Book People Archive

Re: jose's "digital reprint" is a fantastic, inspiring demo 

> Are we truly THAT much of a "consumer society?"

Can you say "bags of pre-washed lettuce"?

Check yesterday's NYT magazine, the article "Twelve Easy Pieces":

``Since helping found Crunch Pak in 2000, Freytag has become one
pioneer in a rapidly growing industry: packaging bags of
ordinary-looking, fresh slices of apples that, bathed in an
all-natural flavorless sealant, won't turn brown or lose their crisp
for up to three weeks. Last year, McDonald's stocked 54 million pounds
of presliced apples, to sell with caramel dip or in salads, and this
increased visibility boosted enthusiasm for them in school cafeterias
and among time-strapped, health-conscious parents nationwide. Crunch
Pak now slices and packs apples under its own name for Wal-Mart and
nearly a dozen other chains, under the in-house brand at Whole Foods
and for the organic bagged-salad giant Earthbound Farm. In loose
one-pound bags (about $2.99), eight-packs of two-ounce snack pouches
(about $3.99) or six-ounce cupholder-ready canisters (about $1.99),
they have slipped onto refrigerated shelves among packages of herbs
and cantaloupe cubes.''

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/magazine/12apples.html

And there are people working on read-for-you books.  Audio books are
arguably in this class already, but there's more work going on on
pre-digesting the text for you as well.  Check out
http://www.liveink.com/, which reorganizes the text of a book into
phrases for optimal reading.

Bill