Amazon Has More Options to Compete with Apple
Published March 26th, 2010 | 
In the future, maybe most of us — when we reach for a book resting on our nightstands or tv stands, we’ll be reaching for so sort of e reader device instead of that paperback novel. It is this possible future that keeps publishers awake at night. Lately, the fear of a Kindle planet has given way to enthusiasm over the forthcoming iPad. But, there is plenty of evidence that the iPad, no matter how many devices Apple sells, may not be the transformative mobile publishing device the hype suggests. For one thing, we’ve learned recently that books on the iPad may not be as expensive as originally thought, but that magazines may actually be more expensive than on the Kindle. We’ve also learned that the Kindle will have an app for the iPad which means that Amazon isn’t as dependent on selling more Kindles as Apple is on selling the iPad. My own feeling is that Amazon will still come out ahead in the eBook market — at least for the foreseeable future.
Content Aware Fill in the New Photoshop Makes Faking Photos Easier Than Ever
Published March 25th, 2010 | Adobe’s got a new tool for Photoshop that makes photo editing even easier. Imagine you want to convince people you know a famous celebrity. You take a picture from one of those Outer Banks beach rentals you stayed at last summer and you plop an image of you standing next to Lady Gaga. This new tool makes the image look real whereas earlier versions of photoshopped images always looked obvious and fake. This innovation will be both a blessing and a curse for publishers.
Posted in Current Events, Happy Horseshit, Magazines, New Media, Publishing, editing, journalism, websitesAmazon Pushes Kindle in TV Ads
Published March 24th, 2010 | I was at the gym earlier, pedaling away on the stationary bike. There was some soap actresss doing a proactiv review talking about how the product cleared up her acne and when the show broke for commercial (yeah, I too thought it odd that an infomercial would break for another commercial) I saw an advertisement for the Amazon Kindle. I’ve never seen one television commercial in the two years the Kindle has been around. It’s probably not a coincidence with the iPad release just around the corner that Amazon is suddenly releasing tv ads for the Kindle. What I find funny is not that Amazon is digging in for a fight, but that so many people still believe the iPad will revolutionize the publishing industry. Most of the people I’ve talked to about the iPad are either a) not buying it b) not buying it until at least the 2nd generation c) not buying it specifically for eBooks or d) buying it specifically for the iWorks. There is little indication that this device will have widespread appeal as either a eBook reader or as a portable game machine. And given that most of the apps available in the beginning will be iphone/ipod apps many already have on their iphones/ipods, the iPad (at least for the forseeable future) will be in direct competition with Apple’s other mobile devices.
Even if Apple sells a million of these iPads this year, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a million eBook readers. Also, remember what I said previously about Amazon selling physical books as well as eBooks. There’s a good reason why Random House is still playing coy about signing a deal with Apple. They know that unless Apple’s new gizmo proves-out as a genuine Ereader device, going against Amazon may not be the best strategy. Not that Amazon can afford to lose Random House’s business (Jeff Bezos would have to make terms with RH if they sign with Apple), but they do have some wiggle room with publishers at the moment that Apple really doesn’t have even if some publishers imagine otherwise.
