TidBITS Issue #905

Submit Ideas for the 2007 TidBITS Gift Guide

We're gearing up to produce the TidBITS Gift Guide for 2007, and we need your suggestions for the gifts that you plan to give or want to receive this year.Show full article

Macs & Mac OS X | 15 Nov 2007 | Listen

Mac OS X 10.5.1 Fixes Numerous Leopard Flaws

by Glenn Fleishman and Rich Mogull

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.1, the first update to Leopard, and fixes problems with Back to My Mac, Mail, and Finder data loss when moving files among partitions and networked volumes. It also makes one cosmetic change to the application firewall while fixing a problem that bit Skype users and adding more security.Show full article

Apple has released the first update for Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.1, with a laundry list of fixes for widely reported problems among early users. It's available via Software Update in Leopard, with the downloads under 40 MB for both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs; oddly, the standalone versions for the desktop and server versions of Leopard weigh in at 110 MB.

One significant improvement is Apple's statement that 10.5.1 "improves the reliability of Back to My Mac-enabled Macs appearing in the Finder's Shared Sidebar." In our experience and that of colleagues, Back to My Mac has worked erratically or not at all, but early signs are promising; see "Punching a Hole for Back to My Mac" (2007-11-17).

The 10.5.1 update also reportedly fixes problems in storing wireless network passwords and using Disk Utility, and it addresses five Mail flaws. A bug that resulted in "potential data loss issue when moving files across partitions in the Finder" has been corrected; this issue cropped up when using Command-drag to move, not copy, files in the Finder across local hard drives and mounted volumes. Most other fixes are cosmetic and minor.

One missing fix in this release is a solution for the progressive Wi-Fi performance degradation experienced by some AirPort users.

The update also fixes some security and usability issues with the firewall, some of which we have previously covered (see "Leopard Firewall Takes One Step Forward, Three Steps Back," 2007-11-05). The label for the Block All option has been updated to read "Allow Only Essential Services." In other words, the firewall behavior hasn't changed, but the label now more accurately represents how the firewall functions.

The most notable other changes are in the application firewall: Skype and other applications that modify themselves when they run are no longer rendered unusable when the application firewall is selected. In 10.5.0 the application firewall would digitally sign the code of any application you authorized for network access and refuse to run the application if the application changed (a technique to protect your computer from attackers). Now, instead of just stopping the application from running without notifying the user, 10.5.1 prompts you to allow network access again if the application has been modified.

The application firewall now also enables you to block programs running under the root user, giving you much better control over your system. These don't completely fix all of the problems with Leopard's firewall, but they're good steps in the right direction.

Macs & Mac OS X | 14 Nov 2007 | Listen

Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.4.11 with Safari 3

The question of whether Safari 3 would be released for Tiger is answered: yes. Apple pushed out Mac OS X 10.4.11, which fixes a huge list of bugs and security flaws along with the enhanced Web browser.Show full article

Home Macs | 14 Nov 2007 | Listen

iPhoto 7.1.1 Increases Leopard Compatibility

Apple has released iPhoto 7.1.1, promising improved support for Leopard and fixes for lots of bugs, albeit without any details whatsoever. Be glad you're worthy to receive the update at all.Show full article

Networking | 14 Nov 2007 | Listen

Fetch 5.3 Dons Leopard Spots

Fetch Softworks has released Fetch 5.3 with lots of Leopard-specific features along with the capability to use Copy and Paste to upload files and move files between servers.Show full article

iPhone iPad iPod | 12 Nov 2007 | Listen

iPhone 1.1.2 Ships: OS X Recaptured Briefly

Apple releases the 1.1.2 software update for the iPhone and iPod touch to patch a serious flaw that also enabled third-party software installation. But software developers were primed: a "jailbreak" for 1.1.2 is already available.Show full article

Media Creation | 15 Nov 2007 | Listen

Final Cut Express 4 Adds AVCHD, iMovie '08 Interoperability

by Jeff Carlson

Apple has released Final Cut Express 4, the latest version of its intermediate video editing software, adding support for AVCHD footage, an open format timeline for mixing DV and HD clips within the same project, a bunch of new FxPlug filters, and the capability to import iMovie '08 projects.Show full article

Apple has released Final Cut Express 4, the latest version of its intermediate video editing software. Taking its cues (and code) from Final Cut Pro 6, the new Final Cut Express features an open format Timeline that lets you mix DV and HD formats in the same project and adds the capability to import AVCHD formatted footage (which is transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), the same way Final Cut Pro and iMovie handle the format.) Also like Final Cut Pro, simply adding the first clip to the Timeline dictates a project's format. More than 50 new FxPlug plug-ins are also included.

