Tag Archive for 'Jeff Bezos has his head on straight'

Kindle’s Extraordinary Abilities

jackson published on May 22, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Hello All!

Yesterday, I sent an email to my brother and father. I also checked my inbox on Gmail.
Big deal, right?

I did it through my Kindle.

What? I thought it was an eBook? I thought it was just for reading.

I was so wrong. It’s a PC in the guise of an eBook. And Amazon hasn’t really pushed this fact at all. Amazing.

This widget is seriously blowing my mind.

So, not only can you send and receive emails, you can go on GoogleMaps, use Google411, check facts on wikipedia, surf the web, wirelessly for free.

Yes, for free.

You heard me right. The Kindle’s internet capability is totally free.

It’s a wireless laptop, a beautiful eBook, a stunning use of ePaper. So many things in one!

Also, you can go on Project Gutenberg, download any of the classic books they’ve got online, and drop them onto your Kindle for 10 cents a book.

10 cents a book!

Moby Dick = ten cents.
Huckleberry Finn = ten cents.
The Epic of Gilgamesh = ten cents.

This thing is above and beyond. Get one, it’s fabulous.

Love,

Jackson

Kindle Redux

jackson published on May 20, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Hello All,

A thought just occured to me…

I think a major facet of why I love my Kindle so much is the idea that:

If I could be satisfied with reading only the books I downloaded from Amazon (or another eBook retailer,) theoretically, I would never again be responsible for the death of a tree.

That is a very powerful meme.

Of course, materials were used in the creation and distribution of my Kindle, but that is over and done with. My Kindle can and will be recycled when it reaches the end of its useful life.

In the meantime, those majestic and incredibly useful creatures called trees will no longer have to be toppled over, pulped, bleached, pressed flat, dried and then have ink sprayed on them in order to convey intel from my visual cortex to my cerebrum.

I absolutely LOVE that.

I no longer want to own books willy nilly. Sure, a first edition of Catcher in the Rye, or Ender’s Game is something I would cherish, but the run of the mill Hudson News airport purchase? Paper no longer!
And once my precious little device can render images in color, well, that ends my addiction to Wired; in print form anyway.

I’m already reading the Times on my Kindle, which translates the grainy, black and white nature of a newspaper perfectly.

The Kindle is in its Game Boy stage right now, but soon it will be an XBox. Fast, furious, and gorgeously rendered.

And in the meantime, the sound of a tree falling in the woods has nothing to do with my reading habits and everything to do with my eBook version of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

This goes for everything in my life. I no longer wish to own things. Just gimme the data.
I don’t want dvd’s, I want the codecs contained on them. I don’t want books, just the info they contain. No more cds, just the mp3s please.
It’s the ideas things represent that I desire, not the things themselves.

Little by little, the world of things falls away and the truth is revealed in its shining glory. This is the SuperForest way.

I feel so free!

Buy a Kindle, save a hundred thousand trees.

Love to All,

-Jackson

Oh My Kindle!

jackson published on May 17, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


Hello All,

Before I left the States, my father gave me a Kindle, which is Amazon’s extraodinary take on the eBook.

I am hooked, hooked, hooked!

I’m usually wary of eBooks because:
1: They get hot and uncomfortable to hold.
2: They are heavy.
3: The screens are hard to read and cause eyestrain.
4: Not many titles to download.

Amazon has solved ALL of these problems.

The Kindle is revolutionary because it uses ePaper, which is like bi-colored beads sandwiched between two pieces of plastic. Run a charge through the plastic and the beads align themselve either face up or face down. One side is black, the other neutral. The result: it’s just like reading a piece of paper. You can tilt it in any direction and still be able to read the screen.

And, like paper, you can read it outside in full sunlight, with no problem.

It doesn’t get hot either. I don’t know why, it just don’t. Read it for hours and it will still feel the same.

It weighs 10 ounces. Not as much as a box of Kleenex.

As far as available titles go, well, you pretty much have all of Amazon to download, and they are putting new titles up with the quickness. Plus you can get the Times, Wired, boingboing, any newspaper, magazine, or blog you wish.

The battery lasts forever. I’ve had it for the better part of a week and am just charging it now. It wasn’t even dead, I just couldn’t stand the thought of not reading Snow Crash on the plane ride back to Seoul.

Now, it has it’s problems, but for a V.1 product, it is a dream of convenience, elegance, and fun.

I want this device to take pictures, open my front door, call my friends, load Google maps, and be my laptop. It doesn’t yet, but by V.10, be assured that it will.

In short, the Kindle is the must have device for Internet 2.0.
The best and most essential new widget to date.

Buy yourself a Kindle, throw it into your D.I.Y. messenger bag, hop on your Strida and pedal yourself to Central Park. I’ll see you there and we can kibbitz.

Bezos, you’re a genius.

Love to all,

Jackson