A short update

As I said in my previous post I have been quite busy these last few weeks and it doesn’t look like it is going to let up anytime soon. Please be patient. I have a few topics I would like to cover so once I am over this posting dry spell I will have much to write.

I changed my theme to something a little more straight forward, I did like the intensions of the Hemingway theme but it needs to be updated and I would rather not tweak the CSS now or write my own. Enjoy the new look. The font is Keedy from Emigre which can be purchased here. (More on Emigre in a later post.)

My current playlist:

Russell Haswell Live Salvage 1997 -> 2000
An amazing record. The clerk at AKA summed it up best, “brutal record man”.

Willits + Sakamoto Ocean Fire
This is what I was expecting last year’s Fennesz + Sakamoto record to sound like. Thick, pastoral, ambient music.

Sawako Madoromi
Beautiful.

My current reads:

Dot Dot Dot 15

Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now Fred Smeijers [Thanks T3]

The Dirt Motley Crue. [Thanks Nay]

Will it start a fire?

Amazon announced their e-book reader, Kindle, yesterday. I have always marvelled at the idea of having several books available at my finger tips in a portable format and it looks like Amazon has covered the bases.

Watch video.

[Upated]
I didn’t comment on the design of the reader. It is great that it is thin, lightweight and uses e-ink but otherwise it looks very bland. It looks like an oversize Palm to a dergee.

I am also very curious how the reader renders the design of a book or magazine. I am assuming blogs will appear exactly as they do on the web but what happens to printed material? Is it just the text bundled to fit the device? That will still be the draw for me to be printed material there are just somethings that do not communicate the same way once they go to digital. I am curious to see what Amazon does. The Henry Petroski article touches on some of these points.

If indeed this is the wave of the future how will this effect society? The rise of the iPod has caused caused isolation and disconnect will this device do the same?

Further suggested reading
Uncomfortable but Comforting By Henry Petroski

[Extra link added]
Inside Look at Birth of the IPod By Leander Kahne

The success of the iPod might also be in turn to the design of the product. Will the design of the Kindle be it’s demise? The technology is great and it appears to be user friendly but is it attractive?