The Computer Next Door

Beware the Treacherous Territory Known as Facebook

I have to admit I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook.  On the one hand, it is giving me tremendous access to friends near and far, from current neighborhood to long-ago-and-far-away.  Just this week, I've reconnected with three friends from various points in my past, with very little effort and a lot of fun.

However...I read this constant stream of stories about Facebook and wonder how long the gaiety will last.

Case in point #1:

ArsTechnica's article: ""No Opting out from Facebook turning your check-ins, likes into ads" points out that without our consent, Facebook has just blithely decided to start turning friends' posts into ads that appear in the right-hand column.  Well, I guess it's their business, but these recent changes they keep making are all so weird and none, I suspect, are for the good of the users.

Case in point #2:

I read in ComputerWorld today that Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page was apparently hacked.  Well, obviously when you're at the top of the pyramid, there are always little guns pointed at you. But for goodness sake, how safe is Facebook if its founder's page isn't secure for the founder?  This is the kind of thing that makes me not want to make too big an investment in Facebook, because who knows when it will all go up in smoke?

What's Happened to eBook Prices?

I think we all know the answer to this one - they've gone up.  This has taken all the air out of my eBook balloon.  I just don't know what the publishers  think they're going to accomplish with this pricing strategy - it has dissuaded many of us to, well, reconsider buying eBooks altogether and revert back to our old paper ways.

Exhibit One, ladies and gentleman:

I went to Amazon this morning to check out a book I had heard about and was considering.  Show above is the pricing information I found -the Kindle edition of the book is $10.99 -  70% more expensive than the paperback of the same book at $6.47.  Since I have Amazon Prime, with free shipping, that means I should just order the paperback, yes?

This issue is exacerbated if you're in the market for used books (whether paperback or hardcover): Kindle eBooks just can't compete with used paperback prices. Last week I bought a Kindle edition of a bookclub book (at about $15), which was less than the $21 pricetag for the new paperback, only to discover that a friend of mine in the same book club had ordered a $5 paperback (including shipping & handling) from Alibris.  Did I feel stupid?  Yes, pretty much.

It's hard to justify spending MORE money to buy a Kindled edition than it costs to buy the paperback. Why not just get the paperback and then recycle it to a friend or Goodwill or a library?  There is simply is not much justification for having paid more for the Kindle edition other than "it won't take up so much room on the bookshelf."

Come on, publishers - step back into reality.  You are not giving readers a big incentive to stick with eBooks when you overprice them.

 

Are These Technologies Really Dying?

After seeing Bloomberg Businesweek's 20 Dying Technologies recently, I was struck by how attached I am to some of these.

Are ALL these technologies REALLY going to be obsolete in a few year's time?  I guess you just really have to keep up.

Dying consumer electronics cited in the article include several devices soon to be replaced by multi-function mobile phone or mobile pad devices. What's going bye-bye?

• Consumer video cameras (not necessary if your phone has HD video?)
• Digital music players (ditto for music playback capabilities)
• eReaders (ditto for books that can be shown on phones or pads)

Additionally, home entertainment systems are likely to evolve to the point where DVDs and Blu-ray are no longer necessary (Shucks, we just got both last month!)

I guess I don't have to worry about being too far ahead of the curve if all this proves to be true. The question is, how soon will this happen? And of course, nobody knows the answer to that...yet.

Managing Kindle eBooks

 

Amazon loves to promote the Kindle, but finding your personal list of titles and deploying them on multiple devices is NOT a click away.

On a recent trip into Manhattan on Amtrak, I chose to take only my iPhone with me, which was mostly a weight decision. When I travel by train and then have to lug my handbag and light briefcase around in Manhattan, I've learned to pare it down to essentials.

But as I flipped on my iPhone 3GS, I realized there was content I had purchased specifically for my Kindle that I wasn't seeing in the Kindle reader.  So my question was, where was it?

I looked in vain on the Kindle app on the iPhone for some way to connect to a personalized library or bookshelf. I'm not fond of the way Barnes & Noble makes you work for your eBook experience, but this actually felt worse!

My only interest is to share titles between the Kindle itself and my iPhone, but other people might want to read a Kindle eBook on their Mac, PC, Android, or BlackBerry. Whatever the device, it seems to be a bit of work to manage the "virtual bookshelf." At least on Barnes & Noble, they build this concept into their site navigation.

After returning home that evening, I figured out one way of accessing the Kindle libary of my eBooks (Method #1). Then, after a little further work, I figured out an alternate method (#2). Here they are for anyone who's having this same problem.

