Apple, Mac, & iPhone News...
February 8th, 2010
Happy Monday, folks,
As the Who Dat nation celebrates their first Superbowl appearance and victory, we'll take a break from the early Mardi Gras to check out the newest happenings in the technology world. Get your pads on: we've got bite sized e-books, Steve Jobs acting crazy and a MacWorld Expo without Apple starting tomorrow.
Teeny e-Books
With talk to introduce fifteen minute sitcoms on cable and more people on the train with magazines than books it's apparent that our national attention span is waning. No wonder the publishing industry is suffering--no-one 'has time" to read a book any more! Instead of lamenting the fact in their boardrooms, the FT Press (a unit of Pearson) has introduced two series of business minded titles geared toward the busy professional: 1,000-2,000 versions of already-published books called The Elements.
It's like Cliffs Notes for executives.
The titles condense all the delicious business-y info to provide maximum satisfaction in minimal time, but we'd rather have a 3 course lunch than a drive thru burger....we know, we know. We are officially the minority.
FT Press has also commissioned a series of new essays (The Shorts) to serve the same purpose. Elements are available at $1.99, essays at $2.99 on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's e-bookstore; Amazon is already discounting them.
NYC for Steve
In an iPad touting extravaganza, Steve Jobs flew in to New York City to speak with high powered New York Times executives over dinner...but New York Magazine has reported Steve was...well...a little eccentric.
According to their source, Steve waltzed into Pranna wearing "a very funny hat--a big top hat kind of thing" went down to the cellar room Apple had booked for the evening and chatted with the Times folks about the iPad being the future of media. He then proceeded to order a mango lassi and some penne. Which the restaurant doesn't offer on the menu.
But who could say no?
Probably the most entertaining bit is that Steve confessed his predilection for holding the Sunday Times in his hands, though he reads the paper online every other day. Sometimes nothing beats the feeling of turning an actual page...
MacWorld Expo
This year's meeting of the nerds (we're counting ourselves here, no insults) goes forward without Apple, and there's no question it's made exhibitors nervous. MacWorld will go on, though, and we'll be keeping you posted for the next couple days on the state of the show and what's coming out. Check back for updates!
What's your bet on the show's success? Tell us on Twitter!
Till tomorrow, Newsies...