“It doesn’t really matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.”

The words of the stellar Steve Jobs at Mac World 2008.

But he got it wrong. People are just changing how they do it. Paper is dead.

On Monday Amazon rated the Kindle as their best selling electronic device of the year. It was also the most “wished for” item on the site for 2008.

When the Amazon Kindle came onto the market in November 2007 it sold out in a record 5.5 hours. Oprah recommended it on her show, gave out coupons and told the masses that it may be expensive but it would pay for itself because the downloads were so cheap. Predictably, it flew off the shelves.

Being able to download a whole library into something you can carry around in your bag is truly amazing. And it was the fist truly practical e-book reader with e-ink technology that made it readable even in sunlight. It has a good enough reading experience, it’s easy to browse and purchase content which goes some way in explaining its massive take up rates.

But on the other hand it’s a bit of a closed garden experience as it doesn’t support standard e-book formats like e-pub. It uses a lot of power on standby. If you don’t shut it down the battery runs out in a day or so – even though text displays aren’t supposed to use power when the pages aren’t being turned. An e-ink display manufacturer like PVI lasts a lot longer.

For backpackers and travelers downloading reading material for a long trip over a few weeks or months is absolutely brilliant. You don’t have to carry a library on your back but its benefit is also its downfall. For the frequent flyer or business customer, Kindle is just another bulky piece of technology you have to take with you, along with everything else.

The Sony Reader is the main competitor to the Kindle. It has a dedicated music player and a JPEG viewer; Amazon havn’t quite nailed either with the Kindle. It does have one thing that the Sony doesn’t though and that’s a speaker. Very good for audio books.

It’s the e-books themselves, more than anything, that are the real money spinner for the reader manufacturers and things look like they’ll get even better in the e-book market. A survey from Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimates that the sales of e-books by 2012 will be around $9.6 billion annually and by 2018 will bypass the sales of paper books.

The TextonPhone application launched last August. Since then uptake has been steady and today there are around 50,000 registered users. It gives the iPhone user access to over 20,000 books, magazines and journals. The application is also in the pipeline to be expanded to other smart phones too.

As I see it, smart phones are the next logical step in the Kindle/e-reader debacle about who’ll come out on top.

Smart phones are small, light and you already have them on you; a distinct bonus in the e-reader market. Publishers, Random House recently made some of their best sellers available through the iPhone and iPod touch. A month earlier, publishers Pan Macmillan and Simon & Schuster did the same through the free application Stanza.

Initially, for some customers it’s technically daunting but they’re not the typical smart phone user.

There is one thing, though. If you leave your e-reader on the bus or the tube, terrible I know but it does happen, some weird and wonderful things have been left on public transport, you loose a library of books. If the same unfortunate thing happens with your smart phone you loose your library, your music back catalogue and a whole bunch of contacts.

That’s the risk we take with being constantly on the go.

I’d still use the my iPhone every time.

Burton is offering up to 50% off when you buy online

All Saints is offering up to 50% off when you buy online

USC is offering up to 50% off when you buy online

Oki Ni is offering up to 40% on selected brands

In conclusion its a great time to buy clothes if you’re a fashionable man and have some spare cash to splash. It may not be so good for retailers who are being forced to drastically reduce their prices to keep up with the competition.

Is it already a spruce-less, needle-less, sorry sight in the corner? Is the tinsel hanging off it? Is the angel askew?

If that’s your Christmas tree, or even if it isn’t, why don’t you grow your own?

Play.com give you everything you need to get started in a handy little box. For less than five shiny pounds you get seeds, compost, coconut husks (I’m not quite sure what they’re for) and a big terracotta pot to grow the thing in. Plus, you get your very own dollop of good karma for adding one more tree to the planet.

If you give it lots of love and attention it might just be ready for next year.

Woolworths still limps on but its days are numbered. The Woolworths in Camden Town is still open but the shelves have been stripped bare. It looks like a Russian supermarket in the late 80’s. You can still grab some sweets from the Pick n’ Mix section which is fitting as for many the only point of Woolworths was its sweet isle. When the last Pick n’ Mix is sold then, Woolworths will truly be no more.

This is what happens when companies go into administration during a recession. There was neither the inclination or the money to save a shop as symbolic as Woolworths so it is bad news for Adams, Whittards and Zavvi which have all gone into administration in the last two weeks.

It is easy to understand why a company like Whittards and Adams are having problems. Whittards is a luxury tea retailer while Adams purely sells children’s clothes. Their core business is provided by other retailers. It is possible to buy luxury teas and coffees from super markets and department stores. There is little reason to make a separate visit to a specialist tea retailer when you can buy similar products when you do your weekly shop. The same applies for children’s clothes which can be bought in super markets or in cheap clothes retailers like TK Max or Primark. Most importantly during a recession people spend less on luxuries like luxury teas and children’s clothes.

Whereas Adams and Whittards are too specialised, Woolworths did have enough of a defined identity to keep people coming back. Woolworths sold products that any other high street shop did, but without the range of specialised retailers. Woolworths also could match its competitors on prices. A company like Argos is able to sell every product under the sun while at the same time offering its customers a huge number of items within each range. It is also really cheap. How could Woolworths possibly compete?

Zavvi is an interesting case. Theoretically a shop selling CDs, DVDs, game consoles, games and other home entertainment items should be doing really well. These are reasonably expensive must have items. Everyone, from every age and walk of life likes music, films and games.  Even during a recession, people still buy these items because they are more likely to stay at home to save money and so invest in their home entertainment. However the music and movie market has taken a hit in recent years because more and more people are getting such items online from companies such as Amazon and Play.com. These sites do not have the overheads of a high street retailer and so are able to pass on the costs to their customers. Plus they can sell items high street shops with limited space cannot afford to stock. Buying online is becoming more and more popular as the populace become more web-savvy. Many online retailers offer free delivery and are often able to deliver an item within 24 hours of its being ordered. Illegal downloads mean that many people have stopped buying music and films altogether. Both scenarios are serious threats to off-line home entertainment retailers like Zavvi.

