Mr. Gutenberg, meet Kindle

December 4, 2007 by Isaac

Growing up watching Star Trek I always wanted one of those cool hand held tablets that always seemed to know everything. They could tap into the ship's computer and get at any information they needed. All from a small device they could carry with them. Gee, wouldn't it be cool if someone would make one of those?

Like all things Star Trek I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before they become a reality. Those magic know-it-all tablets are no different. So, when Amazon announced the Kindle I was keenly interested. Kindle is a small device with an LCD screen that is supposed to look like paper. It is also purported to hold something like 90,000 books and magazines. Crazy! The thing I find very cool is that you can purchase and download books over a wireless connection. There is no need to connect to a computer, the book is zapped to you. I guess that makes Amazon similar to the Enterprise computer. Anything you want is beamed directly to your little hand held tablet.

Of course this cool technology comes with a price. The Kindle retails for $399. Ouch! I know that if I read more real paper books instead of Internet blogs and web sites that I would end up saving money. After all, Kindle books are less expensive than their counterpart paper or hard cover books. Aside from that the wow factor is just not enough for me to justify $400 for a portable book reader.

Although it may be a few more years before I finally get my cool tablet with a direct interface into the main ship computer, I am glad to see that someone finally took the eBook to the next level.

Posted in Computer Stuff, Misc, Technology