Nothing too special about today, just a kind of odd, rainy middle-of-the-week sort of day.
Day: November 16, 2011
Song of the day
“Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan
Desolation Row from Paul Tattam on Vimeo.
Fire fire
So I probably won’t be buying a Kindle Fire anytime soon:
If you’ve used an iPad, using the Kindle Fire will most likely remind you how much attention Apple does pay to design, user experience, deep detail. Apple thought long and hard not just about the features almost everybody will want all the time, but which some people will want sometimes. The iPad is a pleasure, sometimes even a mystery, to hold, explore and use. The Kindle Fire is a black rectangle with a screen that let’s you basically do seven things.
That said, it’s about to become “the rest” of the tablet market, everything but the iPad. For users who don’t want a sexy category-defying mini computer, this device will be great.
Finally, despite its seeming passion for books, Amazon is not a device company; it’s a company that has irrevocable changed, and innovated retail, and that’s what it’s doing again with the Kindle Fire. Bezos has gotten customers to pay him (although the FIre is a loss leader) for the privilege of owning their own portable comprehensive Amazon shopping experience. What he is probably most excited to sell a lot of are Amazon Prime subscriptions, which come with, of course, the free video content and the lending library, but, most importantly, with free two-day shipping, meaning if you’re feeling two lazy to walk over to the store to buy your toothbrush (or toaster, or boxer shorts or whatever), you’ll just order it from Amazon. This device is all about buying stuff, and lots and lots of people are going to buy it, and the Amazon content and hard goods it sells, this holiday season.
Wednesday various
- Mark Evanier on celebrity voices in cartoons…and why it’s mostly same as it ever was.
- Along sort of the same lines (and also via Evanier), the Cartoon Color Wheel. Where does your favorite cartoon fall along the wheel?
- Nathan Rabin revisits Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip so you don’t have to. His review is a lot more intelligent and funny than the series itself ever was.
- Dream is over for Virgin Galactic space tourist:
After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring. [via]
- And finally, the TARDIS Teapot:
It’s neat, but they’re missing a golden opportunity by not having it make the TARDIS sound when you pour. [via]