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Randall Bills talks about shaping the future of MechWarrior Online
For die-hard MechWarrior fans, it must be a relief to know that the upcoming MechWarrior Online is in good hands of people connected with the board game. One pair of hands in particular belongs to Catalyst Game Labs' Randall Bills, who is deeply involved with the MechWarrior and BattleTech franchises, and he emerged to participate in a very lengthy interview about the game and his love of multi-ton mechs. Currently, Bills says that he fills two roles on the team: continuity editor and fiction content manager. In the former, he helps to inspect what the developers are working on and give them feedback and notes from his well of expert knowledge on the subject. In the latter, he's spearheading the team responsible for writing the lore behind the online game universe. So what would Bills like to see happen in MechWarrior Online? Orbital insertions ("That's a level of action and immersion that would take MechWarrior Online to a whole new level.") and physical attacks ("It shouldn't work very well and be hard to pull off... but when you do pull it off it should be a move everyone in the game talks about for some time to come."). As for what he's most excited about in the upcoming MMO, he's just glad that he'll be able to emulate the board game in a virtual environment: "To know that I can jump in a light 'Mech and do exactly what you can pull off in the board game (and just as important, what the fiction depicts for the universe) with a true melding of multiple tactics to achieve victory... that'll be a truly spectacular geek-out moment to experience." Look for our own upcoming interview with the MechWarrior Online team coming soon.
Aaron Sorkin 'strongly considering' writing the Steve Jobs biopic
Sure, why not? Sony Pictures apparently grabbed the movie rights to Walter Isaacson's recent Steve Jobs biography, and the studio has asked Aaron Sorkin to write the film. Sorkin said this past week in Los Angeles, that sure, he's considering it. "Sony has asked me to write the movie and it's something I'm strongly considering," he said. But that doesn't mean he's agreed just yet: "Right now I'm just in the thinking-about-it stages. ... It's a really big movie and it's going to be a great movie no matter who writes it." Sorkin, who of course worked on Sports Night, West Wing, and last year's The Social Network, actually seems like a fine fit for a movie about Jobs' life -- not only is he a really smart writer with a great gift for dialogue and a really world-savvy perspective, but he actually knew and was friends with Jobs himself. Sorkin's no stranger to controversy, but it does seem like he would do Jobs' story justice in an entertaining and powerful way. Sony is obviously still very early in the moviemaking process, so no other information about the film has been released yet, but we'll keep an eye out.
The joys of scripting the apocalypse: A behind-the-scenes look at Fallen Earth
What's it like to have a post-apocalyptic landscape as your writing canvas? According to Marie Croall, it's pure heaven. Fallen Earth's lead designer opened up to Rock, Paper, Shotgun about the joys of writing and designing the myriad of quests for the game, as well as the free-to-play transition, plans for PvP, and the dynamic world events. Croall is part of a slimmed-down team of 12 developers who currently develop Fallen Earth's content. Saying that the team is always trying to "push the envelope" when it comes to the stories told, she notes that each area contains the imbued spirit of each writer: "I worked on a lot of the conflict towns early on and we knew that this was a place for people to kill each other, so a lot of the missions ended up being really thinly veiled insults." One of the aspects of Fallen Earth that Croall loves is how crazy the team can get. In one instance, the team decided to redo the starter town of Boneclaw by dropping a missile right into it. "We killed off all the players that were there, all the NPCs, and left it as a radiation zone for a good two months, while we made the new town. We flat out nuked it because it wasn't doing what we wanted it to do. Boom!" While Fallen Earth skirts the line between sandbox and theme park, Croall says the team is devoting a great deal of resources to beefing up the former. "The more features we add, the more ways for players to drive themselves, it makes the world better, it makes it feel like what we saw it as," she said.
