eBooks

eBooks, Editorials

The App-ification of eBooks

One of the arguments that has risen out of the “iPad as an ebook reader” debate is the idea that books, as a platform for pure reading, are dead. That’s what Cody Brown argued in a guest column on Techcrunch, riffing off Paul Carr’s NSFW post. This concept that “everything is better as an app, with pictures and videos and SHINY HAPPYS” is, in my opinion, totally wrong. Are books going to change? Absolutely, and there are many ways in which they will continue to evolve and grow. However, the basic root of a book is going to remain the…

How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet

Editorials

How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet

One of the unexpected benefits of starting to use the iPad in place of my MacBook is that it has made me feel far lighter than ever before. No, I don’t mean “lighter” in a “techno-geeky I’m so happy to be using this magical device…” way. No, I mean lighter as in “using the iPad means I carry a lot less in my bag”. In fact I can now carry a far lighter bag now thanks to the iPad. I set out to figure how much weight I had “dropped” and even I am surprised. Here is a quick, rundown…

Old Jews Telling Jokes- Yet Another Reason To Be Thankful For HTML 5

Editorials

Old Jews Telling Jokes- Yet Another Reason To Be Thankful For HTML 5

Here’s another reason to be thankful that websites are moving over to HTML 5 and passing by Flash… Old Jews Telling Jokes. My Catholic “cousin” (my mother’s best friend growing up hence adopted “cousin”) and I have been talking quite a bit about Apple’s new products. Well, more accurately, I’ve been asking questions and he’s been telling me that because he works for Apple he’s not allowed to answer any of them. 🙂 Now that the iPad is released, however, we can chat about how amazing it is… So two nights ago we were exchanging e-mails and I was telling…

Another Day, Another iPad

Editorials

Another Day, Another iPad

photo credit: powerbooktrance Okay, okay.   I’m weak – I admit it!  I lasted nearly a week before I finally caved in, went down to Best Buy, and picked up an iPad which I now have been playing with for about 12 hours.   So of course, I now have a few observations and because the world hasn’t had nearly enough iPad opinion pieces, I’m going to share with you! First – the device and it’s potential really are amazing. Despite all the hype and the nonsense and even a few drawbacks, I’m really impressed with this thing.  Although I’m…

eBook Competition Gets Fierce

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Competition Gets Fierce

The iPad has landed! But that’s far from the only bit of ebook news this week. Things are really heating up, so let’s dive right in! First, the Association of American Publishers released their estimates for 2009 book sales. The bad news is that overall book sales declined 1.8%…but the silver lining is that ebook sales GREW 176.6%!!! It’s very exciting stuff, but ebooks still aren’t big enough to carry the whole book industry. Overall book sales were $23.8 billion, and ebook sales only made up $313.2 million. It’s a start, but a small one. If you’re comparison shopping for…

GearChat: Are iBooks a NY Times Bestseller, or a Publisher Reject?

eBooks, Editorials

GearChat: Are iBooks a NY Times Bestseller, or a Publisher Reject?

image courtesy CNET Here at Gear Diary, we love ebooks. We also love to debate all manner of gadgetry, so of course, we had to share our thoughts on what Apple’s foray into ebooks would mean for the world… Doug: I’m wondering how much shaking out we’re going to see in the next 6 months or so. Carly, do you think Apple is going to yank the non-Apple eBook readers? Carly: No. What’s the point? iBooks seems like a “oh yea, let’s get in on this too” project, rather than a serious effort. Unless they have a plan for coordinated…

2009 Portable Game Sales Numbers - What Does It Mean for the iPad?

Editorials, Game Diary

2009 Portable Game Sales Numbers – What Does It Mean for the iPad?

Back in September of 2009, when Apple launched the 3rd generation iPod Touch and touted the gaming capabilities of the system, I expressed concerns about what this new ‘everything under $10’ business model might mean to the $30 – $60 gaming industry. While we don’t have any long term results yet, analysts at Flurry have tried to piece together some sort of story about what trends we can get from comparing 2009 sales to 2008. And put simply, what is good news for Apple’s gaming aspirations is bad news for Sony’s beleaguered handheld and a shot across the bow of…

The "Ethics" of Book Piracy

eBooks, Editorials

The “Ethics” of Book Piracy

How do you know that ebooks have hit the mainstream? Check out the New York Times “The Ethicist” column this week. In it, a letter was received from someone inquiring about the ethics of downloading an illegal copy of an ebook if the downloader already owned the paper copy. Specifically, the inquirer needed to know: I bought an e-reader for travel and was eager to begin “Under the Dome,” the new Stephen King novel. Unfortunately, the electronic version was not yet available. The publisher apparently withheld it to encourage people to buy the more expensive hardcover. So I did, all…

HP Offers A Slate/Tablet Option That Doesn't Begin With the Letter "i"

Editorials

HP Offers A Slate/Tablet Option That Doesn’t Begin With the Letter “i”

Image courtesy of laptopmag If you follow any kind a social networking than you probably heard already of the announcement of HP’s new slate. They have been teasing us with video snippets over the past few months after a quick preview at the Microsoft CES keynote. Engadget mysteriously happened to get their hands on some HP company documents just in time to take some of the fire out of Apple’s new iPad. Unfortunately, the specs would say otherwise. The slate looks like they took the internals out of an HP netbook and put them all back together in a sleeker…

