As dialogue continues to swirl about the iTampon’s big iLetdown, David Carr’s recent article in the New York Times touches on a point that has often gone unsaid: this is a media consumption device, not a gadget, and its larger size is precisely what makes it special.

Sometime Friday, Amazon stopped directly selling all books put out by the publisher Macmillan, due to a disagreement over future pricing of e-books. Let’s be clear, it’s not just that Amazon wasn’t selling Macmillan books on the Kindle. Amazon was no longer directly selling any books from this publisher, though one can still buy them new and used on the website through third-party vendors. This is a dispute with massive consequences for publishers — and it’s not great for Amazon, either. So why did both companies find themselves in this mutually destructive game of chicken?