Worth Reading

Become intelligent and successful in 30 days (or years) — I thought one item was missing, so I left a Comment.

Rejection Therapy: A Hundred Days of ‘No’ — and this is linked to the above although it’s not mentioned. And see his website: Hope From Nope, which contained this gem:

When asking someone to do something, there is a big difference between a favor and a challenge.

A favor requires the requested to invest time and effort on behalf of someone else. When it comes from a stranger, its success tabs into the altruistic side of the request recipient.

He might not know it (yet?), but he just explained to everyone why business-speak is drowning in the word “challenge.” It’s disguised and manipulative begging that absolves the “challenger” from being accountable for a failed goal.

2013: What To Focus On

This is the trend of abundance (and the real financial crisis), and it’s making it a lot harder every year to stand out. It’s no longer just a question of having an interesting product for people to buy. You have to outcompete all the other things people buy as well.

What would you rather have?

• One full-year subscription to the New York Times = $455
• Or… an XBOX ($99), a Netflix subscription ($99), and a Nexus 4 phone ($299) = $497

This is the real challenge the younger generation is faced with today. And since random general purpose news is freely available somewhere else, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guess which choice they make.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

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CES 2013 Notes #4

Updated with Archos FamilyPad tablet video

Updated with Archos Titanium and Platinum tablets video

Updated with Asus VivoTab Smart review video

Updated with eight-inch tablet videos of eFun/Nextbook, Karbonn

Updated with Alcatel eight-inch tablet video

Hands-on with the first quad-core tablets from Archos (video) — this is the key para:

But I kind of found the Archos 80 Platinum to be a little more interesting. While the screen doesn’t look as good [he’s comparing it to a Retina-class display], the tablet offers virtually identical performance to its larger sibling, but in a package that’s close to the size of an iPad mini, which makes it a lot lighter and easier to hold.

It would be a great device for surfing the web from your couch or reading an eBook.

I still say we will see 4:3 eight-inch tablets surpass 16:9 seven-inch tablets this year. Just the screen of an iPad Mini is about as wide as an entire seven-inch tablet. There are those who make the argument that 16:9 is better for video, blah blah blah. Video isn’t the issue; it’s just one thing done on a tablet.

Will Amazon “AutoRip” Print Books Too?

I know the meme is to answer every headline that ends in a question mark with the word, No. So shut up.

Amazon’s “AutoRip” Service Goes Live, Giving Customers Free MP3s For CDs Purchased On Amazon As Far Back As 1998 (Hands On)

Amazon is today introducing a new service called Amazon AutoRip, which automatically gives customers free MP3 versions of any CDs they’ve purchased from Amazon since the launch of its Music Store back in 1998.

If Amazon was able to get the music industry to agree to that — and they are no pushovers — how soon will it happen with DVDs/Blu-Ray Discs? (Hello, Ultraviolet!)

And then printed books?

For all of you print fetishists who have long brayed about bundling an eBook with a printed book, here’s a solution that finally makes some damn sense.

And if that happened, my prior post would seem more plausible as the next step too: How Amazon Could Switch Over ePub Book Buyers

What Did The Founders Mean?

Having experienced tyranny firsthand and having freed themselves from it, I think what they meant was very clear.

Previously here:

Mix, Then Shake Well For Disaster