The coming year will be a difficult time for many retailers. It seems as only those with the most robust business models will be able to weather the economic down turn. Companies in precarious situations like Adams, Whittards, Zavvi may follow the same undignified fate of Woolworths.

If recent research from consumer watchdog Talk Talk is anything to go by over £2 billion worth of Christmas gifts will be returned this year. That works out as each of us getting at least one present we’ll want to return to the shop.

The research also puts the average price of unwanted gifts at around £65.

And the reward for the most returned gift? Unsurprisingly it’s clothes. Of those asked, 19% said they would never wear the clothes they were given. The second most exchanged gift was cosmetics with a return rate of 9%. Home accessories came in next with 8%, perfume had 7% and food stuffs had a bounce back rate of 5%.

It’s not as bad as the survey makes out, though. Out of the £2 billion worth of unwanted gifts only a meagre £330 million will actually make it back to the shop - down in most part to us being too embarrassed to ask for a receipt.

It’s a strange thing when you think about all the sales in full swing on the high street at the moment. Bargains are thrust before us every day tempting us into spend our money and things are discounted so much that it would be a crime not to get spending while the goings good.

Nothing sums up the shopping mood at the moment more than the success Selfridges have had with their Sale. On Boxing Day, between 12pm and 1pm, they turned over almost £1 million — the most successful hour in the store’s 100-year history. Most of the high street retailers started their January sales on Christmas Eve for the first time this year.

By spending so much we’re supporting the economy but only in the short term. Retail groups predict that the Christmas sales will go on until February at least in an attempt to keep us spending in store.

After that time - who knows? Prices will return to normal - the shops can’t keep it up. Come February we’ll be spoilt by all the bargains and unwilling to part with our cash unless we get the big discounts.

We splurge for the thrill and in the cold light of the day we realise our mistake and try to undo the damage.

It’s like shopping bulimia.

Those of you who’ve still got some present shopping to do. You are in luck. We thought we’d give you a nice definitive list of who’s doing what to their prices on the high street.  You’ve still got one day left to get yourself a bargain after all.

Here’s some of the best deals out there at the moment:

John Lewis start their clearance sale online at 6pm tomorrow night.

DIY chain B&Q are offering 50% off all their kitchens and bathrooms from 7am tomorrow, in stores and online, with discounts of up to 75% on other items. That’s 75% off at one of Britains biggest retailers.

Selfridges are slashing their prices tomorrow with their 75% sale begining on Christmas Eve too.

Superdrug are cutting their prices by up to 90% from midnight on the 24th aswell with some products going for a criminally cheap 10p in a bonanza on more than 24,000 products.

Struggling retailer Zavvi have also got some bargains to be had on DVDs and CDs.

Look at this sad sight. The once full and bursting shelves of Woolworths are now barren. Where once there was stationery, home wares, lurid kids clothes and bad CDs now there is nothing. As in retail all things must return to dust.

The picture was taken in Camden Town today. Give it a month the branch will be taken over by a Star Bucks, All Saints or American Apparell, any one of those ubiquitous high street shops.

You can never be too thin, right?

It’s the way with people. It’s the way of technology too. Tech’s gone micro and cameras are at it as well.

Over at Fujifilm they’ve introduced their thinnest camera yet, the FujiFilm Fine Pix z100fd . It packs a nifty aesthetic punch and comes in four delicious colours - shell pink, silver, cappuccino brown and tuxedo black and with the illuminated Z logo along the side and the two tone paint job, it packs an aesthetic punch.

So, it looks nice but is it up to the job? Are all those sleek lines just well sleek lines?

The spec’s top notch and it pretty much convinced me to invest my cash in a new camera.  With a meagre weight of 138g it’s one of the lightest digi cameras around and despite its paltry dimensions - 92.0 (W), 55.7 (H) and 19.8 (D) - it packs in a TARDIS-like X5 optical zoom, a CCD shift for image stabilisation, face detection and red eye removal.

It’s the face detection system that really sets this camera apart from others on the market. It finds and corrects red eye from any face in the frame so that when you snap away, your chances of getting a picture perfect portrait are increased ten fold.

On the camera itself there are few external controls, just 8 in total. This is a point and shoot camera so what more do you need. All 8 of the external controls are clearly labeled with industry-standard symbols. You can directly access the various flash, macro self-timer and image stabilisation options by clicking on the four sides of the navigation pad. As with most other FujiFilm digital cameras, the FinePix Z100fd has a Menu button on the rear that gives you access to the software menu system.

The FujiFilm Fine PixZ100fd will wow the most ardent of camera geeks, just as much as the fashion heads. Sure, the high quality finish sets a luxurious standard but there’s no denying the tech spec that’ll give you a great picture, shot after shot after shot.

Don’t worry guys it’s not a scam this time. Gaming site Buyitplayit.com are offering 50 Nintendo DS as part of their Freaky Friday offer. The first 50 customers to purchse the DS after it hits 12 will get the DS at this remarkable price. Register now if you want to be in the running. Good luck!

Uber fashionable high street fashion retailer All Saints is offering an amazing online discount. This season has seen All Saints dispense with the faux religious designs to embrace a futuritsic almost militaristic look. Their men’s boots seem perfectly adapted to marching armies rather than every day wear. This discount means that the more expensive items such as boots and leather jackets are now more within reach.