METHOD #1

1. Login and go to "Your Account"
2. Scroll down until you see a section called "Digital Content"
3. Click on "Manage Your Kindle"
4. From the next screen, you can download any of your Kindle titles to any of your Kindle readers. But boy, it's not obvious. Now you'd think, with all the promotion Amazon does for the Kindle, they'd put a little something on the main navigation to help you with managing your Kindle titles, yes?

METHOD #2 (discovered much, much later)

1. This same information is available from your personal "Store" (personalized Home page), which for me I woudl get to by clicking on "Meryl's Amazon."
2. Scroll wayyyyyy down until you see a link under "Your Account" "Your Media Library."
3. That takes you to a page with a small window of scrolling media items - in my case, eBook titles.
4. Clicking on a title will give you an information page on that title
5. On that page, there is a small box on the right with a link allow you to  "Manage your Kindle" as per the Method #1

Whew! Is it just me, or is this a lot of work? If Amazon & Barnes & Noble want eBooks to take off, they might try to make it a little more obvious how to find your own titles and easily get them onto the devices of your choosing.

Just a suggestion...

My Mobile Device, Myself (Kindle vs the iPhone)

I recently received a Kindle as a gift.  A very nice gift, I might add.  I was thrilled - I had been drooling over the ads and articles and hype surrounding the Kindle for weeks, and when the newer, lower cost Kindle was announced I knew I wanted one.

Now, I don't consider myself a technophile in the traditional sense - that is, I don't rush out and buy every little tech gadget that comes along.  It doesn't matter to me that others are surfing their newer models of Mac laptops much more quickly than I am, with my 6-year old Powerbook G4.  I ignore them.

But the Kindle, I knew i wanted it.  Because I have been using an iPhone to read eBooks on, I was forced to compare the two devices. Sooooo...here are a few  things I discovered about myself and how I have adopted to my existing (mobile) device as I started setting up and using the Kindle.

While the e-Ink technology is truly a wonder, Kindle navigation through menus and buttons does feel a bit retro

 

1) The first thing I noticed was that, because I use and read books on an iPhone currently, I kept wanting to touch the screen to use the Kindle. I couldn't help it - it just kept happening. Naturally, since the Kindle doesn't have a touchscreen, this didn't get me very far very fast. As a result, the Kindle feels a little retro.  SCORE: 1 for the iPhone, 0 for Kindle here.

2) I immediately was charmed by the e Ink technology that makes it read like regular type on a page.  This is definitely easier on the eyes than any kind of highlit screen, no matter what the resolution. SCORE: 1 for the Kindle, 0 or the iPhone.

3) I find the size to be just right for a home experience - not too large, not too small.  Having a larger screen definitely feels more like a book than reading a book on the iPhone.  And it is relatively thin and lightweight (although this difference is given up if you use a cover).  I have not traveled with it yet, though, so we'll have to see if I feel the same way lugging it around on the train. SCORE: 1 for the Kindle, 0 for the iPhone

4) Page turning feels a little disruptive on the Kindle compared to the iPhone. You have to physically press a large key, and there is a flash of light as the page refreshes.  It interrupts my book-reading experience more. SCORE: 1 for the iPhone, 0 for the Kindle.

5) Bookmarking is definitely harder on the Kindle than on the iPhone.  You have to call up a menu with a specialized button, then navigate to bookmark with arrow keys, then banish the menu with the menu key.  A lot of work compared to simply brushing the upper right corner of the screen on the iPhone.

However, I also need to point out that deliberate bookmarking is also virtually unnecessary on the Kindle, as the device does keeps trac of thelast page I was on in my eBook. SCORE: Tie

All in all, I am intrigued by the Kindle. I imagine I will be reading many, many eBooks on it before long.  I was just a little astonished at how ingrained my mobile usage habits had become when I started to use it, and how well my  little iPhone stood up to the contest of eReading.

FINAL SCORE: It's a tie. I like my iPhone - I identify with it and it is my mobile me.  However, the Kindle will find a place in my life as an eReader.

 

What the ?X*#@ Rollovers as Annoyances

I am beside myself at the way the New York Times (among other sites) has been pushing rollover advertisements at me in recent weeks.

This is becoming a serious problem, mainly because it is extremely difficult to get rid of the advertisements in order to read the content of the site. What the ?X*# is going on?

I can't get over this. What am I missing? Is there a conspiracy going on in the content world to make sure online content is subordinated to advertiser content?