Apple is also touting the capability to import iMovie '08 projects, which Final Cut Express accomplishes by being able to read Apple's Final Cut XML format. (In iMovie, choose Share > Final Cut XML. When you import the text file that's generated, Final Cut Express accesses the footage from the iMovie Events folder on disk.) However, importing is limited to edit points and transitions, and doesn't include titles or video adjustments; Final Cut Express substitutes cross dissolve transitions for the ones used in the iMovie project. Audio levels are retained, however. In projects where DV and HD footage is combined, Final Cut Express crops (or doesn't) according to the iMovie project's aspect ratio setting.

Tying Final Cut Express and iMovie '08 is a sensible move. iMovie lacks several fine editing operations, such as precise control over audio levels within a clip, an area in which Final Cut Express excels. Now, iMovie can be seen as a place to store and manage video - and quickly assemble a rough cut of a movie - before handing it off to Final Cut Express for fine tuning.

The Final Cut Express package also includes LiveType 2.1 for creating animated titles. Soundtrack, the separate audio editor that shipped with Final Cut Express HD 3.5, is no longer part of the package; in a briefing, Apple said that more people were using GarageBand instead for the same features.

Final Cut Express 4 is available now for $199 (a $100 price drop from version 3.5); owners of any previous version of Final Cut Express can upgrade for $99. It's a universal application that requires a Mac with a 1.25 GHz or faster PowerPC G4 processor, a PowerPC G5, or an Intel processor; AVCHD support is available only on Intel-based Macs. Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later is also required.

Media Creation | 14 Nov 2007 | Listen

Apple Updates Final Cut Studio 2 Applications

by Jeff Carlson

Apple updated its Final Cut Studio 2 suite of applications, bringing Leopard compatibility and specific fixes to the set of video and audio editing tools: Final Cut Pro 6.0.2, Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2, DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1, Motion 3.0.2, Color 1.0.2, Cinema Tools 4.0.1, Compressor 3.0.2, and Pro Applications Update 2007-002.Show full article

Apple has updated its Final Cut Studio 2 suite of applications, bringing Leopard compatibility and specific fixes to the set of video and audio editing tools. They're available via Software Update or as stand-alone downloads.

Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 (a 38 MB download) rolls in numerous improvements and compatibility updates, such as support for Sony XDCAM EX footage, the Sony HVR-V1 HDV camera, Sony HDV cameras that record to internal hard disks, the AVC-Intra footage format, and DVCPRO HD 720p50 footage. Support for the AVCHD format has been improved as well, though spanned clips ingested in Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 may need to be re-ingested. Other improvements include support for 60 fps drop frame timecode, 50p video formats, and Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) iXML metadata; new Motion templates; and a host of other fixes. Note that Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 projects are not backward compatible with Final Cut Pro 6.0.1.

The other updates aren't as involved, but include welcome changes nonetheless. Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2 (a 70 MB download) fixes issues with audio effects and adds support for 50 fps and 720p60 Final Cut Pro projects. DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1 (an 11.9 MB download) provides native support for more HDV and H.264 formats and fixes problems with processing still images and using multiple tapes in a DLT drive under Mac OS X 10.4.10. Motion 3.0.2 (a 20.6 MB download) adds support for 50 fps frame rates and 60 fps drop frame projects, and also improves performance in Motion master templates used in Final Cut Pro.

Color 1.0.2 (a 79.8 MB download) improves its support for the new formats in Final Cut Pro 6.0.2, addresses problems with round-trip operation between Color and Final Cut Pro, and fixes a number of other issues. Cinema Tools 4.0.1 (a 10 MB download) addresses bugs and limitations such as improper length values in pull lists, message text in exported lists, and support for PDF formatting. Compressor 3.0.2 (a 95.5 MB download) adds a Color tab in the Filters pane of the Inspector. Lastly, the Pro Applications Update 2007-02 (an 8.8 MB download) fixes underlying frameworks and shared components that affect these applications.

