Amazon looks to “Kindle” your reading fire

I like to read books, mostly sports, but books nonetheless. I like the feel of a hardcover, looking ahead to see where the chapter ends and the joy I feel when I can close the back cover with a sense of completion.

Can I get these same feelings after reading the same book on an e-reader? Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos hopes so.

Amazon recently released their new e-reader, Kindle, and by using the field’s latest technologies, Bezos thinks this is the device that will sticks with traditional readers.

In a cover story with Newsweek, Bezos talked about his newest frontier and offered some insight on why the Kindle will work in a field that has had few winners. For starters, he said the Kindle used E Ink, a technology that makes words appear as clear on the screen as they do in a book. It also doesn’t need to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot because the Kindle uses Whispernet, which can get internet anywhere.

The reaction thus far has been in favor for the new device, which is running for roughly $400. PC Magazine called it the best e-reader ever created and Steven Levy, as part of a sidebar to his cover story in Newsweek, said that while there are some problems and the price is up there, it would still be a good by for the active reader.

However, it won’t be on my Christmas list due to price and unfamiliarity. I would wait for the kinks to be worked out and lower prices in future models, but one thing is for certain. It is the first e-reader I have considered buying and for Bezos, this is the first step in his digital transformation.

Poke the next President

We are roughly one year away from electing our 44^th president of the United States, but this won’t be like your father’s presidential election. Gone are the days of going door to door and instead candidates are sending out friend requests. Instead of wearing jeans to prove they are normal, they are setting up online profiles to show how hip they are.

Welcome to politics in the Web 2.0 era!

In a recent study, Laura Gordon-Murnane examines each candidate’s presence on the Internet and also breaks down the effect of the Internet on traditional outlets, like debates.

When examining the top two social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook, candidates use each web site’s tools to better market their candidacy. For our purposes, I examined Barack Obama, who has accounts on both MySpace and Facebook.

On his Facebook account, Obama has links to groups that support his candidacy, as well as links to articles and videos of his presidential run thus far.

On his MySpace page, the content is somewhat similar, but it is a little more casual than his Facebook page. On MySpace, Obama had an embedded video of him on Saturday Night Live, but it is no longer available.

Also, he has a feature where you can demand Obama comes to your city to speak with a continuous tally of how many people from each city want him to come.

These are just a few of the examples that Obama used and shows a grander scheme of how the internet is being used in present day elections. Whether it is right or now can be debated, but this fact can’t be. The candidate who best utilizes the tools given to them by the Internet will have the inside track to the White House in 2008 and beyond.

A Few Powerful Men

In today’s media landscape, the vast majority of companies are owned and controlled by five men. Those five men are Michael Eisner of Disney, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., Summer Redstone of Viacom, Reinhard Mohn of Bertelsmann and Richard Parsons of Time Warner.

This week, Parsons announced he was stepping down as the chief executive officer of Tim Warner Inc. on January 1, 2008. His departure could shrink the number to four or introduce a new member, Jeffrey Bewkes.

This comes after a summer full of rumors and lengthy discussions over the proposed purchase of Dow Jones by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Is this a good trend for just a few people to control the media in an era of the independent voice? I don’t think so.

In all media, but especially journalism, it is critical to keep open dialogue going without fear of being censored or toned down. Take the case with Murdoch, who is hoping to finalize his deal to buy Dow Jones, which includes the Wall Street Journal, very soon, according to the linked article above.

The Wall Street Journal is a well respected publication for many reasons. One such reason is their unbiased opinions that could be compromised by Murdoch, whose past record suggest that this could be an issue.

Now, I think joining the resources does create a better product, but it also can be troublesome if those in power don’t use it properly. So, as we await to usher in a new face to their exclusive and powerful club, we can only hope Bewkes can keep Time Warner as the top media cooperation and not make it a constricting filter of information.