Nasty iPad Side-Effects
I have been watching the little spat between Macmillan and Amazon.com with some interest, since I think it represents a very important turning point in the publication industry. Amazon.com published their side of the story, and Macmillan published theirs. In the end, Macmillan won, and you and I lost.
The gist of the story, Macmillan insisted that Amazon.com start charging between $12.99 and $14.99 for the Kindle versions of Macmillan’s books. Amazon has generally charged $9.99 or less, and wanted to keep it that way. Amazon stuck to their guns for a couple of days, going so far as pulling all Macmillan publications from Amazon.com. Well, today Amazon caved, and Macmillan’s new release Kindle books are now between $12.99 and $14.99. On the bright side, Macmillan promises that older books will reduce in price, to the $6.99 range. How good of them!
I for one bought Kindle books because they were cheaper than their hard-backed counterparts. All other things being equal, I’d prefer the physical book to the electronic one. So, when I’m not saving anything by buying the Kindle version, it’s not likely I will be buying the Kindle version.
You can bet that very soon other publishers will follow suit, and all new Kindle books will be roughly the same price as their paper equivalents. This is 100% due to the greed of the publishers. Electronic books are cheap to produce. Much much cheaper than paper books. There is no logical reason to raise the price of electronic books, and frankly, even $9.99 was more than they should have been.
What’s truly unfortunate is that this is Apple’s fault. They are entering into similar deals with publishers (to sell books in the $15 range), and publishers are undoubtedly playing this card against Amazon. “Do what we tell you, or we’ll enter an exclusive deal with Apple.” Amazon’s hands are tied, and we, the readers, lose.
Sorry Apple, sorry Amazon, I don’t intend on buying any ebooks as long as their cost is comparable to the physical book. Here the publishers win, because they know that we’re all suckers for new releases, and they’ll get their $15 one way or another. Ass holes!
Why I Will Wait To Buy My iPad…Maybe
Anyone that knows me is expecting me to run out and buy an Apple iPad the day it becomes available. Ok, I probably will, but am considerably more hesitant to do so than I would/should be. Why? Because I think version 2.0 of the pad is the one I want.
Most of my problems with the iPad can be solved with software updates, and (you read it here first) will be solved by Apple before, or shortly after launch. The most glaring of which is the very iPhone-like home screen and “springboard”. Apple doesn’t do ugly, and the 4 x 4 icon arrangement with about an inch of padding around each icon is about the ugliest thing I’ve ever spied. This is a placeholder so they could get developers working on iPad software with the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. The long-term home screen will NOT look like THIS!
My other problems are decidedly hardware based, and I expect them to be fixed in 2.0. First, as you can see above, the bevel around the iPad screen is huge. It can be about 75% of that size, no problem, and probably will be in the next version.
Second, I’m VERY surprised that there is no camera. It doesn’t make sense. I’m sure there is some kind of technical reason for this that will be solved for version 2.0
Third, there doesn't appear to be a compass or GPS. While these aren't entirely necessary for the most likely use (sitting on your couch cold chillin') it would be a nice to have for any location-based functions.
Finally, there’s no way (currently) to either use the iPad as an external display, or use an external display with the iPad. This might be solved with an adapter, but how cool would it be to use the iPad as a 2nd display for your laptop?
Of course, I could always play the “get 1.0 and then get 2.0 and give 1.0 to my wife” trick. It always works.
Keep Track of Your Stuff!
I worked with a few buds of mine to create a new app called BorrowMe. The short and skinny...it helps you keep track of the things you borrow, and the things you lend. We really dipped into the iPhone capability bucket on this one and have some great features in place. My favorite being the "handshake" to seal the deal, with which you can send an entry for something you are lending to the lendee (is that a word?) with just a couple of taps.
We're very proud of what we did with this app. Check it out at the iTunes App Store.
I originally realized that BorrowMe had finally be released when checking out AppShopper, a site that makes it much easier to keep up on what's new in the AppStore (Thanks, Pedro!) Here's the link to BorrowMe on that site:
iPhone Developer’s Cookbook
The PDF version of Erica Sadun’s book, “The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK” (link: http://tinyurl.com/4aldd8) is finally available.
I’ll admit, I had some very high expectations for this book. The samples on Erica Sadun’s web site offered a peek into what to expect. Not only does the book meet my expectations, but it impossibly exceeds them.
The first surprise was the first chapter, a great primer for iPhone development. I wish I had this in my hands when I first started doing iPhone development, as chapter one explains some key concepts important to understanding iPhone development. The first chapter alone is worth the price of admission for those new to iPhone development.
The rest of the book is filled with examples of how to accomplish magic in all aspects of iPhone development. Some that you would figure out yourself given enough time, but most true gems. And a few with non-public API calls (use at your own risk).
Check it, out! You won’t regret it.
iPhone AppStore Now Live!
Apple has finally opened the AppStore for iPhone and iPod Touch applications.
Not to toot my own horn, but toot toot, I have an app available! MPG
I've also launched a new site to support my iPhone apps. iPhoneCodeMonkey.com.
Check it out!
Testing MacJournal
I’m just checking out MacJournal, a fairly cheap ($22) program that not only allows you to keep personal journals (locked securely on your Mac) but also lets you keep public journals. What we like to call “blogs”.
So, guess what!?! You can post these public journal entries (blogs) to...you guessed it...your blog.
So I’m going to give that a try. If this looks weird or doesn’t work, blame MacJournal.
I haven’t figured out how to use them yet, but apparently MacJournal also supports goodies like smilies ☺ and wiki text as well (not sure what that means yet.)
Looks like you can set tags. It seems to know something about categories, though I can’t figure out how to set it. Maybe it will do that when I upload it to the server.
EDIT: Just tested editing an existing entry from MacJournal as well. Pretty cool.
As I create more entries in MacJournal, it will automatically link to them. That’s sweet.
Apple Hits a Foul Ball with iTunes Movie Rentals
Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of anything Apple. I own a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and probably half a dozen iPods. I plan to buy a Time Capsule in the near future. I love the idea of being able to back up my MBP just by walking in the room. But, while I also love the idea of Apple TV, I haven't come up with a good excuse to buy one.
I thought that I had finally found that excuse with the introduction of iTunes Movie Rentals. What an awesome idea! I can sit down, on a whim, and just start watching a movie (after a brief delay while I wait for the download.) Instant gratification! It's the American way, baby!
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