iTab/Pad = iHavePoorEyesight

In class today, plenty of friendly banter ensued when Professor mentioned reading off a computer screen.

In one camp are the book enthusiasts, who cited difficulty with screen back lighting, reading small text, and the smell and feel of real paper as the reasons why they prefer to stick to lugging around textbooks.

Among the opposition are several hanging on Apple's every word until tomorrow when they unveil their new tablet computer.

Personally, I get the whole lighting thing. To draw in a pertinent analogy, I live in a 4 ft. by 4 ft. cement box known as a dorm room, and not once have I turned on the fluorescent lighting. I prefer softer lamp light because it's easier on my eyes. And as far as the smell and feel of books go, I keep several copies of my favorite classic novels on bookshelves (among them, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald).

So I (yes, me, the tech-under enthusiast) propose a wonderfully harmonious common ground--the Amazon Kindle. Why?

• No lugging around textbooks. It serves up the small, compact portability of a paperback.
• The adeptly placed page turn buttons and lack of back light mock the feel of a book. Okay, so for the paper-sniffers this doesn't add much appeal, but closer to the real thing then the Apple tablet. And that whole "feeling" argument isn't working out too well for the newspaper industry, either.
• It's a book reader. Not a fancy tablet computer. The focus lies more so in the literature then the variety of things the tablet plans on doing (music, movies, Internet).

And for the kicker, read: Technologically illiterate person willingly operates e-reader. Shouldn't that be reason enough to believe?

Blogging 101: These Are A Few of my Favorite Things

We've had a very interesting first week of the online portion of our Multimedia Skills class. The best part? I now comb back through some of my favorite blogs with the most critical eye. Here are some of my favorites and what I think they're doing right, as well as some critiques of what I think they are doing wrong.

Perezhilton.com--Perez definitely gets to put a check in the "personality" box. But as far as valid information goes, Perez Hilton has retracted statements about celebrities like it's his job. It's blogs like these that keep bloggers from reaching full credibility as a good news source.

The Trend Report on WhoWhatWear.com--Ok, so it may not be deep-rooted discussion of political theory, but as far as fashion blogs go, The Trend Report keeps readers in the know about style. They lack a lot of engaging multimedia, though--it's mostly just pictures and text. If they threw some fashion show footage in there, they'd be golden.

Huffington Post--All bow down to the mighty Arianna! Owner of the Huffington Post Arianna Huffington, pictured above, has helped revolutionize online journalism. I feel like much of the reason why Huffington Post rocks needs no explanation, but among my favorite things about HuffPo is it's New York Post-esque headlines, the variety of bloggers, and it's unity in layout and design. But beginning blog readers beware: information overload is imminent.