Category: Technology

The New Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Kindle 2 I’m salivating right now. Could be because someone’s eating a plate of French fries next to me. Or could be because Amazon (AMZN) just released the new Kindle 2. Either way, both are equally scrumptious.

A ton has been written about the Kindle already, so I’m not going to copy-and-paste everything. What I’ll say instead is that I’m particularly excited about:

Author Spencer Ante also made an interesting comment about the Kindle today:

I am in talks with my publisher Harvard Business School Press to create a Kindle version of my book. The main challenge is over the rights issue. Depending on what rights you have negotiated, authors and publishers may need to renegotiate permissions to receive rights to publish certain photos and text for the digital world.

So here’s the deal. Thanks to Amazon and the Kindle, e-books have gone from the “can afford to ignore” category to the “I am looking into it” category, and now are entering “I have to have it” bucket.

I think this should be good for readers and the publishing industry as a whole because it represents another outlet and market. But the transition may be a little bumpy as business models could be disrupted, and publishers become concerned that they are getting dis-intermediated out of their core business by technology companies.

I think it’s a positive sign that some authors and publishers are buying into the idea of e-books. Not all authors are sold though. Stephen King cautions that, “yes, MP3s and iTunes destroyed the CD industry. Nobody’s going to buy the whole if you can just buy a slice. But that doesn’t apply to books.”

His thoughts echo what many others have said, making for an interesting debate.

Ultimately, it will have to be the readers who decide if e-book devices are worth having. So far, I think there’s a definite niche market here. I’m craving one and lots of people already love it. That doesn’t mean there’s a mass market for e-books though; it just means there’s a niche for them.

Personally, I still think this device will be a success – provided that Bezos and team can properly market this. And I’m rootin’ for them!

Walking at Work

Now for some Friday fun.

Time for some exercise! The holidays are over. And so are the marathon feasts of turkey, leftover turkey, cornbread, eggnog, candy canes, gingerbread cookies, and all manner of tasty treats.

Oh, but you have no time for exercise? Stuck in your cube at work all day? Well, your prayers are answered! And you can thank Dr. James Levine for it.

According to Mandy Katz’s article in the NY Times, “I Put In 5 Miles at the Office“, Levin “led a study showing that lean people burn about 350 more calories a day than those who are overweight, by doing ordinary things like fidgeting, pacing or walking to the copier.” Inspired by this finding, he constructed a treadmill desk by sliding a bedside hospital tray over a treadmill. So claims the article:

Without breaking a sweat, the so-called work-walker can burn an estimated 100 to 130 calories an hour at speeds slower than two miles an hour, Mayo research shows.

…

After leaving the military two years ago, Kirk Hurley, 40, a customer service representative at Mutual of Omaha, gained 75 pounds. In two months of work-walking two hours a day, he has lost 16 pounds.

“You don’t really feel the physical strain on your body because your mind’s occupied with your work,” he said.

Quite a feat, huh? Levine even worked with Steelcase to manufacture this as a consumer product, called the Walkstation. It’s not cheap, however. As of this entry, it’s going for a hefty $4,999.00. Yikes. I think I’d rather use a bedside hospital tray and a regular treadmill.

Even though Levine wasn’t the first one with this idea – Seth Roberts, an emeritus professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, created a treadmill desk in 1996 – his research popularized this fitness technique quite a bit. It has even inspired a blog and social network. Another blogger & office walker (as they’re known) decided to build his own treadmill desk from scratch.

Pretty wild stuff. It’s certainly not for everyone, though. A director of ergonomics noted that “if you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, this may not be the workstation for you.”

Can you just imagine the chaos and hilarity that would ensue from uncoordinated coworkers colliding into cubicle walls? Come to think of it, that would be pretty awesome to see. I can think of a few uncoordinated coworkers I’d like to see on a treadmill desk. Hehe.

Programming is Like Sex Twitter Meme

It’s fun to play with others! Um, that sounded dirty. But I must thank Isaac for giving me a heads up about a “programming is like sex” meme on Twitter. ‘Twas quite fun!

And I think this phrase originated from Peter Harkins way back in 2006. Funny stuff! (For geeks, mostly. Everybody else is going, “these guys really gotta get laid.”)

