Your Reading Companion for 2008: Make it a Kindle?

I’m not really known to suffer from the kind of Asian gadget fetish that has stricken many of today’s in-the-know urban professionals, who at times seem to be in sears need of intervention from their iPhone and Blackberry dependency.

Every so often, however, I’m blown away by the news of an innovative technology to the point where I feel I must jump head-first into the online conversation and offer up my two cents on the latest and greatest whiz-bang device.

Which is what I have decided to do now. So let's begin: If you haven't already, say hello to… drum roll please… the Amazon Kindle! Check it out: The Kindle is an all-new e-book reader, a crafty contraption brought to you by Amazon.com that builds on the functionalities of the Sony Reader by offering wireless connectivity and the possibility to subscribe to newspapers, blogs, magazines, and online comment streams, as well as the option to purchase e-books on the spot. In other words, it bitch-slaps the Sony Reader into technological obscurity with a definite techno sleight-of-hand.

Many in the blogosphere and in traditional media are calling the Kindle a milestone in technological innovation. And when it comes to traveling light, it really can’t be beat. As soon as I get my hands on one I’m totes buying it.

Online reviews have been mixed but promising: The Kindle’s screen is mellow and crisp, it’s easy on the eyes, and the e-ink reads perfectly under direct sunlight or in pitch dark—no need for sunglasses or a lamp to guide your eyes. It doesn't have a trackpad, but the keyboard and intuitive controls are getting high scores. It's not perfect, but it has potential.

And the Kindle has an undeniable advantage: It is eco-friendly through-and-through. No longer do we have an excuse to plow down patches of rainforest to ensure bestsellers make the global bookstore rounds. So let’s all rekindle (ha!) our reading habits through digital. Might we all soon say goodbye to books altogether?

3 Off-the-Wall Widget Ideas for the Tired Mac's Desktop

My MacBook Pro's dashboard currently serves up the usual fare of garden-variety widgets—simple, run-of-the-mill apps now ubiquitous on every young, on-the-go professional’s laptop. Here's the breakdown: I have a world clock, a calendar, sticky notes, a dictionary, a unit converter, a calculator, an online translator, and a kooky widget that lets me know the current mood of the world.

This last one is my own personal offbeat selection, downloaded as part of an effort to feel edgy and unique or whatever. It's not cutting it. My drab collection is definitely wanting, as I'm sure you can evidence for yourself.

After checking out the Chuck Norris Facts widget on one of my coworker's computers, I now feel like shaking things up a bit on my own dashboard. However, none of the available widget downloads on the Apple website seem to float my boat.

So here are three pop culture-soaked ideas for non-branded widgets I would put up on my dashboard fa sho:

The Sorceress of Eternia Conspiracy Theory widget: This revisionist app is meant to provide the skeptical cartoon fan a refreshing take on the 80s He-Man episodes. Am I the only one who doesn't buy into the whole “Sorceress is the protector of Grayskull” bit? Didn't think so. This widget can spit out a different theory on the Sorceress' true situation every time you click on it. What's the real need for this doped up bird woman to be all up in that castle cooking up strange potions anyway? Does she continuously pull her tired "I'm fainting" act just to get some attention from muscle retard He-Man? Is she on drugs? Did she cheat Skeletor out of his true home? This widget will let us know.

The Live Blogging for Britney widget: It's like Twitter, but funner. It will be solely focused on Britney and her downward spiral by providing an engaging way to love-hate on this trashy celebrity trainwreck, all in real time. What's Britney doing right now? Are you rooting for her, or hoping she runs over some more paparazzi? Be the first to know about her next trip-up. This widget will give us round-the-clock status updates.

The Literary Devices as Used in Contemporary Media widget: How is syllepsis employed in pop songs? What TV shows are using deus ex machina to try and make sense out of their convoluted plots? Is there a cable news network more prone to the use of alliteration when it comes to the newsticker than others? What's the latest film to employ iambic pentameter in it's dialogue? Check this widget whenever you want to be hit with a pop-culture info nugget of literary wisdom.

These ideas might seem a little off-the-scale for some, but if you ask me, they'd make spot-on apps in today’s world. What widgets would you like to see on you own dashboard? You know you want to share!

Your Cell Phone's Rebel Yell

No no, I’m not talking about the ringtone you pulled off some shady site to let everyone else know just how unique or with it you really are. I’m talking about phantom cell phone vibrations! Check out this nutty article featured on Yahoo! News yesterday; it’s right up my alley, and tailor-made for all you crazy cell-phone-and-BlackBerry-toting professionals. It’s creepy, it’s kooky, and it’s a sign o' the times. And I kind of like it!

Is your love affair with your phone causing you ringxiety? It seems a lot of us are sufferers. Here’s one guy quoted in the article who I know a lot of you can totally identify with:

“Jake Ward… claims to ‘pre-feel’ a new message or call. ‘I'll feel it, look at it. It's not vibrating. Then it starts vibrating,’ he said. ‘I am one with my BlackBerry.’”

I like to think I am also one with my tech tools. My laptop’s my favorite friend of them all. I’ve tapped into that otherworldly force much maligned by hokey teen scream movies such as Pulse; but rather than haunt me, this techno-force empowers me.

The iPhone is definitely my next purchase--once the technology becomes available in Costa Rica, that is. I too, want socially sanctioned carte blanche to surf the Web wherever I might be, in detriment of face-to-face interactions. If only I could grow an iPhone off my hip. So what do you think? Are you also a sufferer of “fauxcellarm”?

Unwords: Words for All Affairs

I am captivated by the ways in which technology’s precipitous development has an impact on the way a lot of us communicate. Recently I was reading a great post in Notes from the Digital Frontier where one of the regular bloggers recalled his dismay while texting with a friend. He pointed out that, because his friend’s phone’s dictionary did not recognize a certain term, his friend opted to type in a different word instead. Huh. "The input method changes our communication style," he perceptively concluded. This has actually also happened to me, various times. I can’t think of a more obvious example of technology’s influence over language and communications. And then there’s Cingular’s recent advertising campaign “idk, my bff Jill,” that aside from comical, signals just how fast language is evolving. The first two TV spots from the Cingular campaign together have gotten more than a million hits on YouTube, not simply because they are funny, I suspect, but also because they ring true with a large segment of American (and global) society. If you haven’t seen the ads, click here.

Which brings me to another issue that I feel is also super-interesting: that of creating words to describe new experiences, situations, and ideas to help these become commonplace in digital media and contemporary society. Say hello to Unwords.com, the site that "makes it possible for you to share your words with the world." I’m sure a lot of English professors would be appalled with some of the words users have submitted, and many a crusty English nazi would take issue with the fact that the site simply exists. For me, however, this is as exciting as language gets. Not only is it evolving at hyper-speed, we now have digital observers documenting and fueling the phenomenon.

I believe that it is part of a writer’s job to introduce and coin new terms to describe and define emerging phenomena, especially if said writer wishes to push open societal restrictions and explore new frontiers. It creates knowledge exponentially and paves the way for others to do the same. As a society, we all benefit. Recently I was waiting to board a plane at Miami International Airport, when we were told to wait so the arriving passangers could "deplane." I’m sure the word "deplane" did not exist 50 years ago. Now we all know what this means, even though the word might not be in any dictionary (it is, by the way--as an intransitive verb). So what if other, older words start dying out too quickly? IDK, NBD, from my point of new.