Kindle Goes International, Launches in Over 100 Countries

2-06-09kindle2I’ve yet to jump on the Kindle bandwagon, mostly because I can’t afford it. But I’m not one of those naysayers, really. Granted, if I ever do get my hands on an e-reader I’m not going to pack up my books and give them away; I actually collect old books, and would never think to do such a thing (clingy English major type who can’t part with her beloved editions). But I can definitely see the draw of e-readers, especially one as well-connected as the Kindle. I’d love to be able to consolidate my reading materials, especially with paperback books that I’ll likely only read once and not keep afterward.

And the fact that Kindle is expanding its reach internationally is a good sign for the “new wave” of reading. It’s been three years since the Kindle dropped here in the US, and while I’m not sure it’s become the cornerstone of reading that some claimed it might become, it’s definitely made an impact. According to the BBC article, Amazon anticipates one million Kindles sold by the end of the year.

Some basic specs from the announcement, the Kindle will:

  • be available in over 100 countries
  • run via the 3G network (though which carriers will provide connectivity is unstated)
  • carry 85 newspapers, both US and international
  • offer more than 200,000 English titles
  • include books from Penguin, Faber and Faber, and HarperCollins

Much of the move to digital is in concert with recent statistics regarding digital book sales. From the article:

Penguin chief executive John Makinson hopes it will kickstart digital book sales in Europe.

“The publishing industry is experiencing explosive growth in digital book sales in the US,” he said.

While the data certainly points in that direction, and the buzz is strong, I think it’s going to take some time to see if it truly catches on internationally. Over at PC World, Daniel Ionescu pointed out one of the major flaws in purchasing a Kindle from the UK:

Because U.K. Kindle buyers will have to order the e-book reader from Amazon’s U.S. site, customers will have to pay extra tax for the device, due to the country’s regulations. Also, because books will be sold from the U.S. site as well, customers would be technically avoiding the Value Added Tax (VAT) system in Britain, which if applied, would make the books more expensive.

So, are you planning on buying a Kindle now that they’re available in your country? Do you already own one or another e-reader? Any thoughts or questions?

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Funktionide: The Robot Replacement for Human Contact

Hey everyone, meet my new friend, Funktionide. Based on EAP-technology, Funktionide is what its creator defines as an “emotional robot that substitutes human contact.” I don’t know about you guys, but waking up beside this scary-looking blob would probably freak me out more than anything. Nope, no thanks. And however warm and cozy this thing might be, it will never substitute human contact as far as I’m concerned.

[Via Dvice]


Yes, You Can Have Your Mac and PC, too

I bought my first iMac ten years ago, just after graduating from high school. He was Strawberry and his name was Bob. Sadly he met his demise when he was dropped by the USPS on the way to my college dorm and was never the same again. I did manage to collect insurance, however, and used that to fund the purchase of my first iBook, Rupert I.

Yes, I’m sure if you’re a die-hard PC owner you may think the above statement is utter gibberish, and I should probably have myself committed. It’s no secret that Mac users sometimes foster curious relationships with our computers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But though I spend most of my time on a Mac, I’m not opposed to PCs. I don’t hate them. I don’t threaten them. I don’t secretly want to rid the world of PCs and give everyone MacBooks when they’re not looking. I just like my Mac better; I grew up using one and, given the chance, I’ll continue to do so. My husband has a PC he built himself, even; when something goes wrong he doesn’t have to go crying to the Genius Bar like me. He can just fix it.

As it turns out, my approach to the Mac/PC debate is pretty common. A recent NPD survey indicated that 85% of American Mac users own a PC, as well. (On a side-note, Macs are also in 12% of US homes now, up 4% from last year)

What underlies that statistic? Well, money for one. Macs are far more expensive than their PC counterparts, driving many hipsters to credit cards in order to purchase the much-loved glowy apple logo (not that I… ahem… would know anything about that…). For a lot of households it’s just more cost-effective to have a PC. But the study also indicates that Apple users don’t just spend more money, they have more to begin with and purchase more gadgets in general.

I particularly like Ars Technica’s conclusion on the study:

The takeaway here is that the number of Mac users in the US is growing, Mac users tend to prefer MacBooks to desktops, and they generally have more money to spend on Apple and other CE gear. But it’s worth noting that rabid Apple fanboys are probably more rare than typically imagined; going by NPD’s data, only about 1.8 percent of US households are Mac-only.

So. Come on guys. Mac? PC? Let’s kiss and make up, shall we?

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Fiber optic and digital camera pioneers honored

Three scientists have shared the Nobel prize for physics for two technological advances. And without their work you might not be reading this article or looking at pictures on this site.

This year’s prize has been jointly won by the men behind fiber optic cables and the digital camera. Half the $1.4 million prize grant will go to Chinese-born Professor Charles K Kao. While working for a telecommunications company in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, he challenged the theory that using light as a means of communication was inherently limited.

Kao’s work showed that the problem was merely that impurities in the glass fibers being used at the time was obstructing the light and limiting its transmission. He developed ways to make the glass clearer and thus capable of carrying light over longer distances without degradation. That made global fiber optic networks a viable prospect and, in turn, made the high-speed internet a practical option.

The rest of the prize grant is to be split between George E Smith of the United States and Canadian Willard Boyle (pictured, courtesy of Canadian Science & Technology Museum). They invented the charge-coupled device, a component which registers light inputs and converts it to an electrical signal. The device is arguably the key element of the digital camera, which transformed the affordability and practicality of photography. The device also has other scientific uses such as in space telescopes, or in medicine for fluoroscopy, a type of moving x-ray.

