Kindles

[Patrick Bateman]

Does anybody have a Kindle on here? I hate the idea of reading actual books on them but am thinking of getting one in order to read comics. There are an awful lot of comic torrents and I don't really like reading them at my computer.

[York Minster]

I have a Kindle. It's perfectly lovely for reading books. But I mainly got it to read pdf type texts off the web, and for that it's difficult because the text shows up quite tiny most of the time. You can enlarge it, but not in a "fit-to-screen" sort of way. I still like it a bit better than reading at the computer which I don't enjoy for long stretches, but it's a pain. Kindle's are pretty cheap now, it's probably a decent investment.

[Your Funny Uncle]

I got one for Sam for her birthday and she loves it. She loves books but hates the flimsiness of paperbacks. The problem is that hardbacks can be very unwieldy, so she finds the kindle with leather cover to be brilliant. I think she's using it right now, actually...

[glennjridge]

my girlfriends sister has one. I tried it. it just seemed alien. like my mind was constantly reminding me every step of the way....hey...your reading a book on this thing. my mind would drift from the words, to the buttons, and to the screen,I just kept losing focus.

[skyhigh]

XKCD

'Hark, a vagrant'

http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/

http://bookofsick.com/

Dinosaur Comics

[Flaffer]

don't get a Kindle to read comics, Amazon will release a tablet soon, I presume with colour screen

[rollo]

I got one a while back for travelling (you get free 3G internet access, pretty much worldwide) but I haven't tried reading a book on it yet. Even so, at that price you might as well get one!

[gregf]

I have had the iPad for almost a year and love it.
Use it for everything, like emails, surfing, forum. Everything except books. 
I don't quite trust Apple not to use a proprietary standard. I want an MP3 
level of openness before I buy eBooks.

Anyhow, my eyesight is not up to much reading and I really prefer audio-books
and that also is not an open standard, as far as I understand. ?


People should keep an eye on Apple's iCloud announced yesterday. We currently can 
get synced email, contacts and calendars though Google+Nuevasync. But iCloud
has leapfrogged Google to give those plus, documents, photos, bookmarks and music.

You write a document, take a photo, make a calendar appointment, or rip a CD and a few
seconds later it is stored on the net, and accessible thru all your computers, iPads and iPhones.

Apple's music cloud is clever. All your purchased music is now in the iCloud and is never 
lost. Just sync to a new device. Also you can add your CDs to the cloud. It syncs all
your iTunes music from CD but only the right to use. If someone else has all ready
uploaded a CD, it intelligently does not use your bandwidth uploading the whole CD.
It just grants you access to the copy all ready in the iCloud system.
[edit] The CD upload service is $25/year.

I suspect it may be limited to the Apple proprietary word format for documents.
But overall, it is a huge step to true cloud service. And it's free, replacing MobileMe.

PS I am not an Apple tragic so free comment welcome.


( Cloud computing means you store your files on the net, not on your computer.
Your files are accessible from all your devices such as PCs, tablets and smart phones.
In the long run, even software will be on the net. So for example your word processing
or spreadsheet program is loaded to your browser, when you connect to the web
site where you store your documents. PCs loaded with files and software will give
way to thin client hardware like iPads and tablets.)

[Patrick Bateman]

Thanks for the feedback; I think I'll heed Flaffer's advice and wait for the colour tablet.