Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

Fahrenheit 488

Ha. I was just surprised to see that people I actually knew were starting to buy these in any numbers.

it's mostly older people, from what i've read

You know how old people like to jump on trends.

the ones i've seen in person=youngish guy, slightly older woman, oldish woman

muddy waters, "oldish woman"

i don't think her name is muddy waters, but if she's on my bus tonight i'll ask her

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_90_of_waking_hours_spent?utm_source=a-section

fantastic. that's on par with their best.

my main attraction is that I would be able to knit 'n' read at the same time. Now it's a bit hard cause paperbacks don't really lie flat that easily. :-( maybe that's why a lot of your mom's friends are getting these? i know it's a really big hit with ravelers (knit related community)

I occasionally buy a book for the Kindle app for my iPod touch, but this story made me decide not to buy ebooks from Amazon regularly.

can't wait to dig into this story, Nicholson Baker buys a Kindle
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker?currentPage=all

I wonder if the Kindle will ever see any sort of mass adoption. Maybe many years from now, some digital reading device will become popular, but I doubt it will be the Kindle.

I think devices like the iPhone will become *much* more popular over the next few years.

This new Apple tablet is probably not going to go mainstream tho: http://gizmodo.com/5323446/financial-times-confirms-apple-tablet-features-september-launch

Thanks for that link, Mr. Que. Looks like a good article.

Yeah, I'd be curious to hear what a paper hoarder like Baker has to say about the kindle.
My head tells me to wait three or four years until they optimize these for comics and crossword puzzles and they shake out the problems. My heart wants new gadgets.

i still find this things's potential end result to be unbearably depressing

Agreed.

'Unbearably depressing' makes it sound as though its failure will bring about something apocalyptic...

i dunno, the idea that people won't read actualy books any longer...is not necessarily apocalyptic, but really terribly depressing.

By "actual books" do you mean physical books? If so, I agree with you that that's sad, but I don't think the Kindle will change how much people read. Those who read will continue to read, and people who don't read probably won't have a Kindle in the first place.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I thought you meant 'the Kindle failing and sucking ass' wld be the end result. Do you mean not reading the books we all know and love, printed on paper? Or never read anything ever at all?

bahaha xpost

i don't think books are going anywhere anytime soon

My wife and I just ordered one. I'll keep you all updated on our enjoyment thereof.

There's nothing like an epic ILX thread where people mourn the fact that no one reads, ever...*crosses fingers*

x-post -- Treekiller. Uh, wait.

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

Kindle App for the iPhone is a far worse experience than just reading a physical book. Haven't used the Kindle itself.

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

― omar little, Monday, July 27, 2009 12:28 PM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark

Didn't someone try to publish an ILX ebook or book once and it was a shitshow?

Wasn't a thread also published in one of those Best New Music books, and that was also a shitshow? (People not getting paid or something?)

we could call it "excelsior: the e-book"...just a thought

That being said, I would totally buy a book that was a compendium of the best ILX threads.

Truth

Excelsior the book

some underrated Dr. Phil-isms upthread. don't sleep

Where did the whole "Excelsior" meme come from anyway?

maybe we could publish some really funny ilx threads in e-book form and everyone can read them on their kindle

for the ultimate in meta, I only read this thread from my kindle.

btw, Barnes & Noble is giving away 6 free eBooks right now, when you download their eReader (if you have a B&N account). Looks like it manages downloads via iTunes.

Excelsior by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!

"O stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,
Excelsior!

"Beware the pine tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night,
A voice replied, far up the height,
Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior!

A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!

But more to the point of your question, I always assumed Ned thunk it up.

you can’t turn the page with one hand. The book is always flopping itself shut at the wrong moment. They’re heavy. You can only take one or two of them with you at a time.

Are you tired of all the hassle of "conventional" books? Hardcovers are just so heavy, and paperbacks never stay open! Does your library look like this? "Conventional" books can be a storage nightmare! And sharp paper pages can be dangerous -- for you, your children, and even your pets. Say goodbye to the hassle of those messy, maddening "conventional" books, and say hello to something new.

No, I'm done. A quick search of the archive will reveal that I don't get mad & say I'm leaving or stuff like that, so this is it. PEACE OUT

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, June 23, 2004 3:10 PM (5 years ago)

But more to the point of your question, I always assumed Ned thunk it up.

Ha, no. I believe it was either Tom E. or stevem/blueski who used it for the first such thread, in fact let me check...

Okay, it was stevem, here was the very first thread:

this is the thread where you copy and paste whatever other posts on ilx made you laugh out loud

The second:

this is the ALL NEW thread where you copy and paste the posts that made you laugh out loud

And the third, where Excelsior appeared in the thread title:

i can't believe its another 'posts that made you laugh out loud' compendium thread, excelsior yadda yadda

'Excelsior' itself coming from its use by Stan Lee in Marvel comics news column signoffs.

Ah, thanks Ned! That's great. :-)

Seriously Ned, I never can figure out how you do that.

NB in terms of the takeoff of the Kindle I think adoption by actual people is going to be almost insignificant in comparison to the things they could possibly do with education -- I mean, it's a totally killer and totally sensible thing to put coursework and reading on these things (which I think they're doing trials of at the college level, but would make just as much sense for wealthy primary schools, where parents complain about their kids lugging around six big textbooks a day), and I don't doubt that they're totally looking at the potential there to get at people young and make their whole experience of reading Kindle-based

my sister just started a gig as a librarian at a silicon valley college prep private school and I think they're looking to do just that.

I don't know if it's even humanly possible to be so in love with physical books that you'd rather go to a crowded college bookstore, purchase 15 pounds of Intro to Anthropology reading, carry it home, and scatter it all over your room than just beam it all onto your Kindle in five minutes and then go out drinking

i had this big conversation with a friend yesterday abt Kindle and material culture, aesthetics, point and purpose and meaning of dif media forms, wasting of paper/trees and etc. i was recalling all the coursepacks and photocopies i'd gone through over the years (esp grad school, holy shiz) and how a Kindle would have been so perfect for all that. (and i wouldn't have all these stupid boxes of files still! digitize now!)
so yeah, nabisco otm

Seriously Ned, I never can figure out how you do that.

Work in libraries a lot = get used to using search terms as effectively as one can.

Yeah, that too, but I meant the candyman thing where you appeared and clarified as soon as your name came up.