Macs & Mac OS X | 13 Nov 2007 | Listen

PGP Causes Leopard Slowdown, But Fix Is Simple

With PGP installed, upgrading to Leopard can produce hard-to-pinpoint slowdowns, as I saw with a beta of email program Mailsmith. But uninstalling the software or upgrading to a Leopard-compatible beta solves the problem.Show full article

I don't like being kept waiting. And the 10 to 15 seconds it was taking for a beta of Bare Bones Software's Mailsmith 2.2 to preview each email message in Leopard was far, far too long. Bare Bones head and founder Rich Siegel is a pal of mine, so my quality assurance email report was full of detail and umbrage. Rich suggested that Spotlight under Leopard might be engaged in some activity - Mailsmith 2.2 uses Spotlight quite effectively - and that I might see an improvement after a couple of days.

Drat the man, he was right, and he's a gloater. He sent me a tweet via Twitter: "@glennf Stay after class and write on the board a hundred times: 'I will never doubt @siegel again.' Hm. Might make a good 'Simpsons' intro."

But after installing QuickTime 7.3 and restarting the PowerBook, the problem recurred. I sent Rich some more troubleshooting data - a Sample Application report available with a button click via Leopard's Activity Monitor that pulls in tons of low-level detail about what a program is doing - and he saw the problem: PGP Desktop.

Although I didn't have PGP Desktop 9 launched, the pgp-agent process was still running. I disabled the item in the Login Items portion of my account setup in the Accounts preference pane and restarted. No good. Terminal showed me that when Mailsmith launched, several pgp-agent daemons would also appear. Mailsmith works directly with PGP's encryption tools; other mail programs tend to rely on AppleScript for integration.

I was unable to find instructions for uninstalling all the PGP components, and the company confirmed for me via email that I should have taken the wise step of uninstalling the program and its pieces via the PGP application before upgrading to Leopard if I was worried about compatibility.

Rich suggested I upgrade to PGP's Leopard-compatible beta of Desktop 9.7 to see if that solved the problem. Of course I did, and the problem went away. (See the tweet above.) With this version installed, I can also now easily uninstall the software through the application. The folks at PGP also said that their support group can provide an uninstaller script for those who don't want to run or even install a beta.

Upgrading PGP seemed to solve a host of mysterious other slowdowns that might have been related to Mailsmith's interaction with PGP, and my PowerBook no longer feels nearly unusable under Leopard. In fact, Mailsmith 2.2 (build 227) is notably zippier under Leopard than in Tiger.

I'd like to believe there's a moral to this story. Check all your software for upgrades and compatibility issues before moving to a new operating system? But I didn't think I was "running" PGP as the obvious application portion wasn't running. Perhaps the moral is "have a revert position in case of failure." Or just, "I will never doubt @siegel again."

Home Macs | 14 Nov 2007 | Listen

FileMaker's Bento: Undercooked and Slightly Fishy

by Jeff Porten

FileMaker Inc. has released Bento, claiming it's "the personal database that's as easy to use as the Mac." Database consultant Jeff Porten takes the preview release for a spin and finds Bento conceptually interesting but unwilling to stray far enough from the FileMaker fold.Show full article

Databases have been available since the dawn of personal computers, but they have always suffered from a simple issue: just about everyone needs one, but few people know how to build one.

Mac users (and computer users in general) have generally had two options. The simple method is to use databases that succeed by providing specialized interfaces and very limited customization options. Two examples: Address Book and iCal. Both are databases, and both are great if you need exactly what Apple provides. You can add a middle initial to anyone in Address Book, but if you want to keep track of people who owe you money, you're pretty much out of luck trying to calculate a grand total.

The more complicated method is database software that enables you to build exactly what you want. FileMaker Pro has generally been the software of choice covering the middle ground between "easy to learn" and "decently powerful," but FileMaker Pro's ease of use is deceptive. Building a good database in FileMaker is like writing a good novel in Word; anyone can buy and use the program, but you need skills to make the results worthwhile.

This drives the publishers of database software batty. It's easy to picture the staff meetings where the senior executive says, "If we can just come up with the database that lets my mother run her bridge club, and my brother run his fantasy football league, we'll sell a bazillion copies and retire to Aruba." For this reason, complex database software has for years come with templates that work out-of-the-box for recipes and the inevitable "project management solution." Scratch the surface, though, and all of that complexity is still there waiting to bite you.

FileMaker Inc. clearly had one of these executive meetings sometime in the past year, because they've just released a "preview edition" of Bento - which apparently is Japanese for both "lunchbox" and "FileMaker without all of the messy bits that require programming skills." Who knew?

