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I'm having some computer problems, but I've found enough daylight to poke up here for a few minutes.

While I'm headbanging, I recommend to you Kindle: The Philosophy of the Turtle, in which Shelley Powers answers "What is a frugal girl like me doing with a Kindle?" I've known Shelley as a blogger friend for years, and I was among the most surprised to hear she -- who lacks "a single credit card, cellphone, or frequent flier mile" -- owns the $359 electronic reader whose new version officially releases Feb. 24.

...I tell you all of this by way of explaining why I find it so funny when people criticize the Kindle because "someday Amazon may pull the plug, and you'll lose all of your books". Funny, because the main reason I bought my Kindle is because I had lost all of my books; my books of paper that were, somehow, supposed to be sacrosanct.

Shelley is a tech author and programmer whose topical blogs come together under the Burningbird umbrella, and, yes, she tells how she lost her books when San Francisco yielded to St. Louis.

And then she reviews, My Kindle 1.0, starting here:

Alas, my Kindle 1.0 is now old school with the release of the Kindle 2.0. I am not disappointed, though. I never was one to worry about the style of the Kindle, the refresh rate is fine with me, and I have an 8GB SD card, which blows away the 2GB built-in memory in the Kindle 2.0.

I would like the better resolution, and the 16 shade of gray, and the slightly larger screen, but I don't read books with many figures, and I never use my Kindle for web surfing, so I don't feel terribly deprived. I have a modified cover that protects my Kindle, and allows me to read it comfortably without accidentally hitting buttons. But then, I can also walk and chew gum at the same time, too. I'm talented that way...

Here's the Kindle at Amazon. Some people do have the Kindle 2.0, and review them.

Kindle 2.0 Review - Should You buy Kindle 2.0? at The Kindle blog.

Scott Kirsner at The (Boston) Globe: How Amazon's Kindle reader might be improved.

I still prefer the public library, myself.

Later: The Joy of Tech foresees What's Next.

 Tags  Amazon Kindle Burningbird Shelley Powers

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3 Comments

Rich said:

I've never even had a chance to play with one, and I've loved them for ages. 2.0 sounds great! I probably would have broken down and gotten one this year, but with the world economy crashing, I think I may be stuck with paper for a while.

(shakes fist at W for denying him tech toys)

Link | February 11, 2009 12:13 AM
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Silas Scarborough said:

The Kindle reminds quite a bit of the elegance of the original all-in-one Macs. Never trust a computer you can't tuck under your arm!

Much as I've enjoyed my iPhone and I suspect I would Kindle as well, the screens are just too tiny. A collaboration between Apple and Amazon on a netbook could possibly yield something quite interesting.

Link | February 11, 2009 2:44 AM
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abhi said:

Hi Sheila
Thanks for the mention of my blog - I actually jsut moved the blog from thekindle.wordpress.com to ireaderreview.com and was hoping you could change the link to ireaderreview.com/2009/02/09/kindle-20-review-should-you-buy-kindle-20/

thank you
abhi

Link | February 12, 2009 10:26 PM
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