The new Kindle...

Must admit, that i did spring for Kindle 2, as much out of a love of technology as a bit of a research project.

Some observations after a week and a half:

• Great portability. So lightweight and easy to use!
• Easy to read with.
• Convenient to buy stuff (actually bought something by accident yesterday, but it was a book i wanted).
• Nice search function.
• What's up with the numbering thing? It'd be nice if there were a way to coordinate with a book's page numbers for reference purposes.
  
• My first book was one i was already reading, and i wanted to compare print vs. Kindle. No photos that were included in this history of the Works Progress Administration! And the page number thing.
• Reading ahead, i.e., cheating, seems not as convenient as with a real book.
  
• The dictionary is great!
  
• Easy to look sophisticated while reading borderline trash!

Steven Berlin Johnson offers other insights here.

But mostly, i was interested in news presentation. i subscribed to the Washington Post for two weeks free. Thoughts:

• Compared to the Web, way too static. Sure it's more portable than the dead-tree version, but it took a while last Sunday for me to find the great magazine piece by Gene Weingarten. After searching several sections, i found it by searching his name.
• Not sure some folks know what they're doing this for. Showed the Kindle to a friend who works for the Austin American-Statesman (on the Web, no less) and she didn't realize they were on Kindle, and when she flipped through most of the first tier stories were from wires. What purpose does that serve? (This has always been an issue to my way of thinking - folks in newsrooms don't think enough about how they're reaching their audiences.)
  
• Demographically, i suspect the Kindle reaches the same news audience that prefers print. Often, when my students search out news online, the first thing they do is click on video. None of that on the Kindle. And i question whether my students would be the least bit interested in this device, to read either news or books on. They have computers and iPhones for that.

Speaking of which, my nephew downloaded the iPhone software and his mom found it way too backlit/glaring for good reading. Of course, having just turned 11, this young man had some cash to spare. And after seeing my Kindle last Saturday, had his own by Tuesday. He's read one full chapter book and is on another. And he likes not having to touch the pages (tactile issues for him)... of course, he's a total techno-weenie, and i'll be promoting the heck out of his upcoming iPhone application when it's on the market!