Why e-book readers are a stupid idea

Posted on 27/1/2010 by bigdaddymerk

With the largely successful Kindle by Amazon, Sony’s Ebook Digital Reader and the usual over-hype about what may or may not be a tablet type device from Apple, I can’t help feeling that the idea of an e-book reader is absurd.

books

Over 500 years ago Gutenberg invented the printing press which revolutionised the world, there are now billions of books throughout the world and are reasonably cheap to buy. I’m not a person who thinks that revolutions can’t happen again, but sometimes things just don’t need revolutionising, the book is one of those.

Let’s look at some of the reasons we’re presented with in order to get us to buy an e-book reader;

Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing. – Books are pretty simple to use are they not? you start at the front and work your way to the back (in the west), unless of course it’s one of those ‘Choose your own adventure’ books.

Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper. – looks like real paper huh? Imagine that.

Low energy use for a long battery life – I’ve never ever had to charge up a book, ever.

Get a huge choice of eBooks – A book shop has a huge choice of books, Amazon and (my favourite) The Book Depository has a massive choice of books. Even better my local library has thousands of books, and they’ll lend them to me. For Free.

The idea of being able to store hundreds of books on a device isn’t quite the same as storing thousands of music tracks on your portable music player, music is mostly instant gratification and most of us enjoy the ability to skip through thousands of tracks finding something that reflects our ever changing tastes or moods. I don’t know why anyone would want to do the same with a book.

It just doesn’t make sense, If you’re going on holiday throw 2 books in your bag. You don’t have to worry about losing an expensive gadget or getting it wet when someone throws themselves in the pool. I can read a book anywhere, on the bus standing up, on the train without looking like a twat, on the toilet, in the bath. I can lend it to my mate. I can leave it on the bus.

This isn’t to say that electronic books aren’t useful, we have tons of technical manuals at work in PDF format, they are good for looking things up, but they are useless for studying – the simple fact is people don’t like reading from a screen for any length of time.

In a world where it seems we’re sometimes doing things with Tech simply ‘because we can’ this was always bound to happen but I really don’t see the point in reinventing the wheel. If you have an e-book reader I’d be interested to know what drove you to buy it, or if you’re using it much now. Have you burned all your books in a bonfire? Leave a comment.

p.s. local book buyers will no doubt recognise the picture above as The Market Bookshop in Wellington.

Posted in Geekery, Rants | 17 Comments

Another Day, Another Dream

Posted on 27/1/2010 by bigdaddymerk

I took half day off work yesterday, I couldn’t keep my eyes open sat at my desk. I came home, pottered around the house and then eventually decided to go for a nap, I was only sleeping for an hour but I had this dream;

I was singing Christmas Carols in the round with brother Stavros, Cricketer come singer Henry Olonga (I have no idea what he looks like but he was there), Aled Jones (of ‘Walking in the Air’ fame) and that embarrassment of an MPNadine Dorries who doesn’t even know where she lives.

We used plastic cups for percussion.

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Dreams of a Mad Man?

Posted on 20/1/2010 by bigdaddymerk

Regular readers will know I’ve struggled with writers block when it comes to updating this blog, however I feel should probably share some of strange dreams with you, here is a selection from the last week or so;

The Google Head
I was working for google, although I didn’t realise it at the time. All day at work I’d had a spot on the side of my head, my temple. It was one of those really annoying spots that grows under the skin, you can’t squeeze them cause it hurts too much and it would break the skin, sometimes they just dissapear other times they break out are are MASSIVE.

Anyway I was working, and messing with this spot all day. I headed to the toilets and squeezed it, it was massive and some people where watching me saying how much blood there was, I looked around and I was covered in blood, blood everywhere.

There was now a big hole in the side of my head, and out of it popped a metal ball. I went back into the office and my boss told me I had to write to warn everyone about it on the official Google Blog.

The Running Man
Myself and good mate Lee were running, just running, for what seemed like a really long time. It turns out we were in a computer game, an old platform game, but we weren’t running at all, the world was moving under our feed, we were in the same position.

The Big House
I let myself into a big house, from the outside it was the same manor house that overlooked the Caravan site we used to stay at as kids, from the inside it was all modern. I walked around for a while and found my way following signs to a pub, when I got to the a big gallery/landing area the path to the pub had been blocked by large fallen bricks, there was a sign pointing to an alternavtive route. I walked back and was in the entrance lobby of the house and I heard voices, it was the owner and a vistor – he was telling him about the house, I raced to run out of the door but they were coming in that way, so I went to hide in the a bathroom but it was locked, I hid behind the door. They came in and headed into the main throng of the house, I tried to get out of the front door but it was locked so I headed to a side corrador. I could see another open door at the end of this corridor but I had to creep past a small sleeping dog. I did so, but got half way down this corridor when I knocked over a mop. The dog woke, gathered his thoughts and began to follow me down this long room, the room got longer, the dog got bigger by now it was a blood hound and was chasing me down. I ran as fast as I could to get out of the door and I woke up, out of breath.