I think I’m starting to enjoy this Twitter thing…

Apple vs The Simpsons

Now for some Friday fun.

Last week, The Simpsons did a hilarious spoof on Apple (AAPL). If you’re a Simpsons fan, check it out:

Making a cameo is Steve Mobs, the Mapple Store, the Brainiac Bar, MyPods, MyPhones, MyCubes, and even a $40 pair of MyPhonies. Apparently, this was such a notable event that there was a buzz in the blogosphere about it. Some loved it and some really loved it. Me, I really loved it.

BTW, did you catch the “Prosperity is just around the corner” message? Hehe.

It’s the End of Instant Messaging as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane,
Lenny Bruce is not afraid, eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn.
– M. Stipe

Yea, okay, so that title is a little dramatic. Blame Douglas MacMillan on it.

He recently penned an article for BusinessWeek (MHP) entitled, “The End of Instant Messaging (As We Know It)” that discussed the rise of in-browser instant messaging clients like those used on Facebook and Gmail (GOOG).

These IM clients differ from traditional IM clients in that they are, well, in the web browser. Embedded in a website, so to speak. As you type on your friends’ Walls and Facebook Stalk your secret crushes, you can get a little message in the bottom-right corner of the page. It only exists while you’re on the Facebook website though. If you go check your stock quotes on another site, that little message in the bottom-right corner will disappear.

Also, you don’t have to download anything. Or sign up with another account. It’s just there for you automatically, as long as you have a Facebook account.

With traditional IM clients like AOL (TWX) Instant Messenger and Yahoo! (YHOO) Messenger, you have to download some software and create an account. It’s a little more tedious, but lots of people have done it already. Plus, it doesn’t go away as you check out different websites.

The End of Instant Messaging as We Know It?

So what’s the big deal? MacMillan pointed out that traditional IM clients have been seeing a decline in usage. “Instead of spending time with these old-fashioned chat windows,” he writes, “Web users are flocking to sites like Facebook and Google’s Gmail, where instant messaging tools are more closely embedded in what they are doing.”

That’s a good point. Sites like Facebook already have a person’s attention. Instead of asking my friend, who’s using AIM to download YM so I can chat with him, why not just send him an instant message via Facebook (assuming he’s got a Facebook account, of course)?

MacMillan doesn’t supply any data to back up the claim that the decline of traditional IM usage is due to in-browser IM usage, but anecdotally, I have seen an increase in friends using in-browser IMs. The first time I received a Facebook IM, I thought it was some kind of ad. Nowadays, I receive lots of Facebook IMs, some from friends already on my traditional IM lists, others from friends not on my lists.

Those latter messages I’ve grown to appreciate. Since I don’t have them on my traditional IM lists, Facebook has given me an easy way to chat with them. In addition to connecting me with long-lost friends whom I can now email, I can also chat with them in real-time without needing their YM or AIM username.

(Sure, I could call them up too. And I have in a few cases. But sometimes the spontaneity of a random IM chat is kinda nice too.)

And I Don’t Feel Fine

Which brings me to an issue that concerns me greatly. I am a power user of IMs. I use IMs frequently for work purposes. Since I work with people across different geographies, IM has become an important business tool for immediate conversations. Phone is just as good, but when you need to share a URL, IM is much better.

Also, IMs offer a log of chat history. I faithfully archive all of my conversations in case I need to refer to information shared over past IMs. In order to do this, I need a client that has archive ability.

Yahoo! Messenger does. And since it allows MSN (MSFT) Messenger contacts to be added, I get to archive conversations with users of both clients. Gtalk does too. And since it allows AIM contacts to be added, I get to archive conversations from both of them.

Unfortunately, Facebook does not archive conversations. I haven’t had any business-related conversations on Facebook yet, so that hasn’t been a problem. But what if I do? What if a client is available on Facebook and decides to chat me over there. How can I keep a record of that conversation without having to copy & paste it? And what about other websites? If they incorporate in-browser IM, will they have archives?

That’s just one problem. Another is having chat archives all over the place. Already, I have one with YM and another with Gtalk. 37signals has a great collaboration tool for small businesses called Campfire which contains its own archives as well. While it’s nice that they all keep a record of my conversations, searching through all of these sources is a major pain in the patootey.

