Alex

My iKid–Who Previously iJacked My iPhone–Also iJacked My iPad (Now, With Extra Help From His Little iBrother)

Kara Swisher in News on April 12, 2010 at 8:30 am PT

A year ago, I blogged about my son, Louie, in a post titled: “My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy.” So I was curious to see if he would be as eager to grab the new Apple iPad I just got last week. The verdict: Yes, and–because of its larger size–he now uses the iPad in a much more social way with his younger brother, Alex.

Spring Design: Here’s How Barnes & Noble Turned Our Reader Into the Nook

Peter Kafka in Media on November 3, 2009 at 3:00 pm PT

Puzzled by the weird story of the “Alex,” the would-be e-reader that looks something like the “Nook,” the e-reader Barnes & Noble introduced last month? Then this won’t clear anything up: Spring Design’s court case against the bookseller, which it says broke an “implicit promise” and stole its idea for a two-screen device.

Yet Another Kindle Competitor: Here’s “Alex,” Powered by Google’s Android

Peter Kafka in Media on October 19, 2009 at 7:00 am PT

It’s e-reader preview week, apparently. Last night, Plastic Logic formally named its would-be Kindle killer; tomorrow, Barnes & Noble is supposed to show off its own branded device. This morning’s entrant: Spring Design, which says it has produced a reader that boasts two screens and an operating system that runs on Google’s Android. What it doesn’t have: Big-pocketed partners to boast about.

My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy

Kara Swisher in News on April 8, 2009 at 3:43 am PT

BoomTown is not proud of the problem. Not at all. But, after hearing the same situation described over and over again from many other parents like me, I am also not alone. As it turns out, our almost-seven-year-old son, Louie, has morphed into an iJacker. That would be of my iPhone and the many, many, many games apps to be played on it–from Crazy Penguin Catapult to Finger Sprint to Super Monkey Ball. And, good lord, how did a “Race to Witch Mountain” app get on there? So, I don’t need any stats to tell me that the iPhone, and the iPod touch too, have turned into gaming devices of great impact.