Apple’s 007

EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Apple’s First CEO Michael Scott

Business Insider: You were employee number seven when you came into Apple, right?

Michael Scott: No, because I assigned the employee numbers. I was employee number seven, because I wanted number seven. I was actually employee number five at that time. So I was 007, of course, as a joke.

This is such a great interview. You can feel the early Apple emanating from the screen as you read it. It’s also hugely funny. Go read now!

Three And A Half eBook Quickies

Sourcebooks’ Raccah charges into digital age with ebook publishing house

Unlike big publishers, which can be sclerotic, Ms. Raccah embraced digital technology early on. The first New York Times best-seller she published, “We Interrupt This Broadcast,” paired a book with recordings of 20th-century news broadcasts in 1998. She wanted to put the recordings on compact disc, but others urged her to use tapes, saying too few people had CD players in their cars. She went ahead with CDs, and the mixed-media combo has gone on to sell nearly 750,000 copies.

She published her first ebooks in 2000: “The Golden Rule of Schmoozing” and “How to Register Your Own Trademark.” Ebooks account for 35% of sales today, and 1,200 of Sourcebooks’ 2,000 titles are available electronically.

Good for her.

A ZDNet WTF

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It wouldn’t have much of a chance if it was made as fugly as the new Nook, no.

WTF happened there? Did some naif think the Kobo had the wrong aspect ratio?!

With Barnes & Noble’s newest Nook revealed, does the Kobo stand a chance?

Quotes From The 2006 Dawn Of eInk

I could kiss my 2006 self for linking to these!

September 2006, Ars Technica: Sony e-book reader to ship next week, but does anybody want it?

Will that be enough to woo consumers this time around? It will be a tough sell, especially if Amazon decides to release its own e-book gadget with the more bookish Amazon brand name behind it.

Very prescient there.

Nook Touch Demo Video

Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Size Comparison

I did this yesterday for Kobo.

Today is Barnes & Noble’s turn. I’ve arranged them by height:

Amazon Kindle 3: 7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.335″ – 8.5-8.7 oz
Kobo Reader: 7.24″ x 4.72″ x 0.393″ – 7.795 oz
Sony Reader Touch 2: 6.62″ x 4.75″ x 0.4″ – 7.58 oz
Kobo eReader Touch: 6.5″ x 4.5″ x 0.4″ – 7.1 oz
Barnes & Noble Nook Touch: 6.5″ x 5.0″ x 0.47″ – 7.48 oz
Sony Reader Pocket: 6.25″ x 4.25″ x 0.41″ – 7.6 oz
Sony Reader Pocket 2: 5.75″ x 4.12″ x 0.34″ – 5.47 oz

The new Nook is the widest of all of them!

Barnes & Noble Nook Website Change

All screensnaps done today, May 24, 2011, before and after the new Nook introduction:

Main B&N page:

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Barnes & Noble Unveils New Nook

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Taking a page from Henry Ford, you can get this new Nook in every color you want — as long as it’s black.

The Shape Of Things To Come

Android Developers Union

Yes, well, if you’re laughing at that, you’re unqualified for the upcoming future.

Writers better bookmark this: National Writers Union

That Whole RSS Thing

There are annoyances:

1) My PC is such crap that when the Live Bookmarks alerts pops up, everything slows down.

2) The Live Bookmarks alerts tend to pop up when I want to do something.

3) 98% of what is published are things I’m just not interested in.

4) Crap, what an echo chamber out there! The same story on ten sites?!

5) Sometimes I scream STFU!!!! at the PC when the Live Bookmarks alerts happen.

Things could be worse.

Previously here:

Blog Change: RSS Widget
So How Is That RSS Thing Going?
Into The RSS Stream Again