Warnings against Kindlemania...

Christmas Day ‘09 saw ebooks outstripping sales of print books on Amazon.com as eager recipients of the Kindle went shopping online for content (books..) - John Naughton’s Networker column in The Observer warns that the current exuberance about the Kindle (and eReaders generally) may be irrational - he refers to a study of people's use of paper to understand which uses might conceivably be eliminated by electronics, and which might not - he says the Myth of the Paperless Office should be 'required reading for anyone showing the early symptoms of Kindlemania' ! By the way, it's available in print and, according to Amazon.com, Kindle format.

While Amazon has a head start with its ebook reader and ebooks aplently on offer, Apple is expected to be hot on the Kindle’s heels this year with the Tablet eReader device – aka iPad, iSlate, iTab... Naughton expects Amazon and its Kindle to be the next target for what he calls Apple’s ‘distinctive brand of creative destruction’ and predicts Apple’s superior product development and design to come out on top in the long run.

Rustat Conference on The Economic Crisis - Jesus College, Cambridge 9 May '09

Yesterday I attended the inaugural Rustat Conferences meeting on the Economic Crisis at Jesus College, Cambridge. I sit on the advisory board and helped produce the event. The Rustat Conferences are a new initiative of Jesus College, Cambridge, bringing together academics with leaders from politics, business and media for a round table discussion on the key topics of the day. The meeting was subject to the Chatham House Rule, and respecting this, the academic and author John Naughton who attended the meeting has blogged about it giving an overview of some of the main themes covered and his reflection on the day's discussions. The original conference brochure with the topics covered and speakers invovled you can read on here.

It was a very successful meeting in terms of stimulating debate and understanding the approach and priorities people from different professions have vis a vis the crisis. It was also a really good example of the type of event and intellectual activity a university can initiate beyond their work of teaching and research. Frustratingly though perhaps not unexpectedly, we didn't really get to the bottom of precisely what Keynes would do had he been around today! But several topics - such as the environment,the future of capitalism, the importance of China and the prospects for democracy - emerged as important for future discussions and will help shape the programme for the next meeting in October 2009.

A publisher did ask me on the way into lunch about the economics of ebooks but we didn't have the time to get stuck in to this subject but once I have, I'll revisit that here..