Let's talk about umbrellas

Okay, Boston, let's talk about umbrellas for a moment. You know, they're the things you carry to keep you dry(ish) in the rain that we've been experiencing over the last few days.

Well let me tell you something, Boston. Those gigantic golf umbrellas that take up the entire sidewalk and have a large point at the top of them as if to beg lightning to strike them? They're far better used when held above your head to protect you than they are when held before you like a knight's lance.

Of course, that was the scene a couple of days ago as I walked to work. I emerged from South Station, popped open my own, one-person sized, umbrella, and started marching toward the office. Unfortunately, I found myself blocked by two rain knights of the round umbrella, galloping toward me with umbrellas forward. They blocked the entire sidewalk and could not even see what was in front of them. I was forced to retreat into the street, dodging cars and the puddles they splashed through. When they realized what they'd done, they offered me a mumbled, "Sorry," then dropped their umbrellas in front of them once more and plodded on.

People, don't block the sidewalks. It's a simple rule of being a pedestrian. Walk with the flow of traffic, and don't block the sidewalk. Perhaps they'd have been okay without those monstrosities that did nothing to keep them dry, but as it was they got in everyone's way and damn near skewered me.

Adventures on the MBTA: CSI

Perhaps it could be a new show - CSI: MBTA.

This morning's commute started like any other - caught my inbound green line train at Coolidge Corner, was able to snag a seat at Hynes Convention Center, and from there continued the slow ride into town.

Until we stopped at Copley. The trolley operator came on the speaker and said, "We will be standing by for a few minutes." About a minute later, the doors closed and we moved forward to Arlington. Things seemed normal. Then we stopped in the tunnel and were told we'd be standing by.

"Great," I thought, "signal problems or a disabled train. So much for being on time to work." A few minutes later, we were told we'd be standing by again. Shortly thereafter, "Signal problems in Boylston." Then we sat. And sat. And sat some more. Eventually, "We will be adversing to Arlington where you can get the bus." I have to assume she meant reversing, but instead we started creeping forward.

Eventually we hit Boylston, and I prepared for the train to be taken out of service and for my walk to South Station from there. But it never happened. We moved on to Park Street, and I disembarked to head for the red line and finish my commute. But what I saw stopped me in my tracks.

It wasn't the dead green line train marked, "No Service," across the way. That's nothing new. It wasn't that there was a green line train destined for Government Center that was three feet behind the out of service train. It's hard to describe the scene in a meaningful way.

To my right was a woman talking on her mobile phone, plugged into an outlet and acting a bit frantic. There were MBTA police, supervisors, and operators everywhere. There was a man trying to explain that he was heading for the orange line, but didn't seem to be allowed to get there. An MBTA supervisor was blocking the way to the left, not that there's much back there, and straight ahead of me was a man with a fancy looking camera and a coat that read, "MBTA Police Crime Scene Unit."

All of that together gave me a bizarre feeling. I've been told that crime scene units are usually only called for very violent crimes that include, say, death. I don't know how true that is, and I don't know what happened, but the whole thing gave me an uneasy feeling.

I decided I'd find out from the internet later what had happened, and made way to the red line to continue my henceforth uneventful commute.

How much would you pay for an eBook?

Lifehacker takes a survey.

Publishers should probably be doing this kind of research before they start battling to raise prices. I hope they're listening!

Macmillan books gets Amazon to raise prices, almost guarantees I'll never buy one.

From the Amazon Kindle team:

Macmillan E-books - kindle Discussion Forum: "We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative."

Now John Gruber over at Daring Fireball says that Apple has successfully disrupted Amazon's Kindle business, but I think a little bit differently.

I think that Apple has successfully laid the groundwork to raise the standard price of eBooks. And I think that is going to seriously damage the eBook format. Would I pay $15 for the privilege of reading something I could pay $10 or less for by picking it up at the local book store I walk by every day on my way home? I sincerely doubt it, and I think it's absurd that publishers should want to charge more for something that costs less to produce.

Publishers need to start waking up and reading the writing on the walls the way the music industry has been forced to do. Things are changing. Paying a premium to read a book early might work. Waiting to release an eBook until softcovers come out might work. But charging more for an eBook than a softcover? Good luck with that.

Why I think the iPad is a threat to the Amazon Kindle

I am not impressed by the iPad as a device, especially as an eBook reading device. The amount of eye strain it will cause just doesn't do it for me. But here's something it does do: it uses the ePub format.

Now let's remember that there's a small format war happening here between the Kindle and, well, everyone else. The Nook, the Sony Reader, the iRiver Story, and now the iPad all use the ePub format.

Like or not, the iPad is going to help jumpstart eBook reading, and when it does it's going to become a major player. In doing so, it's going to add a good bit of market share for the ePub format. And that, in my mind, is a threat to the Kindle.

Magic Mouse: Impressions

A friend at the office was kind enough to switch mice with me today - he has a new Magic Mouse where I rock the older bluetooth Mighty Mouse, so I could get a feel for it and see what I thought. He shared his thoughts with me, and now I want to put together my own.

From my reading, I knew that I would miss being able to squeeze the sides of the mouse to open exposé, but I know there are apps to add gestures with actions so I am not hugely concerned.

The hardware is very light and glides nicely on my desktop. I am not sure I'd like it on a mouse pad, but I don't have one and it tracked well for me so it was a non-issue. The first challenge I encountered was the question of how to make the device discoverable. I looked inside the battery case to see if there was a button, but there was not one. On a hunch, I switched the mouse on and tried to search for it immediately. This worked. It actually looks like the device stays discoverable at all times - something I'm not that big on. I would have preferred a way to put it into discovery mode, and otherwise have it undiscoverable.

Using the mouse was another story. Its low profile was a different experience for me because it meant holding my hand up instead of resting it on the body of the mouse. I could feel the corners of the mouse in my palm rather than the comfortable rounded feel of the mighty mouse. The scrolling gesture was great, I have to say, and scrolling with momentum is nice. One negative to the scrolling is the overall feel of the surface. It reminded me of my iPhone without a screen protector. My finger would stick a little bit, and the gestures wouldn't be as smooth. I enjoy the screen protector on my phone for this reason, and wonder if putting something like that on the magic mouse might make me happier. Should I buy the mouse, I may pick up another screen protector and try popping it on there just to see.

So to sum it up, I like it a lot. I prefer the form factor of the Mighty Mouse, and if I could have that form factor with the Magic Mouse's functionality I'd be sold and happy.

Penguins at the New England Aquarium

Penguins at the New England Aquarium
Originally uploaded by marq 2.0