Seven years ago, I started a company called Utipia with two other people: a fellow journalist, and a talented developer who happened to be my brother. We wrote a business plan, raised some money from friends and family, incorporated, and built a working demo to show how our clever content could be cleverly delivered to the web sites of our nonexistent partners.… Story continues … “Always make new mistakes.”

My story on the Sony Reader and the e-book market is the lead story on Wired News this morning. Check it out!

Wired News: Screening the Latest Bestseller

Electronic books have traditionally gone straight from the manufacturer to the remainders bin — but the market has never gone away entirely, despite years of tepid sales and failed predictions.

Bound to Please, by Michael Dirda

What can I say? I haven’t felt this transformed by a collection of essays since I read Jeffrey Steingarten’s first book, The Man Who Ate Everything. Like Steingarten, Dirda has an infectious enthusiasm for his topic (for Dirda it’s literature, instead of food); an impressive, seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of his subject; and the ability to write naturally, easily, and even humorously.… Story continues … “Bound to Please, by Michael Dirda.”

“Stardust,” NASA’s comet dust-collecting satellite, will return to Earth Jan. 15. Its flight path will take it over northern CA and NV, but should be visible almost as far south as Las Vegas and as far north as Portland (though it will be pretty low in the sky at the northern and southern extremes).… Story continues … “Stardust returns.”