Perhaps this isn’t directly about e-books, except insofar as a tablet can be used as an e-reader, but I was so amused to learn today that Hasbro is suing Asus over the name of its latest hybrid tablet/netbook device that I just had to share it. I’m not surprised. I can honestly say I had half-expected it since I heard Asus was calling its original such device the Transformer, and I completely expected it when I heard the newest version was the “Transformer Prime”. I mean, really, what is any child of the eighties going to think when he...

Late-night comedians, by their nature, have to cater to a fairly broad audience. After all, they can’t keep their ratings up if most of the people watching them don’t get what they’re joking about. Which is why you could say that if one of the more popular late-night comedians works a skit about an e-reader into his show, it’s a pretty good sign that e-reader is on plenty of people’s minds. Conan O’Brien has a hilarious 2-minute skit (embedded below) centering around reported problems with the Kindle Fire, and “Jeff Bezos”’s proposed solutions. (Sadly, it is cursed with an...

Some online comments I read recently made a point about the potential success of the indie ebook writer: The odds of becoming a successful indie ebook writer (and by "successful," I mean earning a significant income from ebooks) is actually lower than your chances of winning the lottery. Once I got past the depressing implication of that statement, I started thinking about it practically, to wit: If I had the choice of either writing or playing the lottery, which would be better for me... and for everyone in general? Sure, it sounds on its surface like a silly question, but consider this:...