I am a database programmer, so I took a look at the preview release of Bento with two questions in mind. First, what can't I do with it, and are these limitations that my clients would also notice? Second, does it work well enough with what it can do that I would recommend it on those merits?

Poor First Impressions -- Bento is currently a free download that gives you a full version of the software which won't expire until 14-Feb-08. All you need is a copy of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard; the hardware requirements for Bento are exactly the same. So you might think, as I did, "Aw, heck, let's just grab it and fire it up."

This might then cause the same dawning sense of horror that I had when Bento, by default, immediately populates your initial database with all of your contacts and events from Address Book and iCal. Put another way, this beta software is touching some of the most crucial data you store on your computer. If there's a bug anywhere in Bento, man, are we in for a world of hurt.

So before you fire up Bento, make a backup. (And yes, Virginia, Time Machine may be backing up your stuff, but it doesn't have a long track record yet either. So let's make another backup.) In Address Book, go to File > Export > Address Book Archive and save your contacts. This is a newly nested menu item in Leopard. In iCal, you can still use File > Back Up iCal.

Safety net properly established, let's see what's in all those little compartments.

An iLife Approach to Data -- Bento provides an all-in-one window, where you can see all of your databases in much the same way that iTunes groups all of your media. On the left side of the window, you have a master list of "libraries," which are synonymous with FileMaker tables (in versions 7 through 9) or databases (in earlier versions). In the center of the screen is a focus on a selected library.

The right side of the window shows a master list of fields available for the selected library; for example, if you're looking at a contacts library, you'll see "Birthdate" on the right side of the window regardless of whether it's in use. This is the same functionality that Address Book hides in Card > Add Field, but the crucial difference is that many people reading this didn't know they could add fields in Address Book until just now, because it's buried in that menu. Bento scores points by making this capability more transparent.

As it happens, since I installed Leopard, I've been 200 miles away from my installation CDs for both FileMaker Pro and Quicken, so I actually have a real-world need I can use to test Bento. What I'd like to make is a quick-and-easy poker database, so I can track my play at various casinos and see how I'm doing in various types of games. Let's see how Bento stacks up.

Building My Bento Box -- When you launch Bento (and apparently every time you launch the application), a drop panel offers you some startup options, including an introductory movie. Note that the movie is also in a panel, and until you specifically close it you're likely to wonder why you can't open any menus or click on anything else in Bento. If you're like me, that is.

After watching the movie, the first thing I did was turn off the Address Book and iCal integration. This integration is obviously one of the main selling points of Bento, and one of the reasons it probably requires Leopard is that it does some slick synchronization that keeps all three applications updated no matter where you make your changes. But my test case didn't require that data, and if yours doesn't either, I suggest you disconnect them too.

The first library I needed was a list of poker rooms in various casinos. So I created a new library from the Contacts template, and used the checkboxes on the right side to pare down the fields to only names and phone numbers. Bento shines here; the equivalent FileMaker process for doing this requires much more know-how, especially for changes after your initial setup.

Next, I created a blank library for game types: three fields that say "Hold 'Em", "No Limit", and "1-2". When I dragged these fields onto the blank form where I would enter my data, the fields automatically alphabetized by name, which was slightly annoying as I had created them in the order I wanted them. But when I rearranged them, Bento treated me both to automatic alignment and a pretty animation sliding everything around. It's clearly nowhere near as customizable as a FileMaker layout, but anyone who has ever zoomed in to 400 percent to line things up in FileMaker will appreciate Bento's approach here. Bento provides a table view to go along with the form, but it doesn't automatically match the form as I expected it to. Still, with a few checkbox clicks I easily duplicated my work... once I realized that drag-and-drop doesn't work in the table view.

Finally, I created a "poker sessions" library using the Expenses template. I deleted a bunch of fields I didn't need, and they vanished with a Dockish "poof." To create relationships between libraries, you simply drag one library into the form view for another. With that done, I had a view for all of my sessions, with links back to both my list of poker rooms and my other list of game types. A quick switch back to the other libraries, and another drag-and-drop, and I could see a table under "Borgata" showing only the sessions I played there.

It was all very quick and pretty. Unfortunately, after that, it was pretty much useless.

The Preview, the Bad, and the Ugly -- This is a preview version, so any of the following issues might go away in the real release. The problem is that there are a lot of them.

The documentation claims that Bento will auto-complete when you type a few characters into a field. I'm not sure when this happens because I never saw it. Worse still, I managed to create a new casino named "Trop" when I attempted to auto-complete "Tropicana".

