From the Roman Codex to the iPad

31 January 2010

How's this for human progress? It took about 4,000 years from the invention of writing to the Roman-era codex of bound pages replacing scrolls, 1,000 years from the codex to movable type creating printed books, 500 years from the printing press to the Internet—and only 25 years to the launch of the iPad.

Even Apple enthusiasts will concede that this somewhat overstates last week's announcement of the tablet. But like the arrival of Amazon's Kindle, Apple's tablet reminds us there is a digital revolution redefining the book.

Colbert starts iPad campaign at the Grammys

31 January 2010

In case you were wondering how Apple intended to advertise the iPad, the answer might just be "very well."

At Sunday's Grammys, Stephen Colbert approached the deeply onerous task of reading out the nominees for Song of the Year with singular glee. Because just as he looked lost, trying to remember where the list of nominees was, he whipped out an iPad from inside his jacket pocket.

iPad's Big Target: E-Readers

31 January 2010

The new Apple iPad's color multitouch display will clobber -- but not kill -- the blossoming e-reader market, which includes Amazon.com's Kindle, the Sony Reader and other devices that use gray-scale displays and slower interfaces, some analysts said.

"Apple 's full-color, full motion [iPad] device makes not only netbooks, but any product with an E Ink display look tired and dated," wrote Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe in a blog after spending a few minutes using the tablet device.