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The recent Pew Internet report had some not very surprising news about Tablets and E-book readers.

"The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January.

These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers. However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached, the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted. In the tablet world, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet were introduced at considerably cheaper prices than other tablets. In the e-book reader world, some versions of the Kindle and Nook and other readers fell well below $100.

Full Report

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I couldn't say it any better than Paul Thurrott did so here's a quote from his WinInfo Short Takes, January 20, 2012.

"Apple's Textbook Initiative Comes with Both Lock-In and Vig

I wrote up some preliminary thoughts about Apple's educational announcements this week, but as time has gone on, and more details have emerged, we're seeing the ugly side of a company that far too many people are far too uncritical of.

First, Apple is indeed seeking to replace paper textbooks with far more expensive and environmentally unfriendly iPads—a fairly obvious point and strategy. But what the company didn't reveal at its staged event in New York this week was that eTextBooks created for its proprietary and exclusionary iBooks platform cannot be ported to other digital textbook platforms; they're locked into Apple's iBooks contractually (i.e,. legally) and can only be sold through Apple's service.

And that means that, yes, Apple will also get a 30 percent cut on any textbook that's sold through iBooks. So, not only is Apple shutting out the non-Apple world here, it's getting a big chunk of the pie too.

But hey, when Apple announced that the tool to make these locked-down textbooks was free, the totally oblivious and Apple-centric press in attendance actually applauded.

And that, folks, shows you how dumb we all are. It's just embarrassing."

Check out more from Paul Thurrott

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Most people will remember 2011 as the year that Steve Jobs died. And that is fitting.

But we lost many other tech pioneers in 2011 (like Dennis Ritchie seen at left receiving the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999)

Without some of them, there would have been no Apple or Microsoft or PC industry as we know it.

Check out the latest Minute with the Great Lakes Geek

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Remember from Mechanics that the period of a pendulum is proportional to the square root of the length of the line suspending the weight? Simply put, the longer the pendulum, the slower it swings.

Harvard students built a device with a series of 15 pendulums in a row, each one slightly longer than its neighbor, then set them in motion and filmed the result.

The resulting patterns in this short video are quite fascinating to watch ... sure it’s physics, but it's also art.

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Tweet Choir at Microsoft CES Keynote. I'm not kidding.

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Looking for Dan Hanson's eIndustry column in the January issue of Inside Business Magazine?

It's online at Dan Hanson eIndustry January 2012 and focuses on making your web site more friendly to mobile devices

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Before us techies claimed the word, a "geek" was a carnival performer who bit the head off of live chickens.

Along those lines, we had to see how many of the Culinary Bucket List of 100 Foods you should try before you die. The Great Lakes Geek has tried 48. How about you?

Culinary Bucket List - Foods we should try before we die

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Each year we like to gather an eclectic group of friends and business associates for a holiday lunch. No, it's not just techies. Media, sports, non-profits, politicians, business, cultural - they were all represented.

When asked what the diverse group of guests had in common, some reflection made it clear that they, like us, love Cleveland. Most have had many opportunities to work and live in other cities. But we have all chosen to be here because we believe in the city.

Want to be invited next year? Let's do some positive things together in 2012.

Dan McMullen, Chair of the Information Technology practice at Calfee Halter & Griswold, Phil Alexander of BrandMuscle and serial entrepreneur Ron Copfer, currently Principal at VeDiscovery

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2011 Magnum Party Pics

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One thing I learned over the long tech incident (holiday) weekend is that people generally don't so the simplest things to prevent problems.

In Windows 7 it is so easy to create a System Repair Disc that there is no excuse not to make one.

Click on Start and type in repair. Then click on Create a System Repair Disc.

Put in a blank CD or DVD (external drive for netbook users) and click on Create Disc.

Voila! Wasn't that easy?

Label the disc and keep it someplace safe. Then if you can't boot some day, load the Repair Disc and it will boot to a basic repair environment which includes System Restore and some diagnostic tools.

Do it!

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If you run Windows 7 on your laptop there is a neat way to get a power usage report.

First, open a Command Prompt as Admin. Just click on the Windows key and then type in CMD and then right-click on the icon that appears to Run as Administrator.

Type in powercfg -energy -output \put-me-here\Energy_Report.html. Of course you replace put-me-here with the destination folder of your choice.

Wait a little and then open the generated HTML file to get a report and recommendations for your power usage.

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Need new hardware? Why pay extra for those expensive name brands?

Check out our on-line hardware store and browse pre-configured systems or tweak the configuration options yourself and get instant pricing.

We'll ship the custom built system right to your door. Take a look at the Magnum Computers Webstore

Order Domain Names, e-mail accounts, web hosting, SSL certs and the usual menu of Internet items for great prices at Great Lakes Geek Domains. Follow the link at the bottom of the nav bar (under search) or click to visit

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