I was perfectly happy with a spreadsheet view rather than using the pretty forms, but relationships between libraries work only in forms. When viewing as a table, all you see are the fields for the primary library.

If you want a field showing dollars and cents, it's easy to add it to a form - but only if you know to scroll down past "number" and specifically select "currency," an option that doesn't appear onscreen until you scroll to it. In any other software, this would be no big deal - but Bento's main feature is that you shouldn't have to hunt for things like this or wonder how to format the number field in the first place.

There's a nifty pop-up clock that helps you enter a time, but don't bother hitting Enter, Tab, or Return to move to the next field - you must instead press Command-W and briefly wonder whether that will close the entire Bento interface. Speaking of pop-ups, if you want to use that easy, simple relational library you created, you have to click an icon to bring up a second window to select entries for it.

Finally - and here's the killer for any semi-sophisticated use of a database - the advanced find function barely has its high school equivalency degree. There's no method that I could discover to filter within the relationships I had created - so no chance of seeing only the No Limit games that I played at the Borgata. This to me is the key reason for creating relations, so I can cross-tabulate and slice-and-dice my data. Bento provides easy methods for creating sums and averages - but I can do that just as well using Numbers or Excel.

Bento Ingredients Are Raw -- To be honest, I was pretty certain that I'd be writing a negative review before I even launched the software... because I read the manual first. The manual is straightforward and easy to read, provided you're proficient at FileMaker. As soon as I saw constant uses of "table view" and "form view," it seemed to me that Bento accidentally defines the gap between programmers and non-technical users. Bento's developers have taken out functionality that might be too much for the poor dears, but they haven't removed the complexity in the basic concepts and language that actually cause problems with using the software. The result is "FileMaker for Dummies," and unlike the book series, the disdain for "dummies" comes across in the implementation.

This is a shame, because they're onto something here. FileMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Apple, and I found myself wishing that Steve Jobs had wandered into their offices, picked up the Bento development team, and shipped them over to the iWork '08 group. Bento could be a spectacular addition to iWork - if only they dropped all the FileMaker terminology, and even some of the functionality, in favor of something that flowed more smoothly. Bento is FileMaker with training wheels bolted on, and anyone who could learn Bento on their own could just as easily become semi-proficient with FileMaker Pro.

What we really need is database software that stops worrying about forms and views, and starts integrating user data into part of an overall workflow. That's the beauty of Address Book and iCal - you put your data there, and it automagically appears elsewhere as needed throughout all of your Mac OS X applications. Bento provides cosmetic integration from those sources, but doesn't create integration to anywhere else. The poker session I wrote about above is simultaneously an iCal event (when), a Quicken entry (how much), and a separate bit of autonomous information that I want to work with on its own merit (lots of other data). If I want that data to appear in all three places, I have to build that third place (in FileMaker or Excel, because Bento doesn't provide sufficient tools), and then enter the data in each application separately.

Apple's applications have, at their best, provided this sort of breakthrough thinking. Bento didn't need to rethink database concepts to get a positive review - but if you're going to ship FileMaker for Dummies, you shouldn't be surprised if it's not recommended to people who aren't dummies.

So I won't be recommending Bento to any of my clients, but that's partially because my clients have needs that Bento clearly won't meet. There are two groups of people whom Bento might serve well: those who will be happy with the built-in templates and integration out of the box, and those who don't want to spend $200 on FileMaker and its own included templates. At $49 for the release version of Bento ($99 for the 5-user Family Pack), I would recommend it only to people who have a specific need for one of the included templates - although it would be a decent freebie if it were included with the bundled software in the consumer Macs.

Rob Russell on TidBITS Talk made me think of one additional feature that could really make Bento worthwhile: if Bento 1.0 ships with integration into an online library that lets the user choose among hundreds or thousands of user-contributed templates, then suddenly we do have the database that will serve the needs of the non-programmer, and that would be well worth Bento's $49. Give my grandmother ten recipe templates to choose from, and she won't need her grandson to build one. Better yet, if you tag the data so she can switch templates as desired without re-entering her recipe for matzoh ball soup, and suddenly you're providing a power that only we programmers enjoy today.

For now, Bento does have limited template options, but it's also a freebie - so you have nothing to lose by getting in on the trial (as long as you back up your Address Book and iCal data first). I have no doubt that Bento will serve the database needs of the "parents with iMacs" crowd - but their technically oriented children will be needed to get it working well unless my mythical online library exists. I think that's falling short of the premise.