Try as I might, I can not figure out how to dismiss this IBM rollover content that appears over most NY Times content.

Just for the record, my reaction as a consumer is to never want to use any IBM product - ever!

I don't usually do "rants" but this is an instance where I believe it is warranted.

Expanding Your Horizons (for Free) Online

I must admit I love the proposition of online learning. You sit in your own environment and participate (to varying degrees) with instructors and course materials and fellow students in a virtual way.  I just really think it's interesting.

What's even better, is when these educational opportunities are free.  I have previously written about a few of the prominent American universities offering free educational fare online, and how much the learning experience varies from school-to-school.

The organization that collates many of these offerings an International basis is known as Open Courseware Consortium. The Consortium is "a worldwide community of hundreds of universities and associated organizations committed to advancing OpenCourseWare and its impact on global education," according to the About Us page.

One of the best features of the consortium's site is the ability to find a variety of courses throughout the consortium, by topic, language, and source (school).

Here is an example of a simple search I did for "writing" courses...

 

There were 215 results to browse through, including  courses in the English language from these schools. The inclusion of courses from different schools makes this search feature a powerful tool for the online learner.

So, if you're looking to delve into higher educational course ware without impacting your pocketbook, check this site out now.

What eBooks are Missing

Interesting color book covers (left) have largely been abandoned in current eBooks - which favor black and white graphics, such as frontispieces (right).

Although, as I have said before, I largely enjoy the eBook reading experience, it is certainly not for everybody.  This was pointed out for me recently by two separate incidents.

Incident #1

I was on vacation, enjoying the reading experience of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" on my iPhone, and remarking on how convenient it was to my friend, who was sitting and reading a conventional (paper-bound) book. I pointed out that I was reading an eBook to prepare for my book club to a friend, and showed her the frontispiece, which was a stand-in for a graphic of the cover.

Her reaction surprised me. She leaned over and sneered, "That's what you're reading?  Who picked that?"

Now, my friend is in the technology area. She works with technology day in and day out, and supervises hordes of technical middle managers. She's not, in short, a Luddite.  So, why the attitude, I thought? Her entire reaction was based on the unasumming frontispiece graphic?  You can't judge an eBook by its cover! I thought. 

Incident #2

I am finally attending the book club.  Everybody has a copy of the book we are reading (see above) in paperback or hardcover, except me.  I have my copy on my iPhone. I bring this up towards the end of the book club meeting, and remark on the fact that I actually enjoyed reading it on the small device. Universally, everybody else at the book club shakes their head, dismissing the concept.

"Oh, no, I would never be able to read on anything so small."

"I like the physical paper of a book - the physical quality."

"I don't think that would be good for my eyes."

"I don't think that could work for me - too small."

I continue to defend the reading experience as being "transparent," and "enjoyable," but am universally poo-pooed.So, first I have my reading material dismissed, then my reading device. Both of which, I might point out, are actually quite interesting. But nobody gets that.

Then I saw the New York Times article today: In E-Book Era, You Can’t Even Judge a Cover. The point of the article is that there is currently no cachet in an eBook. It doesn't lend itself to comment, observation, conversation, or interest from other people in your sphere (whether public or private).. Nobody knows (or is interested) in your eBook. It 's just your private, digital user experience.

Is that enough for you?

Who Needs the iPad (redux)

I guess I am not alone about wondering if I (or we) really need the iPad:

Dylan Tweney of Wired Magazine recently did a succinct roundup of alternatives to the iPad, in case you are also not convinced you need this new toy:

The iPad won't be out for a few weeks, but that doesn't have to stop you from getting on the e-book train today. In fact, there are a ton of e-book readers and proto-tablets that you can buy now, and some of them are pretty good. Come to think of it, who even needs an iPad?

I rarely feel like I'm on the same track as the Tech Press, but there you go.

Do We Really Need the iPad?

I have been trying to figure out if I need an iPad.  I mean, it looks nice (from afar).  I haven't seen the actual model yet but I'm sure I will once April rolls around.

What I haven't wrapped my head around yet is the price.  Do I really need another $500 gadget?  I mean, sure, it may be a fine alternative to the other expensive gadgets I also haven't bought yet that are competing for my wallet share, namely: the Kindle and the Nook.  Butl, as I have mentioned before, I am reasonably happy reading books on my multi-purpose iPhone.

So really, Apple - is this techno push, or what? Let's design a cool product and then bet the farm that developers and consumers will flock to it because it is cool?  I do wish I could be sold on this concept, but I prefer (for now) to protect my hard-earned dollars.