Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
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Mark Wilson, Reviews
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Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci | Twitter
Sean Fallon | Twitter
Jack Loftus | Twitter
John Herrman | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
Kat Hannaford | Twitter
Rosa Golijan | Twitter
Chris Jacob
@Kaiser-Machead: Clearly not having RAW compatibility for those 6 cameras, versus the hundred or so it already had - without needing to download drivers proves your point. This is also especially confirmed with the no support for RAW in Windows 7 out-of-the-box.
Well paint me silly: Was the entire Mac platform completely unable to deal with RAW from these cameras until now, or just Mac OS? In other words, were you able to work via CS4 but not OSX?
@bornonbord: Just the OS and whatever applications that use the OS's RAW libraries (like Aperture)... It's nice when it works, but there's always Lightroom when it doesn't.
At the risk of getting on an off-topic rant, I think the digital copy of paperbacks is the only place digital copies make sense.
The only reason I'm (technically) not allowed to make my own damn digital copy of a movie is because of a paradox in the law. The movie's already digital.
But yes, of all the Blackberries I've had the displeasure of using, I can agree....I don't think a single one of them would be good for reading for any period of time comfortably.
Only slightly off-topic-So I sat down and watched a couple of episodes of Star Trek: TNG last night. During one episode, there was a scene where Picard is reading a book on one of those super-futuristic Star Trek tablets, and it hit me. We're there. Within a few years, "everyone" will have one of these impossible, Star Trek devices. They're going to be thin, cheap, and ubiquitous. We'll call on them. We'll watch movies on them, read on them, and check warp-core status on them. They're already here.
Therein lies the reason that e-readers' days are numbered. We, as a culture, are moving past the point where people are going to accept a one-use device. I can read most books on my Kindle, but I can't do anything else, at least not well. I don't have the time, space, or patience to deal with carting multiple devices around. I know that sounds whiney and unrealistic, but it's really not. Look down at your iPhone; it's just the tiniest taste of where we're headed. I think Amazon sees this, and that's why we're going to see more Kindle software than Kindles.
@Segador: I agree to a point, but form factor needs to be considered.
The convenience of reading on a phone is always welcome, but it's a ridiculously annoying format both in size and format. Nobody would choose to read that way over a full-size page, except in a pinch.
The convergence of devices has to have a limit, and that limit will be defined by usability. Nobody wants an e-reader to be as small as a phone, and nobody wants a phone to be as big as an e-reader.
That said, I think flexibility is key. Amazon is smart to get its books on as many devices as possible, and to let the user decide the best way to read them. That's where I think the future lies -- technology with sufficient cross-compatibility that everybody gets to decide how to make it work best for them.
@Segador: Yeah, but the whole benefit of an ereader is the screen. It's incredible. Not to mention the fact that both the nook and the kindle are slim and lightweight; definitely not a burden to tote around.
@Robotronic: I own a Kindle, and I agree, e-ink is amazing, and a great reading medium. That said, until it can refresh at a rate fast enough to display color video and web, the devices will be crippled.
@Segador: What you're promoting is The Myth of Convergence; that somehow every thing we need computers for will somehow be rolled into just one device. The reason it's a myth is that while some devices do take on the features of others, no multifunction device can ever do any feature as well as a same-generation dedicated device, and no one device can ever serve all purposes. Next generation tablet computers may well be as good for reading books as this generation's ebook reader, but next generation's ebook readers will be much better than that. Take the iPhone as an example - did it kill the MP3 player? No. Devices with more storage, more music-centric features, or at a lower price are still competitive music playing devices. Is there a limit? Yes, probably. In a generation or two of the iPhone, it will be able to hold 120GBs of music and stream HD & sat radio and Pandora or whatever, and you probably won't need an MP3 player. But by then what we think of as an MP3 (or PMP) player now will have morphed into something else that is even better at what it does than the iPhone of the future. Another argument agasinst the MoC is that no one size or configuration of device can possibly serve all your needs. You don't want to make phone calls on something as large as a book, you can't comfortably do a lot of work on something with a 6-inch screen, and you probably don't want to lug around laptop with a keyboard and 15" screen just so that you can read the news.
So the point is that devices will always change and grow, and that no device will ever cover all functionality that we need. And dedicated devices will always be better at what they do than anything that tries to be everything. The other point, which seems to be missed in all this ranting about ebook readers, is that like it or not books are going digital and yes, there are going to be a lot of devices that are going to be able to read those books. So like it or not, ebook readers are here to stay, whether they look like the Kindle or the PADD of Star Trek in the future we don't know, but one thing is sure; there are going to be a lot fewer paper books.
