i wait all year for this time. what, you ask, thanksgiving? well, yeah. but not exactly... see, 4 years ago, david rothman of teleread.com -- who's affectionately known as "the idiot" by david moynihan -- made me a little bet, and every year at this time i revisit it. david, like his best buddy jon noring, had repeated for years that "within 5 years, we will have cheap high-quality screens, and e-reader-machines will be readily available for just $50." well, along about 2001, i started pointed out to jon noring that he had been spouting that line for 5 years already, all without his big "prediction" ever coming true. finally, after a few years of that, noring finally stopped spewing that particular untruth. but rothman never got the message, and kept on babbling his insane prediction. i called him on it, repeatedly, such as:

http://www.teleread.org/blog/2005/11/29/you-can-buy-the-mit-100-laptop-for-2... rothman responded, in november of 2005, with:

Folks, tune in a year from now, and we’ll see who’s right. The MIT Media Lab has suffered its share of debacles, but I’d bet my money on it in this case

so i took rothman up on the offer, even extending out the bet. i said that if there were a $50 e-book machine within 5 years, i would buy it for him, or -- if he preferred -- a tofu turkey... so every year, around this time, i "check back" to laugh at him. 2006 came and went, and i was right. 2007 and 2008 as well. now it's 2009, and there's no $50 e-book-machine out there. so, after checking back for 4 straight years, i'm _still_ right... rothman's crystal ball is severely cracked. it always has been. that people listen to the man is a testament to their stupidity. tech-wise, he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag... and has david learned anything? nope. he's still just as stupid as ever, still acting like a cheap machine is "around the corner", still using his blog to trumpet up whatever bucket of gullibility a screen-technology p.r. person is willing to type up for him... meanwhile... my bet that it would take until 2011 to hit an inexpensive price-point is looking to be accurate as the years roll by. key to it is if/when the pixel qi screen attains its promise. but now in 2009? well, david, you were wrong, i was right. at any rate, have a very lovely thanksgiving, everyone... even you -- david -- and i hope that crow tastes good. -bowerbird