Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, my ex and I bought a camcorder. It was sort of a monster thing that you carried on your shoulder and looked through a viewfinder. It spit out full-sized VCR tapes that you could plug directly into your VCR player. It worked pretty well although the battery pack eventually gave out, so you had to keep it plugged in. Then, when I started getting serious about martial arts in 2000 or so, I bought a camcorder about as big as a thick paperback book (think Michner's Hawaii). It used little tiny casettes and you carried it in your hands and looked through a viewfinder.

The other day, Amazon wrote me and asked if I'd like a free camcorder so I could do video reviews (I'm an Amazon top reviewer). Karen has trained me not to say know when the universe wants to give me things, so I said yes and it arrived today in the mail. The entire thing is about as big as a pack of cigarettes. A USB plug snaps out so you can plug it directly into your PC and it doesn't use any tape at all. It runs on two AA batteries so at least I don't have to worry about an expensive battery module that will need to be replaced some day (don't worry, I use rechargable batteries). When I start doing reviews, I'll link them up here.

I was thinking about what this means for eBooks (obviously everything comes back to eBooks, right?). First, the ever-decreasing size of electronics is not as big an advantage in eBooks as some other electronics. Laptops have the same issue. Years ago (mid-90s) I bought a Compaq Aero laptop. It was the smallest PC I've ever owned (I'm not including handheld PCs like my Jornada here). I think one of the reasons it wasn't more successful was that it was too small. There's a lower limit to how small you want a laptop. The screen and keyboard are both issues--that is, the electronics can get tiny but where they connect to people, they're limited. Same issue with eBooks. I just saw that Palm came out with a new smartphone that's a lot smaller than the treo. Is this the end of eBooks on the Palm? I hope not--I've read dozens of books on my Palm but we'll have to see. There is a size below which reading just doesn't make sense. Fortunately, with my new Flip camcorder, I just plug it into the PC and have a larger screen.

I (finally) finished a submission I've been reading for a long time now. This is a great story with a lot of potential--if the author and I can come to terms on some rewrites I think are essential. I'll let you know more if there is more--waiting to hear back from the author. Since I kept him waiting a long time, I guess it's fair he make me wait for a while, too. Then I (finally) got back to work on the contest judging I agreed to (what was I thinking). One entry I wasn't too big on, the other I'm enjoying.

I'm reading TIME'S CHILD by Rebecca Ore. I got eleven pages done. I'd better get a lot done on the train tomorrow as I ride up to play bridge.

I'm going to make MIRACLE OF LOVE by Victoria Chancellor the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. An Irish woman prays for a miracle to save her dying baby and is transported to the present where medical science makes the healing easy. All's well right--except when the mother is accused of child abuse for allowing her child to fall into such problems and when the man she's grown to love refuses to believe the truth. An emotional and compelling romance--and it's only $3.99. Learn more, read the excerpt, or download the entire eNovel here: www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/rom_2003/miracle_love.html. Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Palm Reader, and zipped Microsoft Reader formats. Here's the cover (cover design by Jane Graves):

rob