Offer Me Solutions, Offer Me Alternatives and I Decline

What I need is an IM archive aggregator of some sort. Not more in-browser or out-of-browser IM archives. But a way to search through all of one’s IM archives.

Attached to this suggestion is the natural idea of an IM aggregator – a central IM client that allows you to sign in to multiple services in one place. That, fortunately, has been addressed. On the traditional IM client side, there’s Pidgin, Jabber, Trillian, and tons more.

On the in-browser side, there’s Meebo, Soashable, ILoveIM.com, and tons more. (Not to be left behind, traditional IM clients have also created in-browser versions: AIM Express, Yahoo! Web Messenger, and MSN Web Messenger. Gtalk was released as a downloadable client and in-browser app at the same time.).

That’s a whole lotta choices. A whole lotta. Looking at them all is kind of like going through the cereal aisle of the supermarket, except that these require login accounts and passwords and no milk or bowls or… ah, nevermind, bad analogy.

That’s a whole lotta choices. All of them solve the problem of having multiple IM accounts. But now that Facebook and other companies are releasing their own IM systems, we’re going to run into the problem of having multiple IM accounts again. Great. Thanks Facebook.

That’s Great, It Starts with an Earthquake

Having a proliferation of choices isn’t uncommon though, especially not for new markets. Over time, leaders will emerge. Hopefully, global standards too. The current leader, Meebo, is already doing something that I hope will continue:

They just got Flixster to offer Meebo’s in-browser IM client as a feature. This means Meebo is moving into the IM provider business. Since they already offer an archive, any in-browser IMs I get from Flixster will appear in my Meebo account too. Neat!

Now if Facebook integrated Meebo, how cool would that be? Or – even better – if Facebook integrated Gtalk, then I’d be able to combine my Facebook chats with my existing Gtalk & AIM archives. Oh what a happy day that would be.

And not just for me, but perhaps for Facebook and others as well. They’d be able to outsource all of their IM development & maintenance to a IM provider. Sort of like a Disqus for IM, perhaps? (Not sure if that analogy works either, but you know what I mean.)

I’m guessing the folks at Meebo are already thinking about this. I wonder if the Gtalk people are too. If not, I hope so. An IM aggregator that works both in-browser and as a downloadable client, and can be leveraged on third-party websites, and has a common, searchable archive would be totally awesome. And I’d feel fine…

How People Really Use The iPhone

You think you know, but do you really know? Do you? Know how people really use the Apple (AAPL) iPhone?

The Santa Clara-based strategic research and design firm Create with Context recently presented “Taking a Peek: How People Really Use the iPhone” at the 2008 iPhone Developer Summit in San Jose, CA. In case you missed the presentation, here it is:

How people really use the iPhone
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: iphone design)

You can also download this presentation as a handy ebook.

Great info, especially if you’re an iPhone application developer or are building an iPhone app!

Oprah Loves the Amazon Kindle

Oh boy! Oprah Winfrey “new favorite favorite thing in the world” is the Amazon Kindle! Go Oprah Effect go!

Although the Amazon Kindle costs $359, Oprah looks at it as an environmentally friendly investment. “I know it’s expensive in these times, but it’s not frivolous because it will pay for itself,” she says. “The books are much cheaper, and you’re saving paper.” All books are $9.99 or less.

Great observation. Not only will the Kindle save you money in the long run, but it will save the environment. What more could you ask for?

I know – you could ask for a discount. So for the next seven days, you can purchase one for a $50 discount if you type in the code: OPRAHWINFREY

Nice.

Although some people have poked fun at Jeff Bezos having bribed Oprah, my friends who are devote Oprah fans assured me that she is above all forms of bribery and gets thousands of free gifts, solicitations, and wannabe bribes every day, so why would she take Bezos’ bribe and not others? Then the devote Oprah fans scorned me for having testicles and plopped in front of the TV to watch more Oprah.

(Just kidding!)

Jeff Bezos is even appeared on Oprah to talk about the Kindle and “Oprah was so effusive that Bezos, sitting next to her, barely got a word in edgewise.” Which might be a good thing, because Bezos might have gotten so excited about the Kindle that he would have jumped into Oprah’s couch. Heh.