The narrative so far has been that this is finally a legitimate competitor for Apple’s iPad. It’s got decent specs, a huge brand name, and it’s running the Android operating system. Oh, and it’s $300 cheaper.

Meh. I wouldn’t count on this being a competitor for the iPad any more than the BlackBerry Playbook was (that being, not at all). Instead, let’s look at this from a different angle: content.

Amazon could care less about making hardware. They’re in the business of selling products, and it doesn’t matter whether that’s their own product or someone else’s. Is the profit margin a bit different? Sure, but at the end of the day, Amazon doesn’t care what it’s selling as long as it is selling something. They sell Apple products, BlackBerry products, DVDs, hardcover books… it doesn’t matter what it is, they’ll generally sell it.

So that in mind, why on earth would they release a product to compete with the iPad when they can simply sell more iPads and continue to make money? Because it’s all about content.

The Kindle is a gateway drug for entertainment. And the one product Amazon hasn’t quite been able to crack has been content (with the exception of MP3s, which seem to be doing pretty well)—until the Kindle came along. With the Kindle they slaughtered the publishing industry, completely rethinking the way your average consumer buys books and consumes content. They priced it right and included only the features customers needed. Not surprisingly, they’ve sold like hotcakes.

The Kindle Fire is opening salvo of a new battle, this time for video content. Netflix has been king of the streaming video playground for quite some time, but recent developments suggest they could be faltering. If Amazon can get the Kindle Fire in enough consumer hands, with easy access to paid, streaming content through Amazon (and not Netflix), then they’ve just converted a whole slew of users looking for entertainment on the go. Once watching on the Kindle Fire, users gain an awareness of Amazon’s desktop streaming offerings and Amazon has an opportunity to jump into the streaming content industry in a big way. Netflix, watch out.

This is epic. I love DC.

For more information on the RSA, check out their website. They’re also on Twitter @theRSAorg.

The theme this time around was “Blogging the City,” with the city obviously being DC (which I love, love, love–I honestly cannot tell you how much I love living in this city). Hosted at the awesome Busboys and Poets (they’re on Twitter too: @busboysandpoets) in the U Street neighborhood, today proved that I’m definitely not the only one who loves this city. In fact, as almost all our speakers this morning put it, they love this city so much they’re willing to put in more than their fair share of the “labor of love” in order to spread the word about the fantastic events, news and opportunities our city has to offer.

The line-up of speakers was fantastic. We had the founders of WeLoveDC, FreeinDC and Borderstan presenting and they had some thought-provoking and inspiring things to say. Check below the cut for the highlights, lots of links and even a video of the speakers if you’d like to watch the event yourself!

First up we had Tom and Tiffany Bridge (@tbridge and @tiffany, respectively), the awesome, awesome creators of WeLoveDC. Outside of maybe the DC-ist (which, as far as I know, makes money and has an extremely large staff for a blog) their blog is hands-down the best for coverage of our city, and they frequently cover things more thoroughly and all-around better than anyone else, mainstream media included.

They had one of my favorite quotes of the entire morning: “Voice times obsession equals an audience,” they said [Note: I'm an idiot and somehow managed to get this quote wrong the first time], calling it one of the fundamental equations of blogging. I couldn’t agree more! There’s no doubt that when you’ve got the voice for a topic and a little obsessed, the people will simply come to you. That’s happened to them at WeLoveDC and it’s a wonderful thing to witness.

Second was the always wonderful Amy Melrose and her FreeinDC blog (tweeting @freeindcblog). I had the pleasure of getting to know her a little bit back in January at Social Justice Camp DC and it was great to see her again this morning! Her blog is hands down the best resource for free (or at least cheap) events in and around the District and if you aren’t reading it you’re simply missing out.

Amy really got me thinking when she started talking about how most people outside of the District see Washington completely differently than we, its residents, do. The media makes such a fuss about Washington being “broken” and DC being such a “mess.” Even Barack Obama has consistently driven a message of “changing the way Washington works.” Well replace Washington with “the Federal government” and you’ve got the messaging right. Sure there are issues with DC, but it’s not broken, it’s not a mess and not everything needs changing.

Don’t get me wrong–public education, public transit, crime and poverty are still issues that this city needs to confront, among others. But those issues aren’t unique to our city, and they aren’t unsolvable problems. Are they challenges? Of course. But people like us–the bloggers , the social media junkies , the conference addicts, the social justice activists–we are the ones here to change that.

Amy is doing a fantastic job communicating what greatness our city has to offer, and for free. So even the down-and-outs, the poor college students, the still-seeking-a-job-ers can witness the great cultural, historical and social aspects of our city that are so frequently overlooked by the mainstream media and those outside the beltway.

Finally, we ended with Matt Rhoades of Borderstan (@borderstan), a somewhat more specific DC-based blog, focusing on only the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle and U Street neighborhoods. But don’t write him off, those neighborhoods are some of the most interesting and vibrant neighborhoods in the District, and even if you don’t live there it’s worth reading.

Matt described his blog as “the accidental blog,” but it’s just another case of that fundamental equation Tom and Tiffany presented early on in the morning: voice x obsession = audience. There’s no doubt this man has a passion for his neighborhood, for creating a dialogue among the people that live there, and for working to make it the best place it can be. It’s truly inspiring. He’s also looking for help in the near future, so if you life in the area and are interested in helping, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Below I’ve embedded the Ustream video of the event, so if you like watch it–it’s almost like being there! By no means did I cover everything they told us in their presentations, so there’s plenty more to learn if you’ve got the time to watch.