[Jeff Porten is a database guru with a fondness for sushi.]

PayBITS: Did Jeff's timely look at Bento save you from wasting time on it now? Show your appreciation via a PayBITS donation! <http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=civitan%40jeffporten.com> Read more about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>

Tech News | 19 Nov 2007 | Listen

Comparing Amazon's Kindle to the iPhone and Sony Reader

The new Amazon Kindle could finally bring a portable electronic book reader to the masses because of its ubiquitous network connection along with push subscriptions. At $399, it might still be a hard sell. We compare the Kindle to the Sony Reader and the iPhone, which share characteristics with Kindle.Show full article

Amazon has released its much-anticipated Kindle, a $399 electronic book reader that features a persistent high-speed network connection using Sprint's 3G EVDO cellular network. Amazon is offering over 88,000 books for sale for use with the Kindle, with New York Times best-selling titles and new releases generally priced at $9.99. Short stories and classics cost $2 or less; a seemingly small number of books cost more than $10 in a quick browse through the library.

Basic Comparisons -- The Kindle breaks away from previous electronic book readers by providing a large number of titles and a continuous network connection. The most closely comparable device prior to the Kindle is the Sony Reader, a second generation of which shipped recently with a street price of around $300 (see "Sony's PRS Ebook Reader and Connect Bookstore," 2006-12-18 for a review of the first generation). The iPhone isn't a direct competitor, but it's worth comparing because of its network connection and highly legible screen.

The Sony Reader uses the same E Ink technology as the Kindle, which apparently provides an extremely bright, low-glare display that can be read in direct sunlight and at varying angles. The Reader is 6.9 by 4.9 by 0.3 inches (17.5 by 12.5 by 0.8 cm) and weighs 8 ounces (0.23 kg). The heftier Kindle is 7.5 by 5.3 by 0.7 inches (19 by 13.5 by 1.8 cm) and weighs 10 ounces (0.28 kg). The iPhone, which offers no built-in book-reading features - even reading email-delivered or Web-hosted PDFs is a chore - is smaller than both, at 4.5 by 2.4 by .46 inches (11.5 by .61 by .12 cm) and weighs in at 4.8 oz. (0.14 kg).

The displays on the Kindle and Sony Reader are both grayscale (4 shades of gray for the Kindle versus 8 shades for the Sony Reader), so books with complex illustrations or which require color won't work well or at all. Both devices have 6-inch diagonally measured screens that display 800-by-600 pixels at about 160 pixels per inch (ppi). The iPhone is a full-color device that uses anti-aliasing to improve text legibility on a 480-by-320-pixel, 3.5-inch diagonally measured screen at about 160 ppi.

The Kindle features a Secure Digital (SD) expansion slot and a USB port. The Sony Reader has both, along with support for Sony's proprietary Memory Stick, while the iPhone has just USB connectivity. Amazon doesn't list Kindle's memory capacity, but elsewhere the company said that the Linux operating system that drives it and internal files occupy about 60 MB of 256 MB of internal storage. The Sony Reader has 192 MB; an iPhone a whopping 8 GB. The iPhone trumps the others here because it's designed to play audio and movies.

Whereas both the Sony Reader and the iPhone require a computer (Windows for the Sony Reader, Mac or Windows for the iPhone), the Kindle doesn't require a computer at all. However, if you do want to load personal content or audio files, the Kindle mounts as a USB drive, and you can manually back up content or copy over new items in formats Kindle supports. (The Kindle is therefore the first electronic book reader that works with Unix, Linux, and variants.)

Zooming in on Differences -- After those basics, though, the differences between the three multiply. The offerings for what to read with the Kindle make it clear how serious Amazon is about making Kindle a success.

