The Future of Reading

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Future of Reading
The e-book reader rears its head again, this time as the Kindle (named "to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge"). It is about the same size as a paperback, with a bulge along the 'spine'. The Kindle is backed by Amazon, which gives it a bit more heft that previous attempts; there will be more than 88,000 titles available for sale on launch. Also, you can subscribe to newspapers such as Le Monde, or "You can also subscribe to selected blogs, which cost either 99 cents or $1.99 a month per blog." The device will cost $US 399 at launch, according to this article - which puts it in range of the small computers being manufactured for learning - like the Asus Eee (See Miguel Guhlin). Which raises the question of why you would buy a device that is deliberately inhibited in function instead of the computer? And are there any blogs you really want to pay every month to read. More...