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Nov 29, 07 - 04:13 pm Comment from: Eric

I didn't need Mossberg to tell me that it was clumsy and poorly designed... But, it's nice to have confirmation.

Nov 29, 07 - 04:15 pm Comment from: Eric

Oh yeah...

I love Amazon, but they are Seattle based, so maybe the massive sucking caused by all the black holes between Microsoft execs ears is affecting neighboring business?

Nov 29, 07 - 04:19 pm Comment from: Macromancer

well this product could become completely moot if we see a Mac Touch soon.

Nov 29, 07 - 04:21 pm Comment from: Macintosh

When I first saw the Kindle I thought "wow, that's cute. But no thanks."

What's the point? You've got to put the thing on your lap after 10 minutes. What's wrong with the laptop I already own?

Sitting on the toilet maybe... But iPhone works for those 3-5 fascinating minutes in the morning.

How about the "Kindle" 3rd party app for iPhone in Feb?

It's a shame they blew the UI part, because the functionality looked interesting enough to me to warrant a second glance. I've never cared a whit for any of the other e-book readers out there.

Been to Seattle, Microsoft OWNS that city and ones around it, especially Redmond.

I rather like Portland myself, it's green and growing, not ripe and rotting like Seattle. Lots of young upstarts are moving to Portland. Lots to do there, when it's not raining of course.

But the worst has to be Southern California, and yes sadly Cupertino is included. Why? All the smog, it's terrible and the heat and the dryness and the traffic. That's why I think Apple is looking to slide out to Austin Texas, take over Dell.

Anyway about the Kibble, it's the book sellers way of saving books in general, and the huge prices they charge. If what happened to the music industry happens to electronic books...

I think I'm making my point. FIRE UP THE E-BOOK TORRENTS!!

Kibble, Kibble, Kibble. I'm getting hungry for Doggie Chow. "Do you like Doggie Chow? I like Doggie Chow" - from the movie "Showgirls"

I wish the Kibble would sell the movie "Spun" that was a hot movie.

books on the iphone.... that's what i'm waiting for. its all there. kindle is in trouble already (like all other ebook reader.... after iphone its like: are you stupid????)

Why did Amazon have to tie it a cellular network instead of just adding a wi-fi chip like those in the iPod touch and iPhone. Could it be because they want users to pay for every kilobyte downloaded to the Kindle?

If I have to pay a download fee to read my files on Amazon's device, then I'm not going to buy it.

Nice try Bezos. Kindle is a big pile of fail. The e-book concept patiently waits for a real champion to arrive.

Nov 29, 07 - 04:34 pm Comment from: Gandalf

3 - 5 minutes on the toilet? Improve your diet and save a few months of your life.

BTW sitting on the toilet is the wrong posture, crouching is the natural way and only way to evacuate the bowels properly. Maybe that's why some people are so full of .....






I was thinking of Ballmer, it's obvious he has no idea how to dispose of waste products.

Nov 29, 07 - 04:39 pm Comment from: Macintosh

3 - 5 usually because I'm reading something... This website and looking at AAPL on the stocks widget, on my iPhone.

Nov 29, 07 - 04:46 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Eric

I can confirm the sucking sound. Seattle has been sucking pretty badly for a decade. But that's the Seattle Spirit™. We deal with sucking in delightfully creative ways.

A wise man once said of the people who built Seattle:

"That they built a city in the process was purely coincidental. If they could have made more money by not building a city, then that is what they would have done." <I>-Bill Speidel

And it's true to this day. Microsoft, perhaps, *could* make better software. But evidently there's just not much money in it.

-c

Pete, are you high? Cupertino is in SoCal? Do you even know where Silicon Valley is? Oh and if the thought of Apple "sliding out" of Silicon Valley for Austin, TX wasn't ridiculous enough on it's own, Apple is building a new campus in Cupertino so I'm pretty sure they are staying put. Thanks for the well informed insight though.

@pete

"But the worst has to be Southern California, and yes sadly Cupertino is included. Why? All the smog, it's terrible and the heat and the dryness and the traffic. That's why I think Apple is looking to slide out to Austin Texas, take over Dell."

You need to look at a map before you make up things.

word of the day: adroit

Best thing-EVDO wireless connection, if it only did color.
Why subscribe to magazines without being able to view photos, why look at the web without color graphics?

Should be a decent device by revision 3 or 4.

