Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

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.

Oh, that. Blood sacrifices.

gotcha. Hail Satan, Ned.

nedraggetnedraggetnedragget

Two 't's please.

ZS could do wonders with a photo of an ilxor in a mirror w/r/t this

with evil eye dog in background

i mean, i really like the record. and yeah, there's both good and bad experimental psychedelia, just like any other kinda music. But it doesn't seem to me that this particular Sandy Bull album is any-more self-induldgent or boring than something like Vision Creation Newsun or some Xenakis album. But all three of these albums were made for different audiences at different times, who obviously had different expectations.
I just think it's weird that a guy who clearly doesn't have an affinity for the style would review the record. I dunno. Where is Ned Ragget or someone to write a better review?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:30 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

HI DERE
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:31 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not creepy at all.
― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:32 AM Bookmark

Hahah

LOL

mr que otm - the idea that books will die just seems impossible - that's like saying 'now we have photos/computer screens/etc. painting will die'. the way i see it, who cares if kindle-type things overtake mass-market paperbacks? why are mass-market paperbacks so precious or somehow culturally superior? and i say this as someone who loves the physical-ness and materiality of books, and someone who has spent obscene amounts of money on books.

there's no way i'm forking out several hundred for one of these things anytime soon - but if some better comes along in the next few years, and the price drops below $150, i will def be getting one. the idea of being able to carry around several books on a little gadget makes me very happy.

I think Ned was mentioned in one of the football-by-which-I-mean-soccer topics but failed to creepily emerge*. Disappointing.

*I tried to find a gif of Homer gliding through Ned's hedge, but no luck.

Ned's December 2005 HI DERE just gave genuine workplace lols - great stuff.

On a thread related note, the University I work at is also seriously looking at this kind of device as well for all the reasons upthread; the potential satchel-lightening (esp for science courses) would be amazing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574277041750084938.html#printMode

At colleges, trials of e-textbooks and readers have been mixed. When Northwest Missouri State ran its trial with the Sony Reader last fall, dozens of the 200 participants bailed out after about two weeks. “The students more often than not either suffered through it or went and got physical books,” says Paul Klute, the assistant to the university’s president, who oversees the e-book program. Students didn’t like that they couldn’t flip through random pages, take notes in the margins or highlight text, he says.

Penn State ran a pilot program last fall with 100 of the Sony Reader devices in honors English classes, and found similar results as Northwest Missouri State. The devices are good if you’re using them “on a beach or on an airplane,” said Mike Furlough, assistant dean for scholarly communications at Penn State University Libraries. “But not fully functional for a learning environment.”

guessi should add this part to be fair, last few paragraphs

ony’s newest model, the Reader 700, now features note taking and highlighting, says Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business. The Reader, he says, “is not a multipurpose device, it is designed for focused reading.”—something that many educators are looking for in a world where students’ lives are filled with digital distractions.

Northwest Missouri State has since decided to pursue e-books that can be read on small laptops known as netbooks, rather than just a single-purpose e-reader. “A tablet netbook that is sturdy and is as fully functional as a PC has the ability to do word processing and run other programs,” Mr. Klute says.

Some Northwest Missouri State students say they remain fans of digital reading. Eric Pabst, 21, used his laptop to read e-textbooks in his finance class last year. “It’s cool because we don’t have to lug around a huge book anymore,” he says.

hm, if i were studying, writing papers, doing research, i would totally want a stand-alone reader, rather than have it integrated into my laptop

this is all going to be so much better/functional/pleasant when screens and cpus are paper-thin

I think Ned was mentioned in one of the football-by-which-I-mean-soccer topics but failed to creepily emerge*. Disappointing.

Sorry about that, I might have been asleep.

(haha i have no idea why i used the term 'cpu'. do people still use that word even? i mean processor, motherboard, keyboard, battery, all that circuitry stuff)
xpost

(Best part of that Dec. '05 exchange is that it was NEW YEARS EVE.)

my kindle's cpu is a neural net processor a learning computer

>(Best part of that Dec. '05 exchange is that it was NEW YEARS EVE.)

Can there be any other way to see in the new year? champagne, fireworks and a chorus of "Auld Lang HI DERE"...

Sorry about that, I might have been asleep.

