How to create a burning desire for a Kindle, maybe

Internet rumor has it that Amazon will release an updated version of the Kindle, its e-book device. I am all for innovation and I love gadgets, but I don’t think the market is ready.

Things to be addressed:

• A lot of books aren’t available digitally. The bestsellers get digital equivalents, but I don’t want a $300 device that doesn’t have everything readily available.  That really limits it usefulness. I usually get a gadget for the convenience it provides. Also, the digitization of a lot of books is mired in copyright litigation hell. Some publishing houses aren’t even sure who holds the rights to a lot of material. We need to push new precedents through to address nebulous ownership of intellectual property (Lawrence Lessig occasionally talks about this in his blog).
• An e-book runs about $8.99. Many times I can purchase a used physical copy for $0.01 and I don’t need a $300 device to read it.
• What about books I already own?  I think we should get digital copies for free with hardcopies. Amazon has a list of things I’ve purchased, they know what I should have access to based on my buying history.
• What about other formats? Amazon wants to cater to college students, saying text books are expensive.  That may be the case, but a lot of my grad work dealt in PDFs. I don’t want to pay Amazon to convert these files to Kindle friendly formats because I am a broke college student and I need things immediately, especially if I have a paper due. The Kindle needs to support several formats.
• What happens when book publishers splinter the market like the music and television industries? Not all artists sell their music on iTunes, and I’m sure not all book publishers will agree to sign on to Amazon’s service.  What if Random House joins up with Sony’s e-reader service?  In addition to e-readers supporting several formats of files, we need a universal, DRM free e-book filetype supported across all devices.  This isn’t ideal for Amazon, but they would sell more e-books for people that already invested in other e-reader devices.
• Color e-ink has already been developed, three years ago. I want a color Kindle.

I think there are a lot of benefits to owning a Kindle, but the investment at this time isn’t worth it.

What do you think would help get e-readers into the hands of the people?

B & E

B-boy Mr. Rogers breaks it down!

Pop and lock, Fred!

WoW thesis study

The World of Warcraft survey for my graduate thesis passed the review board examination!

I am researching language development in an electronic medium, focusing on communication in World of Warcraft. Since all communication in World of Warcraft happens through a computer, surveying its players can provide insight into language developments in a computer mediated environment.

If you play World of Warcraft, please take a few minutes to complete my research survey by following the hyperlink below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YbyDPDace_2bQeCKHcxGnrHQ_3d_3d

I’d also appreciate you all passing the link to any other WoW players you may know.

Calling my iPhone

iPhone

Last night my phone rang. I’d been in bed about 2 hours, but woke up to the annoying default ringtone. I picked up the phone, sort of concerned that something had happened, saw the name, and realized the friend on the other line was likely drunk dialing. I shut off the ringer and went back to bed.

When I woke up this morning at 8 am to get ready for work, I decided to call this person, sort of as a “you-disturbed-my-sleep, now-I’m-hoping-to-do-the-same-to-you.” He didn’t pick up.

On to the real story. I’ve had my iPhone for about 2 weeks now, and wanted to do a quick review.

Cons:

• When entering a subterranean Metro station, I immediately lose service. This isn’t really a big deal, but I’d like to check my mail and RSS feeds as I sit on the train. Verizon at least has service in the stations.
• My phone occasionally just shuts off and restarts. I haven’t figured out why, but it usually happens when I launch an app. Rumor has this will be fixed in an upcoming firmware update. Update: Firmware 2.01 runs much better!
• When I get a picture message, I cannot view it. This shouldn’t be a big deal, because AT&T provides a link to view it in a web browser. Too bad it won’t work on your iPhone. AT&T’s pic message retrieval service is Flash-based and Flash isn’t supported by the iPhone’s Safari browser. AT&T needs to fix this, ASAP.
• No tethering feature.
• Text messages should be part of the data plan. A text message is around 2 kB in size, maybe. A Web site is closer to 1000 kB (1 MB), so why do I pay an extra $5 a month to send 200 texts (400 kB) when all my texts in a month equate to less data transmitted than loading a single Web page?
• If your browser locks or freezes (like when I try to view a picture message), there isn’t a way to reset it. You just have to wait until the problematic page gives you an error before you can check another page. In my case, this took an nerve-racking 5 minutes.

Pros:

• The virtual keyboard is actually pretty easy to use. I think it would be even better if I could turn my phone sideways to type out e-mails, but the accelerometer feature doesn’t work with the iPhone’s e-mail functionality. How about adding this functionality, Apple?
• Setup of MS Exchange e-mail took three minutes.
• I was eligible for a discount to my service plan through Johns Hopkins. Check here for eligibility.
• The interface is great.
• Most of the applications are really easy to use and helpful.
• After some initial problems with the GPS unit, it seems to be working just fine. This fix seemed to work. Now that the GPS unit provides accurate results , I use the maps application all the time. Just search “ATM” and you’ll know the nearest place to get cash.

Notes:

• Your battery will die quickly if you use the e-mail “push” feature (meaning your phone constantly sends out a battery-consuming signal to see if any new messages are available). I suggest using the “pull” e-mail setting, that updates your messages when you open your e-mail inbox. Instead of “crackberrying” e-mails every time your mobile device vibrates, this setting lets you pull up e-mail at your leisure. My battery lasts all day with this setup.