Anyone get a Kindle yet?

stusser · 2010-09-16T11:56:47.000Z

I believe the kindle just treats footnotes as numbered annotations.

Marcus · 2010-09-17T08:42:31.000Z

I just ordered a K3 for the wife. She was trying to use an android tablet as an e-reader and while it worked OK I think its time to get her something that she can really use. One day shipping and it will be here tomorrow! I’m excited for her.

I can use Calibre to convert books I already have right?

Lake · 2010-09-17T09:01:43.000Z

I have a few questions about the Kindle 3. If something I am reading on page 65 references a map on page 50, how easy is it to flip pages? Are the dictionary and wiki lookup features easy to use?

Gav · 2010-09-17T09:41:43.000Z

Lake:

I have a few questions about the Kindle 3. If something I am reading on page 65 references a map on page 50, how easy is it to flip pages? Are the dictionary and wiki lookup features easy to use?

It’s pretty easy. But if you’re referring to a particular page a lot, the easiest thing to do is drop a bookmark, and then flipping is a couple of key-presses away.

Dictionary is very easy to use; just move the cursor next to a word and the definition appears on the bottom of the screen. Wikipedia not so much (at least on the kindle 2) – web access is slow. In the end, if I want to look up something on wikipedia, I pull out my phone.

barstein · 2010-09-17T17:21:02.000Z

Marcus:

I can use Calibre to convert books I already have right?

Yep, been doing that quite a bit myself for the past few days and the success rate for blind conversions (not really looking at the original formatting) has been much higher than expected. For stuff that needs special handling there is the Mobi Pocket Creator (PC only, free, haven’t used it much yet), or you can just do it by hand if you know html/css.

Lake:

Are the dictionary and wiki lookup features easy to use?

Dictionary is really great, wiki lookup not ready for prime time in my opinion. Fortunately I have a great Wikipedia app on my iPod Touch for that.

Major_Icehole · 2010-09-17T17:38:18.000Z

Alex Hopkinson:

You can get the Kindle 3 shipped to AUS from the Amazon.com page.

Sweet. I swear just last week it wouldn’t ship here.

Bahimiron · 2010-09-17T17:51:24.000Z

stusser:

I believe the kindle just treats footnotes as numbered annotations.

Given how frequent foot (and end) notes seem to be and how clumsily the Kindle handles them, you’d think an ideal, even elegant, solution would be to just have a button on the thing that just takes you to the annotations for any endmarkers that happen to be noted on the page. Clicking it again takes you back. And if there’s more than one on that page, clicking it a third time will take you to the next appropriate endnote, etc etc.

A lot better than all that messy clicking around the text.

stusser · 2010-09-17T20:11:04.000Z

Well, they aren’t too frequent in the content I consume; I can’t recall anyone other than Terry Pratchett using them. Each book has maybe 10-20 or so. If I read content with a ton of footnotes I would find it significantly annoying.

Again though, this is the sort of thing that simply won’t be an issue when ereaders move to touchscreens. And that’s not far off.

Marcus · 2010-09-18T12:34:28.000Z

Yay K3 arrived this morning. Too bad I’m at work I’m excited to see it.

Lynch · 2010-09-18T14:58:40.000Z

stusser:

Again though, this is the sort of thing that simply won’t be an issue when ereaders move to touchscreens. And that’s not far off.

The Future!

Now!!!

sony.com

Consumer Electronics | Sony US

Learn about the latest consumer electronics Sony has to offer, discover features of our products and find the ones which would suit your needs.

Marcus · 2010-09-18T15:01:10.000Z

I think he means decent touch screens. Have you used that thing?

stusser · 2010-09-18T15:11:38.000Z

Yeah, that one is a piece of crap. The screen is all blurry. Sony has a new “touchscreen” model that uses infared beams to determine where you’re touching, but that’s a hack also. The tech isn’t ready yet.

Lynch · 2010-09-18T15:16:26.000Z

Well, it is at least better than the PRS-700.

sam_and_the_firefly · 2010-09-19T01:56:34.000Z

I have that one. The screen isn’t blurry, it’s just lower-contrast than the Kindle and has a little glare if you’re directly under a bright light. The interface makes it worth it, I think, because it’s still very readable and does solve a bunch of the problems people have been discussing.

I still want a Kindle 3 as an upgrade, but yeah.

Marcus · 2010-09-19T05:09:48.000Z

Played around with the Kindle 3 last night and man that thing is slick. Turns the pages faster then I thought it would and it is light as all get out. Excellent device.

Reldan · 2010-09-19T06:59:08.000Z

I liked Jeff Bezos’s quote in a recent Wired article.

When asked about how a dedicated e-reader can compete with devices like the iPad that do books and more, he said:

Jeff Bezos:

The number one thing that people are doing on their iPad right now if you look at the rankings is playing a game called “Angry Birds” where you throw birds at pigs and the pigs blow up. The number one thing that people are doing on their Kindle right now is reading Steve Larsson.

Kryten · 2010-09-22T21:07:42.000Z

Mine arrived here in NZ a couple of hours ago, I haven’t been so excited about a geek purchase in a long time and it’s paid off - this thing is AMAZING. Can’t wait to get it home and have a decent long play with it (still stuck at work).

The screen is stunning, you guys weren’t kidding about looking for the edge of the plastic cover. The only downer is that there’s some serious limitations on the books available for the Asia Pacific region, but that can’t last, surely?

Wisbechlad · 2010-09-22T21:21:55.000Z

Yep. The analogy I use is a toaster or kettle vs an oven range. iPad is the range. But there is place in kitchen for toaster & kettle. Even though the oven can grill toast & boil water.

It is optimised for reading text. I’ve now got the complete works of Dickens, Austen, Shakespear, Kipling & Trollope for less than 20USD. Love.

mkozlows · 2010-09-23T08:22:20.000Z

Wisbechlad:

It is optimised for reading text. I’ve now got the complete works of Dickens, Austen, Shakespear, Kipling & Trollope for less than 20USD. Love.

I hope by “less than 20USD” you mean “0USD”, because Project Gutenberg makes those all available in Mobi format for free.

Bahimiron · 2010-09-23T08:40:47.000Z

Jeff Bozo:

The number one thing that people are doing on their iPad right now if you look at the rankings is playing a game called “Angry Birds” where you throw birds at pigs and the pigs blow up.

‘And it is fucking awesome’ is the way that sentence should be ended.