Monthly Archives: December 2010

This is what’s happening: It was not long ago that Nokia held over 70% of the Indian market. That market is now larger but the share for Nokia has dropped by half at least. The share was not lost to … Continue reading →

I bought an Amazon Kindle this December. For the first time ever, I have actual reading equipment (apart from bookmarks, which the Kindle obviates, and my glasses, which it does not). It’ll take a while more before my opinions of … Continue reading →

The Wall Street Journal on the proliferation of smartphone apps that send information about their users to advertisers without permission: Apps sharing the most information included TextPlus 4, a popular iPhone app for text messaging. It sent the phone’s unique … Continue reading →

From the New York Times review of the new Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader: The “Lend Me” feature from the first Nook is still here, but it’s still laughably restrictive. You can lend a book only once, to one person, … Continue reading →

The best phrase I’ve encountered so far to describe contemporary TV, print and mainstream online media. (from a Susan Sontag essay “The Novelist and Moral Reasoning” via “I, Reader”)

I’d always read the news as a part of my writing ritual: wake up, go to the newsstand, buy the Times, the Post, the Daily News, get coffee and a bagel, sit down with the papers, read until an un-definable … Continue reading →

I’d always read the news as a part of my writing ritual: wake up, go to the newsstand, buy the Times, the Post, the Daily News, get coffee and a bagel, sit down with the papers, read until an un-definable … Continue reading →

Tom Friedman (who has said these same things many times) stands vindicated by WikiLeaks: Yes, these are our allies — people whose values we do not and never will share. “O.K.,” our Saudi, Gulf, Afghan and Pakistani allies tell us, … Continue reading →

NYT article explores the world of laptop-dominated cafes and their patrons: I was an interloper among them, an anthropologist of sorts, sent to untangle their odd society, to understand their mores and unwritten rules. How did the natives interact? How … Continue reading →

“Groaning shelves of books produce the wonderful side effects of deadening all sound and scenting the air with the drowsy, musty perfume of old wood pulp — intangible features of the world we are losing.” From an NYT article on … Continue reading →