Tretakoff Musings

Amazon unveiled their newest entry in the tablet wars today, with a new set of Kindle Fires. If you are not familiar with the Fire, Amazon launched this 7", $199 tablet a while ago, taking the Android OS and putting a more pleasing , media focused front end on it. The result? An inexpensive media player with some impressive cloud features that can still take advantage of the Android ecosystem. And it went after Apple where it hurts: the pocketbook. With Amazon's media ecosystem to rival Apple's, and a smaller tablet and a palatable price, looked to be a winner. And in some ways, it was: it became Amazon's top selling product . Win, win, win. Granted, not iPad numbers (or even close), but Amazon will happily take it. Today, the Kindle Fire launches it's new version. And again, on the surface, looks to have the power to hit the iPad where it hurts, as well as aiming squarely and Google's own Nexus 7 tablet. First, there are now multiple Fires: in addition to a...

As regular readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of two things: comic books and the transition from dead tree publishing to digital. Even in my post on why I was not a big fan of the iPad , I mentioned that one area it could potentially dominate is the digital transition of comics, something that Kindles and iPhones simply cannot really capture. In the months since, ComiXology has released several versions of their digital comics app, including the "Big Two" of DC and Marvel. I have happily purchased many a comic since this way, and read them on my iPhone (and yes, it does make me yearn for the tablet size). But yet, maddeningly, the offerings consisted of a microscopic sampling of the titles published by both. Why? This month's Wired magazine answers it very well . In essence, comic book publishing is a razor-thin symbiotic affair, with the slightest threat to the retail stores having a disastrous effect that becomes a maelstrom that pulls down the whole industry t...

Yeah, Amazon's getting in on the video game trade-ins. They excitedly emailed me to suggest I trade in my 2009 copy of Madden for the new 2010 version. Curious, I clicked through to see the whopping trade in value of...$1.50. Yes, that's right: $1.50. Towards a $40 game. Save the e-mail costs, Amazon: it just cost you a customer. Next time, offer me the trade in if it gets me at least 25% of the way there!

Every day, I ride the ferry from Marin to San Francisco. Frequently accompanying me is my friend and coworker, Charles. We often take inspiration in the Bay air and beautiful scenery and come up with what we call "The Million Dollar Idea of the Day." I've been coming up with these since I was a kid, and I vow to someday make good on one, but for now, I am content to share them with the world...and you, gentle reader. :-) Today's was inspired by a recent concert I attended . I hadn't been to a live orchestral performance in some time, and I was surprised and shocked to see two cellists experiencing what I can only consider to be challenges of the trade. Both were sharing a single music stand and the sheet music on it; when the piece they were playing came to the end of the page, one stopped playing and reached out to turn the page. When he picked up his bow again, he was lost as to where in the piece he was. The other cellist stopped playing, and, with his bow, ind...

If you haven't heard by now, Amazon has launched their Kindle Reader for the iPhone , and it's free. Better than that, it's good . How good? I downloaded the app in moments. Amy is an avid Kindle reader, so I put in her access info. In literally 2 seconds, every book she ever bought on her Kindle was available for me to read on the iPhone. The app itself is excellent, offering superb readability, and intuitive controls. It remembers where you are, or where you started reading on one device, and picks up on another. It is easily the most seamless syncing I have experienced on the iPhone. So what does this mean? It means every iPhone is now an eBook reader with Amazon's expansive Kindle-based selection and incredibly inexpensive prices. Yes, the e-ink of the Kindle vastly trumps the iPhone, but as a close second, it's pretty good. Not to mention the install base of iPhones is far larger than Kindles (though I have documented many Kindles in the wild on my Facebook alb...

How the heck did I not hear about this? Amazon has expanded the functionality of their wishlists to any other site online . Yep, that's right: you can now add any item, from any site, to Amazon's wishlist, with one click. I was using TheThingsIWant.com for this, but Amazon integration? Count me in, folks.