“The Kindle will be to traditional books as the Segway is to walking.” (via slashdot)
“The Kindle’s so ugly, Speak-and-Spells run away crying when it comes in the room” (overheard)
“Amazon is touting this as the iPod of e-book readers … it’s actually the Zune of e-book readers.” (via slashdot)
“Is it just me, or is there something a bit weird about naming a product for reading books with a word which means “to set on fire”? Now, maybe as a name for Dell laptop…” (via slashdot)
E-books: Another product we were told will ‘revolutionise’ something as universal as book reading. I’m still waiting.
Yet one more example of technocrats deciding what’s best for the rest of humanity. The real truth is, of course, that most revolutionary products out there didn’t appear fully formed from the desktop of a silicon valley developer, they evolved through unexpected usage by the great unwashed. SMS messaging, Youtube and facebook all being examples of this.
Everything we know about reading onscreen seems to defy the high expectations of these sorts of products: people don’t read huge amounts of text online, and as computer screens essentially shine a light in your face, it’s not really the most relaxing or healthy pursuit to settle down to read a whole novel on your PC. Ho hum.