Have you seen any Amazon Kindles lately? Silicon Alley Insider reports that the much-ballyhooed device is beginning to "pass the subway test," meaning that real people online have reported seeing the device in use in public in all manner of places, at least in NYC.

"We're getting close to the one-year mark on Amazon's gadget—Nov. 19, to be exact. And while we can't say for sure that it's the 'Future of Reading'—as Steven Levy's Newsweek cover proclaimed on launch day—it's certainly feeling less like a UFO sighting when someone pulls one out."

It remains to be seen what Amazon has in store for an encore, particularly in light of Sony's shrewdly updated eReader.