NaNoWriMo: Some helpful hints and tools
This morning, I noticed a tweet from @rvbelzen that said, "As a NaNoWriMo veteran, do you have any tips for this NaNoWriMo newbie, maybe an article you wrote about it?" Most of the posts that I've done about National Novel Writing Month for TUAW have focused on the tools, not on the technique. Based on the tweet, I thought I'd give you some hints from a three-time NaNoWriMo winner (that means you wrote a 50,000-word novel in the month of November) about how to prepare for the writing marathon. Helpful Hints For Writing Your NaNoWriMo Novel 1) Make sure you have a broad outline of your plot and characters in your mind or on paper. This was the hardest part for me the first two years I did NaNoWriMo, as I had a story in my head but didn't spend the time to think of characters or how the story was going to evolve. As a result, those first two novels were only about halfway through the total plot line when I got to 50,000 words. What I suggest is sitting down with your favorite writing tool -- whether that's TextEdit, Word, Storyist, Story Mill, Scrivener, or another other writing tool, and just write a quick outline of how the story is going to unfold. Come up with character names and a rough description, locations, etc., and write them down as well. 2) At some point on November 1st, sit down for an uninterrupted spell of writing. In order to write 50,000 words in a month, you'll need to average 1,667 words a day. I find that setting aside time to write in a place where I'm not going to be interrupted by talk, TV, or tweets is essential. If you're enthusiastic about your story, that 1,667 words is going to flow out of you, and you'll find that some days you're writing 2,500 words. Go for it on those days, because you'll have other days when you need to take a break. My favorite place to write NaNoWriMo novels? The kitchen table. The chair is uncomfortable, so I need to write quickly so I can get out of it ASAP. 3) It's all about words, not about tools. I've noticed over the last few days that I see more and more tweets about "which tool should I use?" There are debates going on about the merits of Storyist versus Scrivener, or using one of the many minimalist writing tools. Here's my take on the writing tools: don't go out of your way to buy a new app that has lots of bells and whistles, because they'll get in the way of writing your novel. Many of the novel-writing apps have ways to write outlines, build character cards, etc. I found these tools to be so incredibly distracting that I finally just started using minimalist tools. You can easily write a NaNoWriMo novel in Pages or Word -- you don't need an "author's tool" unless you really think it will help you. My second NaNoWriMo novel was actually written in TextEdit. 4) Have fun writing. If NaNoWriMo turns into a chore, you're not going to make it. For me, writing fiction ends up being so much different from blogging and writing tech books that it's an absolute joy. I love thinking up characters, putting them in odd situations, and then trying to get them out of those situations while moving the plot forward. Are they well-written novels? Probably not. But it's been a blast writing them. To make writing fun, think about something that either excites you or makes you laugh, and then use that as a key launching point for your novel. This year, I'm resurrecting a character from last year. He's a private detective in the near future (about 10 years from now) who gets involved in some rather bizarre situations like a locked-room murder on a space station and (this year) being injected with nano-particles that cause him to grow. 5) Start fast. Seriously, try to beat your 1,667-word goal every day for the first 10 days. That way, you might be halfway done with the novel by the time November 10th rolls around. What does that mean? You can take a break from writing if you absolutely feel like it, or take more time focusing on a key point of the plot. My wife was a NaNoWriMo winner last year and she totally amazed me by writing almost half of her novel in the first five days of November. I like to start fast and finish at a comfortable pace. 6) Don't focus on spelling or grammar. Once again, this is all about word count. It doesn't have to be perfect. You just want to get the story out of your system and onto the screen (or paper, if you so desire). When you're done at the end of the month, you have a working rough draft that you can then spend time cleaning up. So turn off the spell and grammar check, or ignore the red underlines that mean you misspelled something. Chances are very good that you're not going to publish your book anyway, so who cares if it is filled with misspellings and lousy sentence structure? As long as you're happy with it, that's what counts. 7) Keep your writing to yourself. There's nothing worse than thinking that you're doing a bad job when you're writing. It will absolutely defeat you from getting your novel completed. One of the biggest mistakes you can make during NaNoWriMo is to let somebody else read what you've written. Why? Well, everyone's a critic these days, and the reader will have no hesitation telling you that what you've written is horrible or pointing out mistakes. Wait until December 1, 2011, and let them read it then. Don't even talk about your novel with other folks, unless you're just telling them how much fun you're having and how far along you are. 8) Work through writer's block. Here's something I had issues with the first year I did NaNoWriMo. I was about one-third of the way through the novel and just lost focus. I had thought a lot about the beginning of the book, but didn't have a clue where I was going. Preparation (see hint #1) will help this, but realize that you're going to have days where you just can't get the brain to wrap around writing! What do I do on these days? Try to write anyway. If I need help, I pick up a favorite good book and read parts of it, carefully noting the way that the writer crafted certain phrases or created a twist that caught my attention. That's usually enough to motivate me to write more. Also consider taking a walk or doing something to clear your mind. I find that walking is a great way to get my mind to focus on developing plot points or thinking about dialogue. 