Continuing its impressive use of technology last week, the White House announced that the President’s Economic Report would be available for free download on electronic book readers:
“As part of White House’s commitment to make government more accessible, the Economic Report of the President is now available as an eBook for your Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble nook, Sony Reader and a number of other devices. We are always looking for ways to bring people closer to their government through new technology.”
“A first: Curl up by fire w/ the Economic Report of President on Kindle, nook, Sony Reader.”
This White House has done more to engage the public in its processes than any other before it: Twitter, blogging, Facebook, an iPhone app, and now books for ereaders. They have embraced this era of transparency and opened the doors for everyone to enter. Regardless of political affiliations or presidential popularity, the effort must be applauded.
It seems like this commercial comes on every morning during MSNBC’s Morning Joe and it just makes me smile. Music can have such a huge impact on commercial likability. Enjoy.
Colleges and universities are finally dipping their toes into the waters of technology. Last month, I noted that students learn better from listening to a lecture podcast than from attending class. Last week, the Missouri School of Journalism announced that incoming students are required to purchase an iPhone or an iPod Touch so they can download lectures from iTunes. MU already encourages journalism students to use Apple computers. As one can imagine, some students are not happy about the requirements. Regardless of the choice of brand (although I am fan of Apple, of course), I am glad that MU recognizes the need to be on the forefront of technology and understands that teaching and learning methods have evolved. Not all journalism schools are so progressive. This is what led to our creation of SWIM: we were interviewing students who had no understanding of the impact social media can have on marketing and communications. Our SWIM sessions are also available for download as podcasts on iTunes.
Also on the university and technology front: six universities will be part of a pilot program with the new Kindle DX. Students at these universities will receive the Kindle DX instead of the traditional pile of text books. The schools participating in the program are: Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, Pace University and University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.
Now you can. The New York Times is reporting today that HP is offering a low-cost printing solution for consumers with start-up magazines. The new service is called MagCloud. The magazines are printed on-demand and cost 20-cents per page. This new type of business model presents a great opportunity for those “consumer journalists” to experiment with what they think might be a cool, niche idea. My initial thought: if you have a magazine idea, why wouldn’t you just start it as a website? While I read magazines, I am not sure of the general readership these days. With the newspaper business declining, it makes sense that the magazine business will be close behind it. Many magazines are already offering their content as a monthly subscription through Amazon’s Kindle and online, but these outlets just don’t have the same feel. You can read newspapers on the Kindle and not miss much of the experience, but magazines need that slick paper and those glossy photos that contribute to the experience of reading them.
“It is not clear how big a market there is for small runs of narrow-interest magazines when so much information is available free on the Internet. So far, users of the service, which is still in a testing phase, have produced close to 300 magazines, including publications on paintings by Mormon artists, the history of aerospace, food photography and improving your personal brand in a digital age.
“Aspiring publishers must handle their own writing and design work, sending a PDF file of their creation over the Internet to the MagCloud repository. H.P. farms out the printing jobs to partners scattered around the globe and takes care of billing and shipping for people who order the magazine. While H.P. charges the magazine publishers 20 cents a page, they can charge whatever they like for the completed product.”
I hope this takes off. I love the idea of being able to experiment with an idea to understand its salience before dumping a large investment of money and time into it. And, I think the more people we have talking about their passions out in the world, the better.
Earlier this week I wrote about my love of the Kindle after reading that Steve Jobs thinks it is stupid (I am exaggerating, of course) because no one reads anymore. Well, it seems his comments stirred up some others as well. Advertising Age disputes Jobs’ statistics on reading as well:
“‘Who are these “people” to whom Steve Jobs is referring?’ Publishers Weekly Editor in Chief Sara Nelson asked me last week. ‘Not the million-ish who are devouring Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” or the ones who line up for Harry Potter and/or James Patterson novels.’ She added: ‘All I can say is that when I sat in restaurants and airports or on buses or trains and pulled out my Kindle, I got more attention than if I’d shown up naked–with an adorable puppy.’”
I’ll admit it. I bought the Amazon Kindle, the electronic reader that received much hype and not-so-great reviews. And, I’ll admit that I love it. But, I am a reader. I read a lot and I read fast. I also travel pretty frequently. So, the idea of a device that holds 200 books that I can purchase for $9.99 each was appealing to me. The device has its faults (clunky page turn buttons that are too easily pressed mistakenly, the cover sucks, the power switch is on the back), which I am sure will be repaired in the next generation. I am a little self-conscious using it in public places because it is not that common and people tend to stare (and, I am a little embarrassed about how much I paid for it). But, nonetheless, I love reading from it–it is lightweight, easy to hold, doesn’t hurt my eyes, and holds more books than I can read. The New York Times has even said that “Amazon’s device could turn out to be the iPod of the written word.” I would agree, except supposedly no one reads anymore:
When Steve Jobs “was asked two weeks ago at the Macworld Expo what he thought of the Kindle, he heaped scorn on the book industry. ‘It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore,’ he said. ‘Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.’” Jobs, however, is not always right: “a survey conducted in August 2007 by Ipsos Public Affairs for The Associated Press found that 27 percent of Americans had not read a book in the previous year…the same share–27 percent–read 15 or more books. In fact, when we exclude Americans who had not read a single book in that year, the average number of books read was 20, raised by the 8 percent who read 51 books or more. In other words, a sizable minority does not read, but the overall distribution is balanced somewhat by those who read a lot.”
“The book world has always had an invisible asset that makes up for what it lacks in outsize revenue and profits: the passionate attachment that its authors, editors and most frequent customers have to books themselves. Indeed, in this respect, avid book readers resemble avid Mac users.
“The object we are accustomed to calling a book is undergoing a profound modification as it is stripped of its physical shell. Kindle’s long-term success is still unknown, but Amazon should be credited with imaginatively redefining its original product line, replacing the book business with the reading business.”
