[Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

[Dan Lester]

Hello Richard,

A few days belated, but was off meeting new (now 3 week old) grandson
in Albuquerque.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 8:17:39 PM, you wrote:


> Levy made a simple point.  Computers are 50 years old.  They used to fill
> rooms (and I add, they didn't have GUIs).  Within 50 years, e-books will be
> a dominant form of reading books.  Whether that's embodied in a specialized
> device or a tablet PC of some sort, isn't the point.  The only question is
> when, not whether.

Agree with the when, not whether.

> Levy pointed out that as an author of 6 books, he wants his readers'
> undivided attention.  But whether he achieves that depends on his words, not
> on the medium.

Also correct, but putting hyperlinks and such in it would allow the
reader to wander more easily, as we all know from our own web
browsing.  Of course if the author is in control of that part of the
production, as well as the words, then he need not worry.

> As for Leo's argument as to whether special-purpose devices have a place in
> this world, good grief, isn't that settled by now?  This year I bought a
> combo blender / food processor.  It's a competent blender and weak as food
> processor.  Multi-purpose devices are seldom the choice for all purposes.
> Cell phone cameras serve social networking needs, not fine photography
> desires.

Yes and no.  But having just read one of those crazy "lots of junk you
can buy" catalogs in the airline seatback pocket, and having seen
things like a "s'mores maker" and a "hot dog and bun cooker" and other
such frippery, it reminds me of other single use "tools" that just
aren't really needed.  A "Swiss Army Knife" isn't the universal tool
for all of us, but neither is a steak knife or a skinning knife.

It just might be that the coming laptops that are very light weight,
have a very readable screen, can be read like a book or a tablet, and
so forth, just might take over for a separate reader.  Remember that
most of us are READERS and might expect a dedicated and professional tool,
but for many casual users a more "universal tool" might be just great.
The cell phone camera might be a relevant example.  So might your
blender and food processor.  Our kitchen has one of each, but doubt
they have been used more than once a year each.  Same for the toaster
and the toaster oven.  Of course if we were dedicated, much less
professional, cooks, that would be a different story.

> Guess what?  I didn't use the cell camera, because the results are too low
> quality.  I left the SLR in the hotel safe, because it's too big to carry
> around.  I took over 500 photos with the pocket camera, which has the same
> image processor as its cousin D-SLR, and good enough glass for the purpose.
> If the device serves a purpose, people will adopt it, and they will use it.

Yes, I understand.  I still have a full set of Minolta equipment, with
lenses from 20mm to 300mm, but haven't touched them much in several
years.  My Sony 8mp camera does all that I need, and has all the
features of the film equipment except for true wide angle.  My father,
a professional photographer, taught me "shoot lots of pictures, film
is cheap".  Of course the electrons are even cheaper now.

> PS -- Roy, my photos from Barcelona are at:
> http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2086582725

Lots of interesting shots, but I'll admit I'd have looked at more of
them, rather than browsing down the list, if there had been a bit of
editing instead of just "dumping".  I had to teach my wife that some
15 years ago when she started putting ALL of the prints in an album,
even if they were out of focus, poorly exposed, had people with their
fingers up their noses, or whatever.  She's learned well to edit, both
in print, and digitally.

> This is the soon to be late and lamented Sony Imagestation site, shutting
> down in 73 days due to lack of a business model.  Please feel free to rebut
> my arguments, or my photos, as you wish.  :-)

And despite this failure, I'll bet that many of the others will
survive.  I just hope more people do more editing.

-- 
Best regards,
 Dan                            mailto:dan at riverofdata.com