The award follows this year’s prize for medicine, which went to three US researchers who discovered how the body maintains the full set of 46 chromosomes each time a cell divides.

[Source]

New Verizon Commercial Spoofs iPhone Ad: “There’s a map for that.”

Apparently if you were watching the Vikings play the Packers on Monday Night Football (and weren’t taking a bathroom break during the commercials), you saw the new Verizon ad that spoofs Apple’s “there’s an app for that” campaign.

Are you wondering why you (you, being the dude with the Verizon phone) can use all your shiny Internet stuff while that guy (i.e., the one with the iPhone over there) has coverage too spotty to be able to use anything? “There’s a map for that.” You know, the map that shows America’s “most reliable 3G network.” (As a side note, I am amazed by how quickly things go up on YouTube sometimes.)

According to the Twitter masses (er, which is how I heard about this, as I was not watching football), opinion is about equally divided on those who think it was pedantic and lame and those who think it was a well-placed jab. As an iPhone user, I for one will say this: touche, Verizon, but kind of petty. I still like my iPhone enough to cope with the occasional spottiness (granted, I live in the middle of a large city).

By the way – reading Twitter while watching Big Bang Theory instead of Monday Night Football? There’s an app for that.

11th Doctor: Matt Smith & the New Doctor Who Companion

With David Tennant departing from the show, the big news in Doctor Who world early this year was the casting of newcomer Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor (perhaps even overshadowing the other big news that Steven Moffat is replacing Russell T. Davies as head writer). And a couple of months ago it was announced that the new companion will be played by Karen Gillan (who appeared in a bit role in the episode “Fires of Pompeii”); all that is known about the character is that her name is Amy Pond.

In any case, the new season has begun filming, and the first pictures have surfaced. You might notice that Matt is still wearing Tennant’s clothes in this scene. Remember how Tennant looked swimming in that leather jacket of Eccleston’s?

Still not sure how I feel about this injection of youth into the show (especially since Moffat is known for injecting romance in as well, something that Who fans are pretty divided on), but you have to admit that Karen is very attractive.

[Image Source: alun_vega (CC)]

Amazon Coughs Up $150K for Lost Homework

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

kindle

Remember how a kid’s Amazon Kindle ate his homework? Described as “a bit ironic,” the situation that spawned a lawsuit involved remote deletion of electronic copies of Orwell’s 1984 from customers’ Kindles due to some copyright confusion. The kid in question had already taken notes on his, and then poof, it was gone. Even though customers were refunded, his lawyers likened the act to Amazon sneaking into your room at night, stealing your books, and leaving money on the nightstand.

So what is the going rate for lost homework these days? Apparently $150,000. At least, that’s how much Amazon has agreed to pay in settling the lawsuit. After paying the law firm, the rest of the money is going to charity.

It’s certainly debatable as to whether this was a $150k mistake, but I suspect it was good for both sides that it didn’t go to court. I’m not sure what kinds of reasonable damages the kid could have expected to get if he’d won, and if he’d lost, there could have potentially been a pretty icky precedent for consumer ownership rights.

Welcome to the big, scary world of confusing-as-hell digital copyright, ebooks! Take a seat next to MP3s; try to ignore the sobbing.

[Image source: carbonnyc (CC)]

Zombieland delivers gore, geekery, and guffaws

zombieland

By Natania Barron
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I have a confession to make: I’m not that into horror flicks. It’s not that I’m a total wuss, necessarily, but I happened to have been raised in a household where viewing such material was simply off-limits. So I didn’t really get the opportunity to watch anything gory or scary until I was well into my teens. The result? Either I find them hilariously stupid or fetal-position inducing horrifying. (Scream: funny; Pet Cemetery: *twitch*)

So when my husband asked me to see Zombieland, I was a little hesitant. I knew it was going to be a mess of guts and blood, that much I could catch from the trailer and reviews. And zombies are pretty low on the “things that terrify Natania” list (actually, the one horror movie I saw as a kid happened to be Rosemary’s Baby; so yeah, religious horror is pretty high up on the list, especially if involves birthing the child of satan) . But I was worried that it might come off as a bit too silly or just a bit too gross. I loved Shaun of the Dead, and thought they rather had the whole zombie flick parody down rather well.

Except Zombieland isn’t quite so much a parody. It’s part horror flick, part comedy, part Western, part romantic-comedy. And really, it starts off where most zombie movies end: after the zombie apocalypse. The main character is as flawed and fidgety as a young Woody Allen and his “rules for the surviving the zombie apocalypse” are among the most clever and amusing parts of the film (my favorite: #4 The Double Tap). The supporting cast, including Woody Harrelson as a kind of gunslinger of zombies with a love of NASCAR, somehow manages to balance the real terror of being left alone in a decaying world of blood and puss spewing zombies with humor and, dare I say it, heart. The thing is, as much as the movie is funny, as often as you laugh out loud, it reminds you of the importance of having friends and family, even when the zombies aren’t trying to feast on your femur.

And maybe best of all is that Columbus, the reluctant hero of the story, is very much one of us. Until the zombie apocalypse, he spent most of his time in his dorm watching movies, playing World of Warcraft, and coming up with excuses to be antisocial (not every geek is antisocial, but many of us have such proclivities). But it turns out his brains and geeky tendencies are what help him to survive, although he certainly learns a bit along the way.

So, if you’re looking for something that’s geeky (and, in parts, a little sexy) to watch this Halloween season, Zombieland‘s definitely worth the price of admission.

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