Clogging up the ether with rubbish

Will there come a point of e-saturation? Here is an interesting article by Laura Miller about the rubbish piling up on the kindle store shelves.

It does pose an interesting question. If you have a shop full of what might be termed e-rubbish, does it make people turn to the likes of Waterstone's or The Book Depository to ensure some sort of e-quality control?

Might it be an opportunity for a proper e-book shop to carve out a niche where only quality-controlled e-books are stocked?

Plain and simple fights back

Forget about Smart phones that seem to have a life of their own, why not try one of these?

There are too many geeks out there showing us how clever they are and forgetting what the customer actually wants.

More and more it looks like what we want are the pros of technology but in its most pared down form. Our minds are going into overload with all the gizmos, passwords, passwords for passwords and new tweaks.

Is John's phone the technological equivalent to a pencil?

Is Facebook Yesterdaybook?

The other day my daughter told me that my niece was deactivating her facebook. The reason? She was fed up of reading about other people's wonderful lives. I can empathise with this. The social media existence of today makes out that everyone else is having a ball. For those of us who are not, it can be stressful.

And since I heard that bit of news, I keep coming across other people switching off their facebook pages. As I have never understood mine, I am feeling rather relieved that I might never bother having to get to grips with it.

Another friend told me about her grandson and his attempts to get into college. As soon as he had been accepted he twittered the news. No doubt is 3,000 followers were as relieved as his grandma.

Now call me a cynic but how does a 16-year old boy find 3,000 followers? Is twitter playing the facebook game? Just substitute 'followers' for 'friends'. A design to bolster the twitterer and keep them twittering even more to their invisible band of followers?

The internet can do scary stuff with your mind and well-being. Let's get back to having coffee and climbing trees (if you are under a certain age of course).

The gaps in blogging

If you are like me, you have quite a tight knit blogging circuit that you drop in on. And when someone goes quiet on the blogging front it can be a slight source of exasperation if you have had no prior warning. Or if you don't arrange cover as does the frighteningly efficient blogger Scott Pack who seems to be the only man I know who can apply womanly juggling skills to his working life. If he is going offblog, he marshals a series of guest bloggers to plug the gap.

And yet it is often what is said in passing that is often the most telling part of the blog. I was pleased to see the Fidra blog back after a gap of 6 months. But what happened to the previously feted Andrew? Why has he gone when not long ago he was painting the windows and walls with wonderful characters from books? Whilst not actually saying anything other than he had gone and how the best people to run the bookshop are the owners, it left me wondering. Perhaps under blogging etiquette this is something that shouldn't be allowed. Remember, the internet can be a very unforgiving place and one should strive not to do harm to anyone either in thought, word or deed. The yogi in me thinks that we should add 'or online'.

This seems to be the curse of the blog. One moment we are sharing a blogger's knitting skills and pictures of a blissful family life. Then it goes ominously quiet. When the blogger resurfaces several months down the line we find out in passing about the divorce and custody battle. The difference is that visitors get to share the good times (often ad nauseum) but are pretty much shut out of the darker times.

Now me, I'm just a negative bastard all of the time. Never fear, visitors, things usually can only get worse.

Go, Waterstone's, go

Well, HMV has managed to successfully refinance which means the Waterstone's sale is secure and James Daunt will take the helm in a few weeks time. This is a great opportunity for W to really muscle its presence back on the high street and make terrestrial book buying cool.

All it needs is power to the staff in the shops. They are the ones on the firing line and know what is at stake.

Yoga in Partick, Glasgow

Today I have my yoga hat on. If anyone is around in Glasgow on Saturday 11th June (10am to 12.30pm), I am teaching a yoga session in St Peter's Hall, Partick. It is just round the corner from St Peter's Church. The entrance is in Chancellor St.

Discover how a few simple sequences can:

• keep your joints healthy
• build core strength for good posture
• calm an overworked mind

The morning includes a short introduction to yoga and the benefits it can bring. It ends with a 20-minute relaxation session. There will be 15 minutes afterwards for any questions.

Suitable for all levels and all bodies

Cost: £11

Equipment: Please bring a mat or towel to lie on and something to keep you warm for the relaxation session (socks, fleece, blanket, etc)

Contact: To book a place or find out more, phone Caroline on 0141 248 4780 or email caroline@publishingcupboard.co.uk