Why Monthly Periodicals Still Have an Uphill Battle

eBooks, Editorials

Why Monthly Periodicals Still Have an Uphill Battle

This isn’t another post about Zinio on the iPad. No, this is a post about why certain types of magazines will continue to have an uphill battle in an always- connected world. All the magazines I looked at on my iPad since the Zinio app was released look great. The colors a brilliant, the navigation is simple. And there is no lag when moving from page to page or from magazine give to text view. It is a gorgeous way to read eMags. But it has one fatal flaw. Let me explain… Last a week, March 31st to be precise, I was notified…

Entrustet: Caring For Your Digital Assets When You're Gone

Editorials

Entrustet: Caring For Your Digital Assets When You’re Gone

Having a will is important.  A will is a device that lets you tell the world whom you want to get your assets. Die without one, and the state decides who gets what, without regard to your wishes or your heirs’ needs.  Wills generally cover your personal property, investments, cash and other assets.  But what happens to your digital assets when you die? I realize it’s not the most pleasant thought in the world, but if you’re like me then you probably have a ton of media and other information stored in the “cloud” at one or more online service…

Agency Model Cometh; Be Prepared for Speedbumps

eBooks, Editorials

Agency Model Cometh; Be Prepared for Speedbumps

(underlying image courtesy Amazon) The agency model is slowly kicking in, and it’s causing some disruption across the ebook world. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to dodge it; if you want to buy ebooks, you are at the mercy of the publishers. Even worse, the retailers who sell ebooks are also in the same position, and in the span of less than three months, they have been attempting to completely overhaul their method of doing business. So what kind of changes should we be expecting? We already know that Kobo and Fictionwise have been forced to give up their incentive…

First BIG iPad Surprise- Many Apps Universal- Translation- Rebuilt For iPad Free Update For Prior Owners

Editorials, News & Features

First BIG iPad Surprise- Many Apps Universal- Translation- Rebuilt For iPad Free Update For Prior Owners

I just got my first big surprise with regard to the iPad. The iPad App Store went live and I started shopping. I bought Pages and Keynote. I bought the Scrabble app. Then I saw something odd. In my iTunes account it suddenly showed a bunch of updates that weren’t there a few minutes before. I went to look and saw the following I checked a few more apps and saw the same thing. The app was updated for the iPad and was available for download. But it looked the same. Then I noticed the small Toggle button above the…

Same Device + Different Users = Totally Different Perspectives.

Editorials

Same Device + Different Users = Totally Different Perspectives.

One of the new apps that I am most looking forward to on the iPad is the Keynote application. The reason is simple. The app looks amazing, and I have been using Keynote more and more over the last two years. Having it available for both creating and presenting material on the über-mobile iPad will likely be a terrific step forward for me. It all started two years ago when I was playing around with iWork. I looked at Keynote and thought it might be interesting to use it to teach instead of printing up a series of handouts. I…

Verizon iPhone- Rumors Everywhere and FINALLY A Thoughtful Post On It

Editorials

Verizon iPhone- Rumors Everywhere and FINALLY A Thoughtful Post On It

It’s HERE!. Oh wait, it’s not. OMG the iPhone is coming to Verizon! Uhm, oops, it’s not. Again and again and again this is what we have been hearing since shortly after the iPhone was first introduced. Every few months there is a small rumor about the iPhone coming to Verizon and then BAM! It is on every blog and even crossing into the mainstream media… as if it were true. It happened just the other day. Elana was listening to the news and called down to me saying “Just heard on the radio that the iPad was delayed until…

Expecting April 3rd Delivery of Your Apple iPad? Yeah, Good Luck With That!

Editorials

Expecting April 3rd Delivery of Your Apple iPad? Yeah, Good Luck With That!

Judie: When the April 3rd iPad release date was announced, there were more than a few of us left scratching our heads, although none of us thought too much about it … yet. At first glance, a Saturday release coupled with Saturday delivery didn’t warrant much conversation; either you would go wait in line to get your iPad, or you would pre-order and have it delivered straight to you. But if you live in an area that doesn’t have an Apple store, much less one that doesn’t have Saturday delivery, it meant that a little bit of logistical planning might…

$899 iPhone Application and No Refunds?

Editorials

$899 iPhone Application and No Refunds?

We all know how easy it is to purchase applications in the iTunes App. Store.  Once you have a credit card on file you simply “click” once or twice and bam!  Your new application is automatically downloaded to your iTunes library. Even 99¢ applications add up over time.  Apple has made it so easy to spend money in their App Store, that often times I find that I don’t even think about purchases when I’m making them.  “Hey, it’s only 99¢, no big deal.”  Then my monthly bill comes; I find I clicked on thirty .99¢ apps, and $30 is…

Zinio Poised to Bring eMags to the Mainstream

Editorials

Zinio Poised to Bring eMags to the Mainstream

I discovered Zinio’s electronic magazines when I first started using Tablet PCs In the mid-00s. The company has been in existence for 10 years, so I was a fairly early user. I found that despite the Tablet PC’s relatively significant weight, short battery life and tendency to get hot, somethings VERY hot, the experience of using Zinio to read was a pleasant one. The magazines looked good on the relatively high resolution screens. The links in ads and some articles jumped you right to the product’s page. And I often got notice of my Zino downloads a day or two…