–verb (used with object)
1. to start (a fire); cause (a flame, blaze, etc.) to begin burning
2. to set fire to or ignite
3. to excite; stir up or set going; animate; rouse; inflame
4. to light up, illuminate, or make bright
–verb (used without object)
5. to begin to burn, as combustible matter, a light, fire, or flame
6. to become aroused or animated
7. to become lighted up, bright, or glowing— Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2006.
Oh, wow... this is trés cool, as Marie used to say.
I recently bought a Kindle, “Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device.”
An electronic book reader.
Previously, I always thought this kind of technology was little more than a “solution looking for a problem.” Books don’t lock up, don’t need batteries, and are immensely portable... so who needs an electronic book?
Well, I’ve changed my mind. I am duly impressed.
Amazon has made this device truly “user-proof.” There’s no username, no password, no sign-on, because it’s bonded by its serial number to your amazon account automatically when you buy it, and your Amazon “one-click” settings allow you to buy books directly from the Amazon web site (which you can access wireless via the Kindle), pain-free. Or, if you’re not sure, you can pick up a free sample to get you interested – either way, poof, it’s downloaded over the Sprint PCS wireless Internet connection, free.
Did your alarm bells just go off? Wireless? Somebody’s got to pay for that, right? Right. But it’s not you. Even though you have wireless access to Amazon’s web site, to simple text-based web sites (such as the brilliant and lucid Ardency Personified site), and can download the books for free, there is no monthly fee for the Kindle. Amazon pays the bill to Sprint for use of their wireless network by the device. Cost-free, and configuration-free. Crazy.
The screen is extremely crisp, and has six character sizes, so I can read lot of stuff on a page using smaller type if I have my contact lenses in, or I can make it big and readable if I’m laying in bed without my corrective lenses. The formatting of the books stays intact, no matter how you tweak the type size.
The display is not an LCD screen like on a computer or cell phone. They call it “electronic paper” – it’s passive – it does not use any battery power except when the screen content changes. The image is static, so the battery lasts a long time. There’s also no eyestrain like there is from staring at a computer screen. Bottom line: anywhere you can read a book, you can read a Kindle ... even in direct sunlight. Try that with your laptop... doesn’t work.
On an airplane, you’ll have to settle for reading the safety card or reading “Skymall” until you climb to 10,000 feet, since it’s an electronic device, after all. But, there’s a handy switch on the back to disable the wireless access, so you can show the flight attendant that you’re all legal, and not using a cellular device. You’ll be leaving that switch off most of the time anyway, because it means the difference between hours of battery life, and days of battery life. (Yes, days.)
You can back the books up to your PC, or, re-download them for free any time from Amazon once you’ve paid for them. Better still, the "Kindle Edition" of most books is $10 or less.
If you have a document (Microsoft Word, PDF, html) that you want to read on the road, you can either e-mail it to username@kindle.com and it will be sent wirelessly to your Kindle for 10 cents per document, or, you can e-mail it to username@free.kindle.com – they will kick you back an e-mail attachment containing your document in the Kindle format, which you can copy over to the Kindle using the USB cable or on an SD card. No charges involved.
It comes with a little leather binder, makes it look like a small book. At 10 ounces, it’s actually lighter than a hardback book, and some thicker paperbacks, so here’s hoping it makes for a good read in bad without wearing out your arm. So far, so good.
It’s also an MP3 player, although that’s sort of a bleeding edge feature – for now, it only plays in shuffle mode, so you can listen to background music while you read. But, it can play audiobooks, too. I think the audiobooks were in the overall plan all along, and the music capability was added as a little piece of niftyness.
The only annoyance, which I got over as soon as I understood what it was, is that the whole screen flashes to black before displaying the next page. It turns out this is part of the refresh process necessary for the electronic paper. This is how the electronic paper is able to show a continuous display without any battery power – the standing image has to actually be erased (hence the flash of black) before the next screen is displayed.
If you like to read, you will love the Kindle.
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