Sunday 2 February 2014

The Digital Reader

The Digital Reader


The Morning Coffee – 3 February 2014

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 09:30 PM PST

Top stories this morning include a couple satirical articles from The Onion and NewsBiscuit, a new damages claim in the antitrust suit against Apple (link), Author Solutions’s latest front company(link), a (possibly fictional) report from a company that found it cheaper to give their customers new computers rather than support IE7 (link), a fascinating look at one way website owners can defraud advertisers (link), and more.

  • Amazon pulls pop-up book following Kindle disasters (NewsBiscuit)
  • Don’t Confuse Independent Publishing with Self-Publishing (Author U)
  • Crowd-Frauding: Why the Internet is Fake (Go To Hellman)
  • It's a lot easier to say you want to move from print-first to digital-first than it is to actually do it — (GigaOm)
  • Lawyer Wants Apple to Cough Up $840 Million in E-Books Case (Re/code)
  • PublishAmerica | New sock puppet America Star Books formed (TeleRead)
  • Success Story: 8 Hints From The Publisher Who Said No To Amazon (Forbes)
  • Supporting Internet Explorer 7 Is Absurdly Expensive (UPROXX)
  • Top Tech Gadgets Of 2013 (The Onion)

This Monday morning finds me in Phoenix, Arizona for FlexTech 2014. If you happen to be at the conference, look me up. I have a Toq smartwatch with me; how would you like to see Qualcomm’s latest Mirasol screen tech?

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The Microsoft Surface is the Most Wonderful Tablet of All Time (video)

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 03:49 AM PST

When Microsoft debuted the Surface tablet in late 2012 they promoted it with a commercial which was both under-appreciated and quite truthful. That commercial shows off the one feature that makes the Surface tablet the best on the market: the kickstand.

I have had my Surface RT tablet for just one week, and I can already tell you that this is the single best tablet I have ever had.

This is a 10″ tablet running Windows RT 8.1 on a Tegra 3 CPU with 32GB storage, a pair of 1.3MP cameras, Wifi, BT, and, best of all, a kickstand.

It might not have the easy to use interface of the iPad, and it might not have the customization options of Android tablets, but the Surface tablet has a kickstand, and that makes up for every thing. It doesn’t have nearly as many apps as either iTunes or Google Play, but never mind that because I have 2 words for you:

kick

(and)

stand.

The kickstand sets the screen of the Surface tablet at the ideal angle. If I’m Binging Googling for basic info like what the weird symbols in the menu mean or how to set a shortcut, the kickstand holds the screen at just the right angle so I can read the instructions.

If I’m crawling around on my hands and knees, looking for the stylus which disappeared again while I was charging the Surface tablet (the stylus port is the charging port), the kickstand holds the tablet steady , ready, and waiting for me to return.

And if I’m Binging Googling for a liquor delivery service after the registration process has driven me to drink, the kickstand guarantees that I can see the screen throughout my drunken stupor, right up until blessed unconsciousness steals me away.

And did you know that the kickstand works in not one but 2 positions? It’s true! Few reviewers noticed this, but the kickstand works in landscape as well as portrait mode. It’s twice as useful for the same low price!

But wait, there’s more! Not only does the kickstand have 2 display modes, it also doubles as a business card holder, a flyswatter, and it has even been pulling double duty as a meteorite deterrent – it’s doing a great job!

Is there anything this kickstand cannot do!?!

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