Nov 29, 07 - 05:25 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

The biggest problem with the Kindle is this:

It's about s sexy as a breaker-panel. I mean come ON... personal electronics, even those designed for modest, booky, indoor-type people, should have some level of an organic quality. Anything you hold in your hand should have some sort of complimentary shape or texture or something. I've not held a Kindle, but there's just nothing... dashing about it. Ya know? Like the way you kind of want to have sex with a sport bike. Or is that just me?

Maybe I just read the wrong kinda books.

Nov 29, 07 - 05:27 pm Comment from: Thorin

I really don't know if I could stand to read a book on that thing.

When I visited Seattle for SuperComputing, it rocked. Top Pot Donuts rewl!!!

The Kindle lacks something important.....good PDF support.

Just my $0.02

Don't know why people are knocking Seattle. Just spend a week there, and found the city wonderfully refreshing, cosmopolitan, beautiful and clean. It may not be a perfect place (but what is?), but compared to most American cities of that size, it's a gem.

Get over yourselves... Redmond is located in one of the far suburbs. You could live your whole life there without ever driving near it.

Nov 29, 07 - 05:58 pm Comment from: LorD1776

I like paperbacks. It's easy to quickly scan the covers for scantily clad women. Those are the only kind I buy. I don't care about all of that writing stuff inside.

Nov 29, 07 - 05:58 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ MikeK

Will you shut up? We don't tell people that.

Forget it, folks, Mike's crazy. It rains all the time and everyone commits suicide. Better not even risk the trip.

Nov 29, 07 - 06:00 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

I've said it before and I'll say it again, why do we need yet another proprietary eBook reader. Why can't we have a dedicated reader that reads all eBooks. For readability and user interface the Sony is still the best IMO, but I won't have anything to do with it because I can only use it to read ebooks that are authored specifically for it. Forget it.

I've had the Kindle for a little over a week and I LOVE IT!!! Mossberg must be really uncoordinated or he has really big fat hands! For the 1st Gen, just like the 1st Gen iPhone it's amazing. Of course the iPhone can be improved, just like the Kindle, but it's a big leap forward in eBooks! You don't even need a PC or MAC to use it! And the downloading is always FREE! Plus the books are cheaper! I paid .99 cent for a book last night!

It is the ipod of Books and it is the future. I wish that Apple had their own version. I wish I had one of these when I was in High School and College so I wouldn't have to lug around 25 pounds worth of text books with me wherever I went!

Hi Mr Peabody,
Are you saying there are other ebook readers? I thought this was a world first ? (and am surprised Apple didn't include something like this on the iPhone/Pod touch. I assume you could read reasonably well in sideways view).

What exactly is an ebook anyway. I always thought an ebook was txt, pdf, doc, etc... Anybook that is, you know, a digital. Something I can open and read on screen.

Oh and here's a Kindle question. Can it display images? I thought it might be good for children helping reading. Can it play sound? i.e read a book to you? Still can't beat an all in one machine (laptop).

Nov 29, 07 - 08:24 pm Comment from: ibookfast

Andy Ihnakto (famous Apple fan boy) seems to think it's the next coming of Christ... <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/672259,CST-FIN-Andy29.articlea href=">

Nov 29, 07 - 08:27 pm Comment from: ibookfast

let me try that again, sorry,
his article @ Chicago Sun-Times

Nov 29, 07 - 10:08 pm Comment from: MacBill

I didn't realize that the book was broken and needed to be reinvented.

Nov 29, 07 - 10:43 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

"It's not an iPod. Kindle is the closest we've come to the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." - Andy Ihnakto

Very original, Andy...

Nov 29, 07 - 10:46 pm Comment from: Grigori

Sounds like "Kindle" should have been called "Kindgling"... Mac-loving Andy Ihnatko loves it, though.

Nov 29, 07 - 10:47 pm Comment from: Grigori

Cripes, guess I need to read the latest posts before posting... and that should have been "kindling"... guess I should go to bed.

Why are we talking about the Kindle again? Does MDN just have to slam any product that's not created by Apple? I'm never going to read a book on my iPhone, and I think the Kindle is kind of interesting - at least I understand what they were going for in making a reader more readable and not backlit. No, Jonathan Ive didn't design it... but I think Kindle is pointing in the right direction towards usability.

"I didn't realize that the book was broken and needed to be reinvented."

Exactly! What is wrong with that lovely smell of a new hardcover?

"Does MDN just have to slam any product that's not created by Apple? "

Yes they do. Because MDN is a pile of garbage website and they are terribly insecure where they have to trash everything if isnt by Apple and put an anti-MS slant to it even if it has nothing to do with MS.

