I Want a Kindle Fire

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I wanted a Kindle Fire before it was called “the Kindle Fire”.

You don’t need a crystal ball or a degree in tea leaf divination to know that brand + price point x Amazon’s attention to detail (and distribution back end) is pretty much destined to equal TEH SPARKLING SHINY AWESOME.

But I have a crystal ball and I will make the following rash and baseless predictions, based on hunches, intuition and being two cabillion years old in Internet years.

* The Kindle Fire won’t kickstart a secondary tablet market. It will be the secondary tablet market. People who didn’t consider a tablet before will consider one now.

* The Fire will burn some of the iPad’s sales – because the price point and Amazon’s distribution chops will slurp up a lot of impulse purchases:

Tablet devices for kids.
Second tablets.
Student tabs.

The choice in this category before was either “yuck-don’t-want that expensive-thing-I’ve-never-heard-of”… or iPad.

* The Kindle Fire will be the Christmas must-have for adult gifting. Just like the Kindle 3 was last year. Also, “gifting” is my favourite word today. Typing it feels chewy and nice.

And, I know, I know – the Kindle Fire isn’t quite an Android tab, like your proper Android tabs. Like the Xoom or Galaxy or Eee Pad. But you know who doesn’t care about that? Your Mom.

And your Mom shops at Amazon.

Movember

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Dear G+ people,

It’s way into November and, like many geek-men, I’m growing a moustache to benefit men’s health charity Movember. All proceeds go towards cancer research.

If you haven’t already donated to Movember, please consider donating a couple of dollars to me. It’s a really good cause.

It doesn’t have to be much. I suggest the price of a beer. Just one beer. In the immortal words of Bob Geldof “Don’t go to the pub tonight. Stay in and give us the money.” Here’s the link.

Ouch…

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Marco’s review assumes that the Fire should be an iPad replacement, and from that point of view I agree with him that the Fire is not. I bought mine as a Kindle (gen 1) replacement, and it does everything I need in an e-reader, plus allows me to easily check my email (thanks to the Enhanced Email app that was free in the Appstore yesterday) and read other content I normally view using Pulse and Evernote.

As an all-purpose reading device, it functions well for me – it would be great if it had Google Calendar integration (are you listening, +Amazon.com ?) and if Flipboard would create an app for it. If I want to play Angry Birds or look up directions on Google Maps or create a report for work, I’ll use my iPad or a netbook/notebook.

When did people start getting excited “for” things?

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When did people start getting excited “for” things instead of “about” things? When did the object become the subject? Why do I have to be excited on behalf of the thing I’m doing? Huh? HUH? I’mthe one who’s excited. Not the talk on digital journalism I’m going to or the reformation of the Stone Roses or, fer chrissakes, Tintin.

Yeah, like, I’m excited for Tintin. He really deserves to be in 3D and made into a film written by Stephen Moffat and directed by Peter Jackson and Spielberg. I’m excited for Tintin. You fictional character, you.

Just stop it.

The new Storify interface is looking much cleaner.

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The new Storify interface is looking much cleaner. Less a Mom and Pop start-up and more like the thing-of-the-moment curation tool we all need.

Still, unless I’m completely mistaken, Storify lacks user search for Storified content… You can search for Storify content when creating a story, but not when landing on the front page as a consumer.

Am I mistaken? Is it hidden somewhere in plain sight that I’ve missed? If not, it seems like a fairly fundamental UI omission.

Not exactly new – but I am loving ShareMouse

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Not exactly new – but I am loving ShareMouse – an almost ridiculously easy to use virtual keyboard and mouse sharing app. To clarify that, it works a bit like a KVM. You plug a keyboard and mouse into one machine on your network – and can use them with any other Windows or Mac computer on your LAN that has ShareMouse installed.

I struggled with the open source Synergy for a while and found it a bit on the glitchy/IMPOSSIBLE TO CONFIGURE side (especially in a mixed 64/32 bit Mac/Windows environment, which is where I live).

ShareMouse, launched at the end of August, is install-and-use-tastic. I put it on on a Hackintosh and a Win 7 PC. The “monitor manager” window lets you virtually position your screens. To switch between them you just keep going when you hit the edge of your monitor – just like any shared set-up. And, you can drag and drop files between screens too.

Currently in beta so, therefore, currently free.

There seems little point in commenting on how crappy the UK’s Daily Mail is

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There seems little point in commenting on how crappy the UK’s Daily Mail is… But, still – the angle on this story makes me a little sad. It’s a sequence of photos from a Foundation for AIDS research gala in LA, featuring rock icons Sinead O’ Connor and Debbie Harry. It’s truly lovely to see them, but the captions and the copy… So sexist, so ageist – so middle England conservative conformist.

