The Future of Magazines

I have long said the future of eReaders isn't in books as much as magazines; yes, I do like the idea of reading ebooks, because they're convenient, but I have not entirely replaced my reading with Kindle, and I don't suspect I will in my life.

Magazines are a different story; I hate the idea of having to throw away a magazine each week; it's a waste of paper and ink. But I also hate how they look on Kindle, and the general lack of good magazine subscriptions on Kindle.

If someone comes out with an electronic solution for magazines that actually works, than I'm more than willing and ready to ditch print magazines in favor of electronic ones.

Sports Illustrated demoed their version of what a magazine should look like, and it was so amazing it made me want to subscribe despite the fact that I hate sports. Take a look at the videos below and you'll get the idea:






Popular Science also demoed their vision; it's a longer video, but equally impressive.

My Favorite New Gadgets

Each January I get gadget lust the week of CES; it's not just because the gadgets are cool--it's because you really can see how the future and even human behavior is evolving is changing because of technology.

Some of my favorite gadgets this year?

I love the idea of the tablet; this year is supposed to be the year of the tablet; unfortunately most of the tablets look and act the same. Lenovo has a pretty impressive hybrid netbook that's screen completely detaches from it's frame; it's a great concept, but I'm not crazy about how it turns into a Linux computer when it's detached, and is Windows 7 when attached. I was more blown away by MSI's dual screen concept; the computer puts a full-size touch screen keyboard on one of the screens (see pictures below); this concept can really go a lot of different directions, so it's something I'll keep an eye on in coming months. I currently use a MSI netbook, and it's a solid startup company.

Another wicked cool concept at the trade show is the Light Touch Pico Projector; this computer projects a 10 inch touch screen computer onto a flat service. I could see this sort of thing (if the price is right) working in kitchens, coffee tables, or any place with limited space.

I will be honest, the next concept is honestly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen and I'd never buy it--but it's still crazy what they've done. It's a transparent laptop by Samsung.

Sony pulled a Chumby this year with it's Internet alarm clock (?). It's $200, which I think is about $150 too much, but it's still a glimpse into the clocks of the future.

eReaders, like tablets, offered a wide array of pretty unimpressive devices. All of them basically do the same things Amazon's Kindle has been doing for 2 years (aside from the obscenely overpriced color one). One that had promise was the Skiff. It's not exactly innovating, but it does seem to be the perfect solution for people who want to read newspapers and magazines electronically (it's a better size than other devices). I suspect it will lose interest when the price is announced--my guess is it will be 400 to 600, which is just too much for most consumers.

Microsoft usually does little to impress me (mostly because they announced things people have known about for months). xBox's Napal is kind of cool, but it's not like they haven't explained this concept before. The best from MS I've seen is the Arc Keyboard. It's not exactly revolutionary, but it's more stylist than anything else they did this year.

It's the End of the Reference Desk as We know It, and I Feel Fine

Tech guru's say 2009 was the year of the netbook and 2010 will be the year of the tablet. I'm going to go one further and say it's the year of the Friendly Librarian, because the tablet may very well get rid of the most intimidating barrier of any library: the reference desk.

Much has been done in recent years to make the desk less scary to patrons who have questions; recent innovations include making desk more rounded, adding flowers, and removing the word reference in favor of the more trendier "Information Desk" (which presupposes people who come to the desk actually read signs, which any librarian can tell you simply is not true). The fact is, however, few things can be done to make people less afraid of going to the desk to ask a question, so with all the tablets coming out this year, perhaps it's time to consider if libraries really need a reference desk.

Why should patrons have to come to the desk? The modern library should be a place where librarians don't wait for people to come with questions, rather they roam the library looking for confused patrons aimlessly studying the shelves trying to make sense of that bizarre thing called Dewey.

Freescale claims it's going to have a stripped down tablet running either Google Chrome or Linux by summer that will sell for only $200--powerful enough to run an online book catalog remotely.  Lenovo and HP both have models in work in the 500 to 1000 range for people who need something more powerful and running Windows. If you really want to be cool you could go with the rumored Apple Tablet, but likely that will be nothing more than an overpriced, oversized, iPod touch.

Meet Your Next Computer

I have been watching the CES conference closely from afar; a few things impressed me (the wireless battery charger, and, surprisingly, Windows 7...but only if it's truly not the resource hog they claim it's not, and will really run on NetBooks), but only one thing truly amazed me: the Eee Keyboard from Asus.

For years, people have been trying to push the computer into the living room (most notably Microsoft), but it's never really caught on. I think the biggest reason is it's just not simple enough. And, no one wants to have some clunky desktop sitting next to their TV. Media centers are a great idea, but never, in my opinion, been very practical.

What makes the Eee keyboard so different is everything is built right into the keyboard...including the wireless HDMI (so no cords going from the monitor to the keyboard)! I currently have a Mac hooked to my TV, and one of the biggest problems I have with it is the mouse; I can't lay in bed and comfortably use the computer, because I need a hard surface for the mouse. This keyboard has a touchscreen mouse built in.

Asus also has a history of making cheaply priced products (albeit with sometimes cheap parts), and if that is true here, then I really see this catching on.

Unfortunately, it's all a prototype right now so it might not ever come to life; my guess, however, is Target and Walmart will have them on their shelves in time for Christmas next year.

As for the biggest disappointment...Windows 7; they promise a great product and then release the Beta with Vista as a system requirement! So they promise the GUI will run faster then Vista on machines that Vista ran too slow on, and then they say, but you'll just have to take our word on that.