Friday, August 17, 2012

Julia Child's Lessons on Publishing and Perseverance. From @brainpicker and @TheAtlantic

On March 8, 1952, Julia Child, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday today, sat down at her kitchen table in Paris and penned a fan letter to American historian and author Bernard DeVoto, discussing the peculiarities of French and American kitchen knives. But the letter was answered by DeVoto's wife, Avis, described by one of her husband's students at Harvard as "very good looking and very sexy-seeming and the only faculty wife who might have said 'horseshit' even to [Harvard] President Lowell." This was the beginning of an epistolary friendship that unfolded into a rich and wide-spanning relationship, exploring the two women's deepest thoughts and feelings as well as their most passionate professional pursuits and aspirations, as Avis became Julia's confidant, great champion, and unofficial literary agent.

Perhaps most fascinating of all, however, is the absorbing insider's look at the publishing industry that the correspondence reveals as Julia and Avis navigate the maze of bringing Child's culinary ideas to the mainstream with the publication of her seminal book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which Avis steered first to Houghton Mifflin and eventually to its home at Knopf. Filled with romantic idealism about how publishing ought to work, they consistently brush up against barriers to creative freedom and integrity, shedding light on how much has changed and how much has remained the same in the half-century since.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/SwQbCY

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The New Tablet Reality for E-Books: Will Readers Read Less? From @forbes

Whether you like it or not, it’s now a tablet world — we just live in it.

According to a recent survey, one out of every five e-book readers use a Kindle Fire to read and almost as many use an iPad. Some 35% use a Kindle e-ink reader but the two leading tablets combined have now surpassed the older technology and will soon leave it in the dust. With the new Google Nexus 7 tablet rising and Barnes & Noble lowering prices on the Nook tablet, reader momentum toward the newer technology will only accelerate.

So, what does this mean for the book publishing world? At least two things:
1. The rise of e-books and e-reading might slow.
2. Publishers have to start thinking about content in new ways.

Very interesting read continues here....http://wtr.mn/MuUMYC

Monday, August 13, 2012

Photos of Alleged iPhone Logicboard Suggest New Battery, Antennas. From @wired

As the launch date for the next iPhone approaches, there’s no shortage of rumors and purported images of the highly anticipated device. The latest development comes from a WeiPhone forum user who posted photos of the alleged next-generation iPhone motherboard, revealing that the phone could sport new antennas, a higher-capacity battery, and more.
While photos like this should always be viewed with a generous helping of skepticism, the particular WeiPhone user who posted the shots has some credentials. As 9to5Mac was first to point out, the user posted accurate images of the iPhone 4S motherboard last year, a couple months prior to its launch.NoWhereElse.fr has also taken the time to compare the size of the motherboard to the iPhone’s supposed rear plate (leaked in a video in June), and it matches up quite nicely, suggesting the WeiPhone forum user’s latest posting is legit.
Read on here....http://wtr.mn/Nv0hWF

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Here’s why tablets (yes, tablets!) will replace the smartphone, From @KevinCTofel and @gigaom

I’m sure to get the “you’re off your rocker” commentary on this one, but I make a living by looking ahead in the world of mobile technology. And what I see now is a trend that I have watched build for nearly half a dozen years. Thanks to the pace of mobile-network expansion, new audio and video technologies, the expansion of Wi-Fi, and more-capable hardware that runs longer on a single charge, I expect the tablet to begin replacing the smartphone within the next half a dozen years. There, I said it.

Why?

Our dependence on mobile media consumption is growing.

Voice on a tablet isn’t as bad as you’d think.

The user interface is moving beyond pocketable screens.

Tablets can do the same things as smartphones, only better.

Naysayers are still judging based on today’s use cases, not tomorrow’s.

Read on here....http://wtr.mn/OLMhrh