Feb. 20, 2008
Another free book example; Oprah book give away keeps actual sales strong
Tech Dirt
According to Mike Masnick, Oprah’s free book downloads from her Web site actually increase book sales on Amazon.com’s.
“We’re still seeing more and more evidence that free books don’t hurt sales, but can actually help them. The latest is that Oprah apparently promoted a year-old Suze Orman book by giving it away for free on her website as a download for 33 hours. 1.1 million people decided to download it. Even though the book was a year old and available for free… it was still the #6 most popular sold book on Amazon.”
HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray? It’s over
Tech Talk
Dean Takahashi writes that Wal-mart has decided to stop stocking HD-DVD movies and instead is focusing its efforts on Blu-ray instead.
“Now rumors are floating that Toshiba will throw in the towel on the format war. I still find it ironic that Blu-ray may not be much of a victor for a while, as DVD movies and players continue to sell at decent rates. Still, if Toshiba pulls out, a lot of consumers may finally get off the fence and go with Blu-ray.”
Touch Table EES “edutainment system” is large, edutaining
Wired
Paul Miller introduces a new “table” for kids with touch capabilities complete with a swiveling TV.
“The 21-inch touchscreen is complemented by a DVD player, speakers, and AV, USB and SD inputs. You can rotate the whole display for use while sitting — there’s even a built-in dock for the Wii if that’s your style. The table doesn’t connect to the internet at all (to keep kids safe), and we’re not positive the included software we saw is necessarily $499 worth of fun, but you should be able to check one out this fall at your big box retailer of choice.”