9) Back up your novel every single day. I've been lucky -- I've never lost any of my writing. But can you imagine how depressing it would be to get two-thirds of the way through your novel and then lose the file? It would be enough to make you never want to write again! I highly recommend doing multiple backups of your novel file every day. My base document is always sitting in a folder on Dropbox, which means that it's also downloaded to the Dropbox folder on both of my Macs. That's three copies right there, plus I always have a Time Machine backup going. That's four. Am I paranoid enough? Probably. 10) Keep your eye on the goal. That's going to motivate you more than anything. Thinking about getting to that 50,000th word is a daunting thing, but you'll be surprised just how quickly your words will add up. Take the writing one day at a time, try to stretch your daily total over the required 1,667 words, and you'll be a winner before the end of the month. I have to admit that there's no better feeling than wrapping up a NaNoWriMo novel, even when I know that nobody will probably read it. Having done this three times, I'm confident that I can write another novel, and I'm looking forward to that sense of accomplishment at the end of November. Tools Of The NaNoWriMo Writer When you're thinking about which tool to use to write your novel, keep hint #3 in mind -- it's about writing, not about tools. I really do get irritated with the annual debates over which app is better than another, but then again I'm an antisocial curmudgeon. I've tried 'em all, but the two apps that I find work the best for me are TextEdit and Microsoft Word. Get a blank piece of digital paper and start writing. I haven't tried Pages, although I'm sure it would work swimmingly in the "typewriter" Lion full-screen mode. Maybe this year? Most of the writing tools that people spend their money on before tackling NaNoWriMo fall into two camps -- the "Swiss Army Knife" apps that have all the bells and whistles, and the "Minimalist" apps that just give you a blank page and a word count. Here are some examples of both types. "Swiss Army Knife" Writing Apps I think I've tried each and every one of these apps at one point or another, and even though I've used them to start NaNoWriMo novels, I've always just transferred my text to another app within a day or two. Your mileage may vary, and you may make use of all of the many features of these apps. I won't go into a lot of detail about each of the apps; the developers have info for you and in many cases will let you download a trial copy: Scrivener (US$44.49) Storyist ($59.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPad) StoryMill ($49.95) Manuscript ($39.99) Ulysses ($19.99) CopyWrite ($24.99) DEVONThink ($49.99): Actually more of an outlining tool, but can be used for writing. OmniOutliner ($39.99): Once again, an outlining tool that is perfect for writing. Also available on iPad for $19.99. Minimalist Writing Apps WriteRoom ($24.99): available for both Mac and iOS ($4.99) Ommwriter Däna ($4.99): available for both Mac and iPad at the same low price! Byword ($9.99) Clean Writer ($0.99): available for Mac and iPad Writer ($2.99) Grandview ($4.99) iAWriter ($9.99): also available for iPad ($0.99) I'm sure there are a lot more tools available, but I'll leave this as an exercise for TUAW readers to go out and do some research. If you find any, please let us know in the comments. Also, if you're a NaNoWriMo winner and have some additional hints and tips, be sure to write a comment. By the way, in case you're wondering how long this post is, it's 1827 words. That's more than a person needs to write every day to be a NaNoWriMo winner. YOU CAN DO IT!
About the Bloggers: Lisa Poisso
About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles. What do you do for WoW Insider? These days, I'm rather akin to my rogue (above, slipping along with her stealth pack after spotting some Alliance players out leveling) or recently departed editor-in-chief Dan O'Halloran in that most of what I do happens behind the scenes. I'm the Mama Smurf of WoW Insider, painting the blue dot that means "copyediting complete" on each and every post that runs through the WI queue. This process is entirely separate from the content review done by our lead editors, and it's where I spend most of my WI time these days -- because this gang has a lot to say, trust me ... Somewhere in there is writing. I've managed to acquire one of the highest word counts of anyone at WoW Insider by dint of long tenure and the rather mind-boggling list of features I've worked on during that time. Currently, I only write two features: 15 Minutes of Fame and Drama Mamas (although Drama Mama Robin gets the official byline on this feature). The list of what I've worked on in the past, however ... That's another story. I created Insider Trader (now Gold Capped) and the now-defunct features Gamers on the Street and [1.Local]. I also wrote Well Fed Buff, which was absorbed into World of WarCrafts, which I also wrote for a good stretch. I've also sat a spell in The Classifieds and WoW Rookie. Oh yeah, and Two Bosses Enter. Is it soup yet?