Nov 30, 07 - 09:42 am Comment from: ken1w

I re-purposed my old (but reliable) Handspring Visor Pro as an "eBook" reader. It has a Springboard module (remember those) that reads and writes Compact Flash cards (it's nice to have but not required for this purpose). It currently has a 512mb CF card that cost me almost nothing.

For reading material, I get text files for free from

http://www.gutenberg.org/

and other sources. These aren't the latest writings, but they are the "classics" that most people don't bother reading these days. You can load an amazingly large library of text files into half a gig. Because the screen is black and white, the contrast is quite good in sunlight. Obviously, the Kindle has a bigger and better display for this application, but $400? And $9.99 per book? My Visor is smaller (so you don't look silly pulling out a bright white brick), and the narrower screen (fewer words across) facilitates faster reading. And since my Visor was in "retired" status, my solution is basically free.

Nov 30, 07 - 10:17 am Comment from: January 24, 1984

I watched the Kindle video, was immediately struck with the impression of "another dead branch ending."

Make the Touch a bit bigger, and you're done. Or better yet, put some bucks into a working plug-in visor. That's the "Billion dollar product."

One product: infinitely malleable, light, rugged, sexy.

Nov 30, 07 - 10:44 am Comment from: Mr. Peabody

@ken1w - Thank you. I had been searching for an "ebook reader" for several months, actually a couple of years, off and on, and finally came to the conclusion that buying a proprietary and expensive reader was simply not necessary. I did the math and discovered that about 98% of all ebooks will fit within 4-8MB of space, so I went to eBay and spent $3.99 on a PalmVxII [+$7.00 s&h;], and ka-ching! I can get quite a few free and legal titles from WOWIO. This site can provide free titles to readers because they embed a few ads within the text. <a >eReader</a> has zillions of electronic titles for purchase, you do have to use their software to read their titles, but they have a free reader for every computing platform ever made including OS X, Linux, and Palm. It's great!

@Richard, yes there have been a few ereaders that have come and gone over the years but they've all been proprietary, each ereader only allowing you to download and read books from a particular vendor, and the reader then cost several hundred dollars on top of that - forget it. I think a good and dedicated ereader should cost about $50 bucks, and should give me access to all titles. I absolutely despise this constant "partnering" crap that desperately tries to indelibly tie two products together to the exclusion of all others. I think that all vendors of electronic titles should be compelled provide their product as PDF and/or provide ereader software for ALL platforms and readers.

And to those who like "real" books - well I do too, but I just read too much too fast, and live in a small enough apartment that storing all of the reading material I go through in a month is not realistic. But I still buy real books, because, well, there's just nothing like holding and smelling a real book. So out of ten titles I buy 3-5 of those are probably ebook titles now. Another nice thing about using the aforementioned Palm is that I can read in bed late at night without disturbing my spouse.

Nov 30, 07 - 10:45 am Comment from: Mr. Peabody

Apologies for the bad html tags but you get the idea.

"I didn't realize that the book was broken and needed to be reinvented."

Yes. Didn't you know... the book is so middle ages

"Yes they do. Because MDN is a pile of garbage website and they are terribly insecure where they have to trash everything if isnt by Apple and put an anti-MS slant to it even if it has nothing to do with MS."

Unlike sites such as CNET, ZNET, etc., etc., etc and into the thousands (not to mention the web's innumerable blogs), that continue to spread FUD and regurgitate any other blatantly "anti-Apple" nonsense their pea-brained minds can spew about nearly every (if not every) Apple product produced since the original Mac.

Give it a break already. I've been hearing and reading this garbage since the late '80s. It's as wrong now as it was then.

Which is, BTW, not to say that Apple can do no wrong.

how can you glorify yourself by having a library for others to admire with a kindle. How would that go in your lawyer's office? No large stacks of imperious tomes to look learned and wise.

Taking the kindle to the beach might also be a problem. Problem with electronic e-readers -> hard to match the shear robustness of paper books. Plus you can give away your old book to charity so they can make a few bucks to help the needy. How do you do that with a kindle. All about digital rights management for books (now there is a REALLY scary idea -> restricting knowledge to those who can afford to pay: how many brilliant ideas and inventions will we lose because of this?) What happens when you wish to borrow a book from the library -> can you say that'll be five dollars thanks (so how can the needy read then?)!! So much for the principal of first use.

It's a good idea for some things...really bad for others.

Personally, I like the paperback book. A few days ago I dropped one from about 5 feet into a puddle of water on a concrete walk way, after I dried it off IT STILL WORKED!!!!!! What a great invention.