Kindle Chronicles

ByHeather

A tip of the hat and a hearty thank you to Len Edgerly and his new podcast, The Kindle Chronicles. I joined the Kindle revolution a few months ago and have been amazed at how beautifully this gadget fits into my arsenal of tech toys. I went looking for a podcast that would allow me to get even more out of my Kindle. I stumbled on to Len’s Kindle Chronicles and have been hooked ever since.

The Kindle Chronicles have a wonderful format that includes well defined sections for

  • The latest Kindle news
  • Hints and tech tips on getting the most use out of the reader
  • A regular interview with a Kindle user or a mover and shaker in the Kindle ecosystem that always fascinates
  • An excerpt from something Len is reading on his kindle, and
  • Reader feedback.

It is a great format and his recent effort to keep the show around 30 minutes has resulted in an outstanding half-hour of content. …

David Byrne On The Music Business

ByHeather

David Byrne has an excellent article on the music business over at Wired. He offers this brilliant insight into music business today:

What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that’s not bad news for music, and it’s certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.

A very good read.

Julian Schnabel

ByHeather

In a recent episode of The Treatment, Elvis Mitchel interviews artist and director Julian Schnable. Elvis is struck by the idea that all of Julian’s movies are about artists whose view of the world is not understood by other people and so they are constantly trying to communicate with the world. Elvis says that the movies are ostensibly about art, but they are also movies about communications. They portray figures, who for some reason, can’t get an essential part of themselves communicated through any other means but their art. Julian replies:

Mortgage Debacle

ByHeather

Gretchen Morgensen has written an insightful article in the Sunday Business Section of the New York Times. After the heartbreaking introduction of a homeowner in New Jersey who would like more than anything to keep her home, Gretchen offers the following insight:

Lenders, government officials and loan servicers, who take in borrowers’ monthly mortgage payments, contend that troubled borrowers everywhere are being helped to stay in their homes by those overseeing their loans. But neither data nor anecdotal evidence supports this view. A recent survey of 16 top subprime loan servicers by Moody’s Investors Service found that for the first six months of 2007, an average of only 1 percent of loans experiencing an interest rate adjustment, or reset, had been modified.

A few minutes of logical thought would lead one to assume that lowering the interest rate of troubled loans so that the homeowner can continue to make payments and keep the house would be the best result for all concerned. …