The US journal Editor & Publisher posted on its website on December 1 an AP article with a title: New Device May 'Kindle' Interest in Reading E-Newspaper on Daily Commute.
It said: “Making a successful reader for electronic books is one of the toughest tasks in consumer electronics. Many have tried and all have failed. This week, Amazon.com Inc. released the Kindle, the best attempt yet at toppling the book.”
Details of Kindle
Kindle contains a cell-phone modem, through which it can download books, magazines, newspapers and blogs anywhere Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network has coverage.
Amazon has 90,000 e-books in its store. A full-length best seller takes less than a minute to arrive on the device, if you have a good signal. The text shows up on the Kindle's six-inch screen, which uses "electronic ink" technology.
Eleven newspapers are available, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and San Jose Mercury News. If you subscribe to one, it arrives automatically on the Kindle in the morning, ready to read on your commute.
They're devoid of graphics and have very few photos, but it's much easier to handle than a broadsheet paper on a crowded subway.
Minority Report Realizes?
Stephen Spielberg’s science fiction film Minority Report illustrated so well how newspapers will look like in the future.
When Tom Cruise gets on an underground train, a passenger’s electronic USA Today downloads new articles including the story about Tom.
The newspaper is a plastic video screen thin, foldable, and wireless. People call the technology “e-paper”.
The Future of Newspaper?
Amazon’s Kindle must look primitive when compared to “the USA Today in 2054” depicted in the movie, but may be the first step toward the era of paper-free news.
The author of the AP article criticized the device in some technical perspectives such as short battery duration. He said: “If not, we'll have to wait for the next attempt at making a great e-book reader. Like a great white whale of the electronics world, it seems ever elusive.”
However, search with “Kindle” at Amazon.com. You will see a page illustrating a new wireless reading device named “Kindle”, but you cannot buy it at the moment because they are sold out despite its price of $399 and horrible design.
This shows that a huge demand on a replacement for “news in paper” exists, and means that journalists have another technology for which they have to devise a new news format.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Is This the Future of Newspapers?
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1 comment:
I browse the official websites of Amazon and find some pictures of this new kind of reading device which was issued weeks ago. Its design is terrific and user-friendly and in my personal perspective it is bound to be a milestone marked a brand new era of our reading habit.Granted,the format of journalism might get a little bit of change and reformation may be inflicted due to this technical trend; but on the whole the nature of journalism, by definition, will still be the same as it ever was.
Nonetheless,this doesn't mean that I'm merely a sort of technique geek or fail to see anything negative as to it. Kindle users can so easily and instantly download any book they want through this wireless device that the piracy problems are likely aroused,let us say.
An article titled "Could the Kindle spark book piracy?" written by Mathew Ingram described the author's worry as to this problem Kindle will probably bring on.
With the encroaching of digital civilization,stylish avant-garde technique will keep on showing up and changing our traditional concept incessantly.But,as Russell described,tradition is one of the main pillars sustaining a society and its evolution can take a very long period of time.In this respect,absolutely we don't need to worry about the shock brought by such and such a kind of new technology thereby. Whilst enjoying the benefits and convenience produced by new technology,the majority of us will surely and adequately keep their tradition and in this I don't think I stand alone.
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