The gist of it is – “Look at these two weird old women. I mean, they were weird when they were young, but at least they were good looking. Now they’re old and weird. Yuck.” Ad nauseum.

If it had been two guys – David Bowie and Morrissey, say – can you imagine that same angle being used?

Oh – and the name of the foundation and what it does – doesn’t appear until mid-way through the piece. The writer knows he’s about to descend to a level of churlishness that would be unseemly if the true context was revealed.

Me? I’m glad we live in a world with people like Sinead and Debbie in it. Not just because of the music they’ve produced (and let’s not forget, they’ve both made incredible work) but because they’re upsetters. They push culture forward by challenging it. They worry Daily Mail readers with their “ill-advised” outfits and “erratic” choices. We need more people like that.

The day of the supermodel seems truly over

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Flicking through Glamour magazine, the day of the supermodel seems truly over. Brands are now fronted by actresses, pop starlets. Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson. When did that happen? When did the Naomis and Kates stop being enough?

It’s an interesting cultural shift. I wonder what it says about perceived brand aspiration. These things happen in response to research, feedback and audience response. So, does that say the target markets value more than just conventional beauty now? Does conventional success have to be a component too?

Perhaps Naomi’s assistant beating tantrums and Kate’s coke habit shone too bright a light on what it is supermodels actually do. Nothing.

At a time when many are feeling the pinch, perhaps conspicuous consumption has to be tempered with a smattering of talent.

Looking for awesome Adobe Edge examples!

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Looking for awesome Adobe Edge examples!

Are you an Adobe Edge developer, animator or designer – or just doing interesting things with Edge?

No one’s laughing at you now huh? Least of all me. I want you to get in touch with me about an opportunity to get your work seen very widely indeed.

If you’re already using the Adobe Edge preview, you know that it’s stuffed full of all kinds of aceness – and that Flash should be looking worried.

Then, the we-kinda-knew-it-was-coming moment happened yesterday, when Adobe announced their cessation of mobile Flash development. Kaboom. Suddenly Adobe Edge is looking very important. Fortuitous for me, as I’m writing a book about Adobe Edge.

Go me.

But, also, go you! I’m looking for cool, wonderful, cutting edge, boundary stretching, super-duper examples of what people are doing with Adobe Edge. Some of them may be featured in my book.

If you’re one of those guys, get in touch. Go to my profile and send me an email – or link me up in the comments if you’re less shy. If you know one of those guys, send them the link to this post. I want my book to show folks what the next generation of the web could look like.

Not your Dad’s iPad

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I’ve just come from reading a blog written by a radio journalism student. He recounts a stimulating first week at university where a series of industry luminaries rhapsodised about their lovely telly careers. The media, they said, is so marvelous. This special, special club.  Being in it and part of it.

And then they all concluded by telling these young, enthusiastic neophytes that, basically, everything’s changed now  – and we’re all screwed.

Anyone who wants to get into the media should probably just give up. Right now. Do not pass Go. Do not collect anything.

What this young student’s lecturers should have said was that there are new ways of content production and dissemination coming to the fore.

Digital journalism, online and tablet publishing, they’re not harbingers of doom. They’re merely harbingers of change.  And things will continue to change – so right now the best thing a young content provider can do if he or she wants to be paid is to become a digital entrepreneur.

The people making money online aren’t posting stuff on the Huffington Post for free – they’re running the Huffington Post. They’re in charge of disseminating and publishing content and taking the revenues.

Here’s the secret. The net enables anyone to do that.

All you need is a computer or tablet. Sometimes, all you need is a phone.

Writers – there’s no end to how you can get your work out there. From WordPress to G+, there are platforms available to publish and build audiences. Photographers should go iOS and haul themselves onto Instagram, by hook, crook or click.

Even broadcasting – especially radio – as a distribution model for content can be replaced by digital means. Podcasting, UStream… If you want to make radio find a niche, make it, disseminate it yourself and narrowcast. Download Garageband, plug a mic into your iPad and you’re good to go.

If you want to make TV, you can do that now. With a digital camera for a couple of hundred dollars – or a smartphone that shoots HD – and a Vimeo account.

These are the production models of the future. Content made on the move and consumed on the move.

It’s not the current cohort of young creatives who should be worried – it’s those many, many journalists and producers and photographers who can’t change or, more likely, who refuse to change.

They should keep taking the tablets and let the rest of us get on with building tomorrow’s media.