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The Kindle


Monte Carlo

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:ermm: Alright I concede on the point about textbooks. If only because presumably you can search references easier. But also it must be easier for schools, as you say.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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The problem with tablets is that reading them gets stressful for your eyes after a while... The kindle doesn't... I picked one for my birthday and I gotta say I love it... I have about 10k-ish pages worth of material on it, and it takes up virtually no space. Plus, it doesn't die...

 

EDIT: For textbooks and stuff, its useless. You can't really put pictures and charts on stuff on it.

Edited by I want teh kotor 3
In 7th grade, I teach the students how Chuck Norris took down the Roman Empire, so it is good that you are starting early on this curriculum.

 

R.I.P. KOTOR 2003-2008 KILLED BY THOSE GREEDY MONEY-HOARDING ************* AND THEIR *****-*** MMOS

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While hypertextual experiments have remained niche, impractical and largely plain weird thus far, with rich internet applications (God, what do you call them, Flex and the like) and all sorts of other things coming through, surely it's not long until we have a system going where the hardware is a portable reader, and the software (the e-books) are designed with hyperlinks, cross-indexes, search functions, drop-down menus, enlarge view / interactive diagrams, etc for a truly electronic textbook. Integrate that with existing interactive quizzes/tests & even simple educational games and you've got it all.

 

Can't say I agree with it for educational purposes, though - one of the major consequences of more mediated communication is that, contrary to the variety and choice it provides, it actually commandeers the attention and gaze of the student a lot more and locks him/her into its pace. Good study needs time for contemplation, piecing things together, finding your own ways towards understanding things or finding solutions, not running breakneck speed along an elaborately designed edu-route.

 

Never used a kindle properly so I can't tell as well, I suppose I'm trying to control the degree to which my time and attention is fragmented and distracted. I don't even want a smartphone - while sometimes it's useful a lot of the time having the internet, little games, etc. etc. on the bus, in the toilet and everywhere just makes you less efficient and more chaotic.

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Thought: if you're going to have a processor and so forth, isn't it a bit of a missed trick to have just written text? I've been told by teacher friends they can't even DO lessons which are text based any more.

Edited by Walsingham

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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One point for the Kindle is that it's set up to allow you to make notations of your own to text you're reading.. And it keeps all notes saved to your account. So even if you delete a book from your kindle, the account will keep the record of any notations so if you re-download the book back onto your kindle you can access the notes again.

 

Although that's not something I've played around with, so I couldn't say how effective it actually is...

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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I just can't get into it, there is just something about the feel of a book on your hands. :(

I'd say the answer to that question is kind of like the answer to "who's the sucker in this poker game?"*

 

*If you can't tell, it's you. ;)

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I could get into it, y'know, if I didn't already own a ton of bookshelves and dream of having a personal library. How am I to show off a library with the kindle? Take people into a room, say "this is my library," and have it be nothing but a kindle on a table? That's simply disingenuous.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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I could get into it, y'know, if I didn't already own a ton of bookshelves and dream of having a personal library. How am I to show off a library with the kindle? Take people into a room, say "this is my library," and have it be nothing but a kindle on a table? That's simply disingenuous.

 

Combine it.

Have the library at home to read in comfort and show off.. and the kindle for travel , when you can't actually pack the library into the car... :(

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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But then I have to buy every book twice! MADNESS

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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Most of the time when I read for fun it's in the bath, or when travelling, and either way the book's going to get wet - travel in England being what it is.

 

Kindle can't do that.

 

Unless you rigged up some kind of projector. That could be awesome.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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Most of the time when I read for fun it's in the bath, or when travelling, and either way the book's going to get wet - travel in England being what it is.

 

Kindle can't do that.

 

Unless you rigged up some kind of projector. That could be awesome.

 

I know a guy who has a watertight transparent bag he puts his kindle in and reads in the shower... Thats madness.

Reading in the bath is one thing, but in the shower??

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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The Kindle has a place. So do paper-books (for now at least).

Eventually rarity of paper may make paper-books entirely obsolete, but I don't think the Kindle will.

 

I would not mind an electronic medium (or other tech) that made books not dependent on paper, but still had the concept of turning pages and holding something singular in your hand. I still have a difficult time reading very long amounts of text on a screen - and it's not about glare/lack of glare. It's just...I don't know...doesn't hold my attention for some reason. The scrolling text perhaps breaks immersion...or something about it doesn't feel intimate enough for immersion...can't explain it.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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You do "turn pages" on a Kindle, it tries to emulate a book as much as possible.

Try and look smart holding a kindle=fail

I'd say the answer to that question is kind of like the answer to "who's the sucker in this poker game?"*

 

*If you can't tell, it's you. ;)

village_idiot.gif

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You do "turn pages" on a Kindle, it tries to emulate a book as much as possible.

Pushing a button or using a touchpad (or whatever) is not the same at all.

 

....I'm thinking more about futuristic sci-fi concepts of books. Where it still looks & acts like a book (500 pages, covers, individual) but is made out of something hi-tech (a new material that replaces paper). :o

 

I don't mind textbooks, newspapers, magazines etc. on something more universal, but I like my fiction, photography, graphic, etc. books to be collectible (I don't mean $$ value-wise). You can't collect downloaded pixels...well, at least imo.

Edited by LadyCrimson
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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For me at least, reading books is as much a tactile experience as an intellectual one. I don't think I'll ever really be able to use a kindle without feeling that something is missing.

 

I'm sure, though, that in a generation or two paper books will be obsolete and unused.

Edited by Oblarg

"The universe is a yawning chasm, filled with emptiness and the puerile meanderings of sentience..." - Ulyaoth

 

"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built." - Kreia

 

"I thought this forum was for Speculation & Discussion, not Speculation & Calling People Trolls." - lord of flies

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Well I have my preferences, but if the world goes that way (and I agree it may eventually), I don't have a serious problem with it. Besides, barring some kind of apocalypse/3rd world war, I'll probably be dead long before tech turns the world into something I truly can't stand. ;)

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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All though I enjoy the classic and nostalgic feel and experience of a book, I may have to pick up a kindle with all of the damned traveling I do. I have a small box filled with books to read while I'm on the road. Dunder Mifflin, Inc. beware.

Edited by AngryKidJoe

Stand Your Convictions and You Will Walk Alone.

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