In celebration of the return of Futurama, let’s take a gander at the most obsessive Lego version of New New York ever. The detail work is amazing, and I can just imagine building something even 1% as impressive just to watch The Boy rampage through it with Halo figures…
Last week, Barnes & Noble revealed a wifi-only version of their nook ebook reader for “only” $150, and dropped their high-end model to $200. Naturally, Amazon retaliated this week by dropping their Kindle2 to $190. Update: Now Borders has kicked in a $20 gift card for people buying their Kobo Reader.
Is this the beginning of the price war that finally makes dedicated ebook readers affordable? I know, the manufacturers currently think “under $200” is affordable, but let’s be honest – it’s a niche. When I can buy a paperback book for 8 bucks, or buy the same book as an ebook for 8 bucks, which one am I going to get? For most of us, the answer is obvious. It would be nice to carry around dozens or hundreds of books in a convenient reader for those times when I find myself looking at the dated magazines of a waiting room, but I’m not dropping $200 for what is essentially the interface to a lending library. Those books on the Kindle and nook aren’t really mine. I can’t sell them, give them away, loan them to people (with very limited caveats dealing with an ecosystem of other ereaders which doesn’t exist), etc. Not to mention, if I’m at the beach with a paperback and something catastrophic happens, I’m out 8 bucks, not 200.
What price do ebook readers need to reach before you’d buy one?
Facebook updates aside, I’ve been remiss in documenting our most recent vacation. So, here goes…
I’d been holding to a tradition of taking a “big” vacation in even years, and just short trips in Texas in odd years. Â Then there was the unfortunate contract recompete that led to my job being gone for six weeks, and coming back at a 15% lower salary, so we doubled up on the Texas years. This year, we finally had the cash to stumble out to the west coast again, so we did.
For several years, The Boy has wanted to take a surfing class. Kat had an abiding distrust of Disneyana, and a love of animals. I love Monterey. All these combined to produce our itinerary of San Diego, Anaheim, and Monterey.
This photo essay provides an interesting look into the country Afghanistan was starting to become before the Soviets started the seemingly never-ending wars that have plagued the nation for forty years. Textile plants and women college students and cabinet meetings where the members actually had higher educations…sad to contrast that with today.
Unlike Kat or me, Alex was capable of the balance needed to stand up on his board while surfing in San Diego. I only got two clips of it, and neither is of a great ride, but here’s the best view.
[podcast format=”video” height=”360″ width=”540″]http://www.andysocial.com/Pigfiles/Alex_Surfing_Step.flv[/podcast]
720p h.264 Quicktime version
Do you know any insufferably perky people? Give them Despondex!
And of course, for you Facebook readers who can’t see embedded videos in RSS notes:
This is a nifty feature of the Microsoft Bing mapping tool:
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