Author Archives: Editor

Barnes & Noble eReader Device Might Blow the Kindle Out

by Editor

B&NereaderAmazon’s Kindle could be headed for the woodpile.  The new Barnes & Nobel ereader device is coming at the end of November.

The new device is called the nook. Like book nook, I guess.  But this thing has a color touch screen virtual keypad like an iPhone and it displays book pages on an eye-friendly E ink display.  It appears to be sleek and well-designed.  It will also allow ebook owners to lend their ebooks to other people who own Nook devices for up to 14 days.  That’s a big deal.

Another thing it has going for it is support for formats like ePub, eReader, PDF, MP3, JPG, PNG and BMP files.  One article compared this device to Amazon’s by saying it was like the internet compared to Amazon’s AOL.  It has free 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

After the ongoing grotesque behavior by Amazon and its apparent lack of concern for owners’ rights it won’t take much for Barnes & Noble to turn Amazon’s ugly duckling of a closed-system ereader into a bad joke.

I never took the plunge to buy a Kindle from Amazon because I don’t trust their intentions.  I have no hesitation to run out and buy the Barnes & Noble device as soon as it comes out in November.

National Film Board of Canada Releases Huge Film Library for iPhone App

by Editor

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The NFB (National Film Board of Canada) has just released a new free iPhone app that lets you watch hundreds of their films.  You can use the app even while you’re away from hotspots by downloading films for viewing during a 24-hour period.  The NFB is one of my favorite places on the web for film.  They just do it the right way.  They make it easy.

This is an excellent way to distribute their huge collection of ground-breaking films.

You can get the app at the iTunes store.

Book: The Vampire Archives

by Editor

VampireArchivesOn Friday evening I went into Hollywood looking for monsters.  I found some really bad ones.  They’re inside The Vampire Archives, an enormous volume of vampire stories edited by Otto Penzler and published by Vintage Crime.

The book is organized into sections like Pre-Dracula, which holds gems like Good Lady Ducayne by English writer M.E. Braddon, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, and Ligeia, by Edgar Allen Poe.

Another section is That’s Poetic, with works by John Keats, Lord Byron and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

The final section is Modern Masters, with stories by Ray Bradbury, Peter Tremayne and Brian Lumley.

The book finishes with what is advertised as the most comprehensive bibliography of vampire fiction ever assembled.  And it certainly goes on for many pages.

The book is a big fat heavy pulpy treasure and I dug right into it as soon as I got home.  This thing will put you in right good shape for the approaching Halloween day of terror and magic.

And let me stick my thumb into the eyes of literary bloggers everywhere who can’t write about a book and link to its purchase page without sadly trying to make 14 cents off the deal, I am going to pull an unexpected sleight of hand trick and link to this fantastic book without making a single pathetic penny.

Next time I see some jackass literary blogger link to a book as an ‘Amazon Associate’ I’m a gonna send that hungry fool 14 cents so they can go buy a Big Mac.

Machinarium Game Designer Sketchbooks and Trailer

by Editor

03_machinarium_concept_art-thumb-960x704-26671Boing Boing has posted a set of fascinating sketches by Jakub Dvorský and Adolf Lachman, the designers of the upcoming point and click adventure game, Machinarium.

This game looks marvelous. It’s made by an independent game producer who also made a popular game called Samarost.  Machinarium is about a little robot who’s been thrown out to the scrap yard behind the city must return and confront the Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot-girl friend.  I think I’ll give it a try.  Although I usually find it much easier to build a puzzle game than to actually play one.  They always leave me feeling stumped and dumb and I just end up quitting.  But this one looks so beautiful that I’d try really hard just to see the next picture.

Animation: A Candy Affair

by Editor

Here’s a little treat from OddBot, Inc. animation studio in Los Angeles. Directed by Crystal Stromer, this is the touching and tasty little story of a kernel of corn with a twinkle in his eye for a very lovely little piece of candy corn.