Nicest Thing I Can Say about the iPad
-- It's the Kindle-killer. Yippie!
eBook
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Wed, 05/05/2010 - 9:48am.
Will the Real 'Kindle Killer' Please Stand Up?
Roy was a bit more taken with the recently introduced Apple iPad than I, to the point that he titled his post, "Kindle Killer".
From what I've heard, the device is modeled on the iPhone which is both good and not so good. It's good because, as Roy points out, if you're familiar with one, you'll be familiar with the other. It's not so good because, among other things, Apple keeps a firm grip on what you can put on it through its App store. What's more, it's feature set isn't all that great and it seems the one word that's been associated with it following its release is, 'disappointment'.
In walks the Dell Mini 5. With its 400x800 screen, the device fits somewhere between a smart phone and a netbook. Engadget calls it "neither too big nor too small". You can actually use it as a phone and the screen while smaller than the iPad is large enough compared to your average smart phone that reading is easier. In addition, the thing has a camera and runs on the open source Android system.
At the moment, it's still in production. Things like the keyboard still need a bit more work. But once the kinks are ironed out, perhaps in a second iteration, this kind of middling approach where you can both read and phone seems far more worthy of 'Kindle Killer' status than the iPad.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 10:42am.
eBook Killer, Thy Name is NetBook
So remind me again, who's going to pick the utterly drab and uni-functional Amazon Kindle for $359 when they can get this baby for the same price?
Courtesy of MiniNote User.
UPDATE (1/5/09): Not to make this sound like the GadgetBlog but HP just came out with an update to its top of the line model, the HP Mini 2140. Faster chip, bigger lcd panel -- Hoo Baby!
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sun, 12/07/2008 - 11:40am.
eBook Readers Suck as eBook Readers
First people, please don't mention the Kindle and the future-of-print in the same breath. That would imply that one has something to do with the other and why do Amazon's marketing for them?
But ignoring that for a moment, I think the whole concept of a dedicated "ebook" reader is somewhat dodgy. I mean, if that's all they do, why bother?
You can't copy out bits and pieces of the text, import them into something you're working on, share them with friends, blog about them -- or do any of the million other things you're used to doing on electronic devices that are increasingly just as small and inexpensive.
In other words, an 'eBook' reader completely sucks as an 'eBook' reader because it treats what you're reading as a complete digital dead-end.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 10:53am.
Kindle Swindle
Please stop talking about the demise of the traditional book! To do so in the same breath as the Amazon Kindle gives this contraption way more credibility than it’s due.
The defenders of this device say we shouldn’t rush to judgment while at the same time they make such extraordinary associations.
It’s marketing. That’s all.
UPDATE: Ultimately, we're going to describe all the hype surrounding the Amazon Kindle as "The Little Bandwagon Effect That Couldn't".
I mean, Amazon said to the media, 'jump', and the media responded, 'how high'? (Here's a particularly embarrassing example from Businessweek.)
But the public won't have any of this. The level of resistance is due in large part to how far the claims for this device simply defy common sense.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Wed, 11/21/2007 - 1:34pm.
Kindle Schmindle
So every time some new 'ebook' device is announced, we're 'sposed to drop everything and proclaim it a paradigm shift? At least that's the routine.
This week's candidate is the Amazon Kindle -- at least as presented in an article in Newsweek extolling its virtues titled "The Future of Reading" by Steven Levy.
The article is nothing but an uncritical paean to Amazon. The thinking behind it literally is: because Amazon has released the device, ipso facto we're entering "an exciting -- and jarring -- post-Gutenberg era". "The e-book reader," he declares, "is coming of age".
On the other hand, there's no serious analysis of why similar devices have failed in the past or why alternatives such as smartphones and laptops continue to prove more successful.
Instead what we get is a mismash of every technical buzzword and concept in the book. Words like "milestone" and "revolution" are mentioned. There's the obligatory iPod analogy. The device is possessed of a "disruptive" nature (well, what isn't these days?) and there's even talk of "Book 2.0".
From there, the author gets totally lost in a discussion of paper vs. electronic and the joys of hypertext (the "always-on book") that could have been written by Vannevar Bush.
All you have to know about the author is that he plunked down $1.99 for an electronic copy of Dickens' "Bleak House" -- a work long out of copyright and available for free at close to a million other sites -- and thinks he got a bargain ("You can also get classics for a song.")
This is gonzo tech journalism at its worst -- repeated for a day only to be replaced by the next new (under-preforming) device that some media giant wants to shove down our throats.
Update: Here's another example of uncritical stenography -- this time from CNET
UPDATE II (10/15/2009): A number of commentators have pointed to my use of 'Kindle Schmindle'. I guess the official term for this is 'Shm-reduplication' (yes, who knew) as explained in this Wikipedia article.
Posted in Submitted by Leo Klein on Sun, 11/18/2007 - 10:15pm.
eBooks are from the Department of Bad Ideas
Someone asked about eBooks on one of the library lists I'm on. They wanted to know what the prospects were. I responded on the list but I thought I'd share my opinion here as well.
I've never really understood the rationale behind these devices. I mean, I already have something that reads "electronic books" -- it's called a laptop. If I wanted something even more mobile, I'd get a smaller laptop -- or maybe use my PDA. The advantages of using my laptop -- besides the fact that I already own it -- is that I can play most formats on it, and not just one.
Furthermore, my laptop can do more than just "read" the thing -- I can cut out parts, re-use it, send it to friends and colleagues. I can link to the file, 'digg it', list it on del.icio.us. In other words, I can do everything I've become accustomed to do on a computer in a networked environment. Why would I want something that could do anything less?
I think if the sole purpose of a device is simply to serve as a platform for a proprietary format, it's doomed. This kind of "lock-in" is not popular with consumers. Just ask Sony how its own version of the iPod is doing.
