Re: Re Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

So every time another Web4liber pipes up about the Amazon
Kindle, Google
Gmail pipes up with this ad:

    The Reader. From Sony(R) - Sonystyle.com - Ultimate
Digital Reading
Experience on an impressive paper-like display

So it seems promising -- seems to be the same sort of
electronic ink
technology that Kindle uses.  And it supports PDF and image
formats and
non-DRMed audio formats.

And it uses, sigh and sigh, the Memory Stick.  I thought
Sony had admitted
the error of their ways when they came out with a D-SLR
that, believe it or
not, both has Memory Stick and Compact Flash slots.

Sony is a company I love to hate.  I've owned a boatload of
their
camcorders, especially, but also digicams and music players
and whatever.
There was no reason for Sony to invent Memory Stick, at the
point in history
when they chose to do so.  Sony has some of the smartest
engineers on Earth
but the sometimes engineer some silly stuff.

/rich

On Nov 27, 2007 2:34 PM, Dan Lester <danriverofdata.com> wrote:

> Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 11:39:54 AM, you wrote:
>
> > If your files are in the following formats, you
can just transfer them
> > directly: .azw, .txt, .mobi, .prc, .mp3, or .aa.
>
> > For all other formats (ex. .doc, HTML, .jpg, .gif,
.bmp), you have to
> > email them to Amazon for conversion.
>
> That would seem to be a fatal flaw.  If the kindle is
as easy to read
> as claimed (and thus much better than any laptop I've
ever seen,
> including the one I live on), it would seem to be ideal
for many of
> the applications in business for which one wouldn't
need a full blown
> laptop.
>
> However, I can't see a business or a library sending
them internal
> docs in any of the formats that require conversion.
>
> Most important, they're trying to limit you to reading
THEIR BOOKS
> (which even Apple doesn't require with an iPod) except
perhaps for some
> ebooks you might have downloaded from Project Gutenberg
or someone
> else that does pure text documents.
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>
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I too have had a passion for consuming Sony
products.  If the goal is to make a paper-like
display to create a more organic experience,
I am now a step ahead of their engineers. 

My  displays are so advanced that they even 
FEEL like paper. And, the product process is 
so progressive as to integrate passive
solar technology into material development.  On
top of that, they can be read using no external
energy source other than the Sun. 

Actual paper books.

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-441-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oce
anstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org] On Behalf Of Richard
Wiggins
Subject: Re: Re[2]: [Web4lib] Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

So every time another Web4liber pipes up about the Amazon
Kindle, Google
Gmail pipes up with this ad:

    The Reader. From Sony(R) - Sonystyle.com - Ultimate
Digital Reading
Experience on an impressive paper-like display



_______________________________________________
Web4lib mailing list
Web4libwebjunction.org
http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/

There's an interesting comment about the Kindle in this
story about the 
OLPC and the use of the Internet Archive's e-book reader:

"While Amazon has provided a rather closed environment,
with the intention 
of developing its core business of selling content, OLPC has
brought, 
potentially, a strong platform for accessing all kinds of
content from all 
sources." - 
<http://www.olpcnews.com/content/eb
ooks/internet_archive_laptop_ebook.html/>

I haven't seen the Kindle but I did see an early version of
the XO, and 
the bundled reader, combined with the hardware design,
seemed quite 
promising.

art
---
Art Rhyno
Systems Librarian
University of Windsor Libraries
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Tech blogger Robert Scoble has a pretty scathing video
review of the Kindle
up on his blog:

http://scobleizer.com/2007/11/25/dear-je
ff-bezos-one-week-kindle-review/

All the more surprising because he was an early champion of
the device.

If you listen through some of the vitriol, though, he has
some interesting
thoughts on design in general. His comment "who the
hell uses menus any
more?" in particular has my mental gears spinning.


Toby Greenwalt
Skokie Public Library
Skokie, IL
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You might look at the NOKIA N770, N800, and N810 internet
tablet devices,
touch screens, 800x400 resolution 4 in screens, play music,
internet radio,
WiFi, USB, etc.  The N770 is the oldest available for ~$120,
the N800 is
~$200, and the N810 just came out for ~$450.  The latter two
have a Camera.
All play video and other multimedia.  The N800 has 16GB of
storage capacity
and the N810 has 8GB of storage.  All run a version of
Linux, with the N800
and N810 running OS2008 and the N770 OS2007 from MAEMO.  Can
run Skype or
GIZMO for telephone use.  TheN810 has integrated GPS and a
keyboard.  The
N800 and N770 have a virtual keyboard and can add on GPS.

Web page for the N810: http://w
ww.nseries.com/index.html#l=products,n810

Also can run PalmOS and programs through the Garnet VM.
Readers for popular
file formats.

Regards,

Steven C. Perkins


On 11/27/07, Richard Wiggins <richard.wigginsgmail.com> wrote:
>
> So every time another Web4liber pipes up about the
Amazon Kindle, Google
> Gmail pipes up with this ad:
>
>    The Reader. From Sony(R) - Sonystyle.com - Ultimate
Digital Reading
> Experience on an impressive paper-like display
>
> So it seems promising -- seems to be the same sort of
electronic ink
> technology that Kindle uses.  And it supports PDF and
image formats and
> non-DRMed audio formats.
>
> And it uses, sigh and sigh, the Memory Stick.  I
thought Sony had admitted
> the error of their ways when they came out with a D-SLR
that, believe it
> or
> not, both has Memory Stick and Compact Flash slots.
>
> Sony is a company I love to hate.  I've owned a
boatload of their
> camcorders, especially, but also digicams and music
players and whatever.
> There was no reason for Sony to invent Memory Stick, at
the point in
> history
> when they chose to do so.  Sony has some of the
smartest engineers on
> Earth
> but the sometimes engineer some silly stuff.
>
> /rich
>
> On Nov 27, 2007 2:34 PM, Dan Lester <danriverofdata.com> wrote:
>
> > Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 11:39:54 AM, you
wrote:
> >
> > > If your files are in the following formats,
you can just transfer them
> > > directly: .azw, .txt, .mobi, .prc, .mp3, or
.aa.
> >
> > > For all other formats (ex. .doc, HTML, .jpg,
.gif, .bmp), you have to
> > > email them to Amazon for conversion.
> >
> > That would seem to be a fatal flaw.  If the kindle
is as easy to read
> > as claimed (and thus much better than any laptop
I've ever seen,
> > including the one I live on), it would seem to be
ideal for many of
> > the applications in business for which one
wouldn't need a full blown
> > laptop.
> >
> > However, I can't see a business or a library
sending them internal
> > docs in any of the formats that require
conversion.
> >
> > Most important, they're trying to limit you to
reading THEIR BOOKS
> > (which even Apple doesn't require with an iPod)
except perhaps for some
> > ebooks you might have downloaded from Project
Gutenberg or someone
> > else that does pure text documents.
> >
> > --
> > Best regards,
> >  Dan                            mailto:danriverofdata.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web4lib mailing list
> > Web4libwebjunction.org
> > http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>
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