Saturday, May 17, 2008

Oh My Kindle!


Hello All,

Before I left the States, my father gave me a Kindle, which is Amazon's extraodinary take on the eBook.

I am hooked, hooked, hooked!

I'm usually wary of eBooks because:
1: They get hot and uncomfortable to hold.
2: They are heavy.
3: The screens are hard to read and cause eyestrain.
4: Not many titles to download.

Amazon has solved ALL of these problems.

The Kindle is revolutionary because it uses ePaper, which is like bi-colored beads sandwiched between two pieces of plastic. Run a charge through the plastic and the beads align themselve either face up or face down. One side is black, the other neutral. The result: it's just like reading a piece of paper. You can tilt it in any direction and still be able to read the screen.

And, like paper, you can read it outside in full sunlight, with no problem.

It doesn't get hot either. I don't know why, it just don't. Read it for hours and it will still feel the same.

It weighs 10 ounces. Not as much as a box of Kleenex.

As far as available titles go, well, you pretty much have all of Amazon to download, and they are putting new titles up with the quickness. Plus you can get the Times, Wired, boingboing, any newspaper, magazine, or blog you wish.

The battery lasts forever. I've had it for the better part of a week and am just charging it now. It wasn't even dead, I just couldn't stand the thought of not reading Snow Crash on the plane ride back to Seoul.

Now, it has it's problems, but for a V.1 product, it is a dream of convenience, elegance, and fun.

I want this device to take pictures, open my front door, call my friends, load Google maps, and be my laptop. It doesn't yet, but by V.10, be assured that it will.

In short, the Kindle is the must have device for Internet 2.0.
The best and most essential new widget to date.

Buy yourself a Kindle, throw it into your D.I.Y. messenger bag, hop on your Strida and pedal yourself to Central Park. I'll see you there and we can kibbitz.

Bezos, you're a genius.

Love to all,

Jackson

No comments: