I don’t do all that much shopping at Amazon, but it’s not all that uncommon, either. They tend to be pretty clever with their recommendations, which is why it’s surprising to me how unhelpful they are when it comes to electronics. As some of you remember, I bought a new digital camera a few months ago, and I bought it through Amazon. It seems fairly obvious to me that if nothing else, the information that I just purchased a digital camera should indicate that the one thing I’m not looking at right now is more digital cameras. Recommending similar items to past purchases works for books or music, but not for big electronics purchases. You’d think that based on the information of my camera purchase, they’d be trying to sell me camera accessories - memory cards, cases, ac adapters, whatever - not more cameras. It’s not just cameras - if I just purchased a DVD player (which I didn’t, but that’s another story), sell me DVDs related to past book or VHS purchases, not DVD players similar to the one I’ve already bought.

And speaking of DVD players, yes, I’m looking. This whole process is reminiscient of the months just before I finally bought a CD player just shy of ten years ago; I’m reluctant to buy anything else on VHS because I know I’m going to make the switch in the near future, but it’s irritating because I haven’t done it quite yet. With the freelance job I just finished, however, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that I’ll end up with something in the near future - perhaps a sexy little 4.9 pound something with a combo drive, even. That’s not to say I’m displeased with my existing sexy something, but really - can you have too much sexiness?

And on an unrelated note, I’m going to chime in with everyone else who’s already noted how much better Wired has gotten in the past year or so. I used to pick up the occasional copy for shuttle flights or train rides and thumb through it, but since a reader sent me a subscription I’ve read every issue cover to cover. The writing is much more engaging and relevant and it’s nice that there aren’t a couple hundred pages of ads padding everything out anymore. Along with Granta and The New Yorker, that brings the grand total of print magazines I bother reading to a whopping and impressive three.