The [New Yorker iPad app is out now](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-new-yorker-magazine/id370614765?mt=8). The app itself costs nothing, but the actual issues you buy through the app are $4.99 each. This is reasonable enough. I have a feeling we’ll see more magazines move to a similar model in the next year or so. From a publisher point of view, there are no more worries about printing and distribution costs. From an end-user point of view, there are no more worries about availability. [Edge magazine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_%28magazine%29), for example, is a right royal pain in the dick to get a hold of if you’re not living in the UK. With an iPad app, you’re getting all the content, in much the same format, with (potential) access to the entire back-catalogue at the touch of a button, with virtually no footprint for either the publisher or readermy collection of Edge magazine — going back 16 years or so — takes up an enormous amount of space. Win-win.

Except for people who are already subscribers, that is. As [Kottke points out](http://kottke.org/10/09/new-yorker-ipad-app):

> Current magazine subscribers appear to have no option but to buy a completely separate issue if they wish to read the magazine on the iPad. As a subscriber, what exactly am I paying for if I already have the content in magazine form? Is the $4.99 simply a convenience fee?

One of the things I really liked about David Wellington’s [*Monster Island*](http://www.davidwellington.net/serials/monster-island/monster-island-part-1/chapter-one/) was that it was also available online. When I was in work and didn’t have the book with me, I could just go to Wellington’s website and take up where I left off. I suppose the same could be said of any of [Cory Doctorow](http://www.craphound.com)’s books as well. Although I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, I have a physical copy of [Makers](http://craphound.com/makers/) on my bookshelf and a digital copy of on my e-reader.

As things like smart phones and e-readers become more and more a part of our everyday life, I would love to see us get to stage where buying a physical copy of a thing — movies, magazines, films — entitles you to a digital copy of the thing as well. We’re sort of seeing this with blu-ray, where a lot of discs come bundled with a digital copy of the film as wellThen again, in most cases, that’s being implemented in such a half-assed, braindead way (where the ‘digital edition’ it comes bundled with is just an access key to *download* a copy **once**) it makes you wonder if the movie studios aren’t deliberately sabotaging this effort so they can say “look! There’s no demand for the digital edition!”.

When I was younger, I remember looking at my grown-up relatives and dreaming about when I’d finally be finished with school and start working a 9 to 5 job. I figured that, coming home from work and not having any homework to do, I’d have buckets of free time to play videogames and watch kick-ass movies.

Well, life? I’m waiting.

When Apple demoed the new iPod nano last week, I [mentioned on twitter](http://twitter.com/johnke/status/22726405879) about how much I liked the look of its clock. It’s more thoughtfully designed and better crafted than most watches.

Well, some wags have taken the obvious step by throwing a strap on the Nano and making it into a proper watch.

One thing Apple left off the new Nano with the redesign is the previous iteration’s video camera. Is it so strange to imagine that a future redesign of the new Nano will re-add this feature? A front-facing camera with [FaceTime](http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/facetime.html)? Suddenly we’re wearing video phones on our wrists.

Oh shit! We’re in the future.