Newsletter #132 Kindling a Reading Revolution

Created on Apr 28 2009 12:00AM

Feature Article

In 2007 when online bookseller Amazon first released Kindle, the e-reader sold out in 5.5 hours.

With the recent release of Kindle 2, Amazon is hoping to extend its hold on the e-reader market in the US. So what does Kindle do?

• It’s an electronic device that allows you read via a sharp high-resolution screen
• It uses wireless connectivity which means you can shop and download books and other reading materials from almost anywhere
• More than 230,000 books are currently available, top US newspapers and blogs are delivered and updated automatically
• It weighs less than a typical paperback at around 300grams
• There are no monthly Internet bills, you just pay for books you download

According to analysts about 400,000 Kindles were shipped in 2008. However there is competition; Stanza a free application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch has been downloaded 1.2 million times, and each day between 40,000 and 60,000 books are being wirelessly transmitted to an Apple device using the application. Google has said recently that it will make available 1.5 million e-books available in a format suitable for smart-phones such as the iPhone and those powered by Google’s Android software. The search giant has recently reached agreement with book authors and publishers over their massive book-scanning project.

 

Mobile electronic readers are not a new phenomenon but it appears that a convergence of technological advances such as new high quality and good sized devices, huge growth in the availability of content and the next generation mobile networks has led to an explosion in people e-reading. It’s the convenience of being able to think about a book, download it in less than a minute and read it on a good quality device.

So is Kindle the start of the end of the Gutenberg era? If you remember Gutenberg’s dream was simply to produce a uniform prayer book that would unify the catholic faith, yet his printing press spawned the Renaissance movement. Will the digitization of books and all reading matter have a similar effect? American editor and publisher Jason Epstein says “Like blind men in a room with an elephant, we cannot begin to imagine the eventual consequences as digitization and the Internet ignite a worldwide Cultural Revolution…”

Some things that we see happening are:

• A huge reduction in the volume of printed matter over the next generation
• The total restructuring of news and publishing industries as they are today. Paid-for newspapers and magazines will exist in the future by enabling customers to subscribe electronically to their information.
• Books, articles and all written content, including that on the Web, will at least have to have an e-reader version. A great deal of content will be written specially for e-readers.
• The continued rise of self-publishing. The publishers of the future will be simply be those who have sufficient following to bestow status on others.

 

Hot Tips

Newbies

On busy Webpages it is often hard to find the information you want on the page - I often use this function. On a Windows machine make sure the browser window is active by clicking somewhere in it and then go "Ctrl"+"F" (both keys depressed at the same time) and a search box will appear. On a Mac it's "Command"+"F". Enter the words you are looking for and press "Enter" and you will be taken to first appearance of those words on the page. In Firefox, "Enter" is not required.

Power Users

If you are a Googling expert, or want to be, the Advanced Dork plugin for Firefox makes it easier. The Add-On gives you direct access to Google's advanced operators direct from the context menu, so you don't have to remember how to use them. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2144

Interesting Sites

One of my favourite cartoons is Alex (of course) the seriously self-interested, self-absorbed banker. In the last year since the financial meltdown took hold it has become even more fascinating as we see a highly cynical view of the financial world through the eyes of Alex.  http://www.alex cartoon.com/

InsiteFul Quotes

"Chaos Theory is a new theory invented by scientists panicked by the thought that the public were beginning to understand the old ones." Mike Barfield

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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