Library. The Sony Reader's online bookstore reportedly contains 20,000 titles. Amazon said in its press materials it has over 88,000 books (including most New York Times best sellers), although the Amazon Web site shows over 91,000 items. A rare bit of understatement? The number of titles is limited by the process of converting them, not by publishers' disinterest, according to - well, according to publishers, including Penguin's chief. (Publishers love to sell less-popular books that they no longer market actively, called the backlist. Within about 18 months of the company's launch in mid-1995, Amazon was among many publishers' largest resellers of backlist titles.)
Periodicals. Amazon has so far signed up eight newspapers to provide daily delivery of versions tailored for online reading. The New York Times costs $13.99 per month; the Wall Street Journal is a mere $9.99 per month. Sony offers no periodicals. Amazon also lists eight magazines, too, with prices ranging from $1.49 to $3.49 per month, including the online Slate and Salon, and print magazines Time, Fortune, The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Nation. Also, inexplicably, Reader's Digest Express. (Although Newsweek got the scoop on the Kindle, they're not part of this initial subscription deal.)
Music. The Kindle doesn't have a music store per se, but it can play back unprotected MP3 files and Audible (.aa) files synced via USB. Amazon coincidentally launched a music store that sells MP3s without digital rights management (DRM) recently (see "Amazon MP3 Takes on the iTunes Store," 2007-09-25). The Sony Reader can play unprotected MP3 and AAC format files, but Sony provides no associated music store. The iPhone has access to all iTunes Store offerings, as well as any unprotected music files in MP3, AAC, and a few other formats. Because there's so little internal memory in either the Kindle or Reader, a cheap multi-gigabyte SD card would be necessary for either to play audio. The Kindle has built-in speakers, as does the iPhone; all three devices each have a headphone jack.
Blogs. Kindle's content offerings include the unique option to pay to subscribe to blogs that are otherwise free, including BoingBoing, with updates being pushed to the device. (I assume the bloggers get a cut.) Sony offers no such option. The iPhone's monthly fee includes unlimited data over EDGE, so you don't pay an incremental cost for any additional Web page, blog, or email message. However, the iPhone doesn't yet have a news reader or other tool to poll for updates, although Web sites like NewsGator enable you to manage RSS feeds and view them in an iPhone-oriented design.
Web browser. Kindle, yes, although reporters are calling it "rudimentary" and best suited for text; it's apparently there to show Wikipedia articles, but can access any Web page. There is no charge for browsing the Web on the Kindle. The Sony Reader has no browser. The iPhone has the best browser ever built for a mobile device; I just tested Research in Motion's latest, most advanced BlackBerry, and nearly barfed when working with its practically unusable browser. Popular Web sites look like garbage and are nearly impossible to navigate.
Document Support. The Kindle can view files that start out in - but must be converted from - Word, JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG formats, but notably not PDF. The Sony Reader can display Word documents saved in RTF format, along with plain text files and PDF files. The iPhone can display all popular document and Web image formats that can be brought up in a Web browser or email message, including Word documents, pictures, PDF files, and Excel spreadsheets.
Re-download Policies. If you lose your Kindle or it breaks, you can simply re-download the library of stuff you purchased to a new one; Amazon's Unbox video store has a similar policy. Apple has a one-per-lifetime iTunes re-download policy for music you purchased, and there are additional conditions that apply. Sony's policy is unclear.
Network. The Kindle relies on Sprint's EVDO network to access online content. The Sony Reader must be synced via USB to load new content. The iPhone can now purchase music only over a Wi-Fi connection, although it features full Internet access via AT&T's EDGE network.

It's All about the Network -- Much of what makes Amazon's overall approach with Kindle work is its persistent network connection. The Kindle is the first device I'm aware of that ships with high-speed network access and without a subscription fee or a recurring fee of any kind. The cost of network use and data delivery is built into the price of each item you purchase or subscribe to. It's the first portable ebook reader that might have a shot because of how it marries legibility, a network, and a large library.

Blogs and periodicals are delivered continuously as new items or issues are published over what Amazon calls "Whispernet," a continuous push network for content you subscribe to. When you purchase a book, it's immediately downloaded.

The Sprint EVDO network that Amazon relies on is available extensively in most medium-sized and larger cities, but is scarce outside of major population centers. That might lead to Kindle being more frustrating to use when on the road or in smaller towns where the Kindle uses a more widespread, but modem-speed technology called RTT.

However, extensive use of Kindle - in the millions of units - could conceivably lead Sprint to change its deployment pattern for where to put new EVDO base stations, as Sprint will receive a piece of all transactions in lieu of subscription revenue. As Amazon head Jeff Bezos said at the device's announcement, "We pay for all of that behind the scenes so you can just read."

Obvious Limitations -- Before I sound overly enthusiastic about the Kindle, let me note a few problems.

