Book rental services do exist, booksfree.com and bookswim.com are examples that send out physical books.

But, according to various sources (http://www.adadpress.com/2011/09/12/a-netflix-for-books-by-amazon/), Amazon is said to be readying an e-book rental service for US customers. Publishers have, not unexpectedly, shown “mixed reaction” to this idea. Oddly, some publishers believe this will “downgrade the value of the book business” which is an odd statement considering the existence of other book rental services (also known as libraries). From an article in the Telegraph:

"Amazon is believed to have offered book publishers a large fee for joining the service. However, the negotiations are said to still be in their early stages. The Seattle-based technology company, which is expected to imminently launch a tablet device to rival Apple’s iPad, has also said that the digital ebook library would feature older titles and be accessible to those who pay for $79 a year for Amazon Prime, the service which allows people unlimited two-day shipping and films and TV shows on demand."

This isn’t necessarily a horrible idea, especially for people who don’t like to keep books after they’ve read them, or perhaps for students who won’t need a book once the essay is written but since this will feature older titles, I would much rather just go to my local library (which, in my case, lends out digital eBooks). Perhaps this will be useful for those without a decent library system?

And Arcade Fire's music is a /lot/ better too...

I wonder if we should start to worry for Pussypopptimus Prime? It would be sad to see her go! She is, as she says, "the ALPHA and OMEGA in this crazy ass thing called life" after all. Her about page: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fplus.google.com%2F112816236983095089898%2Fabout

(originally found by Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing)

Some of the top Google searches for my website are things like "face book log in" and "how to log in to face book". I have no clue how they get to my site from those searches, but either way - if that many people get to me from those searches, imagine how many people use Google just to find Facebook?

Exactly a reason why I still like my Kindle. Unfortunately, I never got to play with it long enough to see how the long the battery would last, though I was promised it would be equivalent to other e-ink readers (in the weeks with regular use and wi-fi turned off). The original iRiver Story lasts about 9000 page turns, so I'm guessing this would be similar.

I haven't used any of the "new" social networks yet, though I guess I might give Google+ a try whenever I find an invite (they already know everything they can about it, since I primarily use Gmail, so what is there to lose?). I grew up on BBSs, IRC, Usenet and e-mail, so it's hard for me transition. If I wanted to know if a friend was on, I would just log into EFNet (if I wasn't already), and if I wanted the world to know my thoughts on something, I'd post on Usenet... but, I can see the value in having everything in one spot (IM, video chat, "website" about yourself, etc.)... now if it wasn't all being done in the name of advertising, I might not be so worried about it all.

I had a chance to check out the iRiver Story HD (at CES 2011 and recently) and it is a good product, on par with other e-readers today (though I think I still prefer the Kindle and the side buttons, even if the screen was a little better). I just wish it and Google eBooks were available in Canada so we would have some good competition in the e-books realm. I'm looking at publishing my first novel (Rawmesh, http://www.rawmesh.net/ [rawmesh.net]) soon and want to have it primarily as an e-book (and print on demand), but I would like a few more options up here sooner rather than later...

I tend to like iRiver’s products, though I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of how this e-reader looks -- and I’m not the only one (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/07/google-and-iriver-make-worlds-ugliest-e-reader/). One issue I have is with Google’s epub eBooks themselves -- sometimes the OCR software is having a bad day, and the books have some odd (or hilarious) mistakes in them. Evil or not, I’m sticking with Amazon (for now).