‘I actually paid more for these sunglasses’

It’s interesting to see how Amazon is coping with the challenge of the iPad.

The newspaper is dead, buried, cremated…

…and digitised?

In yet another sign that the media and publishing industries have faith in the future of the tablet computer, Rupert Murdoch recently announced News Corp is launching a completely digital US newspaper. Designed specifically to be read on digital devices such as the iPad, it will offer “short, snappy stories” and will be targeted at a young market who will have to pay for the content. Murdoch says it will have young people reading newspapers, but there is skepticism about how well the newspaper will do.

To me it seems to be old-fashioned thinking. It would be interesting to see what News Corp does with the newspaper’s format, but if the ‘enewspaper’ is set out in the same way as a printed paper, without making the most of links, images and videos, it hardly seems worth the effort. You can’t simply put content in a digital form and expect young people to consume it.

It will be interesting to see how well this enewspaper does and what kind of audience it attracts.

Kindling

I’m sorry, I don’t care if the iPad is the best thing since 9.7 inch-LED backlit-touch screen sliced bread, I still love the Kindle.

It’s true the iPad is dazzling and apparently has a use other than impressing people who don’t have one, but it doesn’t seek to do the same thing as a Kindle, and therefore shouldn’t be canonized as its replacement. The iPad is for using applications, browsing the web, resting your coffee cup on, the Kindle is for reading and buying books to read.

I bought a Kindle version 2 when the price was lowered to below US$200 earlier this year. The first book I tackled was David Copperfield, and I enjoyed the experience. While the iPad is flashy, the Kindle is comfortable. I just can’t imagine curling up in bed with an iPad, shaking the screen to make Mr Murdstone fall out of his parlour.

Yes, there are other ereaders that are probably just as good, but I haven’t tried them all. Most haven’t seemed to have captured the Kindle’s elegance or just have names you can’t help but cringe at.

Amazon has now released the Kindle version 3, slightly smaller than the second-generation and without the global access to the Kindle Store. It’s selling for only US $140

Look at it. Just look. Don’t you want one?