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Archive for the 'Digital Libraries' Category

the Kindle and the iPhone dance

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Now that both the Kindle and the iPhone are out, it’s interesting to look at the very similar business strategy behind the two products.
I think most of the E-Ink ebook readers in the market are doomed to failure. They don’t do enough, and what they do, they do poorly. The world gave up [...]

A reader’s delight

Friday, February 15th, 2008

I was Googling for something completely different today, using four terms and a “quoted phrase,” and had pared down the jillions to only 38 results. At the bottom of the first page of results was an oddity: My Favorite Books. I happened to notice the url:
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/booklist.html
And thought: Stanford, Sergey…. and clicked on it. And [...]

Better pay attention to the Kindle

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

I got my Kindle at the beginning of Christmas week. The holidays gave me a chance to show it to a number of friends and relatives who don’t read ebooks, don’t know about ebooks, and have never tried reading on a screen. Several of them had heard about the Kindle and were primed to see [...]

In search of Danton

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

Over the past week or so, I’ve been watching my daughter, who is a high school sophomore, doing research for a history paper on Danton and the French Revolution. The teacher told the kids to find, as sources, at least two books, two arcticles, and two reputable website (which, by his definition, doesn’t include wikipedia). [...]

Reading Red

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

I flew across the country this Sunday to attend a conference, on Virgin America. It’s my second flight on VA, and I largely enjoy it, at least as well as JetBlue.
But looking at their “Red” in-flight entertainment system today, with a menu button marked “Read” along with Music and Games and Chat and other [...]