Mexico
I was driving through Mexico in an old American muscle car, I pulled over and a man sent me down some side street where there was an arcade game, I played the game for a while. It was a Ninja, and I wasn’t controlling him on the screen but on the rooftoops of the street in front of me. It was all cool until some cowboys came onto the scene and started shooting at Ninja and then at me. I started shooting back (not sure when I got the gun!) and legged it to the car.

So there you have it, some of my recent dreams.  I think I might be a bit mad, am I the only person who has crazy dreams like this and can remember them so vividly?  I suppose it’s better than dreaming about a nuclear holoucaust.

…and no, I don’t eat cheese before I go to bed.

Posted in Stuff | 1 Comment

I Dreamed a Dream….

Posted on 14/12/2009 by bigdaddymerk

…when hopes were high and Television was better.

subo

Tonight, I caught ‘I Dreamed A Dream – The Susan Boyle Story‘ on ITV, everyone knows the story of Susan Boyle; the quiet, middle aged lady from West Lothian who became the Star of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent in 2008 .  Since the programme (in which she came 2nd to a Dance Troupe) she has become a huge hit in both the UK and around the world, in some part thanks to the internet with over 100 million views of her videos online.  Boyle’s album broke records to be the fastest ever selling début record in British history, it’s since sold over 1 million copies.

There is no doubt that Susan Boyle has a great talent and huge appeal, which for Susan and her record company is a fantastic thing.  What worries me is the way Boyle’s rise to meteoric fame has been handled.  I worry that this huge appeal is in part a symptom of how us, the record buying, TV watching public have come to expect our entertainers to look and act.

In tonight’s programme it was hard to get away from gushy celebrities telling us how Susan had overcome many obstacles to get where she is, they might be right of course, but any more than any other artist trying to make their way? A woman who doesn’t fit the media’s (or our) idea of a pop star – she’s middle aged, she’s not slim, she doesn’t have ‘model’ looks yet sings well.  This disturbs me somewhat.

Why are we surprised by this?  Do we expect all our pop stars to be amazingly charismatic and drop dead gorgeous? If the answer is yes then I wonder who is to blame, is it the media for being so negative by thinking we’ll only buy records from good looking people or is it our fault for buying into it in the first place?

It’s nothing new of course, early Elvis sang music that had been performed for years in underground venues by unknown black artists, but he was good looking, charismatic and (unfortunately) most importantly he was white and deemed ‘accessible’ to most.

Fast forward 50 years and it seems sad to me that the idea of Susan Boyle’s rise to success hasn’t been celebrated simply as a ‘lady with great voice singing songs‘ but as a ‘unconventional lady with great voice singing songs‘, for Ant (or Dec) to talk about Trial through Adversity or Piers Morgan to claim Susan’s fame is one of the Entertainment world’s biggest success stories makes it even more negative.

Even after world wide number one records, millions of record sales and rumoured performance for the U.S 1st Lady, the people that brought Susan to the forefront are still trading in the negative idea that it’s almost impossible that an unconventional person cannot harbour superb talent.

I’m not a fan of Susan’s music but I wish her all the best and really hope that she can leave the patronising gang of TV idiots behind her.

Posted in Music | 5 Comments

Film 2009

Posted on 3/12/2009 by bigdaddymerk

Following from Stavros’ massive list of films watched in 2009, here is some of the films I watched this year (inpo);

State of Play (2009) – the film verison of the ace TV drama – it’s pretty good actually.

From Hell (2001) – Jack the Ripper yarn with Johnny Deep – it’s shit

The International (2009) – cross James Bond with Bourne Identity and an ‘Introduction to accounting’ book and you have this film.  It’s alright.

Knowing (2009) – Alien bollocks with Nicolas Cage.  Says it all

In the Loop (2009) – Superb film of the TV series ‘The Thick of It’ – Favourite Malcolm Tucker Quote: “Well, it is out there, it’s out there now, lurking like a big hairy rapist at a coach station. You know, if I could, I’d punch you into paralysis!”

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) - I can’t belive I’d never seen this, however it’s my main reason for buying a poncho.

Tell No One (Ne Le Dis a Personne) (2006) – Ace french film about a bloke who’s wife is murdered and his attempts to find out why.

In Bruges (2009)  – Not a great film but it’s made me want to go to Bruges.

The Uninvited (2009) – Some bird comes home fromt he mental hospital (you can tell where this goes already) to find his dad shacked up with another woman who she thinks is trying to kill her and her sister.

Gran Torino (2008) – Great film directed and staring Clint Eastwood. An ignorant racist who comes good, nice story.

Eastern Promises (2007) – A great British film about the Russian Maffia.

I finish with a film that I am really excited about seeing in new year, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’, a Spike Jonze film based on famous children’s book by Maurice Sendak.

Posted in Entertainment, Video | 4 Comments