If you could get textbooks at a reasonable price on the Kindle (even
on a time-limited basis), I think that it could be big for higher
education.
No more lugging around 30lbs of books, all of the hassles associated
with campus bookstores, and searching within the text...
A undergraduates dream. Now of course us grad students are still tied
to other things.
Although I do see that Papers is now available for the iPhone...
hmmm....
rick
On Mar 19, 2009, at 11:02 AM, Lee Larson wrote:
On Mar 19, at 5:05 AM, Ed Wiser wrote:
Marta what we are watching with the iPhone is the death of the PC
as it has been used these past years.
We are seeing devices that handle most of the jobs that PC have
done and they fit in our pocket.
Stuart’s request for scanning photo’s in a few years could be
handled by the iPhone based on the SDK event Tuesday.
A few years from now these large boxes that we use to read the web
and type email to each other will be a thing of the past.
The average consumer has no need for the power of the desktop
computer when you have devices such as the iPhone to carry around.
I think a more exciting device is the Kindle. For years the tech
industry has been predicting the death of the traditional book, but
they've never been able to produce a box with acceptable
performance, features and price. The Kindle is the first I've seen
that's really tempting. Faux paper screen big enough to read
comfortably, extremely long battery life, ubiquitous connectivity
and tons of content all come together in one package. It's still a
bit pricey at $350, but that will only improve.
Apple should be in that market with their iPhone technology. The
Kindle software for the iPhone is nice, but the Kindle is a better
device from which to read because of its passive-lighting display,
larger size and much longer battery life.
Soon, the Kindle will have instant access to almost all books in
print as well as the Web. It's the closest we can come to something
approximating Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
[1] and Neal Stephenson's Young Lady's Illustrated Primer [2].
It's also why I hold no hope for newspapers, as we think of them.
They ought to give all their subscribers a Kindle-type box and
forget about ink and pulp.
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiker_guide_to_the_galaxy>
[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age>
_______________________________________________
The next Louisville Computer Society meeting will
be March 24 at MacAuthority, 128 Breckinridge Lane.
Posting address: [email protected]
Information: http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
_______________________________________________
The next Louisville Computer Society meeting will
be March 24 at MacAuthority, 128 Breckinridge Lane.
Posting address: [email protected]
Information: http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
