sometimes you have to timestamp a development... or two... or three... *** new reader-machines are being announced _daily_, it seems. today's model is a joint venture between best buy and verizon. yes, i know, i know. how are best buy and verizon gonna wrangle book-buyers away from amazon dot com, the web super-retailer, and the bookstore named after the world-class river? i have no idea. and you can bet they have no idea either. look for two dozen reader-machines to debut in 2009. look for one dozen of them to be dead by the year-end. the big winner, certainly, will be adobe and its d.r.m. the big loser, ironically, will be adobe and its d.r.m., because you know adobe ain't gonna be able to pull off a d.r.m. scheme with dozens of no-experience partners, and the resultant fiasco will be endlessly entertaining... plus it's bound to piss off all kinds of paying customers, and the righteous indignation promises to be amusing... the kindle, of course, won't be impacted in the slightest by all this downmarket warfare amongst the ranks, but second-runner sony might get hit by some of the gunfire. *** speaking of sony... saw it the first time on saturday night. an advertisement for the sony reader, on broadcast television in prime time. with justin tumberlank _and_ payton manning. not to mention the world's fastest speedreader. saw it again the next time on sunday night. on network television during the emmy awards. with justin tomberland _and_ payton manning. not to mention the world's fastest speedreader. saw it again the next time on monday night. during some very big season premiere shows. with justin timberlake _and_ payton manning. not to mention the world's fastest speedreader. these are some serious media buys at high prices, folks, and a sign that sony isn't just fooling around. they're fooling around _and_ blowing an ad budget. but at least we get a sense they think it's important. ads note the (introductory model) price of $199, as well as product highlight that the machine can store hundreds of books. who woulda thunk that these machines woulda hit the television waves? *** in other news, a guy name "brown" sold some books. *** happy autumnal equinox, folks... -bowerbird