Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

that's what all my ladies say

I'd love to talk about cool lesser-known features and correct some assumptions and misconceptions about the device, but we've been specifically instructed not to do so. So for now, I'll just let it go... Sorry about the jerk comment...

The quotes in The Guardian article are kind of funny...

Amazon's chief executive Jeff Bezos... "Books have stubbornly resisted digitisation. I think there's a very good reason for that, and that is the book is so highly evolved and so suited to its task that it's very hard to displace."

Philip Makinson, of Greenwich Consulting... "Do not get me wrong, it's a very nice bit of kit but what need is it fulfilling? Books are quite portable, cheap and universally available already."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/20/amazon.news?gusrc=rss&feed=10

Why the fuck would anyone pay £195 for this? Reading it is never going to be as comfortable an experience as reading a book, so much isn't going to be easily or legally available and, y'know, it costs more than an iPod and not much less than an iPhone on contract. Not saying they do the same thing, but yeah, perspective.

i feel sorry for that schwantz guy now :(

only possible appeal of this (or any equivalent) is not having to lift boxes and boxes of books when moving.

but when i fall asleep reading and the book inevitably falls off/behind the bed, i would be pretty mad if that book cost $200

I'd love to get one but the $400 is pretty steep.

I thought last night about all the Library of America editions I could line a shelf with using the same $400.

I'd rather add another $100 and get every Dalkey Archive book ever.

only possible appeal of this (or any equivalent) is not having to lift boxes and boxes of books when moving
I'm paying my movers way less than this costs.

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading

Oh, I guess you only get 100 books from them for that price nowadays.

i would miss different-sized books and cover art and the like

It's interesting - my co-worker and I both worked at ReplayTV together back at the beginning of the PVR, and he pointed out how similar the two products are in some ways:

Both products are/were not available in retail stores, so nobody could really try them out before buying.

Both products were greeted with similar "why would I need this?" reactions from many people. For ReplayTV, he remembered how people said stuff like "I already HAVE a VCR that I never use - why would I want this thing?"

And on the good side, most people who used ReplayTV (or TiVo, or other PVR) for a while couldn't imagine life without one after using it.

Time will tell if the Kindle has a similar effect on customers (and, to be fair, ReplayTV did not end up being very successful, although the PVR has become almost ubiquitous), but it faces some of the same challenges.

schwantz, did you work at lab126 in the a9 office on hamilton? i was there for a while. congrats on the launch.

so every book ever is available for this thing ?

I'm still a bit underawed by the grey lcd looking screen, is it even back lit?

this is a pda with less functionality

it looks nasty, and it sounds like a disaster from the planning 'how do we DRM it' PoV

I don't think the reaction has been so much "why would I need this" but "I'd like this, but not a DRM-crippled $10-a-pop no-hyphenating 1980s-looking one". Sorry to rag on yr work though, congrats on shipping.

Kindle Availability
Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. See availability messaging above for estimated in-stock date.

ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW ORDER NOW

(much as i like Caecila)

Caecilia

I'm still a bit underawed by the grey lcd looking screen, is it even back lit?

It's electronic paper! No backlight necessary.

(regardless of the look and functionality of the rest of the device I think that's a huge UI win)

Anyone who compares to the iPod is a retard.

When iPods came out, you could immediately fill them with content you'd already purchased or stolen. With Kindle, I have to...re-buy all my books if I want to read them on the kindle? That's a massive barrier to entry given the cost of a Kindle.

The Kindle is beyond ugly. I want something more cuddly to take to bed or the shitter when I read. And I want color. If having paper-like display screens is so great, then why don't we have them on our computers?

I'm waiting for tablet Mac.

If having paper-like display screens is so great, then why don't we have them on our computers?

New technology, black and white only... so far. But it'll happen.

i'd quite like to see this screen to see how it's different.. is it just thinner?

