Amazon has released their brand-spankin'-new e-book reader, the Kindle. And it's dumb.
First, I applaud the name. "Kindle" is a great, rarely-used, related-to-interest word that has loads going for it (two syllables, begins with 'K').
I applaud the e-ink technology. Some really great stuff is being developed: low-power, high contrast, thin & lightweight devices.
I don't applaud the design. White is ugly, the keyboard layout is ugly, and the thing looks like an airfoil from a Rebel Snowspeeder.
It also costs $400, plus the cost of (non-transferable) e-books, plus the cost of subscribing to blog RSS feeds (that's right, the ones you get for free online!).
But, far and away, it is another mile marker on the way to a paperless world. (Not truly paperless, of course, there will always be important uses for paper, like origami.)
I'd originally conceived this post as an outline for a future writing career, making money by observing on the state of things and commentary on the way they used to be. Column headlines would run something like "Remember Paper?" and discuss the advent of e-book readers and their ilk.
I'll be sure to archive this post so me, a future columnist, can look back and harvest my early impressions as filler.
I'm also hopeful that in my future as a curmudgenly columnist I have an editor to cut things like the preceding paragraph.
Not literally cut, of course, because we'll be publishing on plastic screens loaded with a low wattage electric charge in shapes that look like letters.
Or, you know, beaming features directly into your brain.
-t
5 comments:
My classes are doing origami today. I told them that I want them to make me a thousand cranes so that I can wish for a better class!
hahaha...Donny's comment is hilarious. :)
Yes, the paperless office has been in the pipeline for a long time. We still have some hills to climb before we're there!
isn't it 2007?
Have you ever watched Late Night with Conan O'Brien?
-t
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