@OMG! weatherman: I agree, to an extent; no one device will meet all the world's needs for everything. For example, I still need a real keyboard to get any real work done. No amount of touchscreen goodness will change that, at least in the forseeable future.
However, the Convergence Myth really isn't a myth. Let's go back to an easy example, the iPhone. If people had told me 10 years ago that you could read, call, surf the web, shop, listen to music, watch movies, game, manage finances, run much of a business, text, email, and shoot quality video+photos from one device, there's no way I would have believed them. It's a convergence of at least eight devices that, 10-15 years ago, only existed as standalone objects, and it's just the beginning.
Will one future device meet every need for every human at all times? No. It's a logical impossibility. We will, however, continue to cram more and more functionality into single devices.
@OMG! weatherman: Your arguments are well-reasoned and you make some great points. I can see how some dedicated devices are probably always going to be better at what they do than an all-in one. I doubt many people threw their cameras away when they got an iPhone.
So last week it was "I have no beef with reading ebooks on a mobile phone" and this week it's "stupid"? And you want publishers to give away digital editions with physical copies, but you disapprove of people reading those digital copies on a Kindle or Nook or a phone? I'm just not sure what you're arguing any more.
I think people should be able to read on whatever device they find convenient and comfortable. I've read books on my PDAs and phones since the age of the Palm III, and I'm not alone. So it seems like a pretty smart move for Amazon to put their reader on as many platforms as possible. And I'm sure that Kindle owners who also have Blackberries will appreciate the WhisperSync - I know I do.
@OMG! weatherman: I think reading ebooks on a BlackBerry is a stupid idea - unless it's a Storm, the screensize is too small to make it a positive experience.
Reading on a larger touchscreen, such as an iPhone, Android or the HD2 is fine, that I have no problem with.
Digital copies given away with paperbacks is the way forward, as long as users are able to load it onto any device - not necessarily an ereader, it can be on a netbook, laptop or phone too. It's the idea of ereaders which I find redundant, not necessarily ebooks. I recognise that people are buying ereaders (someone must be inflating Amazon's wealth) and are quite happy with them, but I just don't see these stand-alone devices actually sticking around for long.
@Kat Hannaford: not to belabor a point, but again your arguments seem to be shifting. Last week you said; "Consumers won't buy an electronic book when they can get a paperback for the same price or even less, and when they can lend it to friends, read it in the bathtub or even sell it on and make a percentage of their money back....Our grandchildren won't be housing first edition ebook copies of War and Peace in an antiquated Kindle, passed down from generation to generation. There's no opportunity to get sentimental over an e-book..."
You also seem to want to continue to insult anyone who does anything differently than the way that you do it, calling them stupid and suggesting that the should be mugged and laughed at. I don't see it that way. Someone people might think it's silly to read a book on a computer, others think it's silly to read it on an iPhone, still others (like yourself) apparently draw the line when the screen size drops down to 3" or some other arbitrary measure. I say whatever people want to read their books on, that's fine by me. Because you see it's not the device that matters, it's the reading. Which is why when you say that ebook readers aren't going to be around very long I think you've got it exactly backwards; it's the paper book that is the transitional technology.
PS The offer still stands - I will loan you my Kindle for a week and I'll even buy you a book of your choosing as an x-mas present if you want to experience what it's like to actually life with one of these devices for awhile. I think it might change your mind.
@weatherman: This is the last time I'm going to reply on this thread, as I've got posts to write, but let me run through it quickly:
I'm not calling people who read ebooks stupid, I said that the Kindle app for BlackBerry is stupid. I've already outlined why I think that. Of course, if you read an ereader in public, you're going to be a target for muggers - the same way if you use an iPod, mobile phone or laptop. Perhaps you live in a safer area than I do, the crime rate's pretty high here in London where I live. You seem to be very quick to take my word for truth - when actually you can't cut through the humour to get to the point I'm trying to make.
And thanks for the offer, but I've had a Kindle for a while now actually. I'm currently reading Twilight (heaven forbid) because when I searched for Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, Haruki Murakami, Audrey Niffenegger and even JK friggin' Rowling I couldn't actually find any books from any of them.
Now, back to work. Thank you for your comments and eagle-eyed criticism.
@ICEMAN064:
That's just your opinion. Both PC's and Macs are flawed in many many ways. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A lot of Apple fanboys want to believe that Macs are perfect god machines but the cold hard truth is they're not. Neither platform is universally better than the other.
And I'm well aware it's Apples marketing commercial, I don't know how that fact could have escaped me (sarcasm). I was expressing a desire to see the tables turned for once. I know it's impossible but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy seeing it happen.
Really?
What's the point of having a Macbook if you're gonna make it fugly by stuffing crap like that on it's back?
