Paul, were you this excited when IBM started mass producing tablets about a decade ago? I really hope it is just a glorified e-book reader, otherwise I think the "cool" aspect of the Apple Tablet will wear off pretty quickly and people will just go back to buying Macbooks. The same thing happened to IBM.

People were freaking out over the whole tablet thing, and then what happened? They said "fuck it" and exchanged their tablets for normal notebook style Thinkpads.

PS I thought Paul hated technology. I guess I was wrong.

My only prediction is that I will want one.

I don't understand the "From the Frying Pan to the Fire" article at all.

Why use the comeuppance of the famously corrupt music industry as your clarion-call warning to book publishers. Is the suggesting that there are currently obscene profits made at the expense of both the consumer and writer and they must be preserved?

The suggesting that publishers should ban together in a monopolistic cabal to protect their margins is understandable given that he works with publishers, but can hardly be described as an open-market antidote to strong-arming by eBook retailers.

In the comments below the article you can find people happily arguing that a market for "used ebooks" be maintained by the publishing industry.

Used ebooks? What? A classic example of people failing to adapt.

I think the current enthusiasm for the idea of electronic publishing can be found in the App Store model. It is the largest, most successful method for professional and independent software developers to distribute their wares and supports both fixed pricing, subscriptions, and that most fabled of Internet business-models - the "micro-payment."

I have no idea what is coming out tomorrow - and it might well be awful. But to suggest that the proper respond to the threat of ebook piracy is to form industry monopolies is asinine.

@1: I wrote a feature on Twitter for The Stranger, and I blog here and on Tumblr eight or nine times a day; I'm certainly not anti-technology. I've written about the Kindle and the Nook in ways that can be interpreted as negative, but I'm very open to a good e-reader, especially for comic books.

@3: Yeah, publishers haven't been very smart about any of this, but it's good that they're at least discussing their options now. When the internet happened, they just closed their eyes and screamed real loud, hoping it would go away. So delusional essays are a real step up. I agree with you on the app model being promising for publishers, and I likewise agree that "used e-books" are unintentionally hilarious.

We were habituated to the idea that publishers and labels were the only way to get our books/mags/papers/music/data into usable forms, but they really have never figured out a response to "information wants to be free" (rather, people want information for free, and they'll take that price point whenever possible.) And they've cheated creators for years. So screw them for their blindness, greediness, ignorance and incuriosity. Labels should be on their knees thanking Apple for figuring out how to get anyone to pay anything for music. And publishers (and, I dearly hope, TV channels and movie studios) will ultimately benefit from the tablet, kicking and screaming all the way.