Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.

So Amazon.com released a new electronic book reader called the “Kindle.” It’s pretty neat stuff: You can download new books wirelessly via Sprint Nextel’s EV-DO network. However, the device goes for a whopping $400, a price that does not include the additional $10 you have to pay for each digital book to read on the Kindle. Now here’s some fun math: $400 will buy you around 40 real books, if you figure the average cost of a book on Amazon.com is $10. Here’s some even better math: Books from libraries are free. The ironic part of all this is that people who spend $400 for a Kindle are ALREADY paying for library books through federal, state and local taxes. Math and irony are fun.
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Well, we are assuming that if you are reading this, you somehow managed to make it through yet another Black Friday, also known as the day after Thanksgiving, when everyone mobs their nearest retailer in search of that extra 1% off the hot toy of the year. Not sure how the whole first day of holiday shopping got such an awesome name, but we would assume it’s from the black eyes people get from fighting over the last Tickle Me Elmo or Rubix Cube. There is nothing better than watching the news on Friday night just to see middle-aged moms slug it out with each other over the last Hula Hoop. Beat’s renting the latest cage wrestling match on pay-per-view.
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Speaking of Black Friday, looks like the domestic carriers are banking heavily on smartphones for the holidays, with each tier-one carrier launching at least one OS-enabled device. Of course, consumers will ultimately decide the success of those plans. And people are cheap. Recent reports indicate shoppers are still window-shopping for Windows devices, but when it comes time to pay for a phone, most are still looking for freebies.
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It’s nice to see that all of those European carriers willing to give a kidney just to offer Apple’s iPhone exclusively are having to provide customers with unlocked versions of the mystical device. We know Apple will be cut out of the revenue share loop because of the mandate, but we’re pretty sure all of those additional iPhone sales will more than make up for the shortfall.