inThirty 160 – Kindles for Everyone

Amazon last week put out a whole slew of new kindles. Are they worth it? We discuss the need for so many different variations, as well as the need of a $200 eink version.

Editor’s note: We apologize for this episode. Everything bad that could go wrong, went wrong.

Amazon.com, Editor In Chief – inThirty 105

With Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, we felt like we had to discuss it.  We focus on how news gets consumed, and the future of news.  We then speculate how this fits in with Amazon’s business model, and their newly minted content creator status.

[We had audio problems with hangouts, hence no video.  Piezo records left/right channels, so you will hear Chaim on the left channel.]

Show Notes:
NYTimes

Attack of the Tablets

We wish everyone recovering from Hurricane Sandy well, and episode 65 of inThirty goes out to the team at PSE&G for getting power back to Chaim, Harry, and Justin in time to talk about tablets. Google didn’t fair as well and their scheduled Android event was moved from IRL to online. Chaim managed to collect all of the sweet details about the dot 2 update to Jelly Bean and the hardware that’ll accompany it before he was knocked off the grid but Harry is not impressed. We pit the new Android tablets and the Kindle Fire against the recently announced iPad Mini and discuss price point, features, design, and determine along the way that this holiday season Amazon, Google, and Apple will duke it out in in the less than ten inch category. Chaim and Justin were introduced to a new contender in the ring, the Microsoft Surface, at Microtropolis (go on, Google it), while Harry went undercover at a Microsoft Store to try it. Harry likes its kickstand, Chaim says it’s revolutionary, Justin says it’s mutant disaster of a device. Take some aspirin (that’s a really subtle tablet pun), put on your headphones, and listen up.
Episode 65 Hangout: http://youtu.be/Ik1g2gbYPXg

Honey I Shrunk the iPad

While it’s still a possibility that an iPad with a 7 inch screen may never make it outside of Jonny Ive’s secret industrial design compound, it doesn’t stop us from talking about every inch of the yet to be announced device on episode 62 of inThirty. Whether it’ll be called the Mini, Nano, Small, Little, Micro, or Petite, Chaim, Harry, and Justin conjecture, speculate, and postulate about how the device’ll fit into Apple’s current range of mobile products and analyze the impact of screen size on how users consume their digital diets. Want to find out the best screen size for playing Solitaire or reading the Wall Street Journal or mixing the musical score for a feature film? You better search Google for the answer because we come to no conclusions on this episode of inThirty. Oh, and less is more, sometimes.

Episode 62 Hangout: http://youtu.be/0x8lrwHSMHc

Show Notes
Apple Likely to Unveil “iPad Mini” at October 23 Event | All Things D
7.85-Inch iPad Mini Screen Size Compared to Other Tablets [Diagram] | iClarified
Small iPad, Smaller Minds | CuriousRat.com

Smartphones Dumbed Down

Motorola Droid Maxx Dunce

Parents, you’ve got to catch episode 57 of inThirty – do you really want your son or daughter starting the school year without being able to explain the differences between the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD and the Motorola Droid RAZR HD? We didn’t think so. Chaim takes us through the ins and outs of Motorola’s new crop of devices while Harry snores. Some are shipping with Android’s latest release, Jelly Bean, but most, unforgivably, come from the factory with the out of date Ice Cream Sandwich. Harry wakes up in time to gush over Nokia’s newest Lumias, all of which sport Windows Phone 8, or at least will, when they ship, but no one knows when that’ll be. Finally, Justin longs for an Amazon based smartphone, even just so he can tear it down. Oh, and wait, isn’t Apple going to announce something in a couple of days? We cover that, too. We don’t want your kid to show up on the first day of school not knowing the specs of the iPhone 5, after all.

Show Notes
Nokia Lumia 920 hands-on preview, pictures and video” | The Verge
Nokia starts over, again: stunning new phones, no release date in sight” | The Verge
Nokia Lumia 820 hands-on preview (pictures and video)” | The Verge
Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD hands-on: bigger battery, beautiful display, Jelly Bean onboard” | Engadget
Motorola Droid RAZR HD hands-on: a 720p Android ICS update with 2,500mAh battery life” | Engadget
Motorola RAZR M official: 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.5GHz dual-core, hitting Verizon for $99” | Engadget
What could be on tap at Apple’s Sept. 12 press event” | Macworld
Motorola to Offer $100 Credit to Owners of Devices Not Eligible for Jelly Bean Update (Update)” | Droid-Life
Rumor: Amazon to Unveil First Smartphone at Tomorrow’s Kindle Event | Droid-Life