I mean, that LEGO interacting with Apple's logo was neat. This is just horrible. Maybe a nice fanboy id tag though.
But oh well, I'm a PC user... what do I know about beauty, right?
It was a godsend for subtitled shows, but then I installed Perian and it worked better, in Quicktime, and displayed subs with the formatting they were supposed to have - just like VobSub on PC.
@fuchikoma: Also, if you visit the link, it says that the only crisis is not really a lack of man power to develop it fully, but a lack of man power to keep the UI on the Mac version updated, especially seeing as it's coded in Objective-C.
They're making a complete rewrite of the interface called Lunettes, apparently. Looks very "media-centric" so far... [wiki.github.com]
But I'm more intrigued by this line:
Finally, we have a few issues, since Apple doesn't want us on the Mac platform and is blocking us a lot, and refuses to explain why.
I wonder why Apple would have such an interest in doing that. Maybe it's not Apple, but the new tools of code that's blocking the libraries?
@(Starman) Starman: Lunettes doesn't look too bad... I was surprised how VLC on Mac is mostly like Quicktime on Mac, yet on Windows, it's like it was designed by someone who had never seen video player software before.
I wonder about the blocking comment too... I could see if they got frustrated if their program broke every time a major OS revision dropped. That makes sense too since so many Mac programs require the newest OS version if you're going to get the newer program version... of the same program with the same features.
Did he just imply that he's Justin Long? Why would you want to want to be Justin Long when Hodgman looks so much more happy and friendly? Look at him, he's smiling and waving. Justin is just staring into the distance with a soulless look in his eyes. As I think about it he could be one of the children of the corn. I think he's reading my thoughts... he's going to kill me I think.
Nooooo, stop it!
Don't hurt me please!
.
.
.
Wait a second what was I talking about?
@Nathan Obbards: Well if there's a lesson to be learned about life it can be found in Die Hard somewhere. For example if you kill some bad guys their shoes rarely fit you. Think about it... OK you don't have to if you don't want to.
Isn't this the equivalent of a personalized license plate that repeats the kind of car it is (i.e. a guy driving a Porsche Cayman that has the plates "Porsche" or "Cayman") ?
@DustyButt™: Research has shown that a guy with "MY M3" plates is rocking a level of smug 60% greater than someone in a Prius with a minimum of 2 Obama stickers.
@DustyButt™: the two plates I see around here that make me cringe are "3.5 GPA" and "DADSMNY". There IS, however, an old-ass Mustang rolling around with "PWNY". That's pretty great.
01:16 PM
12:25 PM
12:35 PM
Silly macs with their updating continual support.
12:43 PM
12:17 PM
12:23 PM
12:25 PM
10:00 AM
The only reason I'm (technically) not allowed to make my own damn digital copy of a movie is because of a paradox in the law. The movie's already digital.
But yes, of all the Blackberries I've had the displeasure of using, I can agree....I don't think a single one of them would be good for reading for any period of time comfortably.
09:24 AM
Therein lies the reason that e-readers' days are numbered. We, as a culture, are moving past the point where people are going to accept a one-use device. I can read most books on my Kindle, but I can't do anything else, at least not well. I don't have the time, space, or patience to deal with carting multiple devices around. I know that sounds whiney and unrealistic, but it's really not. Look down at your iPhone; it's just the tiniest taste of where we're headed. I think Amazon sees this, and that's why we're going to see more Kindle software than Kindles.
09:46 AM
The convenience of reading on a phone is always welcome, but it's a ridiculously annoying format both in size and format. Nobody would choose to read that way over a full-size page, except in a pinch.
The convergence of devices has to have a limit, and that limit will be defined by usability. Nobody wants an e-reader to be as small as a phone, and nobody wants a phone to be as big as an e-reader.
That said, I think flexibility is key. Amazon is smart to get its books on as many devices as possible, and to let the user decide the best way to read them. That's where I think the future lies -- technology with sufficient cross-compatibility that everybody gets to decide how to make it work best for them.
09:53 AM
Excellent point. I figure we'll all just use our Starfleet badges to communicate, though.
09:55 AM
09:58 AM
10:12 AM
So the point is that devices will always change and grow, and that no device will ever cover all functionality that we need. And dedicated devices will always be better at what they do than anything that tries to be everything. The other point, which seems to be missed in all this ranting about ebook readers, is that like it or not books are going digital and yes, there are going to be a lot of devices that are going to be able to read those books. So like it or not, ebook readers are here to stay, whether they look like the Kindle or the PADD of Star Trek in the future we don't know, but one thing is sure; there are going to be a lot fewer paper books.
