More Kindle competition

My buddy Barton just sent me this link. Seems like Plastic Logic, powered by a Barnes & Noble bookstore back-end, is the Kindle's latest competition.

Watch the demo videos, and observe the graphic goodness and touch screen awesomeness.

Oh, yeah, baby!!!!

Get some.

How to compete with Facebook

I resisted Facebook for a long time. When I finally joined, I was pleasantly surprised by how many old and new friends I connected with. But I was equally disappointed with the amount of spam and "noise" that clamors for my attention on the site, like being stung by 1,000 mosquitoes.

When I started the Texas Film Scene, it seemed like we were in direct competition with Facebook. In fact, I even started a "Facebook Group" for Texas Film Scene, in an effort to lure people to our Texas Film Scene site, which offers many more features and community engagement. I told folks, it's like "Facebook for Filmmakers, but without the noise."

Lots of other community sites are doing the same thing. Facebook is the Mother of All Social Networks, despite being Johnny-come-lately to MySpace. But that all things to all people ethos is what stops it from being really useful. It doesn't provide the tools that specific groups of people, like Texas filmmakers, need.

Philip Greenspun discovered this way back in 1992, and his predictions have been spot-on.

Teens don't Tweet

Ain't this a b&$^@?

Seems the tech community has been broadcasting in an echo chamber. For all the talk of how the new microblogs help us oldsters connect with the young 'uns, turns out the kids don't much Tweet. At least not according to a recent study of 25,000 Nielsen Company survey respondents.

In fact, the main users of Twitter are 25-54 year olds. Which is not a bad thing to know, because sometimes you want to talk with someone who doesn't answer to "What's your major?" But it definitely will cause a lot of companies who thought they were being clever to rethink their spam-tweet campaigns.

Too clever by half, it seems.

It's ON!

Steel cage death match! Google Android vs. Apple iPhone! Only one winner: YOU, the consumer! Er, sorry. Flashed back to watching wrestling in the 1970s with my Grandpa Whaley.

My friend Kai Dupe sent me this Fast Company editorial about the iPhone. Now, it is just one person's opinion, but these are some pretty tech-savvy opinion makers who are loudly touting the virtues of Android on HTC phones. The ones at Gizmodo, it should be noted, have a different opinion.

Whatever. It doesn't matter which is better. What matters is that they are both great phones, with more to come. More competition means more consumer choice, and more bang for the buck. And with Microsoft's $65 billion clawing it's way back in the game, things will only get better. Oh, yeah- and Pre.

Got a second job?

I'm gonna need some extra cash in September to pick up one of these. London's Financial Times has confirmed rumors of an Apple "tablet" computer to hit shelves in late Q3 or Q4 this year, reports Wired magazine. Dang! Glad I waited on the iPhone 3Gs.

This could be a perfect solution for my wife, who really only needs to surf the Web for 90% of her computer use. The rest of the time is work, which requires her to run Windows in a virtual machine on her Macbook (ugh). If we can do that on this tablet, life would be grand.

I'm thinking of flipping burgers on the weekends.