Three iPads?

I hardly believe this rumor about a three-iPad lineup soon, but I would love it to be true. That way there could be a cheap entry-level model for kids and others, a normal model (maybe close to the current iPad 2), and a super-model for the enthusiasts with super-high-rez screen and the works, at a premium price.
Making everybody happy at a single price point (only varied by over-charging for more memory) is not so easy.

Big personal library

Here's Bart in an episode where he switches places with a very rich kid.
I know I rarely buy paper books anymore, but I still get weak in the knees by the thought of having a personal library like this. Keeewl.

I would combine it with a café and have book readings and such, it would be a great hang-out.

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I don't understand the PNG format, or rather why it's used so much. It may be lossless or something, but often it's nearly ten times bigger than a decent JPG. Like the above screenshot from my iPad was 1.2MB! The JPG is 160k.

Flote arm

There are signs in the stars that my humble wish for more tablet holders is coming through. I was contacted by the makers of the Flote arm, and it does look promising, and rather lighter and more elegant than the one I have.
Watch the video, it is good, and funny.




I got this info from the designer David Cutler:

I've been working with a UK distributor about retailing FLOTE it in Europe.
For now, we are charging $110 for international shipping  via USPS, which may take a several days to a few weeks.
I wanted to inform you of an important improvement to the FLOTE. We have designed the "sliding" boom to now be a "telescoping" boom. This removes the concern of the "boom tail"- the end of the boom opposite the tablet- bumping into things like chairs and walls when you swing your tablet around. Aesthetically we are making the "fixed" boom tail look similar to the current design, remaining extended about 5"  to give FLOTE its balanced look.

You can get it in custom colors for a premium, even in 14karat gold plating for a bigger premium! :-) (I'm not sure what kind of home that would be for. A movie star home or a housing-scam investment advisor home. You know the kind: huge house, no furniture but a big toy race track and an $200k stereo system still in the boxes.)

I wonder why it took so long for such products to appear.
Look at this study about the unfortunate ergonomics of using a tablet.

B&N Fights Fire with $199 Nook Tablet

B&N Fights Fire with $199 Nook Tablet, article.

The Nook is overall surprisingly successful against an overwhelming competition like the Kindle/Amazon.
For example the writing app My Writing Spot works now on the Nook, and the developer tells me that the Nook market is the Android market where the software is selling best! I doubt anybody would have predicted that.

Book bloggers

If you sometimes want to find fresh authors to read, maybe book bloggers can help.
Here is Book Bloggers Directory (SF division).

E-books Can’t Burn

E-books Can’t Burn, article.
At the university where I work, certain professors, old and young, will react with disapproval at the notion that one is reading poetry on a Kindle. It is sacrilege.
[...] Add to that the e-book’s ease of transport, its international vocation (could the Iron Curtain have kept out e-books?), its indestructibility (you can’t burn e-books), its promise that all books will be able to remain forever in print and what is more available at reasonable prices, and it becomes harder and harder to see why the literati are not giving the phenomenon a more generous welcome.

It's yet more proof that even the most intelligent people are often unable to distinguish when emotions are ruling their judgment. If you remove the thought from a paper book, all you have left is dead wood. But still for many people, the precious content is inseparable from the paper it was printed on.

Pakistani Military Introduces Android-Based PACPAD

Pakistani Military Introduces Android-Based PACPAD, article.

PACPAD is being sold in limited quantities, but represents a new effort by Pakistan’s military to enter into the consumer electronics space. 
“I just can’t figure it out,” Jehan Ara, head of Pakistan’s Software Houses Association, said to the AP. “Even if they could sell a billion units, I can’t see the point. The air force is supposed to be protecting the air space and borders of the country.”

Personally I think that this could be a great trend. If the military industry in various countries around the world might learn that they can have fun and profit without killing people, that might be a stick more towards building the coffin for war in this world.

I heard of a South American country, forget which, which years ago completely abolished their military, and their education and industry have been booming since.