Charmian's Journal

An interview with the new head of Russian LJ: http://ottenki-serogo.livejournal.com/182058.html (in Russian)
[I also found a lot of interesting Russian links about suspensions, deletions, and renames/openID, but I don't speak Russian so I can't contextualize them very well.]

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html Google Wave is dead.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/wordpress_copies_facebooks_like.php Wordpress.com is hopping on the "Like" bandwagon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/business/media/04barnes.html B&N up for sale

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/29/technology/kindle_3/index.htm Kindle 3 arriving soon. Hopefully the prices will drop even lower by next year. With this Amazon has really put one over Borders (which is hawking the $150 Kobo) and Barnes and Noble. Kindle is now the low cost e-ink leader, and wifi Kindle 3 is comparable (and slightly cheaper) to the wifi Nook, and superior to the wifi-less Kobo. But I'm still waiting for the $100 price point.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/08/google-multiple-sign-in-now-available.html Now you can switch between multiple google accounts.

http://community.livejournal.com/changelog/8909942.html LJ to allow Twitter crossposting? This sounds useful, actually.

The point here, that ebook readers are most likely an interim device, is why I am not really wanting a Kindle (or a Sony-ereader now). If I had an iPhone, I think I might be using the ebook programs (I ride the bus on occasion and have seen people on multiple occasions using an iPod to read some book. I have never seen anyone using a Kindle).

The point at the end about books becoming "interactive" is also interesting. Does anyone remember those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books as a child? And with an entire generation growing up playing video games, that perhaps primes the audience to use interactive narratives? (Hmm, all those who write stories, have you ever experimented with "interactivity" in some way?)

Off the top of my head, one famous literary work that does have multiple endings is The French Lieutenant's Woman (which I heartily recommend, BTW). I think the idea appeals to me because it shows the arbitrariness of events, or something like that, the sense that there is no 'destiny' and that it is plausible for things to go either way.

I've been sort of watching the technological developments in ebook readers via the Teleread blog. Excitingly, they seem to be falling under the $200 price point range. I hope soon, like iPods, they start to break the $100 barrier. I hope soon there are tons of $50 ereaders out there.

One thing which might be interesting is if they integrated this with social networking, to allow you to buy and send ebooks instantaneously to your friends. Possibly they could also offer you a discount for say, buying ten books and sending them to people, or they could somehow incorporate the "book club discount" system into getting people to form large groups dedicated to buying a certain book?