Amazon's Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose ... demonstrating a device that'll make geeks drool

[Bozita]

Your local PBS.

[hlthe2b]

1. What's the device? Not near a tv...

[gateley]

2. Can you give us a report? I don't get PBS. Thanks. nt

[Bozita]

3. It's a 12 oz book reader, news reader, semi-reference library, -- $399

I'm drooling.

[Bozita]

4. Charlie's saying it seems like an I-Pod for books.

Bezos admits studying it.

[gateley]

5. Thanks! I'll be looking into it, or waiting for the Charlie Rose episode to be

posted on YouTube.

[Audio_Al]

15. The new episode is not posted yet, but check back soon:

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/11/19/1/a-conversation-with-amazon-com-ceo-jeff-bezos

[Audio_Al]

23. UPDATE on Wednesday, 11/21 -- the program is now available at link above.

[Bozita]

6. Product name is "Kindle" (to start a fire)

Amazon inventing cool stuff. Whoda thunk it?

[Audio_Al]

14. Another thing that popped into my mind: Book Burning!

Paraphrase: The trees will thank us -- for not cutting them down.

Of course, there are those plastic manufacturers and THEIR carbon footprint.

[shireen]

7. nifty!

saves paper.

cheaper books.

very portable.

[Bozita]

8. link that googles ' amazon kindle '

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=amazon+kindle&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

This thing is really interesting.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. The Kindle... I SO want one!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=amb_link_5873612_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gateway-center-column&pf_rd_r=05RBYJY6AHJPWG11FKKX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=329252801&pf_rd_i=507846

[blogslut]

10. meh

Sony's reader looks better. It has backlighting and costs half as much. I know Kindle is supposed to come with free wi-fi but I just don't think it's worth the price.

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/itpd/reader/

[maddiejoan]

11. Kindle has "electronic paper"

Not a classic lcd display --it's quite revolutionary

[blogslut]

12. You are correct

And that technology is cool. I see that e-paper is very similar to the printed word.

Just the same, I won't be purchasing either Kindle or the Sony reader any time soon. That price has got to come way down for me to even consider it.

[Audio_Al]

13. Kindle is here! Has anyone here purchased one today? He said they sold out... but there are more!

http://www.amazon.com (Introduction)

http://www.amazon.com/kindle (Demonstration videos)

[Audio_Al]

16. Kicked and recommended for more study by morning DUers!

Respectfully,

Audio Al your Radio Pal

[weeve]

17. WOW !!

That looks totally fantastic.

And that free wireless access to Wikipedia has just got to be the tip of the iceberg. I can foresee other sites coming on board like that. Hell, we may just be looking at the new wireless web browser of the future. I liked the graphic of the guy holding it. That baby's TINY and thin !! Get the internet on something that size and this'll go through the roof.

Cheers Bezos !

[crispini]

18. Meh. It's tied to Amazon.

What if I want to get 3rd party e-books? What if I want to read something from Project Gutenberg?

I've been waiting for a good e-book reader, because I have a real book addiction -- but this doesn't seem to be it. That said, I'd like to get a look at the display and the UI. It does look nice.

[Omphaloskepsis]

20. And when it flops in 2 years and your reader breaks in three years you are fucked.

Great, a bunch of DRM filled eBooks that you can't read with anything.

If the gizmo was $200 and they sent a ebook for free when I buy a paper book I might go for it. Kindle will fail.

[Rosco T.]

27. Sorry, you need to read more before you shoot....

you can add your own ebook, convert from other formats. Not 'tied to Amazon'.

[hlthe2b]

19. Just reading the reviews on Amazon, I get the following impressions

It sounds like an ideal solution to replace most books and conceivably, newspapers--far better than any other electronic device.

However, as for magazines and blogs, I think the monochromatic nature of it, no matter how crisp and clear would be a real deterrent. And, so much blog content has moved from merely text, to embedded links and audio or video clips. There doesn't seem to be any access to that content, so the typical web browsing compacity of a laptop would have it all over this device.

But, to be on the run and able to easily and clearly read nearly unlimited books, just as though you had the real thing in hand, look up things on wikipedia, and to preview new books for free--anywhere, it seems pretty cool. If the $400 initial cost is within the budget, that is...


I hope if anyone gets one, they might report back... I'd adore it if you PM'd me with your impressions, or to call attention to your follow-up posting.

[Audio_Al]

22. "I hope if anyone gets one, they might report back..." or PM BOTH of us:

Thanks, hlthe2b.

Agree with you completely -- if the initial cost is within the budget.

But we just spent all of the $399 and more on another gold tooth for me. We're into the dentists for approximately $4500 -- and still counting. There will be at least one and possibly two more visits.

"SMILE when you say that."

[Audio_Al]

21. What about shopping for books? Will I be able to browse and buy titles on travel to...

Europe, Asia, or other out of the way places? Bezos said it would take just a minute to load a book. Does this have to be hooked in to WiFi or the Internet somehow, even if they don't refer to it as a computer? It has to be networked to Amazon.com SOMEHOW!

[baldguy]

24. Not every geek is drooling.

Mark Pilgrim has a great, incisive post about the Amazon Kindle e-reader that sums up almost all of the reasons I won't be buying it -- it spies on you, it has DRM (which means that it has to be designed to prevent you from modding it, lest you mod it to remove the DRM), it prevents you from selling or lending your books, and the terms of service are nearly as abusive as the Amazon Unbox terms (and worse than the thoroughly dumb-ass Amazon MP3 terms).

Mark only misses one anti-feature of the Kindle: it comes with EVDO wireless through Sprint, which means that, inevitably, there will be world class Awful Crap that Kindle owners will confront, because it is impossible to involve a mobile carrier with a technology without infecting that technology with Awful Crap. When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

more
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/20/amazon-kindle-the-we.html

[MadHound]

25. Yay! More plastic doo-da crap to waste our money on, poison our environment and fill our landfills.

If this was wonderfully, magicly enviromentally friendly, great. But it is more petroleum products, heavy metals and other toxic waste that are released either above ground or below it. At least a book, especially if printed with soy ink, biodegrades into pulp, and can be recycled.

Oh, and there won't be a record of my reading material floating around out there, nor will I be laying out good money for something that I don't really own. I pick up a book, it is mine, not on a lease or limited time.

But sadly, people will go out and buy this, to keep with the rest of their doo-da crap.

[Bozita]

26. Here's David Pogue's NYT review of The Kindle ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/technology/personaltech/22pogue.html?ei=5087&em=&en=9bc20b9a36b8986a&ex=1195880400&pagewanted=all

November 22, 2007
STATE OF THE ART
An E-Book Reader That Just May Catch On

By DAVID POGUE

You’ve got to have a lot of nerve to introduce an electronic book reader in 2007.

Sure, the idea has appeal: an e-reader lets you carry hundreds of books, search or jump to any spot in the text and bump up the type size when your eyes get tired.

But the counterarguments are equally persuasive. Printed books are dirt cheap, never run out of power and survive drops, spills and being run over. And their file format will still be readable 200 years from now.

So e-book readers keep on coming and keep on flopping: the Rocket eBook Reader. Gemstar. Everybook. SoftBook. Librius Millennium Reader. The Sony Reader is in stores even now, priced at $350 and making literally dozens of sales.

Then on Monday, Amazon introduced its own e-book reader, called the Kindle. It arrives at $400 — reading material sold separately.

Are they completely nuts?

more...

[Deja Q]

28. My local PBS makes me drool? Not since they canceled Doctor Who...

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