10:37 AM
However, the Convergence Myth really isn't a myth. Let's go back to an easy example, the iPhone. If people had told me 10 years ago that you could read, call, surf the web, shop, listen to music, watch movies, game, manage finances, run much of a business, text, email, and shoot quality video+photos from one device, there's no way I would have believed them. It's a convergence of at least eight devices that, 10-15 years ago, only existed as standalone objects, and it's just the beginning.
Will one future device meet every need for every human at all times? No. It's a logical impossibility. We will, however, continue to cram more and more functionality into single devices.
10:42 AM
11:00 AM
08:34 AM
I think people should be able to read on whatever device they find convenient and comfortable. I've read books on my PDAs and phones since the age of the Palm III, and I'm not alone. So it seems like a pretty smart move for Amazon to put their reader on as many platforms as possible. And I'm sure that Kindle owners who also have Blackberries will appreciate the WhisperSync - I know I do.
10:45 AM
Reading on a larger touchscreen, such as an iPhone, Android or the HD2 is fine, that I have no problem with.
Digital copies given away with paperbacks is the way forward, as long as users are able to load it onto any device - not necessarily an ereader, it can be on a netbook, laptop or phone too. It's the idea of ereaders which I find redundant, not necessarily ebooks. I recognise that people are buying ereaders (someone must be inflating Amazon's wealth) and are quite happy with them, but I just don't see these stand-alone devices actually sticking around for long.
11:16 AM
You also seem to want to continue to insult anyone who does anything differently than the way that you do it, calling them stupid and suggesting that the should be mugged and laughed at. I don't see it that way. Someone people might think it's silly to read a book on a computer, others think it's silly to read it on an iPhone, still others (like yourself) apparently draw the line when the screen size drops down to 3" or some other arbitrary measure. I say whatever people want to read their books on, that's fine by me. Because you see it's not the device that matters, it's the reading. Which is why when you say that ebook readers aren't going to be around very long I think you've got it exactly backwards; it's the paper book that is the transitional technology.
PS The offer still stands - I will loan you my Kindle for a week and I'll even buy you a book of your choosing as an x-mas present if you want to experience what it's like to actually life with one of these devices for awhile. I think it might change your mind.
12:24 PM
I'm not calling people who read ebooks stupid, I said that the Kindle app for BlackBerry is stupid. I've already outlined why I think that. Of course, if you read an ereader in public, you're going to be a target for muggers - the same way if you use an iPod, mobile phone or laptop. Perhaps you live in a safer area than I do, the crime rate's pretty high here in London where I live. You seem to be very quick to take my word for truth - when actually you can't cut through the humour to get to the point I'm trying to make.
And thanks for the offer, but I've had a Kindle for a while now actually. I'm currently reading Twilight (heaven forbid) because when I searched for Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, Haruki Murakami, Audrey Niffenegger and even JK friggin' Rowling I couldn't actually find any books from any of them.
Now, back to work. Thank you for your comments and eagle-eyed criticism.
05:59 AM
11:12 AM
01:28 PM
That's just your opinion. Both PC's and Macs are flawed in many many ways. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A lot of Apple fanboys want to believe that Macs are perfect god machines but the cold hard truth is they're not. Neither platform is universally better than the other.
And I'm well aware it's Apples marketing commercial, I don't know how that fact could have escaped me (sarcasm). I was expressing a desire to see the tables turned for once. I know it's impossible but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy seeing it happen.
01:46 AM
12/17/09
What's the point of having a Macbook if you're gonna make it fugly by stuffing crap like that on it's back?
I mean, that LEGO interacting with Apple's logo was neat. This is just horrible. Maybe a nice fanboy id tag though.
But oh well, I'm a PC user... what do I know about beauty, right?
12/17/09
12/17/09
They're making a complete rewrite of the interface called Lunettes, apparently. Looks very "media-centric" so far... [wiki.github.com]
But I'm more intrigued by this line:
Finally, we have a few issues, since Apple doesn't want us on the Mac platform and is blocking us a lot, and refuses to explain why.
I wonder why Apple would have such an interest in doing that. Maybe it's not Apple, but the new tools of code that's blocking the libraries?
12:11 AM
I wonder about the blocking comment too... I could see if they got frustrated if their program broke every time a major OS revision dropped. That makes sense too since so many Mac programs require the newest OS version if you're going to get the newer program version... of the same program with the same features.
12/17/09
"I'm A PC"
"But I Use A Mac"
12/17/09
12/17/09
Nooooo, stop it!
Don't hurt me please!
.
.
.
Wait a second what was I talking about?
12/17/09
Getting some pot from Justin Long
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
Lame.
12/17/09
12/17/09
It was an instant facepalm.
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
Mac = macintosh
PC = Personal Computer
Macintosh = Personal Computer
I think that is the joke...
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09