And another thought. It's bad enough that we've forgotten how to write. Now we're going to forget how to type. We'll be reduced to pointing to the banana or the orange. We are Devo.

Which reminds me of another thought. We were at a fast food drive-thru the other day, and they didn't have their sides listed in words. Just pictures. You could get the yellow bowl of glop, the brown bowl of glop, or the green bowl of glop. Only 99 cents more with the meal deal.

It may not be a Kindle killer, but it will at least put a sizable dent in Amazon's eBook market hegemony. If NPR was to be believed this morning, a number of publishers weren't happy with Amazon's "take-it-or-leave-it" approach to eBook terms & conditions.

And you have to admit: the functionality of a Kindle (i.e. you can access Amazon but nothing else with its wireless connection, no 3rd party apps) is fairly restricted by comparison. If nothing else, this move should get Amazon to license its Kindle API to allow for 3rd party development.

____________________________

Calling to the underworld. Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.

And you have to admit: the functionality of a Kindle (i.e. you can access Amazon but nothing else with its wireless connection, no 3rd party apps)

Actually you can access any web page on the net Free without searching for a WiFi hotspot. You can send and receive gmail from anywhere Sprint cell phone service is available, and Amazon foots the bill. Savings for this service alone will pay for a Kindle 2 in only a few months.

And third party Kindle apps are right around the corner.

Visit us at:

The Home

I do want one, even if it's just a giant Touch or iPhone (the 3G version) and not really real portable without a backpack or big man-purse. I guess to surf easier around the house? OK, Apple's hooked me and I'm in a major consumer mode at the moment. (New big TV, etc.) Nice value, though. The 16GB version is only $100 more than my 16GB Touch was a year and a half ago. And that is one of my favorite toys ever. I've been wanting an internal mic and speaker my Touch ver. 1 lacks. Hmmm....

Oh, yes. The woman on NPR called the screen an OLED and said it was pretty good as a reader. I don't think it's really an OLED--Apple calls it LED backlit "in-plane switching," whatever that means. They say it means ultra wide angle. Probably not as readable as e-ink but maybe one heckofa nice color display.

for those who like such things, there's an interesting demo video with steve jobs et al on the apple site.

Plus, the iPad requires a $data $plan for comparable access to e-books.

I think you can download your books via WiFi, without a data plan. With a BT keyboard, this will make a nice device for those who just want to do email, internet and consume media.

I like that they are providing a new version of iWork for these devices, although I'd really like it if those would work on my iPhone.

Things missing from iPad v.1.0: multitasking, camera, HDMI outputs, USB, Flash in Safari, tethering to the iPhone, a provider that isn't AT&T, and notifications.

If I didn't already have a Mac and an iPhone, I'd definitely buy one of the $499 models. As it is, I might get it anyway to serve as a netbook/e-reader/web surfing appliance.

The big question I have is this - will the iPhone and iPad still run the Kindle App? That's how I read my Kindle books right now. I own several books, but no Kindle. It would be a shame, but would make sense, if the iPhone OS suddenly no longer supported the Kindle app.

Does the iPad have an internal mic?

It says it does in the specs at the previous Apple link. Haven't heard anything else about it, though it also lists "audio" under accessibility. Don't really understand that.