My main thing is Kindle books are too $$$...$10 avg IIRC. 85+% of books I want I can find at the used book store (for $1-6, most of which I can get on credit), and then just recycle those back (if I wan't too crazy abt them) next time I go to the used book store. Or the books I want are OOP and I just have to cross my fingers someone sells them to the used book store.

Most books I buy new are graphic novels & I can't see those working on a Kindle.

The thing that wld be NICE abt a Kindle is I always end up lugging 8 books around on vacation & those take up so much weight/space in a suitcase.

But what about your bot?

It was being a lazyass punk.

The thing that wld be NICE abt a Kindle is I always end up lugging 8 books around on vacation & those take up so much weight/space in a suitcase.

My local library will MAIL you books that you check out via the internet!

My main thing is Kindle books are too $$$...$10 avg IIRC. 85+% of books I want I can find at the used book store (for $1-6, most of which I can get on credit), and then just recycle those back (if I wan't too crazy abt them) next time I go to the used book store. Or the books I want are OOP and I just have to cross my fingers someone sells them to the used book store.

Most books I buy new are graphic novels & I can't see those working on a Kindle.

― bad-boy (sic) cartographer (actually a girl) (called) (not named) (Abbott), Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:16 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think the price point thing is huge here--i got one as a present and didnt mind it so much but if im going to spend $10 i want something i can hold in my hand and actually own instead of a little file thats proprietarily encoded. i sold mine on ebay.

Also this:

http://www.ndsbooks.co.uk/100_classic_dsbook-large.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2009/1/5/1231161972587/100-Classic-Book-Collecti-001.jpg

There is one of these in my house, but I have not yet had any reason to actually sit down and read something on it. I think as far as I've gotten has been paging through a newspaper and thinking it looked nice (although unlike a paper, or even the web, you couldn't just eyeball it and figure out hierarchical stuff about what you wanted to read).

Max, maybe you can answer something for me -- I didn't ask too much, but it seems frustratingly difficult to put your own material on one? I.e., if you have a manuscript or PDF (or whatever format) of a text you need to read through -- if this were simple I assume you'd have working people in any number of fields (say, publishing) who'd happily adopt.

nabisco, all you have to do is email to your Kindle.

er, email it to your Kindle

They each have a unique email address

what sorts of documents are displayable?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200321920

Sending Personal Documents

You need to establish your Kindle's e-mail address and list approved "From" e-mail addresses to send files for conversion. When you e-mail personal documents to your Kindle's e-mail address, they are automatically converted to a Kindle-friendly format. Then you can download them via USB using your computer or you can have them wirelessly delivered to your device for a small fee.

Your Kindle will only receive converted files from e-mail addresses you have authorized on the Manage Your Kindle page to help prevent spam.

* Microsoft Word (.DOC)
* Structured HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
* RTF (.RTF)
* JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
* GIF (.GIF)
* PNG (.PNG)
* BMP (.BMP)
* PDF (.PDF) is supported natively by Kindle DX and by Kindle in our experimental category
* Microsoft Word (.DOCX) is supported in our experimental category.

oh looks like a free option here?

to avoid a fee, or if you're not in wireless range, you can send an e-mail to "name&qu✧✧✧@f✧✧✧.kin✧✧✧.c✧✧ and download the files via USB in a Kindle compatible format to the device(s).

that's fucked up but it looks like you can do it for free

the fee is currently 10 cents.

I've sent txt, pdf, rtf, and doc files to mine. chm is probably supported too.

You can also format them yourself (basic html - Mr. Jaq is working on King Lear) and just drop them on via your computer.

xpost, obv.

ha, wow, never mind -- I guess we were just being incompetent one afternoon

I ran across a similar device for sheet music and composing the other day: http://www.music123.com/Freehand-MusicPad-Pro-Plus-Version-4-0-Electronic-Sheet-Music-Display-241190-i1126007.Music123

Looks like a giant pda, has a touchscreen, backlit, etc. Has anyone seen one IRL?

that ds book collection sucks by the way. Shitty interface, screen way too small.
The killer app that might push me to a kindle is the electronically delivered magazine and newspaper subscriptions. They're much cheaper,easier to carry around, easier to search and i get tired of bundling out paper to recycling.

Ha it does suck.