Google wants you to add writers on Google+, so do writers
Find an interesting article, add its author. That's the very simple idea behind a very simple feature that Google has just begun testing. As TechCrunch recently noticed, Big G has started rolling out a new "add to Circles" button within some search results, allowing readers to more easily and instantaneously follow their favorite web authors on Google+. Writer profiles have already been integrated within search pages, but until now, users had to actually click on author pages before following them. This new circle button, on the other hand, cuts out that middle click and seems like a logical next step in Google's ongoing integration. It also seems like a great way to help writers feel better about themselves, which we always support. And if you're not seeing it, you're not going crazy -- Google's just rolling it out to only a few users.
The Old Republic's Daniel Erickson says writers are game designers
Can game writers be classified as game designers? BioWare writing director Daniel Erickson thinks so. In a brief interview at PC Gamer, Erickson lays out his views on the legitimacy of game writing in no uncertain terms. "You can teach a writer to be a junior game designer. You cannot teach a junior game designer to be a writer. You need somebody who is a senior master level writer and then you teach them the basics of game design," he says. Erickson goes on to describe BioWare's writer boot camp, which involves a three-month training period and a lot of work that will never see the light of day. While the article doesn't directly mention Star Wars: The Old Republic, it's clear that Erickson and BioWare are looking to further spread the word regarding the upcoming MMO's heavy narrative focus.
SWTOR dev diary steps beyond story
Star Wars: The Old Republic separates itself from other MMORPGs by introducing the element of -- say it with me -- story. But how deep exactly is this wormhole? BioWare Writer Ian Ryan explains to us in the latest developer diary that a TOR writer's work is not done once the last word is penned. "Armed with [our] knowledge, we set out to provide feedback on each planet's art as it relates to story," Ryan reveals. The writers log into the game and play the levels they created story for. It is a collaborative effort. The writers attempt to give the environmental artist a clear picture of what best sets the scene for the stories they have created. In the gallery below, we have some before-and-after renders of the Promenade on Nar Shaddaa and the Blastfield Shipyards on Corellia. Both of these areas received major overhauls after the writers witnessed the first incarnation of the environments. Following the before-and-after pictures is a new piece of concept art of Corellia released for the fans. Lastly, we have featured some new pieces of art created by the SWTOR fans Micah_Vale, CuriousOne, and SkinRuder77. Enjoy. %Gallery-114430%
Adonit Writer is avaliable now
The wait is over and the Adonit Writer first-generation iPad keyboard case is now available. You can order one for US$99.99 right now from Amazon or from Adonit directly. Hurry though, the Writer will only be available at that price until July 10 -- after that Adonit will raise it to the full price of $109.99. Still waiting for the iPad 2 version? It's coming along nicely. Adonit is nearing production on it and hope to ship it to Kickstarter backers early next month. It will be available after they finish fulfilling the Kickstarter orders. If you read my recent review of the keyboard case for the iPad, you know that I was overwhelmingly positive about the Writer. Having now spent a couple of weeks with it, I adore it even more than I did when I wrote the review. It goes everywhere my iPad goes and frees me from having to bring along a laptop whenever I might need to write anything substantial. I also appreciate the flexibility to be able to comfortably type while sitting without a desk or a table. Your millage might vary depending on how you like to sit.
15 Minutes of Fame: Vampire Empire novelist duo writes, games as one
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Talking about Clay and Susan Griffith means talking about partnerships. Clay and Susan are husband and wife, WoW partners and co-GMs, and authors of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book 1 -- "married in all things, for better or for worse," as they put it. Together, they've worked on comics and prose with such pop culture icons as The Tick, Kolchak the Night Stalker, The Phantom, Allan Quatermain, and Disney characters, too. "Granted, we are casual WoW players due to time constraints, but we both have level 85s," says Susan. "We enjoy questing and the lore of the game, as well as a fair amount of RPing. When time and fair winds permit, we even have a family raid group." What the Griffiths have learned from collaborating on the page, they say translates directly to playing WoW as a group: trust, respect, and distribution of power and roles. From the Vampire Empire to Azeroth? According to this couple -- absolutely.
