Late Breaking Developments

Okay, not really. Just general B.S. from surfing the web all day.

Amazon's new Kindle tries to mimic the experience of reading a book by having a keyboard for notes in the margin, just like books. It looks a lot like a book, in that it has a cover that folds over its screen and keyboard like all of Robert Ludlum's novels. Apparently its power switch is in about the same place as you'd find it on, say, Moby Dick.

I was trying to figure out who might want it.

I love new gadgets that make things I like to do easier or more fun. I read about three books a year, maybe four. They're always on; they never need new batteries. Infrequently I loan them to friends. Less frequently I get them back. That doesn't seem possible with a $400 DRM box. So, as gadgets go, I can't see much use for it.

My wife reads a ton of books. She hates gadgets, though. She's had an iPhone for two weeks and still hasn't figured out how to put in a voice mail greeting. That frigging Kindle monstrosity would piss her off in a big way.

It might make a nice collector's item in a few years. Maybe in a museum of ridiculous ideas.

What would be really cool is an internet device with a web browser, email, a stock tracker, a weather app, and maybe YouTube, iTunes, a calendar, clock, calculator, Google Maps, that also downloads books in a standardized format. Maybe it could have a multi-touch screen. You could turn pages by sliding your finger across the screen, kinda like the way you'd expect it to work on, say, an iPhone.

It could have the same basic form factor as an iPhone, but maybe bigger. Like, twice the width and height, and the same thickness. Then you could sync it with your computer on the web, using something similar to .mac.

That would be sweet. Just don't make it brown.

Does Leopard Really Suck?

I keep reading that Leopard has bugs. My copy just keeps humming right along. People say Apple shouldn't have released such a buggy program. Tiger is on version eleven for crying out loud. It still isn't perfect. Leopard will never be perfect. It's freaking software, man. Get with the program (no pun intended). It's getting better faster than Vista is, though; it also started better than Vista.

Microsoft has the FUD machine running full tilt. It has become okay with me, though.

Once I have dispatched my duty as a Christian and a man by spreading the good news that you can indeed have a computer that just works, my conscience is clear.

Turkey breast, mayo, salt, sourdough: Utopia.

I do not hate cats. I just don't think I can eat a whole one by myself.