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WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet
Here's the skinny from The Wall Street Journal: major publishing company HarperCollins is in talks with Apple about bringing e-books to the oft-rumored, still-unconfirmed tablet that's expected to be the focus of its January 27th event. The article also states that other publishing companies have been in talks with Cupertino HQ. That jibes with what we've heard through the grapevine, specifically with Time Inc. property Sports Illustrated, and fits comfortably well with the New York Times conjecture from earlier today. E-book readers are all the rage these days, but like we said just after CES, we'd wager the future of the medium integrated into slates to provide rich, color multimedia presentations. Seems someone might be sharing in our perspective, but of course, this is just one of many, many, many Apple rumors we expect to see in the buildup to next week.
Whopping Wii remote comic
We played the "What if?" game with our friends a lot during our younger years. Our school playground was a montessori arena for cartwheels and slow motion kicks as we acted out, "What if we were Power Rangers?" Tired from our recess shenanigans, we would brood over notes we passed in class, wondering, "What if it rained candy? Seriously, wouldn't that be rad?" We eventually put the childish pastime behind us, realizing that it wasn't appropriate to ask our best friends, "What if I was a guy who wanted to date your sister?"Buzz Beamer from Sports Illustrated Kids hasn't given up on the "What if?" game yet. In the magazine's latest comic, Buzz ruminates over the possibilities of an over-sized Wii remote. He comes up with some entertaining ideas like Virtual Log Riding and Tossing the Caber. Our favorite is the one where he has a "realistic" wrestling match with the giant remote. That's way cooler than the Hulk Hogan pillow we used to grapple with when we were kids!
Sports Illustrated's dop! SI Swimsuit Soundtrack Series MP3 player
Hold on, now Sports Illustrated is doing a line of MP3 players? We always figured that we'd bust out a gadget before a sports mag would, but it turns out that SI is coming out with three screenless players to accompany the launch of the first music-themed Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The dop! player (which is sort of supposed to be a mirror image of "ipod") will retail for "under $20" (translation: $19.99) and come in three versions, each one pre-loaded with thirty tracks of music "inspired by the issue's lush and sexy photo spreads." All of the music on each player isn't exactly copy-protected; there's actually no way to get music on or off the player at all. The dop! is meant to be a self-contained package of player + content, sort of like those single title Playaway audiobooks that came out a couple of years ago (it's no coincidence that Findaway is responsible for manufacturing both). The notion of "one album, one player" is a little anachronistic (or maybe quaint) in the age of 80GB iPods, but these things are more like promotional items than replacements for your current player. Or at least not until someone hacks a USB port into one, that is.
Sports Illustrated, of all places? [Update 2]
Finally, an excuse to put a ravishingly beautiful, veritably naked woman on the front page of this blog. According to the newest issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids (we, uh, tried really hard to find an image of that magazine's cover, but alas, we failed), the Wii has a confirmed U.S. release date of November 6th.All right. We know. It's freaking Sports Illustrated for Kids. However, it's quite possible that they got away with marketing murder due to the absence of the professionally trained verbal ninjas Nintendo likes to throw at the major gaming media outlets. Even if this is mere speculation, I mean, come on. It's gotta come out somewhere around then, right?(Can't ... stop staring ...)[Update 1: Silly us, we meant the sixth of November, not the seventh. Thanks, trusty commenters.][Update 2: This article has been debunked by Nintendo. Alas!]
Screech in iTunes
It's "new content Tuesday" in the iTunes Music Store, and this week season 1 of Saved by the Bell [link] has been made available. Screech on your iPod...isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse? Also added to the store's video offerings are the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit videos [link], some great, old Schoolhouse Rock clips [link] and a premiere episode of Comedy Central's Drawn Together [link]
iTunes to feature Sports Illustrated swimsuit videos
When I was a young lad, the month of February meant three things: the Westminster Kennel Club dog show would greatly damage my own dog's self esteem, I had to prepare for the coldest weather of the year, and it was time to figure out how I was going to sneak the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue into the house. You kids today have your iPods, which takes all of the fun out of this annual adventure. Sports Illustrated will offer 8 videos in the iTunes Music Store for $1.99US each, featuring videos from the shoots. The magazine hits newsstands tomorrow, which just happens to be "new content Tuesday" in the iTMS (and Valentine's Day), so check it out.[Via MacDailyNews]Update: TUAW reader Jordan notes that, when you buy a paper copy of the magazine's swimsuit issue, you'll find a code that will give you one free swimsuit video download from iTunes. Thanks, Jordan!
