Tech

I feel sorry for my bookshelves

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Until now, I haven’t bought many e-books. Yes, I’ve read a few on the Classics app for my iPhone, and experimented with other e-readers, but I just haven’t felt like I was ready to buy my books in e-versions. And then I watched Apple’s newly released video about its iBooks app and iBookstore for the iPad. I’ll be getting an iPad very soon, and for the first time, I’ve started to think I might end up preferring to buy a book on the iPad, rather than a traditional, print version. But what about my bookshelves? Will will this mean they’ll just be a relic? That they’ll be packed with all of the books I’ve bought—until 2010? To be honest, I find that prospect sort of frightening, yet I also see it as inevitable.

I never buy CDs now, and I imagine there will be a time—this year, next year?—when I won’t buy all that many non-e-book books. Yes: I feel sorry for my bookshelves.

Tech

The iPad as your only computer?

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I’ve been wondering: Will it be possible to use the iPad as your only computer?

I can easily see the iPad making sense as the computer-of-choice for lots of people. Kids, for instance. Or teenagers. Or college students. Or anyone else who would like something lightweight, portable, and without the administrative and maintenance hassles of a Macintosh or a Windows computers. That describes just about everyone, of course, but not everyone will be able to do without software like Excel or Photoshop.

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Distracted Living

Is a technology diet in order?

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That’s the gist of a Fortune piece Patricia Sellers. It’s a fun read, thought I’m not wild about the headline: “2010 Resolution: Slow Down for Success.” Does everything have to be about “success”? How about contentment, enjoying yourself, being happy?

In any case, she’s decided her New Year’s resolution isn’t about cramming more into her life. As she puts it: “Instead of resolving to do more this year, I’m aiming to do less. To slow down.”

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Distracted Living

Crime writer on info-overload

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At the Murderati blog, crime writer J.T. Ellison takes in the topic of information overload. The post includes some interesting thoughts/musings on the topic—in particular, how to control your info-consumption and also tackle creative projects:

Late last year I adopted a minimalist lifestyle, which included trying to have a more minimalist experience on the Internet. I just realized that in my quest to learn about minimalism, I ended up subscribed to 12 minimalism/productivity blogs, all of which basically repeat the same information over and over again. Not very minimalist. It was ridiculous, really. Anyone can talk the talk. It’s walking the walk that’s the hard part. There’s one blogger (who shall remain nameless) that I used to love. When I realized that he spent all his time talking about creativity, yet never creating, I deleted him from my feeds.

Tech

Shortcoming or genius? The iPad does away with traditional files

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Steven Johnson has an excellent essay in Time about the iPad, its shortcomings, and what we might (or might not) see in future updates. As he says:

The iPad interface — like the iPhone’s — tries to do everything in its power to do away with documents and files. There is no Finder or root-level file navigation. It’s apps, apps, apps, as far as the eye can see.

Read more: Apple iPad Shortcomings Spark Questions about Updates.

Distracted Living

Washington journalist without a BlackBerry? Yes, it makes sense

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I love this brief essay from The New Yorker’s George Packer about the “information hell” of Twitter. Yes, I use Twitter, but I’ve got serious reservations about it, and Packer captures this:

The truth is, I feel like yelling Stop quite a bit these days. Every time I hear about Twitter I want to yell Stop. The notion of sending and getting brief updates to and from dozens or thousands of people every few minutes is an image from information hell.

Tech

The iPad: Everything you know about computers just changed

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Well, that’s how I opened my Star-Ledger column about the iPad: “Everything you know about computers just changed.” Not really because of the iPad itself, but because of the way you interact with it. As I say in my column, you can sum this up in one word: touch. The more I use my iPhone, the more I see touch technology, like Apple’s multitouch interface, as being the key to computing in coming years. As I put it in my column:

The iPad signals the moment when computers changed from being bulky products tethered to desktops and power cords to thin, portable devices you can carry in one hand and slip into a backpack.

Sure, there are lots of questions about the iPad, and complaints (too heavy; no camera; no Flash), but this is just the initial version, and we can expect it to get better and better. With its ability to connect to Apple’s wireless keyboard, I expect I’ll be using an iPad as my main computer.

Miscellany

Twitter 100 list now at Web100

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As I’ve written in my column for the Star-Ledger, Twitter is a vast ecosystem extending far beyond the Twitter website:

Although the concept of Twitter is straightforward enough, the reality is increasingly complex. Once you start using Twitter, especially if you’re using it for professional reasons — to promote yourself or your business, say, even as you’re communicating with friends and colleagues — you’re confronted with any number of issues. How do you decide who to follow? How do you track multiple Twitter accounts? Are there ways to have assorted underlings post to your organization’s account? And how do you make sense of all of this crazy lingo, like “follow” and “tweet” (and a bunch of other terms)?

Well, Web100 has launched a new top 100 list, the Twitter 100, and it’s a great guide to making sense of Twitter and social media. The list ranks Twitter-related websites, people, and tools, and it’s a quick way to get up to speed on Twitter—or extend your knowledge of the Twitterverse. It explains Twitter lingo, directs you to people worth following, suggests the best Twitter tools, and and helps you find the best books about Twitter. Even better, the list will continue to evolve, with new items added as Twitter grows and morphs into new arenas.

Tech

Predicting what columns I will write in 2010

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Hm, what will I be writing about in 2010 for my Star-Ledger column?

That’s the topic I tackled in my last column for 2009. I tried this a few years back, and it was a fun way to write a “trends to watch” column—essentially imagining the news before it happens. And there’s a lot to look forward to—in particular, a Google phone, an Apple tablet, and Google’s cloud-computing operating system. Read more in my column.