Kasey Shoemaker's Blog, page 4

Ereaders Abound (Nook vs. Kindle)

Choices, choices- when I finally broke down and decided that it was time to buy and ereader, I was faced with picking sides in the Kindle vs. Nook war.  First, I must say that I love my MacBook Pro, and I've been an Apple fan for years, but the iPad is simply not an option in my mind.  Price difference aside… well, no, let's not put it aside.  I've had plenty of "ooh, shinny" moments in the Apple store, and if it were the same price as other ereaders, I'd probably buy the glossy, sexy iPad.  But, starting at $499, it simply priced itself out of this conversation.  So, that leaves me with the two frontrunners and plenty of questions.  And, let me begin this by saying that electronic gadgets I and are not a match made in heaven.  I haven't the faintest idea how most of the applications on my phone work, and I need the most user-friendly version of every technological tool (hence my love for my MacBook).  However, I love books, and I am warming to the notion of having many of them in my possession at one time, buttons, scroll bars, and LCD screens aside.  So, here is my amateur assessment of which ereader would be best for me.

According to this lovely and helpful website, the Nook has more aesthetic appeal with its color navigation screen.  Plus, consumers can go to any Barnes and Noble and play with one in person.  Also, it has a major bookstore behind it, as opposed to an impersona website.  As someone who has cozied up to the genius bar at my Apple store, I can tell you that taking a product to the store when it's not functioning ideally has its benefits.

However, for me, it's about the books.  I don't need games or other applications for my ereader.  I have a laptop, and iPod, and an Android phone, which all have many delightful features.  I just want the books.  That's enough for me.  And, I'd like the size to be as close to a paperback as possible.  I'm sure after I've had one for a year or two, I'll be more excited about some of the features of the Nook.  At this point, however, I'm of the mind that I really don't need another computer.  Part of this feeling, I'm sure, is the reluctance to switch mediums, still tugging at my logophile, book-lover soul.

The hands-down winner for me is the Kindle.  The newest version of the Kindle 3G is 7.5″ by 4.8″, weighs 8.7 ounces, and… wait for it, holds 3,500 books.  That's more than I have in my house… for now.  It's priced at $189, and in order to achieve better capacity with the Nook, I would have to buy the Nook Color at $249.  Because that improved capacity is 6,000 books, I'd consider it if it weren't for one other factor.  The Kindle supports 12 formats compared to the 7 that the Nook supports.  At this point, I must say that I'm not really clear on all those formats, but I feel confident that having more would be better, as opposed to being able to play games on it.  Another factor to consider is that the Nook Color weighs nearly twice as much and is slightly bigger.  I plan on carrying it around with me a lot, so the weight matters.  I imagine that other factors and features matter differently to other people, and I'm curious what you think.  Chime in and tell me what ereader you prefer.

 

By any other medium

People who have at one point stared at their prized collection of vinyl records, tapes, or VHS movies with both nostalgia and reluctant acceptance of the next technology are likely turning their weary eyes to their bookshelves.  Those shelves proudly house the most artistic looking, perfectly matched Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter series, and, among many other loved books, that $75 volume of Shakespeare's collected works that they had to buy in college, the cover of which had loyally held up like cast iron up over years of hauling from class, to car, to dormatory and five moves thereafter. Perhaps I digress.  But, I love books.  I adore the way every purse I buy just happens to have enough room for the paperback of the week, how they are their own art form on my shelves, in piles on my desk, and taking up most of my coffee table, their solid, reliable feel in my hands, and the smell of them when thousands are gathered in one building poised to be bought or borrowed.  And, I have felt this way since childhood.  I don't anticpate changing.

However, I may get left behind clutching my beloved worn manuscripts while others travel light with their ebook readers downloading the classics for free, watching chain bookstores struggle and eventually close, and wondering why I was so stubborn, so unwilling to follow the newest trend.  And then it dawned on me.  As much as I love those books, I don't love them just for the cover art and the pages.   They're meaningful to me because of their stories and characters.  I enjoy looking at them on my shelves because the sight of them reminds me of the enjoyment they held within their illustrated covers.  It's really about the story itself.  Then, there's the writer in me, the writer who realizes that as long as people are reading, book or ebook reader, they're reading just the same.  A book by any other medium is still a book.

So, as I reawaken this blog I started over a year ago, I also am shopping for my first ebook reader.  I know I will still buy hard copies of books, but more often than not, I will download them.  And, I may end up with a bit more room in my purse… for my Android and my iPod.

When moderators go bad

The Dark Side of Reddit

I browsed through the Reddit site, and at first, I thought it was just another interesting website where users voted on the content. However, after reading this site, which I stumbled upon while trying to understand how to use Reddit, I see that it's a community, and that community can be a little feisty.

Apparently a common problem in this surprisingly exclusive community is banishment. But the site doesn't just ban a person; it does so without telling the victim. Fear of confrontation? Gerald Webber writes about this rude phenomenon.

Honest truth, I'm not even going to bother to start a new reddit account, because what gives reddit the right to delete my account without warning or notice.

And I don't appreciate the fact that individual moderators have the ability to delete my submission just because they don't like it or have a submission of their friends they want to promote. I don't have proof that they are doing this but its simple to see, if you give these types of powers to users, they will abuse it discreetly.

The Internet Journal (the source of the picture above) addresses the issue in its article about the FAQs of Reddit.

Why are my comments invisible to everyone except myself?

The reason: you are banned, my friend. Reddit way of banning is really unique (and can be treated differently).

I call it "ghost banning" – you think you still exist but no one can see you any more. You still come daily, vote for stories and leave comments but your efforts are invisible to the community- because you no more exist, sorry.

As we said in class, "users are a necessary evil." Banning people, indiscriminately, gives the message to users and contributers that they're not necessary in this superior community. Big mistake. And, banning without even informing the person is just bad form.

Should Google Watch its Back?

As we work and study social media throughout this class, I am beginning to feel that the Internet world is run by a group of powerhouse search engines and social media platforms. Up until recently, those entities only competed against their own kind: Microsoft and Yahoo compete against Google, and Twitter and LinkedIn war to knock Facebook of its newly built pedestal. But now, now things are getting ugly because the newest threat to Google isn't Yahoo or even Bing; it's Twitter.

Lew Moorman makes the following point:

There are some things Twitter is just flat out better at for getting information than Google. Here are just a few: researching companies, products and services for real customer feedback, breaking news and live events/conference updates. It is not a total threat but Twitter is so superior in these areas that people will indeed make the effort to search somewhere new to get the information. I do.

He goes on to give an example that blogs are tweeted and retweeted, so searching for a topic in Tweet Search provides more up tho the date and accurate than the one hit provided in the Google search. I find this interesting because once again, user-generated content is beginning to topple the ivory towers of the more structured entities, such as those that would come up on a Google search. If someone Google's a news story, that person will likely get the version from CNN and MSNBC. Those sites have stories that are reported on and updated by a small staff of reporters, maybe only one. A Twitter search, however, will yield tweets from many people, some of whom may have more timely, and others may be first-hand witnesses.

This data is gold… The more info [Twitter] get[s], the more value they create. How will they use it? Well, we will see. But, if I was Google, I would be paying attention.

Check out this video from Newsy.com on wether Twitter is a threat to Google.