I think Amazon is going to push into universities. Textbooks on Kindle should become the norm.
It reads PDFs natively, which is a huge win over the regular Kindle. Now, if only they could get the web browser to work better…
Check out the Kindle on Amazon.
I created this mini-ad as sort of a shout out to Amazon. I believe they have a killer platform on their hands, but they’re not emphasizing the best part of it — the contract-less, free, mobile connectivity. Sure, it’s a nice book reader, but it could be a killer web appliance!
I participated in a search engine usability study today.
Google Code Search was supposed to be the crappiest among the given search engines – the Raphael said he would probably need to assist me during the tasks since they were known to trip up previous participants.
During the trial I discovered the trick to making Google Code Search work. Type in “test” after your query. This brings up test suites related to your result, which means you can figure out how to use the resulting APIs by example.
“You are by far the fastest Googler I have ever seen.”
My prize? $30 Amazon gift certificate. Yummy.
Jules 10:59 pm on May 9, 2009 Permalink
The Kindle DX is a step in the right direction. I agree that the native pdf support is a big plus. The next one needs to support color, don’t you think? I think it’ll win more people over. It should do better than the first one but Amazon never releases their sales figures. Are you going to get it? I don’t really like the web browser either but at least its there.
Kevin Chiu 7:01 pm on May 10, 2009 Permalink
I’m not getting one until some of the first reviews come out.
Alternatively, if someone would like me to publish a review, I’d be happy to give the DX a thorough inspection.
Jules 8:19 pm on May 14, 2009 Permalink
I’d be interested in you publishing a review, thanks.
btw-it would be interesting if you wrote about the upcoming mobile phones. There are some android ones coming out from HTC and Samsung that i’m curious about.
Also seriously thinking about getting the Nokia N97 but I dont’ know if it’ll get the 3G network from T-Mobile. Have you seen the Nokia N97? I want it but it’ll only come with a single ARM11 CPU that won’t be as fast as I expected. They loaded the phone with so much stuff but stuck it with a slow processor. Not sure if its worth the investment.
Kevin Chiu 3:35 am on May 15, 2009 Permalink
Regarding the DX review – someone would actually have to send me a DX.
Yes, Android is a promising platform that I anticipate will become popular in the near future. Samsung is definitely a company to watch closely.
I’m not too familiar with the N97, having never used it myself. However, I’d suggest against judging a phone purely on its specs. For example, the typical application start time on the Android Dream is quicker than that of the iPhone 3G, yet the animation that’s used to fill the start time on the iPhone provides a smoother user experience.
My advice is to try the Nokia N97 in real life and perhaps take it for a trial run. Obsessing over specs only goes so far.