Plextor PL-LB950UE Blu-ray burner lands in the US with heady mix of USB 3.0 speed and double-layer storage
Europeans have been able to bag this speedy external writer for a few months now, but it's only just received its Green Card -- turning up in the US with a suitcase full of dreams and a price tag of $239.99. A quick check of its CV resume reveals a choice of either USB 3.0 or eSATA connectivity, 12x write speed, and the ability to burn up to 50GB of data on a dual-layer disc. The drive is being pitched as an "all-in-one Blu-ray device" because it also handles 3D playback and has a low vibration system for quieter operation. Admittedly, it only offers half as much storage as BDXL writers, but those burn slower and onto judderingly expensive media. Closer competition comes from Buffalo, which arrived early to the USB 3.0 table, but whose current MediaStation model omits the eSATA option.
Visual Thesaurus is a great tool for writers
After I wrote a post about the changes in Lion's Dictionary app and made suggestions about how Apple could still improve it, I got a nice email from a reader asking if I would write an article about some other writing tools I use. One of my favorites is Visual Thesaurus by Thinkmap. Visual Thesaurus is an interactive -- almost organic -- dictionary and thesaurus for your Mac. Enter a word, and you'll be presented with branch nodes displaying synonyms or antonyms for that word. The lines between the words are color-coded to indicate parts of speech. Depending on how you are using the word, click on its proper definition and then delve down through the semantic relationship of the word by clicking on its node. The whole process is a really fun way to find the right words you are looking for. You almost feel like an explorer traipsing through a thesaurus thanks to the interactivity of the app. In addition to containing 145,000 English words, the app also features 39,000 proper nouns and American and British word pronunciations. Visual Thesaurus is available as both a web app and a Mac/Windows app. The web app costs US$2.95 per month or $19.95 per year. I opted for choosing the actual Mac app, which costs $39.95. The advantage of the Mac app is that you don't need an internet connection to access the thesaurus, which is handy if you're like me and commonly take your MacBook to various non-connected places to write. Visual Thesaurus for the web requires Mac OS X 10.0 or higher, an internet connection and a web browser. Visual Thesaurus for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.0 or higher.
ASUS' 12x BW-12D1S-U external Blu-ray writer: world's fastest, until the next one
Fed up with the simply unacceptable performance of your external Blu-ray writer? Of course you are. ASUS feels your pain, and it's looking to ease it with the soothing balm of the BW-12D1S-U, a new 12X, USB 3.0 burner. The highly capable (and highly complex, we're surmising) BW-12D1S-U offers realtime 2D to 3D conversion, 1080p video output and support for the usual complement of HD audio formats. But does it have a jewel-like, almost ominous translucent blue power button, you ask? Indeed it does, not to mention a sleek black finish and the ability to operate horizontally or vertically. The outfit has yet to put a price on having the fastest writer on the block, but don't even pretend that you wouldn't pay it. Whatever "it" ends up being.
TUAW Giveaway: Scrivener 2.0
For those of you who don't know, most of us at TUAW are big fans of Scrivener. If you're a writer -- whether it is a screenplay, novel or blog you're working on -- Scrivener should be your tool of choice. It lets you organize and format your writing projects with an ease that is unparalleled. Scrivener 2.0 just hit the Mac App Store last week, and we're happy to be able to provide three lucky TUAW readers with promo codes that will let you download the full version of the app – a US$44.99 value. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below. Even if you don't win, if you do any kind of writing, you should seriously think about getting this app. I've written four books using it and doing so would have been much more difficult had it not been for Scrivener's workflow. So, want to win a copy of Scrivener 2.0? Here are the rules: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment. The comment must be left before Thursday, April 14, 2011, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. Three winners will be selected in a random drawing. Each winner will receive one Mac App Store promo code for a copy of Scrivener 2.0 (Value: US$44.99). Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Buffalo reveals slimline external BDXL burner for $275, affiliated media still makes your wallet weep
BDXL is the optical storage medium du jour, but the options for those wanting its capacious quad-layer burning capabilities in a tasty to-go form factor are fairly limited. Previous drives have lacked a certain... aesthetic appeal, but now Buffalo has unveiled its BRXL-PC6U2-BK, a slim and shiny external model that'll handle all of your BDXL disc-creation needs. The drive can run off a single USB 2.0 plug, though writing at 4x speeds requires a second USB connection to give it the juice required to do the deed. Slated for a release by the end of March, otherwise known as next week, this hot little onyx number will set you back ¥22,100 (about $275). Just don't go blowing all your cash on the drive -- BR-R XL discs ain't cheap, y'know.
