A friend at work just showed me a new video that came out a week or two ago for the Microsoft Courier. It’s a journal/organization device that as a writer and project manager at work and at home I think would be profoundly useful. Even more so, if you’re a designer I can’t say how much this would improve your productivity. Watch the video and tell me I’m wrong:
Here’s the page from engadget that has another video and some pics.
For my money, this device delivers a whipping to the iPad. If they deliver a device that functions as well as the video makes it appear, then I’m really impressed with Microsoft’s surprising leap forward. Fast Money claims that the Courier is “already dead” because there’s an app on the iPad that is similar. It fails to account for the fact that the iPad is not very easily portable and is a gigantic freaking iPod Touch.
So Wednesday I was out sick again with this dang cold I just can’t seem to shake. It’s too early in the year to have used up half of my sick days already! Being the good little sick boy that I am, I rounded up all the usual supplies: tea, soup, kleenex, pajamas, and a good book to read between naps. Well, I didn’t have anything I wanted to read at home, so I after dropping my girlfriend off at work I stopped off at Barnes & Noble and spent $259 + tax on a new book, er… nook.
It’s nothing that I did lightly either, I’ve been debating the merits of the Sony Reader and the Kindle for a long time. The problem was always the price though. When the nook was announced, Barnes and Noble knocked the floor out and brought the price down to a level that was more palatable to me. Amazon quickly matched their price and I decided against Sony early on because of compatibility issues that I’ve experienced in the past between Sony devices and my Mac.
Really what it came down to for me was aesthetics and timing. I had some Christmas money socked away and Amazon didn’t appear to be releasing a touch screen Kindle anytime soon. I’m not a huge touchscreen fan, however the buttons on the Kindle are sort of a buzzkill for me. My Blackberry has buttons and I’m cool with that, but buttons on a device that I’m going to use primarily for reading? Forget it. Nook also sweetened the pot by adding a replaceable battery and expandable memory.
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