links for 2010-01-19

In this era of layoffs and pay freezes across the industry, it might seem silly to talk about new positions that publishing houses should be looking to fill. I can hear you all groaning from here: with what time, exactly, should we be interviewing these people, and which pile of doubloons should we cash in to make payroll? But instead of thinking of these roles as expenses now, they should be seen as investments from publishers in their digital future, ones that will pay off in dividends in the years to come.

Whatever happens, there seems to be plenty of room for both the hardware and software to evolve.

The ultimate device still seems several years away.

As I looked at the huge number of electronic readers for books and periodicals at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, one thing that stood out to me was the various display technologies these devices are using.