LaCie ships USB 2.0 Slim Blu-ray external burner for $265
Still slinging a laptop with USB 2.0? Fret not, as that's all the bandwidth you need to handle LaCie's Slim Blu-ray burner. As the title implies, the new unit is little more than a nicely styled external BD burner, designed to tag along with your ODD-less netbook / ultraportable and provide Blu-ray burner / viewing enjoyment at a moment's notice. $264.99 gets you the device itself, CyberLink's Blu-ray Disc Suite and a two-year warranty, and if you're curious about toasting speeds, it'll write to a BD-R at 6x (dual-layer at 4x), a BD-RE at 2x and a blank DVD at 8x. The rest of the nitty-gritty, as well as a purchase link, awaits you in the source. %Gallery-109656%
Adonit Writer adds one more option to the iPad folio + keyboard barrage
We weren't too fond of the AIDACASE KeyCase Folio, but we should've known a flood of alternatives would be hitting the market shortly thereafter. Adonit dropped us a line to say that its rival is in the final stages of production and should be ready to order by Christmas, and while the final edition will add a lot of polish, there's a gallery of pre-pro shots just below for your perusal. The Writer iPad folio + keyboard combines a Bluetooth keyboard with a case, and the board itself slides on a magnet for maximum positioning awesomeness. There's also a quick iPad release, auto-keyboard sleep function and an exterior that'll look far sexier than what you're seeing here. Hit the source link to be alerted when it goes on sale, and as for pricing, expect to part ways with $120 or so. Or $420 when combined with a Colorware Grip for iPad. %Gallery-106021%
Writers' software month: iA Writer
I posted a few days ago that October is turning out to be a wonderful month for writers who enjoy trying out new word processing software. Today I want to tell you about an iPad app.There are a ton of word processing apps for the iPad and, in my opinion, Pages is still the best by far due to the rich feature set. This might change, however, if Apple ever decides to open up their styled-text and other iWork suite APIs to developers. Until then, it's hard for one iPad word processor to really distinguish itself from the next in a significant way. One app that has, however, is called iA Writer. iA Writer has two features that I haven't seen in other iPad word processors. One of those features is called Focus Mode. While in Focus Mode, everything except for the three most recent lines of text are blurred out. The idea behind this is that it focuses the writer just on the words or thought flow that is immediately in his mind. Focus eliminates everything but the words; you don't see any auto-correction text, tool bars, or spelling errors. The feature took me a while to get used to, but once I did it became something I wish that desktop word processors would adopt.
TUAW Tips: Designing covers for the iBookstore
For budding novelists, one of the most exciting things about Apple's iBookstore is the chance to self-publish their writing and have it potentially available to the 100 million people that own iOS 4 devices. A novel is a daunting task, and once the writing is done, the hard part is over ... kinda. There are still two things you need to do: get your book on the iBookstore and make sure it has a compelling cover. We've told you before how to go about self-publishing on the iBookstore, but one thing that many writers are left pondering is what to do about the cover for their novel. Cristina Lopo, owner of the London-based graphic design studio Loop Box, gave me some advice when we met at a book reading a few weeks ago. "The old saying is 'Don't judge a book by its cover,' but unfortunately, books are judged by their covers -- at least at first, and especially on the iBookstore. The cover is what is going to get people to click on your book to learn more about it when they are scrolling through a list of 25 books on a tiny iPhone screen." Click "Read More" for more tips on cover design for the iBookstore.
Sony launches six new DVRs, all write to BDXL and play back in 3D
Well, Sony is a little late to the party on this one, two days behind Panasonic announcing six new BDXL-writing DVRs. But, the company is definitely still on the BDXL bleeding edge, announcing its own suite of six devices, ranging from 320GB to 2TB of internal storage and all but one offering dual tuners. When those tuners have filled that storage they can all write to 100GB BDXL discs, which we'll remind you one more time are not backwards compatible with current Blu-ray players. Finally, all six of them support 3D playback, because if you're already jumping on the BDXL bandwagon you surely have your 3D HDTV well and truly dialed in by now. Sony isn't saying just how much these six will cost, but the premium model with 2TB of storage ships in Japan on September 25. For the rest you'll have to wait until October 22.
