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Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

There was a raging debate going on last week at Engadget HQ over the role of dedicated ebook readers that spilled over on to the Engadget Show. You can watch the show here, but essentially big boss Joshua Topolsky and Paul Miller feel that the new Barnes and Noble Nook is going to be a hit -- the one machine that gets suburban moms to buy. On the other hand, Nilay Patel, rationally (as he agrees with me) says it's not going to happen and there's no mass market for dedicated ebook readers. I'm going to weigh in and say Nilay is probably right.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not entirely an integration vs. convergence story. I believe there's a market for dedicated devices: cameras have not been displaced by music phones, media players have not been displaced by music phones and ebook readers could serve bibliophiles, especially those who travel a lot. However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device. That's one reason why I think it has been important for Amazon and B&N to get their ebook platform onto as many devices with screens as possible, and why Sony's making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity.

Continue reading Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms

Filed under: Handhelds

Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid unboxing!

We just got a stack of Droid review units at Engadget HQ, and we're told that this is in fact the final packaging. The charger is just Micro USB, and that's really all you get in the box -- the docks will cost you extra. We're digging for pricing info on those, we'll let you know.

Gallery: Motorola Droid unboxing!

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Droid unboxing! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New iMac and Magic Mouse unboxing and quick hands-on

They're in the house! The brand new ultra-wide all-aluminum iMac has been unboxed inside the hallowed halls of the Engadget HQ, and inside was a real scarcity of wires, a keyboard (which now requires one less battery but otherwise looks exactly the same), and of course that brand new multitouch Magic Mouse. It feels much thinner than its predecessor, and the whole front of the unit provides a satisfying, unified click. The runners on the bottom make the mouse seem almost more appropriate for sledding than mousing, but it glides around just fine on a solid surface. Pics galore in the gallery below.

When we flicked the mouse on it was easy enough to spot it over Bluetooth on our regular Mac, but it only worked with tracking and single click -- none of this capacitive nonsense without a software update, naturally. On the iMac's first boot it was able to pick up the mouse and keyboard without a problem, even letting us use the capacitive scrolling to work through the setup wizard. We quickly spotted our first usability problem: coming from a trackpad heavy workflow, our fingers were expecting a capacitive tap-to-click action, instead of having to physically click the mouse. It's not a huge problem, but there's no 1:1 usability model between an Apple trackpad and this mouse. Scrolling is single finger, with a two finger left or right swipe doing back / forward in a browser or the finder. Right clicking requires a lifting of the left click finger, just like the Mighty Mouse, though all-in-all it feels much less frustrating to use than the Mighty Mouse, which almost seems to rage against the click at times. Like we said before: no pinch to zoom, but given the shape and texture of the surface, we're not sure we could pull it off even if the software allowed for it.

Gallery: New iMac and Magic Mouse unboxing and quick hands-on