Here’s one of those moments where two lines of background thought converged into bizarre coincidence. (Fate or apophenia in action, I’ll let you decide which.)<\/p>\n
Yesterday<\/strong>, on a whim, I started looking into the Kindle<\/a>, Amazon’s flawed but promising ebook reader. I’ve always wanted some sort of useable ebook reader, something light, portable, easy-to-use and with a screen bigger than my old Palm’s (ugh, the scrolling!). The Kindle is all of these things plus it includes free EVDO (you can browse the web — imagine, never having another phone call asking you to settle a bet between me and Aly), but I have also decided that it is ugly, ergonomically-challenged and expensive. <\/p>\n What I should have done is bought an OLPC when I had a chance, they apparently make an excellent ebook reader<\/a> (link goes to demo on youtube) with a screen resolution that some say is on par with e-ink. For the price of one Kindle, you get two OLPCs — well, some lucky kid gets the second one — a tax deduction and a nifty travel computer. (Of course, either of these scenarios imply that I have some sort of discretionary income that I could spend on $400 toys.)<\/p>\n A third option might be something like the lower end of these vaguely announced Netronix devices<\/a>. The 6″ EB-100 may or may not have wifi web surfing or a touch screen, depending on how you interpret the PDF<\/a>. The 9.7″ EB-300 intimidates me a bit (yes, I’m more comfortable handling the 6-incher…oh dear…), but looks promising. The EB-100 is supposedly due in June and has the advantage of not running WinCE, like its bigger sibling. Price? Yes, I’m sure it has one.<\/p>\n Just now<\/strong>, I had a Buddy Holly song stuck in my head (Rave On, if you must know). <\/p>\n Of course, that led me to look up Bradley Denton<\/a>, author of Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede<\/em>, a book I once read the summer after high school graduation while on the bus back from the Jersey shore. Much nostalgia.<\/p>\n Here’s the weird coinkydink part…turns out Denton is joining the ranks of science fiction writers offering their older titles free<\/a> online in one form or another. This April. In time for my birthday (not a hint…but I wouldn’t refuse a Kindle).<\/p>\n