I've seen a Motorola F3, and it did make me go "woah!". I thought it was a fake at first, the screen looked just like some paper or card that someone had drawn on. That only has a 7-segment type display, don't know what the resolution on the Kindle is like.

the e-paper on the kindle will be fine. i've seen other hardware with the same and it's nice. will be good for novels and a lot of straight text books. the stuff around it (hardware feel, 'product model') on the kindle seems like a giant fail though.

ledge, that was my phone up until about a week ago. It was pretty groovy, although text messaging got to be a pain.

One last shill post: Computerworld article

Can I just say that the frickin' name is possibly the goofiest thing about this?

otm. I keep thiking there is something related to this guy
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/fugitivethe/fugitiveIMAGE/fugitivethe.jpg

Or these two, although it's even more of a stretch:
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/4/48/250px-KendallsGtHits.jpg

Would you use twigs or newspaper as kindle to light a bunch of these on fire?

"Kindle! We'll Turn Paper Books Into Kindling"

I think the wii has shown a goofy name is fine

So why no landscape mode for the screen? FAIL

http://db.tidbits.com/article/9329

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/archives/2007/11/the_kindle_a_reviewers_first_impressions_1.html

Congrats to Schwantz on a big launch and a great concept, but based on photos & early reviews I'm leaning towards "Omar Little OTM." As much as I'd love an iPod for Books, not sure this is my thing.

But I'll definitely check back around 5th/6th Gen. Look where it got Apple.

Http/1.1 Service Unavailable

still sucks then

Congrats to Schwantz on a big launch and a great concept

spot the deliberate mistake(s)

I have actually seen three of these on the train. they look like medical apparati for the visually impaired.

Congrats to Schwantz on a big launch and a great concept

spot the deliberate mistake(s)

-- DG, Friday, 6 June 2008 19:06 (Yesterday) Link

Spot the continuing-to-troll douche.

Medical apparatopotamuses.

Congrats to Schwantz on a big launch and a great concept
spot the deliberate mistake(s)

The capitalization of the "s" at the start of his name?

"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.
"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.

...

Why not just make an actual e-ink phone if you're going to do that?

i'd love to see the super refresh (you can watch videos on it!) but yeah not sure what market / purpose they're going for, it's obviously way overspecced (and small) for an ereader.

they quote a bigger diagonal screen size than the clara but that aspect ratio skews things

I could see the appeal of an e-ink phone (especially if it means that the battery life is significantly longer, not sure about that though).

I feel like somebody who wants something more portable to do their reading is just going to use their actual phone rather than carry around two similarly sized devices even if the phone screen isn't quite as good for reading as e-ink is.

xxp to myself

Might be worth watching this video on an e-ink monitor before committing to the phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZXrJRpA0Jw

As a fortysomething with increasingly iffy vision, I don't find e-ink noticeably better than reading on my phone - my Kindle still looks a bit sparkly and overly-contrasty, even though it's noticeably better than a phone on a sunny day. But my impression is that the resolution/DPI of the text itself is still pretty poor even on the most recent e-ink readers.

Chief benefits of the Kindle for me are:
-- Reading big Victorian novels is a bit easier on my back than carrying a big Victorian novel
-- Every non-reading experience on the Kindle is bad, which keeps me focused on reading
-- Useful on holidays and stops me packing 8 books in a suitcase

But I don't find the letter-and-sentence-reading experience itself any better

plus:
-- you can fall asleep whilst reading without creasing pages / facial papercuts
-- backlight means you don't need the main bedroom light on / can read between bands
-- ebooks are cheaper / free

minus:
-- ocr errors
-- amazon drm / hegemony

plus:
-- choice of fonts (serif for victorian novels, sans for sci fi) / text size

-- Every non-reading experience on the Kindle is bad, which keeps me focused on reading

Btw, this would basically be the main positive of an e-ink phone. Much like the reason why I am sometimes tempted to just buy a flip phone it would prevent me from wasting time doing dumb shit.