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"We're born naked. Everything else is drag" — RuPaul My colleage Jason Schumaker, who graced the cover of Linux Journal's recent Python issue clad only in atmosphere, gave a fun interview to Andover News. Way to go, Jason! The marketing 2-step: 1) do better stuff; 2) talk about it In the course of notifying folks about his new company, James Wiebe (who many of us know as the source of those Macintosh upgrade boards from Newer Technology) treated us to a neat story of Conversational Marketing at work. The punchline: Finally, the thank-you credits rolled up the screen. There, in the middle of the list, was my Company. My employees stood up, and CHEERED. Everyone else in the theater looked at us like we had gone crazy. Check it out. Ever have a book run out of batteries? Richard P. Bennett writes... I used to frequent independent bookstores, but don't any more. I think they, as well as the Barnes and Noble superstores, are going to be obsolete in just a few years. If I have a choice, I buy books online and download them to my Palm III. It's a lot more convenient than going to a store, you can still check out an excerpt before purchasing, and the selection is better (you can get out-of-print books). I always have my Palm with me, so if I'm stuck, for example, in a doctor's office or barbershop, there's something of interest to read. Prior to e-books, I can't tell you how many times I was in a situation where "I wish I had brought a book" was my main complaint. Sure, some people argue that the "book experience" is valuable: the smell, the weight, turning the pages, etc., but I think convenience and progress will win out. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think it wonderful that we'll lose places like Wordsworth, or The Stars Our Destination (a sci-fi bookstore here in Chicago), but I certainly wouldn't invest in a hardcopy bookstore now. I wouldn't either, but that doesn't stop me from shopping in one. That said, maybe Richard is on to something. I'd like to try one of these e-books (though not by paying for one) — although I have to admit that I still use an original U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot, since I remain unconvinced that PDAs are good for anything more than keeping a calendar and a Rolodex in a pocket. One evening last week a bunch of us were standing around on a street in San Jose wondering what to do next when one guy suggested looking for movies on his Palm MXLVII or whatever, which had some kind of wireless service. He poked on the surface of the thing repeatedly, like he was trying to wake up something small and dead. After a while the energy dispersed and half of us headed home while the other half wandered off to the next bar. But hey: I'll give it a try. I'm interested to hear what the rest of ya'll think, too.
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