The Future of Reading | Print Article | Newsweek.com - 33 views
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"If you're going to do something like this, you have to be as good as the book in a lot of respects," says Bezos. "But we also have to look for things that ordinary books can't do."
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First, it must project an aura of bookishness;
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I do actually think this is important; there's something about reading a book and I like that Kindle has some "bookishness" to it.
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I agree, there is nothing like sitting down in a big comfy chair and reading. I'm not sure I would like using a hand held device instead of the actual book.
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I don't think it's important for the Kindle to look like a book. I'm pretty ok with reading something non-bookish.
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E-book devices like the Kindle allow you to change the font size: aging baby boomers will appreciate that every book can instantly be a large-type edition. The handheld device can also hold several shelves' worth of books: 200 of them onboard, hundreds more on a memory card and a limitless amount in virtual library stacks maintained by Amazon. Also, the Kindle allows you to search within the book for a phrase or name.
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These are important features for making things more available in alternative formats. Electronic versions offer instant large print and ways to have it read aloud. These features can be helpful for many people with disabilities.
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A kindle will be a great gift for my dad. Larger font and less clutter of book will be great for him!
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I have heard about ebook devices that allow the reader to adjust the font size. I have gotten to the age where that is a great selling feature for me.
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I tried to get one of these for my visually impaired student last year but was unsuccessful. I think it would be a great tool for her to use in and out of school.
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I love the search option! I am always paging back to remind myself how characters are related or other facts I've forgotten. This would make it so much faster.
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I see your point, I don't know that I want to curl up with a blanket and a "machine" to relax
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I have heard from Kindle (is that what it is called?) users that reading on them is actually easy on the eyes. I'd have to try it to believe it.
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Oh John...of course you want the traditional real deal. "I'll tell you when you are sixth grader!"
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I totally agree with you guys!! A nice book is just the great end to an evening!! Meaning an actuall book. I am opening up to the idea of the Kindle though. I like how you can just quickly order a book and it is there in like 2 seconds!!
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I see both of your points.....but then I think of my weekend and I do curl up with a banket and my "machine" (my laptop) and do work...
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Yes this is true.....but I have curled up and read my computer so it is doable....but not really in a car or airplane.
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once said, "is anything that was invented after you were born." So it's not surprising, when making mental lists of the most whiz-bangy technological creations in our lives, that we may overlook an object that is superbly designed, wickedly
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Amazon has designed the Kindle to operate totally independent of a computer: you can use it to go to the store, browse for books, check out your personalized recommendations, and read reader reviews and post new ones, tapping out the words on a thumb-friendly keyboard.
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The vision is that you should be able to get any book—not just any book in print, but any book that's ever been in print—on this device in less than a minute," says Bezos.
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"Books are the last bastion of analog,"
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Long before there was cyberspace, books led us to a magical nether-zone. "Books are all the dreams we would most like to have, and like dreams they have the power to change consciousness," wrote Victor Nell in a 1988 tome called "Lost in a Book."
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550 years of technological
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"But the next-gen people, in their 20s and below, do everything on a screen.")
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What we love is the words and ideas."
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And once you buy, the Kindle does its neatest trick: it downloads the book and installs it in your library, ready to be devoured.
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electile dysfunction
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The Kindle is not just for books. Via the Amazon store, you can subscribe to newspapers (the Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde) and magazines (The Atlantic). When issues go to press, the virtual publications are automatically beamed into your Kindle. (It's much closer to a virtual newsboy tossing the publication on your doorstep than accessing the contents a piece at a time on the Web.) You can also subscribe to selected blogs, which cost either 99 cents or $1.99 a month per blog.
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he Kindle, shipping as you read this, costs $399.
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it downloads the book and installs it in your library, ready to be devoured. "The vision is that you should be able to get any book—not just any book in print, but any book that's ever been in print—on this device in less than a minute
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Google has already scanned a million books from its partner libraries like the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library, and they are available in its database. (Last week my wife searched for information about the first English edition of the journals of Pehr Kalm, a Swedish naturalist traveling in Colonial America. In less than two seconds, Google delivered the full text of the book, as published in 1771.
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"Do you really believe that we'll be doing that in 50 years?"
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"Technology," computer pioneer Alan Kay once said, "is anything that was invented after you were born
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But if all goes well for Amazon, several years from now we'll see revamped Kindles, equipped with color screens and other features, selling for much less. I'll wait for the bigger and better Kindle. :)