While each Kindle has an email address, you have to a pay a 10-cent conversion fee for each document in one of several supported formats that you send to the address; formats include Word, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP. The fee is clearly to cover network delivery costs. You can email documents to a special address and receive converted files back to a non-Kindle address at no cost, and then copy those files over USB at no cost. (Audio files need to be copied instead of emailed, and don't require conversion.)
The Kindle can't read or convert PDF files. That's a baffling decision and makes it useless for reading Take Control ebooks and a vast amount of other content. The ability to handle HTML means a lot of people will be converting documents into HTML for portability (but a loss in legibility and features). [Editor's note: A review on Tuesday said that there is "experimental" support for viewing PDFs; I'm waiting to confirm -gf.]
The Kindle lacks a well-developed Web browser, even though it has email and a keyboard. Though this seems a significant omission, the Kindle is really designed to be an ebook reader with a few extras, not a multi-purpose device, despite its cost and its cellular connection. Amazon could choose to make the browser better, but they could also choose to charge for Web access if so.
Really, $399 for an ebook reader? Isn't there a razor/blade relationship here? Reports indicate Amazon may be selling many best-selling and new titles below cost to develop the market, which they hope will include high-margin offerings, which clearly include the periodical subscriptions.

With Amazon's marketing power and customer reach behind this device, with a full-time network connection, and with so many titles available at such low cost at launch, it's possible Kindle will light the fire that Amazon hopes, and finally get a mass audience of ebook readers.

One wonders, though, why Amazon produced such a toadstool of a product when the thoughtfulness for what lies within is so obvious. In pictures, it's the only real misstep. The iPhone is among the most beautiful and functional devices ever created, while the Kindle is just plain homely for something that similarly aims to change the world.

Email | 19 Nov 2007 | Listen

Bonus Stories for 19-Nov-07

Bonus stories for this week's email issue include reviews of Wiretap Studio and the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, along with ICANN news, a service for eliminating unwanted paper catalogs, and iPhone and CSS tips.Show full article

One of the advantages of our Web redesign is that it's a lot easier for us to publish articles and blog posts than ever before. The downside of that flexibility is that we now have much more content than we've been able to squeeze into each email issue while keeping the issue to a reasonable size. We've dealt with this so far by focusing on the most timely and relevant content for the email issue, but that's come at the expense of keeping otherwise excellent articles from our tens of thousands of email subscribers.

No longer. We're going to start an email-only Bonus Stories column in which we list some of the most useful and interesting articles that have so far appeared only on the Web site. Simply click through to read the full articles on our Web site. Do note that these stories may not have received the final edit pass that pieces in an email issue receive, and that our blog posts tend to be a bit less formal than normal articles. Some of these articles may still make their way into an email issue when we have a slow week.

We have quite a bit of a backlog, so we're going start slow while we feel out the best approach and format to present these listings. But we have a good feeling about this project - text wants to be read.

Talking Your Way Out of a Plastic Bag -- Turns out that an iPhone is interoperable with plastic baggies. (2007-10-18)

WireTap Studio: Lossless Editing and Real-Time Audio Preview -- Ambrosia Software's new WireTap Studio ups the ante in the field of easy-to-use audio recording and editing tools. Find out what Andy Affleck, author of "Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac," thinks of the new release and how it stacks up against existing tools. (2007-10-18)

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet: iPhone without the Phone? -- Many people claim they want the iPhone without the phone part, but the iPod touch seems to have a few too many limitations. What about Nokia's N800 Internet Tablet, which provides a full-featured Web browser on a Linux-based platform? Travis Butler looks deep into the N800 to see how it stacks up. (2007-10-12)

ICANN Tests Non-Roman Characters in Domain Names -- Speakers (and writers) of languages that use non-Roman character scripts and letters should rejoice: they'll finally be able to type .com in their native tongue and keyboards. (2007-10-12)

Stop the Catalog Madness with Catalog Choice -- If you hate receiving unnecessary and overly frequent catalogs as much as Adam does, check out Catalog Choice, a new free service aimed helping reduce the 19 billion catalogs thrown at us each year. (2007-10-11)

Use Custom CSS to Tweak TidBITS Display -- A TidBITS reader wrote to us with a suggestion for the new Web site redesign: "My top suggestion of all suggestions is to make the title in all caps so your new format is easier to scan." That's not something we'll be implementing, but if you want it, you can use CSS to make it happen. (2007-10-09)

Email | 19 Nov 2007 | Listen

Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/19-Nov-07

by Jeff Carlson

This week's discussions revolve around Leopard's firewall and other security issues, hosting a Web site on .Mac that doesn't come from iWeb, and reactions to recent TidBITS articles, among other topics.Show full article